Re: [biofuel] inline glow plug for SVO heating?
i would be worried about that glow plug getting too hot for sure! i think that they draw about 9-12 amps per plug, and that's a lot of current to go thru a dimmer switch. if it's a dimmer from a house circuit i suspect that it wouldn't hold up. that kind of current is equivalent to something like 1000-1500 watts load on a 120V circuit. (it's the amps that's the problem in sizing electrics, in case you don't know.) i doubt that a normal dimmer is rated that high. and if you want to see how hot a glow plug will get then you can hook a positive wire from the battery to the wire terminal and holding it in a pair of pliers ground the case to some bare metal on the vehicle. it doesn't take long at all for that thing to very literally GLOW! they get red and even white hot. according to this page: http://www.forparts.com/bosglowplugs.htm they can get to 1000-1100 C! so unless you have VERY careful control i would say there's a very real chance of having problems with the fuel being too hot and melting the rubber hoses. this sounds like an interesting low tech type thing, but extreme caution is called for, seems to me. this page also shows similiar temp ranges: http://www.ngk.de/Sheathed_type_glow_plugs.691.0.html and if it was me, i'd try to go with a vw glow plug, since they last forever, as compared to the ford or gm ones which i've replaced many times over the years. seems every year or two they need changing out. good luck, but please be careful! i'd love to hear the results if you decide to proceed with it. erik --- Joshua [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello! Well, we are converting two diesel school buses to SVO. Both are International, one 6.9l and the other a 7.2l. Our conversions work relatively well, but we are adding an extra heating element, and that is a GLOW PLUG, installed in a brass T directly in the fuel line, just before it goes into the transfer pump. Has anyone ever done this? We are slightly concerned about the fuel getting TOO hot. We of course have a switch to turn the glow plug on and off when we want, and even a three way dimmer knob to adjust the amount of power going to the glow plug, but we don't have a whole lot of experience with glow plugs. Does anyone know exactly how hot a glow plug gets? Our only concern is melting the rubber fuel hose, but I am skeptical of that. The only other concern is that we are using teflon thread tape to keep the glow plug fitting tight, and there has been some concern expressed about the diesel fuel disolving that, or the heat causing it to degrade? We have seen one person at the National Rainbow Gathering who had a glow plug installed in a similar way (except we threaded it in, and he's got it JB Welded!). This is where we got the idea, but I am interested in any input anyone has in this concept. Anyway, thank you so much! Cheers, Joshua __ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70 http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Re: [biofuel] inline glow plug for SVO heating?
Erik Lane wrote: i would be worried about that glow plug getting too hot for sure! i think that they draw about 9-12 amps per plug, and that's a lot of current to go thru a dimmer switch. if it's a dimmer from a house circuit i suspect that it wouldn't hold up. that kind of current is equivalent to something like 1000-1500 watts load on a 120V circuit. (it's the amps that's the problem in sizing electrics, in case you don't know.) i doubt that a normal dimmer is rated that high. Your typical triac phase-shaping dimmer will not work on DC, this can't be what they're using. If it turns out that they need a control, I could make a simple one. and if you want to see how hot a glow plug will get then you can hook a positive wire from the battery to the wire terminal and holding it in a pair of pliers ground the case to some bare metal on the vehicle. it doesn't take long at all for that thing to very literally GLOW! they get red and even white hot. according to this page: http://www.forparts.com/bosglowplugs.htm 120 watts on the small surface area of a glow plug is probably too much for oil. I'm guessing about 30 watts would be decent. -- -- Martin Klingensmith http://infoarchive.net/ http://nnytech.net/ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[biofuel] inline glow plug for SVO heating?
Hello! Well, we are converting two diesel school buses to SVO. Both are International, one 6.9l and the other a 7.2l. Our conversions work relatively well, but we are adding an extra heating element, and that is a GLOW PLUG, installed in a brass T directly in the fuel line, just before it goes into the transfer pump. Has anyone ever done this? We are slightly concerned about the fuel getting TOO hot. We of course have a switch to turn the glow plug on and off when we want, and even a three way dimmer knob to adjust the amount of power going to the glow plug, but we don't have a whole lot of experience with glow plugs. Does anyone know exactly how hot a glow plug gets? Our only concern is melting the rubber fuel hose, but I am skeptical of that. The only other concern is that we are using teflon thread tape to keep the glow plug fitting tight, and there has been some concern expressed about the diesel fuel disolving that, or the heat causing it to degrade? We have seen one person at the National Rainbow Gathering who had a glow plug installed in a similar way (except we threaded it in, and he's got it JB Welded!). This is where we got the idea, but I am interested in any input anyone has in this concept. Anyway, thank you so much! Cheers, Joshua Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70 http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
