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If you live in the north with sub zero temperatures and your generator has to start, I doubt if it will below a certain temperature. Different diesel engines have different lower temperature limits so through experimentation you can find out how well the generator engine starts at lower temperatures. With that information you can decide if the block heater is required.

Where Mark lives in MN it gets so cold they have to warm up the electric at the power plant to get it to flow through the wires. That’s cold. So in an area like that the engine will not start without a block heater unless the generator is installed inside a heated building.

I am having a hard time accepting the claim the block heater minimizes bacteria which cause corrosion. Proper coolant maintenance deals with corrosion. Make the decision about a block heater based on your area’s low temperature readings. If your temperatures never get below 32 for example I would doubt if the block heater is needed. If it gets to 32 below zero you need one.

I was just kidding about warming up the electric where Mark lives. But it does get so cold they have to add anti freeze to the electric.

[Archived]

Thanks Jon, I was in the auto parts business all my life until 1996 when I sold my Stores and Warehouse out to a public Company. I dont buy the bacteria claim either Jon. With the coolant filters and maintaining the proper chemical levels at all times I feel thats all we need to do. If we needed to use block heater for corrosion detroit would have it in manual. I dont need the block heater for cold weather as I live in north central Florida.

Thanks

Bill S.

[Robert]

I have a home generator from Generac. It is a 40kw unit with a Vortec V-6. It uses propane, and feeds from the house tank (1000 gal). They want you to run the block heater all year around, which to me does not make sense, but they say with warm starts, there is less engine wear and tear. It runs every Saturday to do an exercise cycle for 20 minutes.

I do need it (block heater) in the winter as Jon has indicated…

[Fred F.]

The heater can’t be for microbrobial reduction. Anyone who’s ever cooked a turkey knows you need to get at least 170 degrees to kill off bacteria. If bacteria and food are present between 100 and 170 degrees you probably encourage bacterial growth rather than retard it.

My office is in a 35 story building in LA that has a gigantic Cat generator for emergency backup and a smaller one to run exhaust fans in the underground parking. Where they are housed I doubt they ever get below 60 degrees. The building engineer told me that the block heaters run constantly because instant startup is critical.

[Archived]

Let’s just have a brain dump about cold starts. Keep in mind I am only shooting from the lip here so don’t take anything I say with a grain of salt.

In MN there is no such thing as a cold start. At the temps Mark experiences it just won’t start. It has to be warmed up a little. I suspect his is propane because diesel is probably gelled at some of the temps he has experienced so keeping his warm has nothing to do with wear, but a whole lot to do with getting the engine to fire.

But in Northern FL where temps below 32 occur about as often as Tom buying a coach (once or twice a year) I am not convinced keeping the block heater on is needed. If it is needed turn it on when the weather readers go into panic mode and warn you to bring the animals in the house.

I don’t think a warm engine mitigates or reduces wear at all. I think that is the kind of information I would expect from someone that says a warm engine kills germs in the coolant. What wears an engine is a dry start. When the engine sits oil drains from the surfaces. So during the initial few rotations before the oil pump can push oil through the engine you have almost metal to metal contact. Start and run an engine frequently, before the oil can drain down and you get little or no wear. Here’s my cynical posture on the wearing of the engine…….If the oil remains on the surface after shut down, which is does for a while the engine is protected against wear. When does oil flow best? When it is warm. Therefore my cynical brain is telling me if I want the oil to protect the engine longer, don’t warm it up so it runs more freely, but allow it to cool so it is more viscous.

Don’t believe a thing I said because I said the above without the benefit of facts.