How cold till I need block heater and anti-gel?
 

Hey There,
Just moved to North Carolina from California and had our first cold night, 34 degrees.
I was wondering at what point I need to get a plug and use my block heater and when do we start needing to add anti-gel to the fuel.

I'm getting a lot of off topic hits when I search for this.

Thanks Man,
[coffee]

The fuel you get from the stations should already have the proper winter fuel so no additional anti-gell is needed. I normally start pluging the truck in when temperatures are below 40 degrees F. I like warm air first thing in the morning. When temperatures stay below 50 degrees, I put on the winter front so the truck warms up faster.
P.S. I haven't added anything to the fuel yet 60k miles and still going good.

If it gets cooler than 40 here I plug mine in. But as soon as it gets colder than teens, I use antigel and below 0, I start to use #1 fuel.

I had an 03, 5.9, and I plugged it in when around 38 or lower.
I ran the fuel additive all winter, and will be adding it to my 08, 6.7 soon.
I had my 5.9 to gel the fuel while sitting in my drive one winter, the temp was down in the teens, and we had a lot of wind. I had it plugged in, and when I went out, it started up with no problem, it ran for about one minute, it shut down, and the dealer had to come and pick it up.
I live in East TN.

I usually plug in below 30 degrees, on a timer about 4 hours before I'm going to leave. On occasion it isn't convenient to do so, but the truck has always started fine even approaching zero degrees. I figure it's just easier on the engine using the heater. I use Stanadyn additive all the time.

I'm one of the crowd here. Anytime it starts getting in the 40's I plug mine in. I like it to be warm in the mornings and figure it does the engine good to start a little warm.

Do all of you leave it plugged in overnight? or just for a few hours prior to starting?

TIA

My heater is on a timer about 3 hours, in the morning before leaving. The timer is programmed to turn on 3:00 am and will turn off at around noon if left alone.

if you want a expensive power bill you would leave it in all night, i have mine on a timer to turn on 4 hours before i need the truck. i also have a oil pan heater on my truck.

anytime the temps get below 50 is when i plug mine in.

Wow.. I'm surprised at the temps i see. I don't even think about breaking out the winter front or plugging in my truck until it starts to get to -20 C (-5F). But i guess that's what we get up here in the Great White North.

hmmm -20c sounds to cold to me. i plug mine in right after i say to myself sh it i shoud have pluged my truck in last night brrrrr. read -5c

below -10c before i plug the truck in.no pan heater so i use 0w40 synthetic oil.the winter front is now on.antigel gets used once temps drop below -10c.i have had no cold start issues with this truck,it sits outside in the snow.i just hit the command start button and let her warm up.

When I lived in Co. I used the block heater whenever it was cold enough to need heat. I used a timer to turn on the block heater about 3 hrs before I drove it. The truckstops always had winter mix plenty soon enough and I ran in the mtns most of the time - no ploblem. Craig

My truck has never been plugged in. Coldest start was 4F. Does take a while to get some cab heat. The manual high idle helps alot if it is not cold enough for the auto high idle to activate. I run power service and Rotella 5-40 all year.

UNTREATED #2 diesel fuel starts gelling @ +12F. All major brand Fuel Co. (Shell, Mobil, BP, etc) have additive packages and are good too -20F. I use 5w-40 synth oil and never plug in my truck I have started my truck down to -30F with no problems. I believe block heaters are a consperacy of the Electric Co. [laugh]..... not really, but I see little benefit in 40F weather.