cbh148

Tried searching but didn't find anything on this matter. I apologize if this has been covered before.

My cheap Walmart corded heat gun works great, but obviously it has a cord. I prefer to see 200 F at the glow plug (even though I heat both sides of the block as well as the top) before turning the engine over. I have a 3S engine heater but I rarely use it because it struggles to get to 150 F, even after several minutes. The only time I've found some use for it is for break-in, because I ziptie the 3S battery to my buggy's wing so it can drive around with the heater running.

Went to my first indoor race early this winter and ran into some difficulty with getting on the track with the engine preheated. My heat gun tripped the power strip's internal breaker on the pit table right by the track. Decided to see if there were cordless heat guns, and looks like there's a couple (Milwaukee, Bauer, Dewalt, etc). Anybody have any experience with these for nitro engine preheating? Curious to know if they can get the engines up around 200 F.

Nitro5270

Hi
Is that really necessary to preheat the engine to 200 F?
I think a usual heater is sufficient.

cbh148

I wouldn't say it's necessary. For that matter, preheating in general isn't necessary. I just prefer to preheat to about 200 F to avoid the excess wear on the pinch that occurs at lower temps.

WOFTAM

Have you thort about getting a IB Prostart engine heater from England, they are designed to run off a 4s battery.

cbh148

I did consider it, but then I saw figures of 5-10 minutes to get an engine up to 200 F, and while that's better than any of the 3S engine heaters (Protek, SkyRC, Dynamite, etc which are all rebrands), that's still not as fast as I'd prefer.

I ended up purchasing a Bauer cordless heat gun yesterday. If it can't get the engine temps up where I want as fast as I want, I will return it. When it arrives and I get some test runs in, I'll report back.

ohiofordfan

iTrader: (25)

I do the same as you. I bought the dewalt and love it. 200 degrees after 60 seconds.

cbh148

Heck yeah! Good to know it's possible! If the Bauer doesn't cut the mustard, now I know which one to get. Thanks!

J.Whiting

iTrader: (63)

not to start a war but heating engines that fast is not so good.. aluminum case and steel liner... bearings sitting in and aluminum case. aluminum piston and steel rod.. then you have the plastic carb with the aluminum slide.. orings.. all different times to get to xxx temp.. so you heat the case that fast and the sleeve is still not up to par.. you might think it is but its probably 50-80 deg cooler.. the reason for head harmers is to slowly get the complete engine up to temp and that includes the motor mounts and chassis.. everyone does things their way which if fine but a slower heating method will make engines last longer in my opinion.. how many pros or top level drivers do you see using a heat gun? far and few.. but again just my opinion.

Fearo

Head heaters are completely useless in my opinion. At 5-10 degrees C they can hardly get the engine to 40-45 degrees C and that is after 20 minutes, and draining 2000mah out of a lipo.. and yes I have both the ibprostart and the regular cheap one that everybody has. Complete gimmick.

I bought a cheap cordless heat gun and it did the job but had a 4000mah battery and it was empty after 10 minutes, i could only use it 2 maybe 3 times before a charge so I returned it.

I'm looking at the dewalt now, it seems to have the best reviews and they have huge capacity batteries.

ohiofordfan can you give some info on battery life? How much do you use for a full day of practice for example?

UrabusDenis

True - when racing, with my fresh fast engines I put the SkyRC cap on and let it heat for 10+ minutes - I'm waiting for the race anyway, and it's a better way since everything gets properly heated (not as much as the heatgun, but more evenly). However, when I'm on practice days (usually with older engines) and I just want to maximise tracktime, I have an old hairdryer with a cut spray can as an adapter (perfect for the cooling heads, and you don't need to hold it) and it is heated in less than a minute (considerably higher temps than the cap too). I drive the first lap a bit slower on the straights and out of the corners, and let it rip afterwards.

But as you say, to each his own. Pre-heating just makes so much sense, so I always do it.

Roelof

After having several velcro mounting heaters I made my own rock solid one
Homemade engine heater

J.Whiting

iTrader: (63)

i make my own also.. many racers use them here in the midwest.. have no issues getting motor temps over 170.. but then again i did my research on elements to get the correct wattage to get these up to temp on cold days.. again do what you think is best for YOU just saying a gradual warm up process is better to me..

go4broke

iTrader: (28)

I have the dewalt 20v heat gun with 5000mah battery. Just this weekend, I used it to break in an engine. Temp at the track was about 64f. I heated the motor to 175f. Takes 1.5 minutes to get to temp. I was able to do this for about 6 tanks before the battery died. Hope this helps.

xlrsd

iTrader: (7)

any chance you sell these?

stephen_bess

Nailed it. Heat guns produce superficial high head temps but they don’t heat soak the engine.

Drop the lipo powered heaters and get a AC powered one instead. You just don’t find experienced nitro racers using heat guns and it’s because they aren’t as effective as head heaters.