FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Does it work as good as the heater that cost twice as much?

All engine heaters get the water hot….you can only get the water so hot then it will boil. Although I have never seen a heater boil the water in a car…. I have discovered that any heater could boil the water if the radiator cap was off (not under pressure). After boiling water in a test tank we decided to add a thermostat so that couldn’t happen.

What kind of electric does it take?

The Engine Heater will draw 20 amps on any 110v outlet in your garage powered by a outdoor extension cord you can buy at Wal-Mart. We highly recommend a 12 Ga cord 25 ft long. That’s long enough to reach from the rear of your trailer to the car. Extensive testing was done with a 3,000 watt generator and will run all day with that. However we recommend at least a 5,000 watt generator to run the heater along with trailer lights and an air compressor. We ran that set up for a full season and found no problems until plugging in a tire groover which would trip the circuit breaker when grooving tires when the air compressor kicked on…. A 7,000 watt generator solved all problems.

Does it blow air bubbles into the engine?

The engine heater is always full of water just as your car is always full of water. It is possible that hooking up any heater could develop an air bubble, I suppose. But if it did, it would just end up on top of the radiator.

Does it have a safety valve? What if it makes too much pressure?

The safety valve is your radiator cap. The Engine Heater has a pressure gauge so you can monitor the pressure, but no fear….the pressure in your system is from the hot water, not the heater pump pressure. The pressure gauge on the heater shows that the pump is working and only measures pressure in the heater (not in your cooling system). The pump in the heater is only circulating water throughout your cooling system and causing no pressure. (If there was too much pressure the cap would pop.)

Is it guaranteed?

The Engine Heater has the best warranty on the market. The entire heater is guaranteed for one full year … Parts and Labor.

Cools down an engine? Hows that work?

After a race and your engine is over heated plug your heater in and set the thermostat at 180 …..Turn it on and it will circulate water through the radiator and engine without heating … Then when it cools down to 180 the heating element will kick on and maintain 180. Try that with any other heater on he market.

What about the “high dollar heater” what’s the difference?

It’s a great heater and has been on the market for a long time, but so was the 300 lb rear projection big screen tv. The main difference is the price ….. Then follows the electric it takes to power it, the size of it to store in the trailer. (You have to strap it down…It’s on wheels). It has a storage tank that pre-heats the water before you hook it up to your car then
sends a blast of hot water to the temp gauge making it look like your engine is hot, but don’t be fooled…. It takes a long time to heat up all that metal.

What’s the best way to install it on my car?

On a V-8 the best (and cheapest) way is to feed hot water from the heater to one side of the block then “suck” it out of the other side of the block. Does it heat the water in the radiator? Yes …. The water gets to the other side of the block by passing through the head into the radiator then through the other head down into that side of the block. (no valve needed). Best way is from a remote hook up routed to each side. A midget is a different story as it only has one side of the block. You could figure out how to feed “hot” water into the block, then “suck” water out of the radiator, (you must complete a circle to force water throughout the entire system). So the accepted way is to install a check valve in the lower radiator hose with quick
disconnect fittings.

Heat oil with water ??? Oil & Water don’t mix !

The Oil Heater will work with any engine heater you already have. It came to me in my sleep, after realizing that we where sucking “cold” oil into a pre-heated engine ….. (That can’t be a good thing)…. After talking to many racers that pre-heat their oil with an electric probe in the tank or an electric blanket wrapped around it, no-one could tell me (including the manufacturers) how hot the oil would get. But every one of them told me you have to watch it so it don’t get too hot and it will burn the oil. (So most of them don’t bother with it because you have to remember to hook it up and watch it). The best thing about The Oil Heater is that once you install it you never have to think about it again. Every time you heat or maintain heat in your engine you are also heating your oil. How hot does it get? It can’t get any hotter than your engine Temp.

How about a propane heater blowing hot air on my oil tank?

That gets hot alright ….. Next time you do that take an infrared thermometer and read the temperature on that side of your engine. (on the head) Then go to the other side of the engine.
(Your probably doing more harm than good) How much did you pay for your engine?

My heater doesn’t seem to be circulating water……..?

If you can’t tell if the pump isn’t working, it probably isn’t. (turn off the heater switch)…”kink” the red hose while running, if the pressure gauge doesn’t respond or if you don’t feel the water trying to get past the kink, you’ve lost the prime in the pump…..(most likely you’ve been working on your cooling system or ran low on water). Best way to prime the pump is to hook heater up to your car like you were trying to heat the engine, disconnect from electric, remove alum gauge panel, loosen plug at the top of the pump until water comes out around plug (with no air bubbles). Now you have filled hoses & the pump full of water. Re-install the gauge plate & plug in the extension cord, top of the radiator & turn on the pump. After your sure it’s now pumping water, heat up your engine to make sure you didn’t burn up the heating element because the heater was dry and the heat turned on.

My quick disconnect nipple on the car is “leaking” what should I do?…

I have found that most likely the quick disconnects were dis-connected while the engine was cold. I recommend hooking up the heater (backwards) and heat up water to about 150 deg. I say backwards meaning red hose to black nipple & black hose to red nipple, which would blow any “dirt” out of the nipple by reversing the flow. If you use a lower radiator valve the water would just take a shortcut through the valve causing the valve to get hot fast but not the engine. That’s OK… what you want to do is get the water hot at the fitting so it’s hot when you disconnect it. Also running anti freeze or WaterWetter helps by lubricating the quick disconnects

What size extension cord do you recommend?

Just recently I was at the Chili Bowl and walked around searching for drivers using The Engine Heater (and there where a bunch of them). I found about 1/3 of them were using too small of an extension cord and the temperature wasn’t up as high as the ones with the heavy duty cords. I found 14 ga cords 50′ long and the heaters were at 140 to 150 deg. (should have been 180-190).
It bothered me to think those racers thought the heater was working OK …”just takes a long time to get up to temp” they would say. So, now I am selling extension cords…heavy duty…made in USA. I recommend a 25′ 12 ga. That’s long enough to reach your car from an outlet at the rear of the trailer. (you can buy one at Wal-Mart….but not the cheapest one….12 ga).

My temperature only gets up to about 140-150 deg ?

Number one suspect problem is the extension cord as stated above. When you think you have a good extension cord and it still isn’t getting hot enough check the electric source it’s plugged into. I have seen 40 foot trailers (that cost a lot of money) have small gauge wires going to the rear 110v outlet (same as a long under size cord). Try plugging it directly into your generator or into an outlet in your shop….If it works there then you know it’s the source it,s plugged into. If that is not the problem perhaps your hook-up is not right. Are you connecting the right hoses to the right side of your radiator valve? Or is the radiator valve not working properly? Feel the valve…if you can’t touch it because it’s so hot but your heads are just
warm the valve could be the problem.

I guarantee it worked before I shipped it.