The Eastern European way.

[dale560]

They don’t need to argue about ether overseas. Just load up the onboard coal stove. Give it some time away you go.

[vtfireman85]

When my grandfather was very young he worked for Bellows Falls Ice Co, they owned thousands of acres of timber land. Gramp at 6’2 got the little end of a 2 man Diston. They had a number of crawlers, no idea what, that they built a fire under to start in winter. He said it worked very well, but they were awfully smoked up and it was rough on paint. 

[1586 Jeff]

Curious as to what the machine is that they are trying to start.

It looks like a crawler crane to me and any of the crawler cranes (my own included!) have copious amounts of grease and oil oozing from them, making open flame like that quite the fire hazard!!

[dale560]

6 hours ago, 1586 Jeff said:

Curious as to what the machine is that they are trying to start.

It looks like a crawler crane to me and any of the crawler cranes (my own included!) have copious amounts of grease and oil oozing from them, making open flame like that quite the fire hazard!!

It was pictures of a video. Machine was an excavator with bucket backwards so a power shovel I guess. They were using it to clear snow from street.

[Chester5732]

I remember my Grandpa telling of people with Fordsons that had a worm drive of lighting a small fire under the engine when it was real cold. 

[int 504]

In the 70's for pipe jobs we used big berthas for everything. Propped up on the front axle of mack trucks was common. Detroits all had ether tanks hooked up direct with switch in cab. No problems oil on motors was too cold to burn. heard many stories about building fires under things which gave rise to the remark "build a fire under it" whenever something didn't start. 

[snoshoe]

48 minutes ago, int 504 said:

things which gave rise to the remark "build a fire under it" whenever something didn't start. 

And I thought it originated  from trying to get balky mules to move.

[acem]

I've known people who built a fire under a cold diesel engine.

Some diesels have a fuel burner in the intake manifold to war it. Forget the correct term.

A friend worked oilfield. pipeline or something in Alaska. Remote location. They kept one engine running all night. Had quick disconnects on heater hoses outside the vehicles.

Drove up to a vehicle and hooked up the hoses. 

Warmed the engine with a  coolant transfusion and started engine.

Then they had two two preform coolant transfusions with. Continued until everything was running.

Worked good with old fashioned green antifreeze. Would be more difficult now...

[hardtail]

Once the temp dropped it was somewhat common to run diesel equipment 24/7

My uncle was using his TD18 in cold weather years ago and it wouldn't start so he built a fire under the belly pan and went for lunch, oil and crap ignited and he had a small fire when he returned, can still see the extent on the underside of the sheet metal 

[Lazy WP]

I always heard that they used straight antifreeze in a metal drain pan. Light it and slide it under whatever you needed to start. That is what the neighbor did with his old Kenworth cabover. 

[dale560]

4 hours ago, hardtail said:

Once the temp dropped it was somewhat common to run diesel equipment 24/7

My uncle was using his TD18 in cold weather years ago and it wouldn't start so he built a fire under the belly pan and went for lunch, oil and crap ignited and he had a small fire when he returned, can still see the extent on the underside of the sheet metal 

The td9 operators manual had the part numbers for the engine belly heater. It was in place of one of the belly pans I believe it was gasoline fueled and you used a pressure can to supply the flame.

[Chester5732]

53 minutes ago, Lazy WP said:

I always heard that they used straight antifreeze in a metal drain pan. Light it and slide it under whatever you needed to start. That is what the neighbor did with his old Kenworth cabover. 

I never knew antifreeze would burn. 

[dale560]

Just now, Chester5732 said:

I never knew antifreeze would burn. 

Before antifreeze they used alchohol if they could afford it.

[Lazy WP]

4 minutes ago, Chester5732 said:

I never knew antifreeze would burn. 

Glycol will burn. I had a fire pump winterized with straight green antifreeze and lit it up when I sprayed it on a grass/corn field fire. 

[Chester5732]

23 minutes ago, dale560 said:

Before antifreeze they used alchohol if they could afford it.

I knew about that but never heard of alcohol being referred to as antifreeze. 

[db1486]

I've heard many stories about lighting fires under equipment in winter from years ago. I thought that was normal practice from back in the day. I've used a tiger torch in a piece of stovepipe under vehicles/equipment before. My grandpa used to talk about draining the coolant/water out of their car and tractors at the end of the day and heating it on the stove the next day to pour back in. This was before electricity

[ray54]

14 hours ago, Chester5732 said:

I remember my Grandpa telling of people with Fordsons that had a worm drive of lighting a small fire under the engine when it was real cold. 

That was even done out here in what most of you would call a nice day. To get under 20 is not uncommon but single digits is almost never. 

[Diesel Doctor]

14 hours ago, Lazy WP said:

Glycol will burn. I had a fire pump winterized with straight green antifreeze and lit it up when I sprayed it on a grass/corn field fire. 

I heard of antifreeze flashing and I then seen it.

A guy was bleeding the heater core on a hot engine.

Some dripped on the hot manifold and it flashed, big time.

It had both our attention.

 

 

[acem]

Ethylene Glycol is an Alcohol and will burn. 

Flash point 232F

 

[dads706]

Granddad helped build the ALCAN highway back in the 30's. Dad had said that he told him that because of the cold, they never shut the heavy equipment off. Even overnight they kept everything running. Changed oil with the engines running. Opened the drain plug on the bottom and dumped fresh oil in the top. When it ran clean at the bottom, they put the plug back in.

I was in a museum somewhere in the Dakota's (I think) and they had Model A Ford that was either a Dr's vehicle or a mail vehicle. They had installed a small wood stove for heat. 

[midnightman]

Belarus (Kirovet) 4wds that a farmer owned who I worked for in college had a diesel torch attachment on the inside of the frame rail that would blow directly on the oil pan. Used diesel out of the main fuel tank. Didn’t use the 4wds in the winter, so never seen how or if they worked.

[Sask466]

On 2/16/2026 at 6:48 PM, db1486 said:

I've heard many stories about lighting fires under equipment in winter from years ago. I thought that was normal practice from back in the day. I've used a tiger torch in a piece of stovepipe under vehicles/equipment before. My grandpa used to talk about draining the coolant/water out of their car and tractors at the end of the day and heating it on the stove the next day to pour back in. This was before electricity

A local grain hauler that lived very frugally in the early 80’s starting out had a GM Brigadier with 318 Detroit.  Lived in a converted granary with a wood stove.  Brought in the oil and batteries every night.  No power for block heater.  What a chore.

He later got an old Chevy van, and put taps on the engine, that he could hook hoses up to on the truck.  He would start the gas engine van in the morning at let it circulate and warm the truck up.  

 

[1586 Jeff]

Pioneer quick connects on loggers’ pickups is quite common in the Adirondack Mountains for starting logging equipment on remote log landings.

The key to doing is to use the discharge side of the heater core, not the input side.  Less of a thermal shock that way and there is still heat available in the cab of the pickup while waiting for the equipment to warm up enough to start!