Brrrr Rabbit!

[dreadnought]

It's supposed to be 9 degrees here Friday night which is unheard of in the sunny south, (at least since global warming). I drained the water tank on the bus but am worried about water left in the pipes. Anything wrong with running the webasto to keep the temp above freezing?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Bill, That is your best solution. I would urge you to refill the holding tank.

The cold spell will be over before water in the tank warms up a little, but during sudden drops in temperature that huge mass of relatively warm water gives up heat to the water bay keeping it above freezing even though outside temps drop into single digits.

In a cold barn with cracks in the siding that I could see through I used a 500 watt cube heater set facing the water tank in the bay, and an electric space heater set on the kitchen countertop (usually at the 500 watt setting, but also the 1000 watt or 1500 watt settings depending on outside temperature) and never had an issue with freezing down as low as extended periods below minus 20F.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

9 below without the wind up here. Great feeling to know I have synthetic oil in the Dodge:)

[merle&louise]

Joe,

Is synthetic oil better than regular oil in cold environments? If so, why?

What about in hot environments?

I use synthetic because Newell recommends it, but boy it sure is costly! I was just wondering if it was worth it.:confused:

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Long before synthetics were common for cars and trucks I was using a semi-synthetic in my planes.

For over 30 years I have used it and do know this for sure. In bitter cold temperatures when a pre-heat was not available the oil would still flow and the engine turned over easier.

Conversely, when it was very hot, the oil maintained its viscosity, so much so that my oil consumption went from one quart in 6 hours with straight weight non synthetic AD 50 weight oil, to 10 hours or more with 15W50 oil.

I will never see enough miles to know if it was worth while, but I run nothing but synthetic in two of my cars. I am not and will not use it in the bus because I cannot bring myself to run my oil past 5000 miles. I will never be able to wear out my bus engine so I'll stick with the cheap stuff.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Ditto Jon I too would not run it in my Cat cause it held 13 gal and I was on 10000 intervals already. Don't even want to think what 13 gal of syn. oil would cost. For the trans and rear-end however it is different and I know you agree and run it there.

I will never forget the first time I got in a semi on a very cold morn with syn in the trans. With the old lube you would literally have to grab the stick to move it with both hands and with syn in there it is like shifting on a 70 degree day regardless of how cold it is outside. The rear end undoubtedly experiences the same benefits.

Jon I hope you are recycling that practically fresh oil you are pulling at 5000 into that gravel buggy:o

Tuga it is worth it. How long do they tell you to go between changes 12000, 15000 miles? A local competitor of mine has a fleet of trucks with Cummins engines running it for 20000 miles between changes without incident.

[merle&louise]

Joe,

They recommend changing oil and filter every 15,000 miles, and that is what I do. I have done this 15,000 mile oil change for the last 17 years with Mobil Delvac 1 synthetic without any problems. So I guess it is o.k.

From a cost stand point 1 gallon of Mobil Delvac 1 synthetic 5W40 is about $25/gallon from my jobber. So it costs me about $200 per oil change not counting filters.

Are there any companies that can clean the synthetic oil and re-use it. Or does the sulfuric acid mix in with the old oil?

[tpr]

Dreadnought

I run my Aqua Hot all winter and have for years. Here in Pennsylvania it's cold from December through March and I've never had a problem. It eats up fuel but that's the price for piece of mind.

[dalej]

tpr,

I used to just leave the Wabasto on in the winters when we are here. I have since went to two little electric heaters that work out nice.

I used to like the fact that I kept my Wabasto in good running order, it would run once or twice a day to keep the water bay and the water heaters and water pump bay warm. Now that we went through 2008, I don't like buying fuel. Probably enough said on fuel prices.

I do turn the Wabasto on now and then but it's easy to forget with those little heaters doing the job.

[Yankee802]

Anyone know the average fuel consumption for the Webasto?