Phillips & Temro Circulating Coolant Heater

ACKO15 · Post by **ACKO15** » Fri Feb 02, 2018 10:13 am

Hi folks,

So, I have recently decided to help the old girl, '91 L300 4D56, with a new coolant heater. I wasn't a huge fan of the block heater install, due to the inaccessibility and potential for a hard-to-reach leak.

The heater is a Phillips & Temro, Series 41 1000W circulating type tank heater, installed in the rear heater hoses. https://phillipsandtemro.com/solutions/ ... n-heaters/

I have installed it in-line with the coolant hose running into the transverse steel pipe leading to the top, rear of the block, passenger side (look for transmission dipstick mount). The heater provides lots of natural circulation in this location, and leaves the block at 40-50C with outdoor temperatures of -10C.

If anybody is looking for an easy installation, effective heater to warm the whole system, this heater is great. It took about 30 minutes to install, and came with a mounting bracket which I cut and fitted to an existing bolt. No glow plugs needed, and hot air available in less than 5 minutes is a nice change!

Just an FYI, hope it helps.

Ralph in Winnipeg · Post by **Ralph in Winnipeg** » Tue Feb 06, 2018 6:12 am

That looks pretty slick! You have to love quick, easy and effective. What's the cost?

Ralph in Winnipeg

ACKO15 · Post by **ACKO15** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:44 pm

Cost about 140$ at NAPA. There are other models from 90-160$ available.

Cambullos · Post by **Cambullos** » Fri Feb 09, 2018 9:51 am

What a coincidence! My mechanic in Windsor was trying to convince me to go with this type of system over a block heater.

Is it a fairly reasonable install as in should I attempt on my own? Special tools required to mount the unit? Where does the plug-in hang out of the body?

Cheers,
Matt

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

bonge31 · Post by **bonge31** » Sat Feb 10, 2018 3:27 pm

ACKO15 wrote:Hi folks,

So, I have recently decided to help the old girl, '91 L300 4D56, with a new coolant heater. I wasn't a huge fan of the block heater install, due to the inaccessibility and potential for a hard-to-reach leak.

The heater is a Phillips & Temro, Series 41 1000W circulating type tank heater, installed in the rear heater hoses. https://phillipsandtemro.com/solutions/ ... n-heaters/

I have installed it in-line with the coolant hose running into the transverse steel pipe leading to the top, rear of the block, passenger side (look for transmission dipstick mount). The heater provides lots of natural circulation in this location, and leaves the block at 40-50C with outdoor temperatures of -10C.

If anybody is looking for an easy installation, effective heater to warm the whole system, this heater is great. It took about 30 minutes to install, and came with a mounting bracket which I cut and fitted to an existing bolt. No glow plugs needed, and hot air available in less than 5 minutes is a nice change!

Just an FYI, hope it helps.

Could you post some pictures about your installation? I'm very interested about it.
I saw it works with 240v or 120v? Did you put a converter?
Is it directly connected to the battery via a switch ?

Thanks a lot!

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

ACKO15 · Post by **ACKO15** » Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:19 am

Hi folks, sorry for the late reply. I'm back at work for another month so unfortunately I don't have a chance to take any photos of my installation. That being said, the job took less than an hour, and I completed it without draining the cooling system. Also did not require any special tools.

There are two sections of steel tubing running transversely across the top of the transmission. They run from the engine, to the rear heater matrix, and back. One of these lines had failed on me previously, so I left them in place and just routed 5/8" heater hose in the same location to join an original segment of hose under the fuel filter.

At the rear heater, I found a convenient bolt to remove, and tucked the entire coolant heater up between the exhaust pipe and the plastic housing of the van heater/blower. The bracket is secured to the bolt I had removed, and I just zip-tied the top of the heater to a nearby hole to reduce shaking.

The installation worked because I was able to tie into the replacement hose that I already ran here. You may need to cut the forward steel tube, or replace it altogether ( with hose ) to facilitate the outlet of the heater.

The lower, inlet section, is joined to the outlet of the heater matrix, same line as had been mentioned before. The heater has no internal check valves, and will allow flow in either direction, but needs to be oriented properly to promote convection. This is why I chose the low spot in the rear. I did not use the supplied "Y" connector, and used the heater inline with the flow.

I have had great success, but I did notice that parking on a slight nose-down grade will limit convection. Level ground or slightly uphill works wonders, however.

It is a 1000w unit, and is power hungry, so I use it as needed, which has been frequently lately. It plugs into 120vac, but I'm sure 240v models exist. I would not attempt to use it with an inverter on my deep cycle battery, as the draw would be close to 90A. All in all, it's 140$ plus a few feet of 5/8" hose and clamps. Installs in less than an hour, just clamp the heater hoses before cutting.

Hopefully you can make some sense of this. Happy driving!