WMO in winter

[stevedrums]

Hello. I recently purchased an '86 F250 6.9 for the purpose of saving on fuel cost via waste motor oil. It has been going great so far. I have been running diesel in rear tank for start and shut down and 90% wmo 10% diesel in front tank.

now, winter is approaching. I live in southern alberta. temps range from 0 to -25c (32 to -13f for you 'muricans) but i've seen it as low as -36c (-33f)

i'm looking at this http://www.plantdrive.ca/xcart/product.php?productid=16202&cat=7&page=1

will this be enough to run 50/50?

i've heard talk of tank heaters. do i need one? should i give up on wmo at those temps?

btw i'm not terribly worried about hurting this truck with high % of wmo... i payed $700

 

[dakotajeep]

You might want to post this in the alternative fuels section if you haven't already.

Having lived in ND for a few years and surviving a cold spell that went below -20F for over a week and hit -44F, I understand the reason for the question. Personally, if I was going to venture out in the firgid northland I wouldn't venture too far from a friend or outside of city limits. I have spent too much time broken down waiting for someone to pick me up in -20F temps. Its not fun.

If you do decide to try it I would test it out in town or with someone else around to assist if necessary.

If you do try it out let me know how it goes. I plan to try something like this when I move back to ND.

Thad

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

You will need an in tank heater and hose in hose fuel line heating at those lower temps.
Unless you have a long commute where you will spend alot of time at operating temp, you will have problems.

 

[dakotajeep]

Unless you have a long commute where you will spend alot of time at operating temp, you will have problems.

My thoughts exactly! It will take a long time to heat fuel/oil form -30...

 

[stevedrums]

i'm thinkin a 120v plug in tank heater for a 15 minute commute

 

[dakotajeep]

15 min. Not worth it in my mind. Just my opinion though.

Thad

 

[david_lee]

i'm thinkin a 120v plug in tank heater for a 15 minute commute

if you had a guaranteed place to plug it in at at your destination for the return trip of that commute, then yes but with a few extra heating components in the system. one of which should be a tank heater that runs on 12V to keep the fuel in the tank warm. the other would need to be something like what you posted up or something like
http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?t=44695 that is as close as possible to the injection pump. an alternative to the 12V tank heater could be to insert a baffle in the wmo tank that the pickup and return lines sit in. it would need somewhat small holes in the bottom to allow fuel to flow in, but it would keep the fuel inside the baffle area warmer than the rest of the tank.

the temps dont get anywhere near that low here in texas, but i am a mechanical engineer for a company that builds military trucks. i work in a department that reviews test data from the extreme (-60F) tests that are performed on the trucks, and i have seen how quickly fuel tank temps drop in those low temps. a 15 min commute in -15F temps is more than enough to drop the temp of wmo to a point that it can become harmful to the engine and fuel system.

please excuse the long winded post, but working on saturdays sucks

 

[sassyrel]

You will need an in tank heater and hose in hose fuel line heating at those lower temps.
Unless you have a long commute where you will spend alot of time at operating temp, you will have problems.

yup..the idi lift pump,,at about 55 degrees,,gets unhappy about pumping straight wmo...been there..