Oil/Block heaters - what temp do you plug in at?

Status
Not open for further replies.
When you get the cord routed, don't forget the little pin cover for the male pins. (or put a small baggie over the end)
A tiny amount of road salt between the posts will trip out a GFI breaker....
doc
 
Doctorr, how does road salt trip GFIs? Lots of salt on roads here in Sask., luckily no breaker trips yet due to salt on male plug on -40C/F starts, that would be brutal
crushedcar.gif
.

Cyprs
 
Quote:


I agree with Patman on timers, you can buy a digital block heater at Can Tire this Sat for 55% off, look in flyer.




I looked at them, and they would have been ideal for what I want, but they don't have a method of attaching them to a wall. The cord is really short too.
 


I looked at them, and they would have been ideal for what I want, but they don't have a method of attaching them to a wall. The cord is really short too.




Yeah, Usually I just let them hang but not best, if wind really blowing I prop a shovel handle or the like against plug to keep it from falling out. Other than that, they work great, only in 1 hour increments on timing though.

Cyprs
 
Chris, it wakes you up in the morning, you know your alive, -40F is cold, when I lived 7 miles north of Lake Athabaska in Uranium City Sask. back in the 70's it got down to -59F, you can see mini ice crystals in the air, crisp. You will never see a better light show in colours on the spectrum then the northern lights in the north when in a cold winters night, spectacular. No fireworks can beat it.

American friends in Alaska can tell you some cold temps
and testimonials too.

Thing about the cold, it clears up air born viruses, everything is crisp and clean, hardly ever wash a vehicle, stays clean.

In my experience -60F with no wind is easier to deal with than 0F with a 40 mph wind, that wind chill will go right through anything you wear and chill you to the bone, also no heat pad or block heater can hold heat on block or oil if not sheltered from wind, they can in extreme cold with calm wind in my experience. When my vehicle sits in -35F inside a non heated garage, with heat pad and blockheater I get an easier start than hot summer day.

It is matter of one's local enviroment and adaptation to it, what is normal for one may seem extreme to others in different local I guess. Our wood stove is stoked, feels dam good with a whiskey after a day in the cold, life's
little rewards.

To note, this is why an oil forum like this can be bit difficult on discussions of cold temp starts, the vast enviromental disparities.

One way I look at it is this, high wear metal zone is when oil is under 160F. When you start your car up in +90F and drive off, you are still in high wear metal zone for quite some time. When I go out in -40F with my wolverine heat pad on my oil pan and 900 watt block heater on. (these
wolverine pads will make oil go to full operating temp in 5-6 hours in -40F as long as there is no wind sweeping away the heat, colder it gets up here, less the wind). At -40F startup with these heaters my oil is probably warmer than yours there at startup, blockheater warms the block, along with a 0-40 XD3 syn oil rated at -60F flow rate. When I start it and drive off gentle it may not be as bad for that engine as one in your area may think. My 92 Cummins diesel with pads/blockheater/0-40 syn oil will start with no more drag or cranking than summer and with winter frond it warms extremely fast with gentle drive off after idle.

Just a perspective, I would prefer starting my vehicles the same as you do each day Chris, but one copes with ones enviroment best one can and access everything to cope. When I worked 1.5 miles underground in a hardrock mine the enviroment seemed difficult at first, after a week it was old hash, just matter of adaptation and dealing with it, nothing is so bad once one bites the bullet and adapts, always seems worse thinking about extremes in my experience.

Just little insight, it is Sunday, shooting the........ Off topic, I know. Sorry.

Cyprs
 
If the plug hangs out front and you get some salt spray between the pins, it will allow a tiny charge to pass to ground, just enough to trip a GFI.

Happened to me twice this month, the breakers here at work seem very sensitive.
.
.
doc
 
I have a 250 watt pan heating pad. Generally I leave it plugged in all the time when it is below 32F. Helps cold starts a lot, but I notice the block will cool the oil considerably. Still a lot better than a raw cold start.

My pad may not heat the oil as efficiently because it is on the side of the pan. I couldn't put it on the bottom because of the part number being stamped in and was told any air gaps between the pad and the pan would result in burning out the pad.
 
I have mine on a timer to go start 4 hours before I leave for work. Plug it in about 20F or lower. Its a 1000W coolant heater that circulates through the block on a 2001 VW TDI.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top