As you all know, I'mbrand new to the diesel world and I have a question. When I plug in my truck for all night, does that heater have a thermostat on it? If I leave it on all night, will it hurt anything?<br><br>Thanks<br>Grampaw :'(

The block heater is regulated, and it is OK to plug it in all night.<br>

Thanks<br><br>Grampaw Bill

The block heater is not on a thermostat. When you plug it in, it runs constantly. 750 watts all night long will cost you some Grampaw. Buy a timer and run for about 2 hours prior to starting, and you should be fine except in the most frigid of weather.<br><br>-Tom-

Depends how cold it is as to how long you leave it plugged in or turned on with a timer.<br>Up here when its -30F or colder and the truck is outside, I leave it plugged in all night and I also have an interior heater that is on a timer that come on 2 hours before I plan to leave...that way the seats are not rock hard and everything is not so cold.<br>I see it as cheap insurance on an expensive truck in the winter. These trucks are awful hard to start if left sitting for several hours in the REAL COLD weather. :o

JUST PLUG IT IN AND FORGET ABOUT IT

If you pay 12 cents per Kwh and run the block heater for 10 hours per night, it will cost you a whopping 27.38 per month. I would happily pay that to get into a vehicle where the heater works instantly even if there were NO benefits to the engine.

Folks that is cheap insurance, less than a dollar a day.

Thanks to our Grubernor Grayout Davis and his secret electric purchase contract, that electricity will cost us in Calif. 28cents per KwHr. with all the surcharges. Gotta use a timer, pay for the timer in a week on savings. :'(

Wow Sierra Phil,<br><br>Didn't know how good we have it in our little corner of the world, currently paying less than 9 cents per Kwh.<br>.<br>Feeling fortunate.

Nevada, <br><br>We have the crookedist Grubernor in the country. Don't know how anyone could be worse. &quot;If you pay you can play&quot;. Contract are awarded just days after donations to his campaign fund. <br><br>There is one corner of Calif. that is not effected, South Lake Tahoe area. They are serviced by the Nevada utility that supplies the Casinos. They get the cheap electric rates you do. [laugh]

the reason why california is paying .28 per kWh is it has to repay British Columbia for non payment of billions to BC Hydro and deregulation.

Phil?????<br><br>Do you need the block heater in Cal??<br><br>Or are you just stating that electric power is really expensive in your state???<br><br>I wouldn't think it would get cold enough in Cal to need to plug in would it??

Granpaw just plug it in and sleep tight at night. It is so much easier on the truck. :D

tool, Had my heat plugged in for 75 minutes this a.m. The temp was down to 30 degrees where I live. We have seen temp down to 10 degs F here. I was at Tahoe (6200' elev) when the temp has been -12 degs F. Truckee was -20 that time. We have several highways closed now until after the spring thaw. They have passes as high as 10,000 ft. Remember California has mountains that are higher than any in the Colorado Rockies.

Gotcha, ;)<br><br>It must be beautiful there, I love the mountains. <br><br>I guess if I were to live in Calfiornia I'd go fo the warm climate.......... and the beach babes! ;D ;D ;D ;D

You can live live in the mountains as I do and be on the coast driving in 2 to 2 1/2 hours. [laugh] [laugh] San Diego to Oregon is a 12 to 14 hour drive, two days if towing.

What do you guys do at work or when you go to a movie? Do they have posts in the parking lot with outlets? I know some of you guys don't see more than 5 or 10 deg. F as a daytime high, in the depths of winter. <br><br>Even in the moderate winters we have, the coolant in my rig cools off very quickly when I shutdown (or idling for that matter). <br><br>Just wondering.

Gotta Astrostarter on my rig. Set it for cold start (- 15 C or colder), and she'll run for a half hour ever couple of hours. Keeps the fluids toasty. I will plug it in at work, but I just park it in the garage at home. Haven't had any problems.

