Block Heaters ??

[Greg Weaver]

Hello all,

I have a 03 35′ Carolina Classic that I’ve owned now for a few months.

Cummins 6CTA 480CE engines and I’m considering block heaters.

I see some have used the heater pad that sticks to the bottom of oil pan and some who use actual block heaters.

Any advice on which route to take would be great, I live in Virginia beach so we do get cold weather but nothing like you all up north

Thank you

Topic

[Tony Athens]

David,

Very clever !!!!

Tony

[David Stickney]

I have used the Wolverine pan heaters for over 15 years. Two sets on Cat 3208’s and my current set-up of QSM11s. These I mounted on the side of the oil pan. Trick to sanding pant… cut a piece of cardboard the same size as the pad. Spray Klean Strip paint remover on the cardboard and place on the oil pan in the spot you want. Wait a minute and all the paint comes off down to bare metal. Make the cardboard piece a 1/4″ larger all the way around so you can seal the edges with the goop that comes with the Wolverines. Have done three sets now like this with great success. Dave

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Brian Katz, Tony Athens, Greg Weaver

[Greg Weaver]

Never mind my last post.

ordering the 250 watt

Thank you all again

Greg

[Greg Weaver]

Tony and group,

Thank you all very much for your input, I am going to order from you today if I can get a response from one of you all.

Mentioned was to use a 250 watt version of the Wolverine ” Oil Pan Capacity: 5-13 QT (11-18.5 Liters) ”

My 6cta holds 5 gallons of oil +/- would the 500 watt version be overkill ? any additional heat would be beneficial to my engine room

Thank you all again

Greg

[Rob Schepis]

Yes, good post Phil.

Attached are this morning’s conditions. the Wolverines are keeping the engine room at 62 deg F on a 46 deg F morning and the humidity in the engine room is 30 points lower. The numbers tell it all.

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Greg Weaver

[Tony Athens]

Use 250W oil pan heaters for this engine.. Follow Phil’s advise and you will never look back.. 100% long term safe, reliable and easy to deal with.

My suggestion based on 30 years of trying them all———–Stay away from high wattage immersion coolant heaters for marine applications..

Tony

1 user thanked author for this post.

Greg Weaver

[Philip]

Don’t be afraid to mount them on the side of the pan. And as long as the paint is factory and in old condition no need to get the pan to bare metal. Just rough it up with a scuff pad and then get it 100% clean with acetone or brake cleaner etc.

Here is my install in a QSC8.3. Mounted on the side and wired direct to the 110V panel with a dedicated breaker – work awesome!

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KevinS, Bill Desmarais, Greg Weaver, Tony Athens, Brian Katz

[Greg Weaver]

So I thought about the pan heater option but what a HUGE pain in the butt it would be to install them.

My mechanic has suggested 1000 watt or even maybe 750 block heaters.

So if I decide on the block heaters, should i opt for the 1000 watt or 750 watt they will be installed on a set of 6CTA 8.3 liters

If just cleaning the oil pan without sanding it down would work that’s something I could manage to do but getting it sanded down, there’s just not enough room to do so

Thank you all for your input

[Rob Schepis]

Yes, had just changed out the OEM t-stats to the SMX 160’s and refilled the coolant. Was also waiting on my new risers so I had my exhaust apart as well.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Greg Weaver

[Bill Desmarais]

Rob?
Were you working on the 330s with you fired them off with the “portable” 4 inch exhausts out the side of the cockpit ??
Regards, Bill D

[Rob Schepis]

I second the pan heaters. I just logged into my boat sensors – the stateroom is currently 47 deg F and 85% humidity but the engine room is a warm 62 deg F and a dry 54 % humidity.

In the dead of winter my impellers are out and with the pan heaters on she’s been fired up on a COLD day and she fires off with ease. So no more cold start issues.

Cold start smoke becomes a non-issue as well.This video was on a cold winter’s day:
https://youtu.be/XF70BPaPw5I

[Bill Desmarais]

Greg,
I’ve had both setups on identical 6BTA 370s.
Tony pointed me in the right direction on both.

In 2009 Tony shipped me a pr. of new Recon 6BTA 370s setup “The Seaboard Way” with 250W block heaters installed.

I used both engine to re-powered a pr. out of a Blackfin I owned at the time.
The block heaters worked just fine.

Fast forward to 2014 when I bought my last 370 ReCon from Tony to install in my 25 ft lobster boat.
Setup the Seaboard Way…..I opted for a Wolverine oil pan heater. The engine was not installed…underneath access was available for the Wolverine attachment. I installed the oil pan heater per spec.
Works perfectly too.

I will say the fact of the heat rising from the bottom of the pan vs just the engine head up (block heater) keeps the whole engine warm.

Now when I do an oil change at the dock..no need to fire up the engine and warm it up.

And most importantly the engine fires right off with “half a crank” of the starter.

“If” you have room to attach the oil pan heater IMO go that route. You’ll have to sand ALL the paint off the pan for the pad heater to attach and you’ll need to seal the perimeter edge of the heater with a Wolverine supplied silicone goop.

If no access to bottom of the pan….have Seaboard set you up with the parts needed for a “safe” low wattage block heater.

Keep us posted.

[Author]

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