Junk Yard Dog

Anyone have a rough idea as to what range in watts a typical block heater uses? Have 4 trucks being plugged in and need to know how big the circuit should be. Any &quot;rough&quot; ideas would be appreciated.<br>Thanx, Rick

Shovelhead

CattleHauler (Ricki) just replaced his, it was a 750W-120V.

Superduty12v

How hot you think the block heater keeps at?

converteddzlr

Keeps the hood of the truck snow free during a light snowfall. And the truck thinks that it's actually warm when it starts up

Superduty12v

I used my block heater when the temps got down to 7 degrees a couple of weeks ago.. didn't seem to do a whole lot for warm up. I'm pretty sure it was working because something was drawing enough current to make the plug spark when I unplugged it.

figure_9_pro

If you are going to use 4 heaters at the same time that will use about 12.5 amps @120 volts so a 15 or 20 amp circuit will do the trick

Junk Yard Dog

Thanx for the reply's, we just went ahead and ran dual 20 amp lines just to be on the safe side.

Commatoze

[quote author=figure_9_pro link=board=13;threadid=10206;start=0#99059 date=1044064393]
If you are going to use 4 heaters at the same time that will use about 12.5 amps @120 volts so a 15 or 20 amp circuit will do the trick
[/quote]

I'm not sure what you based your figures on, fig. The heater consumes around 750 watt (pure resistive load) so that's around 6 amps and some change. So you're looking at about 25 amp total for the 4 vehicles. JYD, I think you made the right move with the 2 20 amp circuits.

Junk Yard Dog

Commatoze, I actually came up with 6.5 amps per heater so it holds out on paper. Thanx again for all input

figure_9_pro

OK OK so when I add it with a calculator instead of my head I come up with 25 amps.......I hate when that happens [undecided]

Shovelhead

[quote author=figure_9_pro link=board=13;threadid=10206;start=0#99332 date=1044138592]<br>OK OK so when I add it with a calculator instead of my head I come up with 25 amps.......I hate when that happens [undecided]<br>[/quote]<br><br>I can't count to 20 without taking my shoes off. <br><br>Like Jethro Clampett I studies Gozintas.