The following was published in CCJ's Equipment Maintenance Toolkit, 8th edition, sponsored by Valvoline Heavy Duty. CCJ's Equipment Maintenance Toolkit is a complementary industry resource, courtesy of our partnership with Valvoline Heavy Duty. You can download the entire Toolkit here.
Maintaining diesel particulate filters can be a tough and costly battle. It’s even tougher when you don’t know exactly how much money you’re spending to keep DPFs up and running.
That’s what coolant heater manufacturing company Webasto discovered following a poll they conducted on DPF maintenance.
“It was obvious to us after seeing the responses to the poll that although every operator knew what a DPF was, very few of them had any idea of what it was costing them to maintain that DPF a year,” said Duane Bratvold, western regional business development manager for Webasto Thermo & Comfort North America.
[Related: DPF maintenance starts with the engine oil]
Webasto is one of a handful of manufacturers that produce diesel-fueled coolant heaters which pre-heat the engine by warming coolant and then circulating it throughout the block to bring it up to roughly 150 degrees before cranking the engine. Pre-heating lowers DPF maintenance, drops emissions, reduces engine wear by heating up engine oil prior to starting and improves fuel economy by eliminating cold-start idling. Eberspacher and Victor Industries are two other companies that market coolant heaters which are gaining popularity as fleets seek to increase efficiency and improve emissions.
