A block heater will not warm your engine enough to make temperature gauge move. This is especially true with a big old cast iron block that your 350 has. They are only designed to warm the engine to reduce the cold weather start strain, not pre-warm the engine to the point of a warm or hot start.
I read an old study done by the Ontario government back in the early 1980's about block heaters. They tested about half a dozen vehicles with block heaters, 4, 6 and 8 cylinder engines. Most engine blocks were max out between 20-30 degress celsius after a couple of hours. This included two Chevrolet small block V8's (a 305 Parisienne, and a 350 Chevy van). Leaving them plugged in any longer, didn't really warm the engine any further (the temperature graphs flattened out). However, they did note significant fuel savings, easier starting and faster warm up times.
From my personal experience, block heaters greatly reduce the warm up time of the engine, improve my winter gas mileage, reduce cold start strain and improve heater performance.
I find today, since most cars start unassisted in very cold weather, people don't use block heaters very often. Instead, people idle there vehicles for lengthy periods of time in extreme cold. This habit has increased with the popularity of remote starters.
When real winter sets in, you'll notice a big difference in your cars performance.
I read an old study done by the Ontario government back in the early 1980's about block heaters. They tested about half a dozen vehicles with block heaters, 4, 6 and 8 cylinder engines. Most engine blocks were max out between 20-30 degress celsius after a couple of hours. This included two Chevrolet small block V8's (a 305 Parisienne, and a 350 Chevy van). Leaving them plugged in any longer, didn't really warm the engine any further (the temperature graphs flattened out). However, they did note significant fuel savings, easier starting and faster warm up times.
From my personal experience, block heaters greatly reduce the warm up time of the engine, improve my winter gas mileage, reduce cold start strain and improve heater performance.
I find today, since most cars start unassisted in very cold weather, people don't use block heaters very often. Instead, people idle there vehicles for lengthy periods of time in extreme cold. This habit has increased with the popularity of remote starters.
When real winter sets in, you'll notice a big difference in your cars performance.
