Need help installing heater

keithcoady

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Equipment
Kubota B7800 60 inch mmm, 60 inch normand blower, and 60 inch blade
Dec 11, 2016
110
0
16
Nova Scotia Canada

Dave_eng

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M7040, Nuffield 465
Oct 6, 2012
5,124
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Williamstown Ontario Canada
Let me start by saying I don't know your model of Kubota but at least I may get you checking more things out.

A Princess Auto heater may not be the best place to start.

I have seen posts by tractor owners who installed hot water heaters and did a google search which turned up this company.

http://coupersproducts.com/firestorm-heater-for-kubota-b-series-tractor/

Kubotabooks.com does not have a WSM for your tractor.

Many of the B series tractors, B7100 to name one, did not have a water pump to circulate the water.

Instead they had a "thermosyphon system which relied on the physics of Hot Water rises and cool water falls in a closed system.

These same tractors also had a whistle that blew when the system was overheating and producing steam.

If this is the case with your tractor, in addition to the heater, you need an electric water pump.

Lastly, if your tractor has a dynamo for a charging system, you likely don't have the amps to run additional electrical loads like a heater fan and water pump.

Check out some of these details concerning your B8200.

You can usually install a bigger alternator in lieu of the dynamo.

Further, a small diesel engine in cold weather will not have much if any excess heat to get rid of say through a heater.

A running diesel is moving a large volume of air through the internals of the engine unlike a gasoline engine which has a throttle plate which limits the air flow.

This large volume of cold air cools down many engines almost or completely to the point of not needing a cooling system in very cold Canadian winters.

One alternative is to consider going with a small propane heater.

This is an example which runs on a propane cylinder slightly large than a propane torch tank.

https://www.propaneproducts.com/buddy-and-big-buddy-heaters/mr.-heater-buddy-heater-106.html

Dave
 

85Hokie

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BX-25D ,PTB. Under Armor, '90&'92-B7100HST's, '06 BX1850 FEL
Jul 13, 2013
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Bedford - VA
Dave has a good point - however, I believe the B7800 DOES have a water pump, not the thermosyphon system that the lower B's have (5100,6100,7100) If that was the case - lack of pump, it would be a more difficult chore.

here is the pump:
https://www.colemanequip.com/parts/details/KubotaParts/Water-Pump/16251-73034/

If true - you will need to cut the top radiator hose......tap into that, bring that hot source into your heater and then return it to the radiator.

IF you were to connect to the lower hose .....you would rarely if at all get any heat! The radiator should drop the ambient temps by about 50-80 degrees F. So the top option is the only choice.;)
 

kubotasam

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B2410, B7100dt, B7500,Woods BH750,Landpride 2660RFM, Tiller, B2781 Snowblower
Apr 26, 2010
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Alfred Maine
There is a small hose that comes out of the water pump or water pump housing call the "thermostat bypass hose". The heater gets connected by cutting into this bypass hose.
 

keithcoady

Member

Equipment
Kubota B7800 60 inch mmm, 60 inch normand blower, and 60 inch blade
Dec 11, 2016
110
0
16
Nova Scotia Canada
Thanks for the replies much appreciated.

Yes my machine has a water pump and there is a small hose on one side of the pump.

So if I tap into the large hose going to the top of the radiator with one hose and tap into the small hose from the water pump with the other hose that would provide me with a proper loop?

Thanks again,

Keith
 

85Hokie

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Jul 13, 2013
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113
Bedford - VA
Keith,

you will need to take from the "thermostat bypass hose" as kubotasam mentioned and then bring it back to that same hose. In other words cut the hose, take a 90 elbow off into the heater core, then from core back into another 90 elbow back into the other cut side of the hose.
 

keithcoady

Member

Equipment
Kubota B7800 60 inch mmm, 60 inch normand blower, and 60 inch blade
Dec 11, 2016
110
0
16
Nova Scotia Canada
Hokie, yes that's exactly what I needed/wanted to know. Thank you so much. Sounds so simple when you get the info :) Why didn't I think of that :( lol

Anyway, off to the store to get some fittings and hoses.

Many thanks - snow coming Monday night so time to get this done before that hits.

Keith
 

Dave_eng

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M7040, Nuffield 465
Oct 6, 2012
5,124
931
113
Williamstown Ontario Canada
Here is the propane heater, legal in Canada and made to provide compact heat in small places.
https://www.amazon.ca/Mr-Heater-F23...53350&sr=8-1&keywords=Mr.+Heater+Buddy+Heater



You have got a lot of good advice here today.

Thinking back many years having done what you are wanting to do on a Nuffield 465 iron monster, build cab, got heater from the rear of an old luxury Mercedes and proceeded to imagine how warm my cab would be after blowing snow from an open station tractor for years.

I could get no hot water going to the heater core.

