802a/803a quick cold weather question

[Digger556]

For those units with diesel coolant heaters for extreme cold weather operation, what ambient temperature do you start using supplemental pre-heating?

 

[Guyfang]

The heater TB says:

Winterization Kit. Usual conditions for operating the heater imply extremely cold temperatures. The heater allows
the generator set to operate between -25°F and -50°F (-45.6°C). Both the MEP-803A and MEP-813A will start
without the winterization kit down to the ambient temperatures of -25°F. Although not required, use of the
winterization kit will aid starting and reducing engine wear in ambient air temperatures between -25°F to 32°F.
Heater operation is automatic after the ON/OFF switch is placed in the ON position.

 

[DieselAddict]

They start easily down to around freezing even with no glowplugs. Below that some preheat on the plugs will get it going, no problem.

If it gets REALLY cold, I'll break this puppy out.

 

[Scoobyshep]

One company I worked for kept them hot at all times. Any time you'd touch them they were around 120 degrees. They also would preemptively start them every lightning storm. It was cheaper than an outage.

For perspective, it was a water plant, so if their output dropped below a set pressure, it was an automatic boil water alert.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

 

[Digger556]

The heater TB says:

Winterization Kit. Usual conditions for operating the heater imply extremely cold temperatures. The heater allows
the generator set to operate between -25°F and -50°F (-45.6°C). Both the MEP-803A and MEP-813A will start
without the winterization kit down to the ambient temperatures of -25°F. Although not required, use of the
winterization kit will aid starting and reducing engine wear in ambient air temperatures between -25°F to 32°F.
Heater operation is automatic after the ON/OFF switch is placed in the ON position.

-50°F is dang cold. Thanks for the quick technical data. I have a diesel air heater to preheat generators now if it gets too cold. I'm sitting inside with this arctic blast, so I have extra time to think through my plans.