Between the pitting and corrosion on my
lifting ram, and the mildly leaking top seal, my E47 was drawing in more water than I assumed. After a solid day of plowing, the following morning, my pump was whirring but not lifting the plow, and just barely angling it. I have an early, 1970's era e47 pump that doesn't have a drain plug provision, so fluid changes are a little inconvenient. Anyway, I flipped and drained the pump and could see lots of slush in the blue low-temp fluid. Later I found the inlet screen filter inside the pump completely clogged with slush/ice, which was the real problem. I've since replaced the pitted/corroded ram with a new one and serviced it with a basic seal kit - no more leaking. I bought this heater as a temporary fix if I ever find myself in or want to prevent that situation again.

If you intend to leave this heater in like me, you HAVE to drill a 21/32" hole in the cap, and tap it for 1/8-27 NPT threads, so you can reinstall the Meyer vent valve, which is a NECESSITY. As with any tapered pipe threads, you need to be careful of how far you are cutting the threads - you don't want the vent valve to bottom out on the cap. I've included pictures of this modification to the top cylinder cap - pay close attention to where I drilled it. Before all this, I tried operating the pump without the vent, and a lot of fluid was being forced out past the upper and lower o-rings of the tank cylinder body.

I keep this turned on every time I'm plowing now. Motor and pump are happy to work with the warm fluid. No snow or ice collect on the pump since it melts off. I would think this item would be an essential for plow guys in Alaska or other areas with very extreme sub-zero temps.

I will update this review as I continue to use this.

EDIT: 5 years later, still going strong. No regrets about installing it.

It works great 👠😌 ☺

What the customers needed

Keeps my Meyer plow pump oil from freezing

This was perfect, just what I needed, no more problems.