Grampaw, I don't believe parking for 2-4 hours at a time is long enough for all the fluids to drain down even if it does lose all the heat. I don't think you have to worry about a dry start. 8-12 hours at work might constitute a start up at lunch or a plug in concern. This weekend I noticed if I plugged in a couple hours prior to using the truck, the intake heater cycled for a while. When I plugged in when I returned with the engine warm and left it for the night, the next morning, the grid heater was hardly needed. Oh, we had a foot and a half of snow and got below 0 overnight.

What do you guys do at work or when you go to a movie? Do they have posts in the parking lot with outlets? I know some of you guys don't see more than 5 or 10 deg. F as a daytime high, in the depths of winter.

Even in the moderate winters we have, the coolant in my rig cools off very quickly when I shutdown (or idling for that matter).
Just wondering.


I cycle the grid heaters two times when starting after the truck has set for several hours unplugged in cold weather.

me4osu, If you were in Fairbanks, AK at the university the parking lots have outlets for plugging in before you go to class. If you go shopping at Fred Meyers you leave the engine running with your doors locked, better have an extra set of keys. [laugh] [laugh]

I bought my truck in Fairbanks AK, I thought the dealer told me it had a 1200W block haeter. Wonder if he was wrong or I was fooled. I don't believe mine is thermastactcly controled.

I've got mine on a plug in timer set for about 2 hours before run time. When I leave the truck for short periods of time I leave it running on high idle(set at about 1100RPM)

It has been very warm in my neck of the woods 30's and 40's,
I may have to drive south to go snowmachining.

brownpike, Some salesmen will shovel it out waist deep. Wife had a cousin there in Palmer, AK in 2000. He retired and moved to their cabin west of Houston. All CTD come with the same heater, no thermostat, I believe it is 750 watt.<br><br>We had one storm move through and dump wet snow in the High Sierra 3 weeks ago. Some ski areas are open, I've not gone yet as conditions are so poor. A light storm is due tomorrow night with a forcast of some snow. Our lowest temp so far has been 29*. I plug mine in when I get up. Come in and have breakfast, 3 cups of java, check my e-mail, then get ready for any appointments and start her up after an hour. By that time the air temp is in the mid 40s.

Fortunately I live in a warmer part of the world, ;D ;D but was wondering how cold the temps need to be before I should worry about plugging in. Our low temps might hit freezing, for only a couple of hours or until the sun comes up. My guess is that is not cold enough to worry about, but just checking<br>(we do suffer in the summer with temps in the 100teens or more [yuk] [yuk]). Only 4.5 inches (yes four and a half inches) of rain since April 2001.

Well, around here, we've been seeing temps drop into the mid teens at night (15 to 18) for lows.<br>I usually start the truckup around 7:30am when the temps have climbed up around the low 20's.<br>I have a timer set up and comes on around 4:30am.<br>However, more often that not, I forget to plug the truck into the timer! ::)<br>So far, the truck has started with out problems. Even when I forget to plug her in!<br>At work, I used to be able to plugin inside the parking garage. <br>However, since I lifted my truck, I can no longer fit inside of that parking garage and I now must use the other parking garage with taller clearances. <br>However, there are no plugs!<br>We will see this winter how things work out. <br>We havent had any *Really* cold days yet. <br><br>Rich

Horse Hauler, I grew up in AZ, age 5 thru age 25, lived in Tucson. On our farm above ground water pipes would freeze so hard they wouldn't thaw until mid afternoon. I have seen snow cover the desert in December within 10 miles of Quartzite at 10:00 p.m. in the evening, a storm that blanketed the north half of Arizona. This is of course unusual. <br><br>If I were living in AZ with my CTD now I would plug it in when the air temp is in the mid-thirties or below. Get a timer and set it so it will be turned in on and complete heating just before you are ready to start. Lengthen the time of heating depending how low the temp forcast is.<br><br>I Plug mine in here for an hour when temp is in the mid thirties. Even then the engine temperature doesn't reach 190*F until I've gone 3-4 miles. Until then I keep engine RPMs below 1800 and speed between 25-35 mph to allow lubricants thoroughly circulate. jThe shorter the warming time the less wear on drive train components and the longer the life. :D :D