dgm

Locally, a diesel truck parked in a garage (plugged in) is being blamed for a terrible fire damaging apartments and some shops. My wife just emailed me, very concerned about the diesel truck parked in our garage, often plugged in.

Any opinions on this? I'm sorry to say that I don't have any more info yet on the make/model/year of the truck or anything else. I will post when I find out though.

thanks,

Guardrail

Why do you plug in when it's parked in the garage? I suppose with any electrical device there is a danger of fire. Improper extension cord heated up, too small of wiring with too big of a breaker, frayed cord, defective block heater, I could go on and on. I doubt the danger is enough to worry about.

Just make sure you have all the right sized cords, plugs, etc. and you will be OK.

rammtuff

When I see every other house burning down because of a car/truck parked in a garage then I will be concerned. Until that point uhhhh no.

dgm

I plug in on really cold days (below zero at night lately) even when parked in the garage, because the truck warms up SOOO much faster after being plugged in. I'll do this, at least until my cold weather front gets here. Thanks for the info on the cord size, etc. I think I'm good there.

Regarding the comment about waiting until I see every other house burning down before I start to worry: I'm not sure that comment makes much sense. If a nearby home was invaded and the family killed (Heaven forbid)....would you wait for it to happen to every other house before you took precautions? I think not. This being my first diesel truck, I was just asking if there were precautions to take that I perhaps was not aware of, mostly because the news made a special point about this being a "DIESEL" truck. So, naturally I was just wondering if there was something I should be doing or not doing that I was not aware of.

robert chilton

Its a shame that a fire happened but I agree that I wouldnt sweat it either. Anything electrical can catch fire with the right conditions met. I would be no more worried about the block heater being plugged in than I would be about my houses water heater running while I am away. The truck has one 750 watt heater element and the water heater has 2 1000+ watt elements. Same basic thing. Electrical current running through a highly resistive piece of metal causing heat to warm the water around it.

dgm

Thanks Robert. Thats what I assumed, but thought it worth asking.

BigBlue

I second the don't worry votes. If it were that common of a problem I doubt the manufacturers would put them on the trucks. I've been plugging mine in for the last 4 1/2 years and I've never once had a problem nor do I expect to.

crobtex

Excuse me....how many times has your truck been north of Waco in the winter time?

Herrin811

I am VERY curious as to HOW investigators were able to determine that a block heater caused a fire...My personal opinion, is that the owner probably had the thing plugged in either with a 900 foot cord, or with one of those skinny brown junk extension cords....First off, too many fires are blamed on "electrical". The running joke around here is that if the investgator calls it electrical, he doesnt know what caused it Arcing/sparking/shorting causes VERY few fires...Most that truly are electrical in origin are due to overload in some fashion...Too much pull or not enough wire....Theres no telling what all was on the circuit with the block heater...These things pull some good amps, and add in whatever appliances might be on the circuit, AND Christmas lights...You've got a big load on an outlet..I'm calling it human ignorance (not stupidty) and find no fault in the truck...

Geico266

AMEN!

They should not even sell extentions cords & multipliers unless the person buying them passes a test on electrical loads.

Pop-Pop

I agree with the comments about wire size & length of extension cord. These reels of long extension cords are an acccident (fire) waiting to happen. A heavy electrical load will cause the extension cord to build up heat within the reel and melt the whole mess together. In my company, we found the same thing in cable trays where the electrical runs were tightly packed. We had numerous meltdowns due to the cables getting hot and fusing together. An extension cord stretched out will dissipate the heat but not if it is wound tightly on a reel.

SafeHarbor

So, don't roll up the excess if using a 50 foot 15-amp extension cord to bring the AC to the truck?

Thanks

Herrin811

Longer run and/or higher amps mean bigger gauge....I wouldnt go longer than 50' with 12ga wire...

SafeHarbor

Hi, Herrin,

Thanks. I just bought the extension cord last night. It's an AWG 12/15 amp cord with an LED in the receptable that shows that it's on. The brand name is "Yellow Jacket," Is that all right, you think? (It's a 50-foot cord.)