Quote:
Originally Posted by bhazard
Im beginning to think its the way its installed thats killing it. I have it tapped in line with the heater hose going into the heater core, rather than having it tee off the lower rad hose. It doesnt quite get the low-to-high thing it supposed to, but I wouldnt think that would kill the heater *that* quickly.
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From the bottom of
this page
Quote:
5 MOST COMMON FAILURE CAUSES FROM INSTALLATION OR OPERATOR ERRORS- Pre-heater plugged in while engine is running
- Air not bled from system (run engine until maximum system pressure is reached before pluggin it in).
- Plugged in before it is installed to see if it gets hot (trust us -- IT WILL!)
- Tank style heater installed in the wrong physical location.
- Tank style heater not connected to the right locations.
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And from
this pdf published by the manufacturer.
Quote:
- Improper Installation
- Trapped air, preventing siphoning action
- Water too low in the radiator
- Coolant frozen
- Car heater contol closed
- Antifreeze solution too strong
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It's no accident that 'trapped air/incompletely bled system' are near the top of each list. I'd have put it at #1. If a pocket of air gets trapped in the tank heater, you can burn the element out in seconds.
Look at where the heater hoses on your vehicle connect to the engine. One comes off the engine at a significantly lower point that the other. That is the one you want to cut into if you're connecting both ends to the tank heater rather than running a separate hose from 1) a tee added to the lower radiator hose or 2) from an engine block drain port. Adding a hose (from lower radiator hose or block drain) makes it much easier to get all the air bled out of the system!
While you're looking at heater hoses, look at where they connect to the heater core and/or how they run through the firewall. If they run/connect side to side, you're done looking. If their is an upper heater hose and a lower heater hose, make sure the lower heater hose is the same one that connects lower on the engine. If it is not, the heater hoses are
probably reversed - which makes it much harder to get all of the air bled out of the system.
Every part of the tank heater should be lower than the lowest hose connection at the heater core.
Last but not least, ideally the arrow on the side of the tank heater should point straight up at the zenith. If your installation is going to vary from perfection in this matter, let the error be less than 12*.