Opps, I forgot to switch over. Best Solution?

[Adam]

OK, it has happened a few times, and it can be a real pain to start cold on WVO. What are the best option out there to warm up the engine in the morning after forgetting to switch over the night before. My number one idea is a block heater, which I was thinking of getting install this fall. The other options I was considering were:

• peel and stick pad heater
  magnetic 200W heater
  Lower Radiator Heater

Actually after having written this I'm leaning towards the magnetic super heater. Sounds like it would do the trick. Thanks for the help.

[after oil]

a few times when i forgot to purge in my nissan i just pointed a shop heater into the intake for a few hours.

you could also bleed out the WVO

[jskrepnek]

Actually after having written this I'm leaning towards the magnetic super heater. Sounds like it would do the trick. Thanks for the help.

Wondering where I would stick the magnetic heater on the van to get the best switch-over times ... my first thought would be right to the side of the veg. filter? Thoughts? Ed @ Plantdrive gave me the impression that the bottleneck for switchover is the filter; if it's not warm, the pump can't pull much oil through it.

For overnights, if you combined this heater with a simple timer that would pop the heater on at, say, 4 AM, you wouldn't need to pay to heat the system all night long either.

-- Joel

[BCDelica]

Best solution, IMO, would be an injection line heater, eg - http://www.vegiecars.com/Injector_Heater or http://www.fattywagons.com/fwproducts.htm. Combining that with a good electric heater for the filter would allow for cold WVO starts. We have contacted fattywagons twice over the years, and the $190 sounds like pretty good insurance for those times we forgot. Still don't consider all the time cold starting on a WVO a good idea, but think how handy this would be on a expedition WVO Delica. You also wouldn't have to worry about installing a purge system, and all the related pump, switch and wiring that'd go with it.

A few times of heading out for the first ferry and finding you forget to flush with diesel, at -6c, can be a grrrrr moment.

[Adam]

Oh, I do like the look of the Fatty Wagon injector line heaters, and only $45 including shipping. Am I reading this right, I might be able to use just one 30' heater for all the injectors? That's worth it just to experiment with. The vegiecars system looks nice too, but $295 seems pretty pricey for what is actually included.

The Fatty Wagon kit would pay for itself in short switch over times and just the piece of mind that if I do forget to switch over, or if I'm in the mall longer than expected and it is colder than expected out I can actually start the van when I need to.

[EricN]

Or you could actually hook up your forgot to purge buzzer.

[Adam]

Or you could actually hook up your forgot to purge buzzer.

Sounds too complicated It's all mounted, just not wired in. Besides injection line heaters are something new. That buzzer is old, not very exciting.