im in new york and winter is around the corner. i was just wondering what temperate you would recommend to plug in the heater, 40 and below? and for how long usually?

 

I try to start plugging in when the lows hit 40°. I start at 30 minutes and increase by ½ hour increments for every 10° drop.

 

each to his own and not sure if there is set numbers to go by but I plug mine in if it will be 50 and colder and I leave it pluged in over night

 

alright sounds good. but i heard that it takes 1 to 3 to fully be heated by the block.. i guess whole night wont hurt

 

I haven't had any issues yet. Nock on wood "tap tap tap"

 

X2. No issues. Works great.

 

It hit about 35 here in PA and it took about a minute for the "wait to start" light to go off and she fired right up and I don't plug it in. I probably won't start pluggin it in untill it hits around 20 or untill it sounds like the truck needs it.

I had a 2003 F450 at work that would have to be plugged in all night as soon as it hit 40 and below and it still would hammer like it was falling apart. If it wasn't plugged in then it would crank over about 10 times and smoke like a pig.

 

I really don't agree with plugging your block heater in unless it is cold. Around here, most people start putting it on a 4 hour timer when it gets below 0F. If you run synthetic oil, then you will get oil pressure quickly and the engine will turn over quickly.

Yes, running the block heater at any temp will make the engine slightly easier to start. However, you need to actually weigh whether that will have a profound effect on the life of your truck and until it gets well below freezing, it simply won't. Even slightly modifying your engine for higher power is way worse on it then not plugging in at 20F. The fact of the matter is that unless you drive hotshot or something, most of us will wear out the other components first. I just can't agree with plugging it in overnight at the temps some people here talk about.

A good source for info on this stuff is your manual. It actually gives amounts of time that you should plug in for at different temps. They actually do testing on this stuff rather than just pulling numbers out of thin air that might make someone feel like they are doing the right thing.

I haven't plugged my truck in since the first year I owned it. I can't plug in where I live and I just run synthetic oil. There are many other trucks around that do the same thing.

 

true true. is there anyway to test the block heater cord to see if it still works. i just bought it this summer so i dont know if it does..

 

Like mine.

I've maybe plugged mine in once in the last three years, and it was well below 0 that night. If I can plug in, I like to when the temperatures drop into the negative numbers, but recently that hasn't been an option. I still have the original batteries, and since I'm running VO I don't bother with synthetic oil, and the truck has never not started, or even taken more than a few turns to fire.

Like the previous post said, it will decrease wear on the engine, but by such an insignificant margin that it's not worth it. These trucks will easily start without the grid heaters at these temperatures. Honestly, I believe that plugging your truck in when it's 40 or 50 out is just a waste of money.

 

Plug it in and wait a minute. Sometimes you can hear them going. If not, wait a while when the truck is cold, and see how long the wait to start light stays on. If the heater is working, then the light will turn off pretty quickly.

 

I can't tell a difference in my electric bill when its plugged in or not so I don't see how I am wasting money. I have also let my truck sit for a few days in 0 deg. weather with out plugging it in and it starts right up. I guess it just more for peace of mind and a faster warming heater

 

Flatbed,

It does cost you a lot of money to plug in. Here is a rough calculation based on how many people do it. I can't actually remember the wattage on these heaters off the top of my head but I think that I have it right.

(.75kw)(10hrs/night)(30nights/month)($.10/kwh)=$22.50/month

At least in my opinion, that $22.50 could be used in a much more productive way. Also, that electricity had to come from somewhere so you are depleting our resources. I don't want to start a political debate but anyone can see that we are better off using less energy.

I do feel that there is a reason why these trucks come with block heaters. When it truly is cold, they should be used if at all possible. However, if I took the advice of many and plugged in at 50F, I would be plugging in every night for 9 months of the year which is ridiculous.

 

by all means noone is making you plug your truck in dartmouth....i usually plug it in when it is below freezing, i know it does not necessarily "need" to be plugged in, but it starts ALOT easier and it gets warm faster and when i leave the motor is warm when i start putting the load on it (driving)....as for depleting resources, i sort of disagree but thats a different subject and to each their own! just my .02!

 

I've started plugging mine in. It is getting down to the mid 30's. It's on a timer, comes on at 4am and the engine temp is at about 90* when i start it.
Oh ya this shouldn't be in the Performance section.