Installing a Circulating Block Heater..?
 

hey guys i baught a 1000 watt circulating heater for my truck, it gets down to -50C here in the winter.. im just tryn to figure out where to plumb it in, my neighbor suggested hooking it into the 5/8 line that goes to the top of the rad on the turbo side, so i did that, its pumping and the bottom rad hose goin to the pump feels warm after 2 hrs, but i feel this isnt how it should be run..? any help??

wouldn't the point of a proheat be to circulate the coolant?
if the other hoses get warm, I'd say it's fine. But I have never installed one, just used em on big trucks.

if the top hose and other coolant lines get warm, it must be doing it's job, to me.

it just didnt seem like it was warming the block, im just not sure if i had it plumped into the correct place?

well that is one thing. and as such that one thing surpasses my knowledge.

The block heat should go into the freeze plug, or in place of the freeze plug(the second one back on the drivers side to be exact per GM)

Well, here's the thing;

You've got the heater installed and pumping warmed fluid into the rad.

The rad is designed to shed the heat from the coolant.

You're working contradictory to what you're trying to achieve; warm the block for easier starting.

You're not getting the "best bang for your buck".

What you want is the coolant return to the water pump/block so the warmed fluid goes into the block and not the rad.

There should have been some installation instructions with your heater, yes?

I've never been a big fan of the recirculating heaters. I prefer the frost plugs heaters.

Why?

The pump style requires coolant circulation to work to it's optimum (heat by convection). Unless you're got the thermostat with the vent hole in it, there's not a lot of circulation in the block. Even with the hole there's not. The pump pushes out a spurt of hot coolant (that's how the work, warm the fluid and then it spurts out) and it hits the cold stuff in the block. Now it's got nowhere to go and when the next "spurt" happens it just kind of reverberates around the opening of the heater. So it ends up being a conduction heater anyways instead of convection, except now it also looses heat to the air through the rubber hose vice already inside the water jackets. Where it does work a little better than other styles is in making the cabin heater warmer sooner if it's pumping through the lines (this is where they're usually installed, in the heater lines but returning to the block).

The plug style is meant to warm the adjacent fluid and then the heat is spread out through conduction directly inside the water jacket. Coolant flow is not required.

I just use two plug style heaters in the cold to warm both sides of the block and keep up with any heat loss. It also leaves me the option in warmer weather of only using one heater for some savings on my power bill.

I'll leave you with one last thought:

Warm enough for good starting doesn't mean it's warm to the touch. A sufficiently warmed block will often feel cold because the heat is not localized, it's spread across the whole block evenly....

Heater Plumbing
 

Hello and good day with the circ heater. the intake hose should be plumbed into the block beside the started. You will need a threaded hose connecter to screw into block after removing threaded plug. mount heater low with discharge pointing up.. Discharge should be put into top of engine.. there should be a threaded plug in the intake you can remove to install the discharge into a water jacket, prefer opposite side of the supply for the intake on heater.. when this is done properly there is no restriction on your cab heater lines and the circ will be heating the engine first.. When done the heater will give you a very warm engine in a couple hours.. Having the discharge of heater either into the rad or heater line robs the engine of heat and may block your circ to your cab heater.. Have a good day.. I'm doing one on mine my 98 6.5 :jump:next days off.. Good luck..

I ran my circ pump inline with the heater so it pumps from thermostat side into heater and back into block. This works if you have the system that has the thermostat bypass for the heater. Otherwise side of the block like Chevycarr stated.

on a 6.2L diesel...
I'm assuming the smaller hose in the top front of the engine that looks like it goes into the water pump is the bypass hose. Wouldn't it be easiest to put an espar coolant heater inline with this? The top to the espar, and the espar to the bottom / water pump? Wouldn't this put heated coolant directly into the engine block, take it directly out, and not cause a problem when the thermostat opens? I'm assuming that some heat will go to the heater core as well.

Maybe contact Espar Heater Parts, Diesel Truck Heaters - Lubrication Specialist

Webasto heaters are also a good option, but your question is applicable to both.