Gonna do the frost plug heater install soon but just curious if they are safe to leave plugged in all night or is it best to put on a timer for a few hours before driving time. Also what kind of sealant would yous guys recommend to prevent leakage? Gracias Amigos!

 

It depends what kind of block heater you have .What ever works for you if you want to put a timer to turn it on a few hours before you need to use it.

The down side if you have to start before your engine is warm it could be a real pain.

Now in the old days it was not uncommon to leave a truck plugged in all weekend. These older heaters were not as good as the newer ones that can heat a cold Cat engine warm enough to start in about an hour at 0 degrees F

I leave my Power Stroke 7.3 plugged in over night all the time.

just remember to disconnect the block heater before cranking the engine if you have a air pocket hot element pop!!

 

Put a timer on it (i would) there is no point on wasting all that hydro that many hours of the night. I'd say 2-3 hours before you start the truck in the morning, I guess it all depends on wattage of the heater. BE GREEN lol

 

It really depends HOW COLD it gets where you live. at -25F and colder, I would usually leave my 4Runner plugged in all night. My Tundra only needs 2-3 hours of being plugged in to make sure it will start properly. If its warmer than -20F, I would set a timer, usually like 4-5 hours for the 4runner. Also, I have never had a problem with leaving them UNPLUGGED all night until about -10F, depending. The 4Runner sometimes would argue about starting at -10, the Tundra never complains.
If it gets significantly cold (-20 or colder) where you live, look into a battery and oil pan heater.
But like was said. Use your discretion. We dont know how well your truck starts in cold temps. And leaving it plugged in all night is usually a waste of electricity.

 

You should only need about 2 hours in even the coldest weather. Not using a timer and just leaving it plugged in is pretty expensive. Studies have shown that after about 2 hours, there is minimal increase in coolant temperature.

I'm not using one now (no block heater) but on my old Subaru I had a timer that had several functions. It would operate based on time, so worked well during workdays when I had a regular schedule. It also had a function that had it only turn on if the air temperature was below a certain level (forgot what that level was). And you could override it, of course, but it would only override for a couple of hours.

These timers are very cost effective and just plug in-line with your block heater and the wall socket. Worked well. Here's a link to an example, kind of like the one I had:
http://www.aubetech.com/support/prod...ue=2&noFiche=1

 

Sounds like you've got some pretty good advice on when to plug in and for how long. . . . Ultimately, the more you learn about your vehicle and how it behaves with cold temperatures the better off you are.

If you are doing the freeze plug heater install yourself, some heaters come with a little single use tube of oil to wet the o-ring during the install. If it didn't come with it, just use a little bit of fresh engine oil to moisten the o-ring - much like you would do on the oil filter when you change it. Also, try to clean up the mating surface with a rag before inserting the heater into the block.

Cheers

 

to me a vehicle not starting versus the few cents of electric at night when my electric bill is between $300.00 to 600.00 a month in the winter .

I would just rather leave it plugged in.

But what ever works for you

 

Its comes down to the math: With 3 heaters installed (block, oil pan, battery pad) the watts required are around 600 W/hr to plug it in. So, that equals 0.6 KW/hr.

Multiply that by how many hours you plug it in, say 8 hrs for 4.8 KWH of energy used.
Multiply this by your utility charge, (up here in the 'Pole, its about $0.22 per KWH) and that is how much it actually costs.

In this case its a little over a dollar for 8 hours.

And if you plug in 20 times a month -> bingo, that's $20 per month EXTRA on top of your electric bill.

Of course, you'll have to do the math for your habits, but it does add up. If you use a programmable timer you can set your timer to come on for a couple (or a few) hours before you expect to leave, and you can reduce your energy use and electric costs by more than half. The timer will pay for itself in a couple of months depending on your habits and what kind of timer you purchased. Most timers last for years, so they are a sound/smart investment.

Cheers

 

Thanks for the knowledgable responses! Good news is I don't have to worry about an electric bill so that is not a factor for me but it will be sometime in the future no doubt. And I work swing shift so I get home about 1 am and would like to just have her plugged in all night but it sounds like that might be over the top. She will hesitate a little when its really cold but i'm running synthetic in engine & tran so timer it is. Thanks!