Where's your extension cords - plug in tonight..

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Dynamic

I've been told 3-4 hours.

Ditto.

[Rathji]

I have a timer that I plug the extension cord into. Cost less than 10 bucks @ Canadian Tire. Turns it on automatically at 4am and runs power for 4 hours.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Laugh all you want now. You'll be sorry when he shows up at your house in a DBS, wearing a tuxedo and pulls a silenced Walther PPK on you while you sleep.

I dont think those come with Block heaters, he'd be lucky if that thing started in this voodoo bull-excrement.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Locke

I dont think those come with Block heaters, he'd be lucky if that thing started in this voodoo bull-excrement.

Agent Jolinar will be placed in theater by parachuting his DBS from a Chinook helicopter.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

With all the Christmas lights going up, there are plenty to be had from raiding your neighbors when they are sleeping

It would be alot cooler if you could steal their electricity too.

[yads]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Realistically, I don't think the energy used is very much. If your block heater is 400 watts (smaller car), and you plug in overnight, say 10 hours, that's 4 kilowatts. Typical electricity rates are 0.08 per kilowatt, so if you plugged in every night of the month, that would cost you about 10 bucks. For a big block heater, 800 watts, you're looking at 20 bucks if you plugged in every night of the month.

According to Natural Resources Canada, a block heater can result in 10% fuel savings at -20 celsius (http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/communities-g...rs.cfm?attr=28). So if your weekly fuel bill is $50, 10% in a month is $20.

So in addition to saving wear and tear from cold weather starts on the engine, you could actually come out ahead using a block heater financially on fuel consumption.

Just a minor nitpick, but the measure you are looking for is kilowatt hours. so a 400 watt block heater will consume 400 watt hours in one hour or 0.4 kilowatt hours.

[Shazam]

2 hours is way too long. I use this. Takes only 5 minutes. Also useful for destroying dogs, cats and bears.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by yads

Just a minor nitpick, but the measure you are looking for is kilowatt hours. so a 400 watt block heater will consume 400 watt hours in one hour or 0.4 kilowatt hours.

Correct, I should have been consistent and used the term throughout. The math and costs are correct to my knowledge though.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

According to Natural Resources Canada, a block heater can result in 10% fuel savings at -20 celsius (http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/communities-g...rs.cfm?attr=28). So if your weekly fuel bill is $50, 10% in a month is $20.

10% fuel savings below -20C until the engine has warmed to operating temperature. So you save 20% on about 5 minutes of idling, whatever that consumes.

I say get an Optima Yellow-Top and plug your block-heater right into your car's battery. Yellow-Top has a 60AH deep-cycling capability which is more than enough for a block heater for the night, and then once you start the next morning and drive to work you're charged up again. No more need for extension cords.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

10% fuel savings below -20C until the engine has warmed to operating temperature. So you save 20% on about 5 minutes of idling, whatever that consumes.

I say get an Optima Yellow-Top and plug your block-heater right into your car's battery. Yellow-Top has a 60AH deep-cycling capability which is more than enough for a block heater for the night, and then once you start the next morning and drive to work you're charged up again. No more need for extension cords.

Whoa, that's like dividing by zero.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Whoa, that's like dividing by zero.

If it is then I totally missed something.

But an Optima Yellow-Top is a starting battery with deep-cycling capability. So its like having two batteries in one...kind of.

Or just get a battery isolator and actually run a seperate deep-cycle for the block-heater.

I hate extension cords.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

10% fuel savings below -20C until the engine has warmed to operating temperature. So you save 20% on about 5 minutes of idling, whatever that consumes.

I say get an Optima Yellow-Top and plug your block-heater right into your car's battery. Yellow-Top has a 60AH deep-cycling capability which is more than enough for a block heater for the night, and then once you start the next morning and drive to work you're charged up again. No more need for extension cords.

60 Amp/Hours at 12 volts is 720 watt/hours, not anywhere near enough to run a block heater for anything more than an hour or two. That rating is also at C/20, which is a 3 amp draw (36 watt/hours). Discharging a battery more quickly is less efficient, and you're doing it at lower temperatures as well, so you'll get significantly less energy from the battery before it hits its cutoff voltage.

edit: I think what you forgot is that watts is volts x amps - a 120V block heater is 1/10th the current draw of a 12V equivalent (were such a thing to exist)

[Methanolic]

Exactly how cold did it get last night!!???


Went to un-plug my Block Heater cord this morning, And the (3 prong male end) plug to my truck snapped right off!!.....right where the wire goes into the plug end!

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Art Vandelay]

-26

[Methanolic]

^ Must have also been wear & Tear over the past few years also.