glow plug WVO heater?

[93turbo_animal]

any one heard of this or any experience with one or any thoughts about it ? I need more heat for the winter and it would have been easier to add before putting the system in use but this seems like the cheapest way to add some more heat

 

[h2odrx]

don't they burn out quick? if not then i have a few we can try??

 

[cranknrods]

from what i understand-if the glowplug stays submerged by fuel then it wont burn out. and the good ones have a thermostat to keep from overheating the fuel. but i have also heard that if you run out of fuel and the glow plug runs dry then it wont take very long at all to burn up. but not many people will run a diesel out of fuel because "most" people know that it is a total PITA to purge the air out. i havnt tried them yet but im thinking about geting one to put infront of my IP-but if you get it please post your results -ive also heard that you should wire it into your ignition switch instead of a toggle switch-this keeps you "or the woman in your life" from forgeting to turn it off and burning it up.

 

[subway]

i have heard of costant duty glow plugs but i think they were somthing like 40-50 each. expensive to replace a set in an engine but not bad for just one. i would think you would want some kind of temp regulator so you dont "cook" the fuel. by the time you have a safty curcuit built it might be cheeper and simplier just to get a plate heater.

i would be happy to be proven wrong with some ingenuity though. i have some spare glow plugs laying around......

 

[93turbo_animal]

well I seen the idea on Ebay but the guy wanted like $50 for it and it just seemed like a little much but I think it came with a thermostat to but if I was going to do it I would just have it come on when the fuel was flowing and off when it stopped I was just wondering what kind of glow plug would be best to use he I think was using a mercedes glow plug I think this would be a good way to heat the oil right before the fuel filter or IP but I think it should be doable for $15-$20 how many amps would one GP take any body know?

 

[Exekiel69]

Aric I have built mine for about $15 and Yes it works nice but You must control it well or it will get expensive to change gp's.

 

[cranknrods]

exekiel-what glow plug did you use? how do you have it set up? do you have a thermostat and if so where did you get it? how many amps does it draw?

sorry so many questions just trying to get my heater right the first time around. im not trying to jack this thread but i think my questions aply to animals question.
thanx

 

[93turbo_animal]

yep your questions are right in line cranknrods

EZ what do you mean control it well just make sure it don't run empty or is there more to it then that?

 

[subway]

i would think that the temperature would be the main thing to control so you dont "burn" the fuel. i would think that somthing like a electric fan temp sensor and switch relay would be a good jumping off point.

that way it should shut down the glow plug from getting to hot even if there is no fuel present. might be helpful if we could find out the amperage these things would draw to, of course if you were to match the gage wire used in the stock harness you should be ok.

 

[Exekiel69]

Sorry I took so long, Yes You can use a t-stat to control it or just make sure You don't run it for too long. I run mine for about 4 hours and the gp was all built up after that, but if You run it for some time just to get the wvo up to temps it works excellent, You can also use the t-stat to keep it working only when needed.

Here is a link that explains how to make one, it works very nice but it must be controlled.

 

[Exekiel69]

One more thing, I used a zd-9 glow plug (beru for the non IDI owners ) since I know this guy does not know the autolite build up too fast and bc it is what I had at hand.

 

[cranknrods]

great linky pretty much answered all my questions
thanx

 

[subway]

nice link i, i think i have half that crap laying around. would that temp sensor be good to use to make sure that the bio is heated enough to run? or should it be dedicated to the glow plug?

 

[cranknrods]

hey thats a pretty cool idea-have the thermostat wired into the fuel tank selector valve and when the fuel gets hot it will switch from the diesel tank to the veg tank-than an override switch for the purge cycle.........