One conclusion I reached was that the core needed to be below the height of the top of the rad or it just became air locked. In the years since I became an expert in hydronic heating system designs. In those systems you could circulate water up many stories from a boiler in the basement. The critical element was "fill pressure." Think of a garden hose and you are climbing a very tall telecommunications tower. at some point water would no longer come out the end of the hose. Gravity has overcome the pressure in the hose. In the hydronic heating system, the system is filled and held at a predetermined pressure by means of a pressure regulating valve from the domestic water supply. In this way, even when off the system remains full of fluid. With your tractor, when it is cold there is no pressure to hold the water in an elevated heater core. This is why you need to have the core lower than the top of the rad.

On my newest tractor, an M7040, the heater is below the seat and then ducted to higher up places.

Lastly, and certainly not applicable on your Kubota, was the thermostat was a unique design in that as it opened flow to the rad it shut off flow to a small recir bypass line. The solution was a piece of broom handle forced into the bypass from inside the thermostat housing.

I suggest you do your install in steps. Use long lengths of rubber heater hose and connect into your system as suggested by others. Run the hose temporarily into your cab and find how high you can have the heater and still get heat from the engine. Run the electrical in a temp fashion first.

The goal to find out if you have enough engine heat available right from the start. If you don't then the heater is still in a condition that you could return it to Princess Auto.

I used rubber hose for years without a problem but do agree the concern expressed by others is very good advice.

I am suggesting another way to have protection from a rubber hose leak or rupture and that is from using ENT flexible plastic electrical conduit.



Home depot sells some smaller sizes, electrical wholesale places would have larger sizes. Slide it over your hoses, both to protect them, and contain any sudden leak.

Look forward to reading an update.

Dave
 
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eserv

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Equipment
BX24, A1000 Kubota Generator
May 27, 2009
2,110
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63
Hardisty, Alberta
And yet many tractors, Kubota's included have the heater core in the roof of the cab and work just fine!
 

keithcoady

Member

Equipment
Kubota B7800 60 inch mmm, 60 inch normand blower, and 60 inch blade
Dec 11, 2016
110
0
16
Nova Scotia Canada
Thanks so much for the replies and advice. Just got home with hoses and fittings so hopefully I can at least get things started today.

Not much free time this week but hoping to get this hooked up and at least try it out asap.

Once again, thanks

Keith
 

85Hokie

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Equipment
BX-25D ,PTB. Under Armor, '90&'92-B7100HST's, '06 BX1850 FEL
Jul 13, 2013
10,335
2,162
113
Bedford - VA
Thanks so much for the replies and advice. Just got home with hoses and fittings so hopefully I can at least get things started today.

Not much free time this week but hoping to get this hooked up and at least try it out asap.

Once again, thanks

Keith
make sure you post some pictures!:)

others who want to do this.......can follow your steps!;):)
 

Dave_eng

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M7040, Nuffield 465
Oct 6, 2012
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Williamstown Ontario Canada
And yet many tractors, Kubota's included have the heater core in the roof of the cab and work just fine!
I would welcome an explanation of how it is done.

I don't doubt what you say I just don't understand the physics behind doing it.

When I was first installing the heater in my Nuffield, I starting asking owners and mechanics about mounting height and no one seemed to have an answer that made sense for high ones.

Can you point me to a Kubota model that would have a WSM in Kubotabooks.com with a high heater?
Dave
 
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eserv

Well-known member

Equipment
BX24, A1000 Kubota Generator
May 27, 2009
2,110
112
63
Hardisty, Alberta
All "M" tractors up to the GX models have the heater in the roof. All tractors that I can think of in the 60's up to the late 90's have their heater in the roof. None of the tractors in kubotabooks even have cabs except the M100-135GX and their heater is under the seat
 
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eserv

Well-known member

Equipment
BX24, A1000 Kubota Generator
May 27, 2009
2,110
112
63
Hardisty, Alberta
It works like a syphon. once the system is full the weight of water going down equals the weight going up so it flows freely. In fact better than freely because the hot water going up is lighter per volume than the colder water going down.
 

eserv

Well-known member

Equipment
BX24, A1000 Kubota Generator
May 27, 2009
2,110
112
63
Hardisty, Alberta
In old multistory homes with hydroponic heating they had to put restrictions in the plumbing to the rads in the upper flours otherwise the heat all went up to those rads. and those systems didn't use pumps, just the fact that the hot water would thermosyphon upwards
 

Dave_eng

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M7040, Nuffield 465
Oct 6, 2012
5,124
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Williamstown Ontario Canada
I can easily send you a WSM for a Kubota with the heater in the roof. Say a M108?
I would like to see the WSM.

I looked on both Kubota Books and Messicks.

M100GX, M120GX, M126GX nothing I could find other than the air intake and filter as on my M7040.

david (dot)petepiece(at)sympatico(dot)ca

Dave
 
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