Getting down in the temps

[ramhunter9]

Well its getting colder .. not Mopar1973Man cold ..lol but cold nuff

Night temps in the 20's so I am now plugin in the truck . One plug runs 2x battery blankets , trans heater , oil heater , block heater and fuel heater . Warm as a bug in a rug , but my electric bill will be high ..lol

Anyone else plugin in ?

 

[glass3222]

I remember plugging in when I was in Fairbanks Alaska. -40 tends to freeze about everything lol

 

[ramhunter9]

wow -40 .. screw that

 

[rennaissanceman]

I think I may be plugging in too, it might get down to 60 tonight...

 

[glass3222]

wow -40 .. screw that

The coldest I remember seeing while I was there was -67 F, and that did not include the wind chill

 

[JP03]

not yet but i will be soon its usually low to high 30's in the mornings

 

[ramhunter9]

I think I may be plugging in too, it might get down to 60 tonight...

Aww thats sweet you have a hybrid Hemi .. cute lil thing

 

[EJM05]

I use my remote start in the morning which turns on my heated seat, heated steering wheel, and defroster. Oooohhhh I love my truck. All it needs is a cummins.

 

[schroederMP]

Plugged it in the other day just to make sure it works...but thats it.

I prob will tomorrow tho, supposed to get down to 19 degrees

 

[Mopar1973Man]

Geez you bunch of wussies...

Block heater is only required below 0*F and people suggest using it below +32*F. So easy to figure out. If the block heater uses 750 watts every hour just muliply the 750 by how many hours it plugghed in...

750 x 8 hours = 6,000 watts/hours or 6kwh...

So like here in Idaho it roughly 6 cents a kilowatt hour...

6kwh x 6 cents = $0.36 for 8 hour of operation for 1 night.

Now for the month...

$0.36 x 30 days = $10.80 for the month to keep your truck warmed up 8 hours every night with a 750 watt block heater.

Personally I just use my high idle and never bother plugging in. This way the only loss is may about a extra quart of fuel gettting some heat generated in the block at start up time. Takes less than 2-3 minutes to go from -xx*F to 100*F coolant temp and get rolling...

Like I said wussies...

Oh just thinking of that there is another reason for why I don't plug in either since I'm on a battery powered house 750 watts of block heater can make a huge difference of how long my batteries stay up if the power goes out and the last thing I want to do is run outside in the night to unplug it.

 

[Stangshcky12]

Haven't plugged any of our trucks in for awhile, only trouble we've ha was cause of dead batteries

 

[schroederMP]

Geez you bunch of wussies...

Block heater is only required below 0*F and people suggest using it below +32*F. So easy to figure out. If the block heater uses 750 watts every hour just muliply the 750 by how many hours it plugghed in...

750 x 8 hours = 6,000 watts/hours or 6kwh...

So like here in Idaho it roughly 6 cents a kilowatt hour...

6kwh x 6 cents = $0.36 for 8 hour of operation for 1 night.

Now for the month...

$0.36 x 30 days = $10.80 for the month to keep your truck warmed up 8 hours every night with a 750 watt block heater.

Personally I just use my high idle and never bother plugging in. This way the only loss is may about a extra quart of fuel gettting some heat generated in the block at start up time. Takes less than 2-3 minutes to go from -xx*F to 100*F coolant temp and get rolling...

Like I said wussies...

Oh just thinking of that there is another reason for why I don't plug in either since I'm on a battery powered house 750 watts of block heater can make a huge difference of how long my batteries stay up if the power goes out and the last thing I want to do is run outside in the night to unplug it.

Good info...thanks

 

[tmerritt530]

My neighbor's fords caught fire from leaving the block heaters on for four days straight. In the middle of the night both trucks were on fire with thirteen foot flames almost caught the house had we not called 911 could have killed them all.

Dont park too close to the house!

 

[Mopar1973Man]

My neighbor's fords caught fire from leaving the block heaters on for four days straight. In the middle of the night both trucks were on fire with thirteen foot flames almost caught the house had we not called 911 could have killed them all.

Dont park too close to the house!

I know the answer to that... Simple the owner didn't inspect the heater cord for damage nor kept the plug prongs in good condition. I've seen it on my own truck where go in the shop and pull the cord and sure enough the heater cord is warm to the touch. Well if you look at the brass prong they oxidize and turn resistant to electricity so that become warm. So take some fine sandpaper and clean the prongs and the problem goes away.

 

[WhiteExpress]

You can buy a decent HD Timer so you only have the heaters on for a like 15 minutes at a time every hour (keep it warm) or just come on solid for like 2 hours before you leave in the AM.

We just installed a 1000W heater on my old (now my buddies) '03 TDI. He had it on for 2 hours this AM and it was at operating temp when he started it this AM.
(Mind you, that's a 1.9L Diesel). It was in the low 20s last night.