iverson
Senior Member
My dad bought this thing surplus from the army in 46 or 47 he loaned it to victory air museum in 73 it was on display till about 90 when property was sold the a-holes broke every thing they could now I got it back!
Whats the tank for on the upper radiator pipes?
I see some copper tubing but i dont see a power cord.
This from Wikipedia:
"Block heaters that run directly on the vehicle's own gasoline or diesel fuel supply are also available; these do not require an external power source. The coolant is heated and circulated, usually by thermosiphon, through the engine and the vehicle's heater core."
That copper line may be a fuel line coming from a manifold on the inner fender that goes to a combustion chamber on the backside of the box that is heated by glow plug ignited combustion. If this is a gas fired block water heater, there is no obvious way for fuel circulation from the tank nor exhaust from the combustion process to be handled like a Southwind hot air heater. A few more photos of that installation and the parts around it would be interesting to see.
I am not sure what that cast iron thing is for but I think has something to do with the fire pump I will take a closer look
It may be the exact opposite, expavr. Could be used to keep the engine from over heating when the fire engine is stationary for long periods pumping at a fire. This is common on modern fire equipment too. You can pump cool water from the fire pump through the heat exchanger to cool the power plant, then the circulating water flows overboard onto the ground. Used this kind of device many times during my career as a firefighter.