block heater power supply

frankenyoter

frankenyoter

No Rain, No Rainbow
Joined
Mar 17, 2009
Location
DARK CITY
Bringing home a new diesel rig today and I'm going to dedicate a cord out by the driveway to plug it in.
When I use a power tool I try to use a decent cord to keep from burning up the motor.
I assume that the block heater doesn't draw that much and I can dedicate a light gauge cheap-o 50' cord. Is this correct?
 
Block heater draws like 10A. If you're going to use it, you probably want to put it on a timer so it doesn't come on until an hour or so before you leave.

On my 03 Dodge, I never use a block heater and I rarely wait for the grid heater to cycle. Kermit's 6.2 needs about a 10-count on the glow plugs, but it lights immediately too. That's including single digit temps.

OTOH, my neighbor with a 04 Ford plugs his in whenever it gets below 40F and lets it run all night long. So maybe YMMV.
 
it will draw enough to trip a GFI. i had to use a heavier cord on my stroke, burnt up a wallyworld cheap one. i plug mine up anytime it gets below 32, not saying i have to because my cummins starts in single numbers with no problems. it sure is nice to start the truck and already have heat coming out:driver:. i have thought about a timer on mine but the truck has a thermostat and it kicks on and off as needed, so i don't know if a timer is needed or not.
 
Good to know. I will use a good cord and probably just leave it plugged in. I have no idea if I've got a thermostat on this one or not. Heat is why I'm interested bc I don't want to wake up the neighborhood with it clacking at 6am. I guess it probably won't heat up much at idle anyway and would need to go down the road to get warm enough to put out heat.
 
Yea a diesel really doesn't warm up very much just idling, in cold weather it will cool itself down pretty quickly when you leave it idling as well. Put it on a timer and set it to an hour or two before you leave, and you will have heat not too long after leaving the driveway. I had a high idle on my duramax, and even that wouldn't hardly get it up to a good temp to put out heat after 20 minutes.
 
02 PSD and I leave mine plugged in all night typically. I have never had any cold start issues but it does start MUCH easier after being plugged in. Usually I'll crank it in the AM and leave it on "High Idle" on the TSPerformance chip for about 15 minutes while I finish my morning routine.

I use one of the 12GA Yellow Indoor/Outdoor contractor cords from Lowes with the LED in them to let you know its on.
 
damn stretch, i bet your neighbors love that!
 
No complaints yet, but I also haven't had any complaints of grinders and welders in the middle of the night either!

Yesterday was a cold start with no hesitation to start. I was only 25 degress though.

Plugged her in last night. About to wake the neighbors up and roll out with some heat!
 
My '06 F350 starts right up after sitting outside all night in 14 degree weather. It takes a few minutes for the heater to start working, but so do my gassers...
 
up-n-over said:
My '06 F350 starts right up after sitting outside all night in 14 degree weather. It takes a few minutes for the heater to start working, but so do my gassers...
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It doesn't get nearly cold enough in NC to "need" to plug it up, but it sure does make it quieter, and having heat sooner rather than later is nice.
 
I don't drive my Ram very often anymore, but when I use to drive it more frequently I would plug it in when it got less than maybe 25-30 degrees. It cranks over faster which I believe is easier on everything. I've always used regular size drop cords, nothing extra heavy. I also always wait for the 'Wait to Start' light to go off. I figure all of the above will make the engine last longer since it is easier on all of the parts.
 
I feel like a dumb ass (nobody needs to chime in on that) because i just found the plug on mine today. I'm going to start leaving it plugged in because I regularly leave out in the emergency situation. It's always bothered me to crank, then immediately take off to drive a mile then shut down to get into a fire truck.
 
SFGator said:
I never have plugged in my 06 Ram/Cummins, never an issue starting it.
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Jinxed myself. It started this morning just fine. No heat from the heater and the engine is overheating. Hopefully it is just the thermostat. Sux l needed to use my truck in GA this weekend.
 
I plug mine in all the time and leave it on all night if not it don't like to crank and clacks like crazy, almost sounds like a dodge...lol But it is a 10yr old ford.
 
My 00 starts when in the teens but I plug it up for heat and fuel consumption during warm up. I just leave mine plugged up over night. Usually plug it up around 8 or 9 at night. According to the manual it needs to be plugged up a minimum of 3 hours.

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SFGator said:
Jinxed myself. It started this morning just fine. No heat from the heater and the engine is overheating. Hopefully it is just the thermostat. Sux l needed to use my truck in GA this weekend.
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That sounds more like a bad water pump or low coolant level. If the truck is overheating, the heater should be working awesome.

Cummins motors should get a new water pump as PM every 100k. They're cheap, easy to change, and they're likely to die about that often, anyway. Might as well change it out when you're doing the coolant flush. I think a brand-new Bosch set me back $25.

Fun fact... if you assume that a block heater pulls 1500W... running it for 8 hours at $0.10 per kW/h works out to $1.20 a day. Pretty cheap when you think about it.
 
I check out power usage daily. Taking showers cost more than plugging up the truck.

Sent from my A1-810 using Tapatalk
 
shawn said:
That sounds more like a bad water pump or low coolant level. If the truck is overheating, the heater should be working awesome.

Cummins motors should get a new water pump as PM every 100k. They're cheap, easy to change, and they're likely to die about that often, anyway. Might as well change it out when you're doing the coolant flush. I think a brand-new Bosch set me back $25.

Fun fact... if you assume that a block heater pulls 1500W... running it for 8 hours at $0.10 per kW/h works out to $1.20 a day. Pretty cheap when you think about it.
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Looks like I had a Dumas attack. I must not have tighten the radiator cap the night before when I did my checks. I put in 2 gallons of coolant drove it about 20 miles all was perfect. Did a pressure check all good. Gonna do another pressure check tomorrow and take classes on how too properly tighten a radiator cap.
 
EdJonesJeeper said:
Setting a timer tonight. Is two hours before I crank enough time to warm it up or should I go more?

LBZ is a 1000 watt heater.
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What do you have? The book on my 7.3 says 3 hours.

Suposed to be single digits tonight. I plugged it up about 8:00. I usually leave mine plugged up over night.
 
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