I usually plug mine in once I get home. I leave it in til morning when I leave. Its not gonna make a difference in your electric bill to have it on all night.

 

Here in Aberta the spot rate for electricity is averaging around .15c/kwh, so if the truck has a 675 watt block heater it's going to cost .10125 cents per hour, or if you plug it in 12 hours a day, $1.215 a day, or about $36 dollars a month. A small price to pay to protect a $50k+ investment, not to mention the comfort factor and fuel savings if you let your truck idle to warm up.

 

Not to be an SOB but if you are so cheap or hardup that you don't plug in your truck because of how it will affect your electric bill than you need to worry about other things. Give me a break

 

Uh, I think you mis-read what he was saying there. He said:

 

I know. I agree with him. But people have said in the past on here that it is expensive and runs up your electric bill.

 

I'm in the SF bay area of Cali, I just ordered my cord for the block heater...The kids whine that they're freezing in the morning, it's still in the 40's out here in the morning figured I shouldn't wait until Jan-Feb when we sporadically get 20's-30's in the morning. Same deal as others, timer will be set to turn on at 4:00am to leave at 6:30am. It's either that or drive the 02 5.9 magnum which heats up real quick, but just doesn't have any umph to it like the diesel.

 

I agree with others to a certain extent. I've read where people get home at 5:30 PM, plug in and leave the next day at 6:15, heater running the whole time.
THAT adds up in a hurry. It's not cold enough here for me to get to worried about plugging in 95% of the time. When I know I'm going to be using the truck I'll try to plug it in ahead of time (don't own a timer).

There are detailed breakdowns, I saw here last winter. Some people got silly with the numbers crunching.

 

I agree with the silly numbers crunching. I have driven diesel trucks for 6 years now and have always plugged them once the temps start dropping below 40. No matter if I get home at 530 or whenever I always plug it in and end up leaving anywhere from 4am to 7 am. I don't really think it makes a difference on your electric bill. Its not like you don't use lights, tv, heater etc in your house. There isn't anyway you could convince me that plugging the truck in all the time, part of the time, etc makes that much of a difference on your bill. I don't understand why anyone would care even if they think it does make a difference. IMO its nice to get in a truck that warms up in 5 mins instead of having to leave in a hurry and being cold and waiting for it to warm up while driving down the road. I also believe it is easier on the truck because it doesn't have to make any cold starts. Call me crazy or whatever. That is just my opinion.

 

You know, you can hear the block heater when it's going. My experience has been that if I plug it in when I park it hot it doesn't seem to run as hard but then again, for what the truck cost me I'm not too worried about supporting the local electric co-op.....Roger?