Heat storage system (Prius-like insulated coolant reservoir)

[user removed]

I would rather have the ability to heat the coolant in the tank with household current in the case where the vehicle sat long enough for the tank to cool off completely. A hot water heater element would work fine with household current. I also like Ryland's idea of a coil of copper tubing inside the insulated vessel.

regards
Mech

[Ryland]

Another reason that I see for having just a copper coil in the heat storage tank is that thermal expansion of the coolant is going to over fill your over flow bottle next to the radiator if you have 10 litters/2.6 gallons more fluid in a system that is designed for around 3 litters total.

[Demolite]

The wax would eliminate the possibility of a bad leakage in case something goes wrong. How much does it expand when it melts? Heat conducting might be a problem also, the coil might have to have fins, and I'm not sure about how evenly the heat spreads in the wax. The heat needs to move fast, if it takes too long the efficiency will suffer.

Coolant expansion might be a problem. With the pump system the tank would have been almost non-pressurised and it would be isolated from the engine when pumps were not operating.

Electric heating is an option and could be wired to the existing block heater wiring. The system must be operational and not hinder the heating system even if there is no electricity available though.

[Frank Lee]

If there's an existing block heater I don't see the point of heating up all that extra with electricity.

[Piwoslaw]

Keeping Engine Coolant Hot
Phase-change material for down-sizing cooling system
Schatz heat battery

[user removed]

Originally Posted by Ryland

Another reason that I see for having just a copper coil in the heat storage tank is that thermal expansion of the coolant is going to over fill your over flow bottle next to the radiator if you have 10 litters/2.6 gallons more fluid in a system that is designed for around 3 litters total.

Larger bottle or just lower cold coolant level. As long as the hose is not above the coolant level you have no problem.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

If there's an existing block heater I don't see the point of heating up all that extra with electricity.

Counterpoint;

If you heat the coolant in an insulated container, you will retain that heat for longer periods of time. A normal block heater is fighting the heat being radiated to the atmosphere. At 40 below (doesn't matter centigrade and fahrenheit are the same at 40 below).

Even if you have the luxury of a heated garage, insulated heat retention vessel will be much better at preventing heat and electrical energy losses.

I really like this idea, especially where it really gets cold, like places where your temp gauge drops to dead cold in 15 minutes. I would like to try it on my Maxima but there are space issues and the heater hoses are buried behind the rear cylinder bank. Hehe maybe the F150 if I keep it. Aluminum blocks really cool off quick, so the F150, which is cast iron won't cool off as fast as the Max which is all aluminum.

regards
Mech

[rmay635703]

I've often wondered if I could steal a prius bottle and retrofit it into my cobalt, heck retrofit one or two into every vehicle.

Not sure how I would coordinate its operation though.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Counterpoint;

If you heat the coolant in an insulated container, you will retain that heat for longer periods of time. A normal block heater is fighting the heat being radiated to the atmosphere. At 40 below (doesn't matter centigrade and fahrenheit are the same at 40 below).

Even if you have the luxury of a heated garage, insulated heat retention vessel will be much better at preventing heat and electrical energy losses.

Well in my case I have a grille block and an engine blanket so the engine compartment is kind of like an upside down, open box. In the case of the F150 the engine "blanket" is 1" foil faced foam, foil facing down. Couple that with me only plugging it in for an hour before use, and I doubt there is just too much electricity and heat being wasted in addition to the benefit of not adding weighty, voluminous equipment to the vehicle.

That said, I like the storage Thermos but feel it is more efficiently used as a means of utilizing waste heat, not a place to pump more electrical energy into.

[user removed]

And it would compliment everything you are presently using, either as a totally passive system or with outside additional heating capacity. Personally I like the simplest passive system.

regards
Mech