Seeing the Frantz was cooler to the touch in cold weather I picked up some 6 inch pipe insulation, with scissors and clear packing tape I made this cover, insulation factor is R-4.3
Frantz winter cover
- Thread starter jimmyjamesndt
- Start date
Ralph Wood says Frantz sold a heated cover called the Alaska Package many years ago, so this is my attempt to make something that will work, I bought a 60 watt battery pad heater for cheap, I am going to leave the top open for now to take temperature readings, once that is done I will seal the top with insulation.
I had it plugged in for a little over two hours, temperature this am was a few degrees below freezing, the heat pad itself can get up to 180-210F in spots, the Frantz can was anywhere from 80-120F, 60F on the far unheated side, so I think it is working good, I sealed off the top with insulated wrap, interesting to see what it will do in severe cold, I may have to wait until next year for that though.
The insulating wrap is rated for 180F, some areas the bubbles flattened out from the heat so I made a new cover and used 250F aluminized tape on the inside of the cover that contacts the heat pad.
I picked up a smaller pad heater, 1-1/2" X 5", 25 watts, I've read that as a guide you should use 15 to 30 watts per quart of oil for these pads.
