Plastic oil tank heater.

[Valv]

I don't know where to post this, other Admins can move it wherever they like.

I have a John Deere skidsteer loader which is plagued by poor hydraulic performance in very cold weather. The oil tank is made of plastic, I cannot use any magnetic heater or similar to warm up oil before use.

I do use loader for such short times in winter, oil won't have time to flow properly, even using Low Viscosity type.

I thought of epoxying a magnetic heater to the tank but I am afraid of it getting too hot and start weakening the tank even if installed in a position where there's always oil.

What everybody thinks ?

[sparcebag]

Could try pipe heating tape.tape it on,only problem it takes along time to trasnfer heat,Roof edge ice dam heat coils (tape) may work better,I've no experience with it.

Both are low heat transfers and would need to be plugged in overnight as least.

[JeffB]

Instead of pugging mine in when I want to use it I use a large nipco type forced air kerosene heater to blow hot air into the engine compartment. My heater is a 250,000 btu heater and it takes about 15 minutes for it to warm the whole machine up. I put the heater about 6-8 ft away from the skid steer and blow right into the engine compartment. Works great but don't leave unattended for risk of fire, and put your hand on the skid steer once in a while to make sure your not getting it to hot. I also limit some of the airflow into radiator and engine compartment with a piece of rubber partially over the radiator screen.

[Markerboy1]

You may want to look at a battery heater/blanket that can be wrapping around the tank. We use them on our emergency generators batteries. They make several sizes and wattages and are designed to wrap around plastic. We purchased them from the local auto parts store. If blanket type heater were too small, I would look at a low watts element heater you could place in the take thru the breather or filler cap

[morpho]

i'd look at a bayonet style heater you can add or screw into the fill hole i did a quick search and came up with a few made for plastic tanks...

[wishing for walleyes]

Have you tried atf fluid?

[Valv]

Have you tried atf fluid?

Not recommended and not suggested for hydraulic use in a skidsteer loader.

[Scott Stein]

i have a Bobcat skidloader and i just let it warm up for a good 20-30 mins (diesel) not sure what urs is but id let er warm up for a while and see if it helps or use the KNIPCO method i bet that would work too!