block heater

[Jaap Bouma <j.h.bouma@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everybody,

Following my posting on december 25th, I've had several requests for
details on block heaters, so I thought I'd post the details on the digest
list.
The heater I bought for my dad is a Kenlowe Hotstart Preheating system. It
consists of a small heater unit with integral pump. It is fitted between
the two heater hoses, and when in use both heats the coolant in the engine
and pumps it around the engine, ensuring proper distribution of the warmth.
The size of the heater/pump is roughly 2'" wide, 5" high and 3 or 4" deep.
It is connected to a plug, which in turn is mounted somewhere on the car or
under the bonnet. It comes complete with mounting bracket, hoses, hose
clips, nuts & bolts, underbonnet power lead, plug and socket, and
instructions. All you need (in theory) is a plug and a piece of power lead
(flex?) to connect it to a mains socket. I found that getting all the air
out of the system was difficult, so I made up an additional air bleed screw
in the top heater hose, but this may not be necessary on different cars.
The car it was fitted to is a Mitsubishi Shogun/Pajero with a 2.8 liter
turbodiesel. It takes about 30 minutes to warm the engine from stone cold
to 85 degrees C (and this engine is one BIG lump of iron!). My dad uses a
timer to switch the heater on in the morning. It improves the running of
the engine so much that he not only uses it during winter but regularly in
summer as well. It has lasted two years now, and is working faultlessly.
On his previous Pajero my dad had a swedish heater fitted, which apparently
was also used by Volvo for the Scandinavian countries. This heater relied
on the thermosyphon effect to circulate the coolant, needed a looong time
to get the engine to operating temperature, and broke down within one year
due to corrosion from the outside. So guess which I would recommend... 
The cost of the system was gbp137,22 plus gbp13,00 for p&p. In my view not
expensive considering the quality of the heater and the fact that it comes
with everything you will need. I ordered direct from Kenlowe in the UK, but
there may be distributors elsewhere. The address is:
Kenlowe LTD
Burchetts Green
Maidenhead, UK
Fax   +44 1628 823451
If necessary I can get a phone number from my stacks of paper. I don't
believe they have a webpage.

Hope this is of use to somebody somewhere.




Best, Jaap Bouma (Netherlands)
'87 GTV6 2.5 Grand Prix

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