Anyone use a block heater?

Just found out that freeze plug block heaters can be purchased with the cord for about $25 online.

I'm thinking about tossing one in the BMW.

What do you guys think of block heaters?

Oil pan heaters?

Battery warmers?

I'd be afraid to use a battery warmer, because I wouldn't want it to be a bandaid and then get stranded if I park somewhere I can't plug it in.

Nothing constructive to add but I admit that I had to google this to see what they even looked like.

I can't imagine any downsides to it, really, aside from having to install it, especially if you live where it regularly gets REALLY cold.

When I lived in Montana, there was a period in January where it didn't get above 0 for about 2 weeks. Fortunately my Saab was OK with the cold as a scandanavian car, but I'm sure not all would be as compliant.

Every Nissan sold in Canada comes with one installed from the factory and I'd wager 95+% of vehicles on the road in Manitoba have one. I like them better than oil pan heaters, they typically are higher wattage which = warms up faster/hotter. Battery blankets are not too common, they're a bandaid like you said. Probably better at extending the life of your battery than they are ensuring your car will start.

Synthetic oil makes a huge difference. We did an experiment at work, got a bottle of Mobil1 5w30 and filled another bottle with the bulk Esso semi-synth 5w30 we put in customers cars, duct taped them to a board and let them sit outside overnight in -30 temperatures. In the morning we flipped them over, the synthetic poured out about twice as fast as the semi-synth.

A good battery and synthetic oil has started my civic in even -30 temps left overnight without plugging it in, but it's really really brutal sounding/feeling. Block heater running for 2hrs before leaving means a decent start every time.

our diesel suburban had one... but we lived in Panama... truck came from Colorado...

anyway I was in MI for winter back in the late 80's or early 90's... was the coldest winter they'd had since the mid 1800s... -60's with windchill... my aunt just dropped a trouble light into engine bay and used that with out a problem... I'm sure it's less efficient... but the price was good and worked

Just about every car in Canada has a heater of some sort.

I've always used the circulating heaters over the standard issue block heater.

They have a small pump which moves the warm coolant through the system rather than just a heating element jammed in a frost plug hole.

I live in the lower mainland now (Think of it as the California of Canada) and all I ever use is a small space heater to keep the inside of the car a couple degrees warmer than the outside so I don't have to scrape my windows in the morning.

Shawn

Batery blanket is a waste of time. Synthetic oil is good. Block heater is a must below 0*f unless you enjoy raping your engine to life although every car is different. I once had a 70 Chev pickup that would always staret, unless it got to -40, at which point the ignition key would not turn the switch. Early LH injected European cars won't start at -10. They just flood. Block heaters don't warm your automatic trans, so that will push seals out if you don't warm it up for a while.

How cold are you?

I have a brand new Genuine Subaru block heater somewhere if anyone needs it.

Webasto Thermo Top C here. Run it for 25 minutes in sub-zero weather and your coolant is at 180 F and your windshield is defrosted for you. Can be turned on via key fob or timer.
I've never used a block heater but seems they just make a warm-ish pocked in the block.

I've used one in the past that was in the heater hoses it had a heater and small pump in one 4 inch round 12 inch long package. It came on the car and worked great to keep the defroster working while you slept but didn't do much for the block. But the 383 didn't take long to warm up.

My 2010 f350 has a factory unit it works good but i don't plug it in often as motor starts so easy and i still have to scrap the windows before i leave and by then the water and trans is up to temp. Yes it might possible help engine life but it's likely a trade off with the KW price. now I'm in Mass if i was north of the us boarder I'd bet it it be worth it.

44

I put one on my 220D. It worked great. It was the kind that installs in a heater hose.

The Subaru part is pretty simple. You just unscrew a plug from the bottom of the block and replace it with the heating element, which sits in the coolant. The cord just plugs into the back of the element.

DrBoost wrote: I've never used a block heater but seems they just make a warm-ish pocked in the block.

The hotter water will move around through convection. I used the block style ones in the 70's and 80's when big V8's didn't warm up as quickly as todays small motors, and later when I drove diesels. They work. As little as 30 minutes will give you easy starting and instant heat. GM started including them in all Canadian cars in 87. I don't know if they still do.

Yeah the frost block heaters should circulate water through the inner coolant circuit via convection.

Although the external ones will actually warm up the entire cooling system and circulate it, and that includes the heater core. So I figure if you left the car on 'defrost' some heat would make its way to the window while you sleep.

Both my Benz diesels had block heaters and they started much easier in very cold weather. The cabin heater made warm air immediately too. I have an indoor switch to turn it on, but a timer could also be used, once you remember to plug it in. Make sure the cord is very short for the times you forget to unplug it.

I can see the benefits of a block heater but have never used one. At what temp do they become a necessity? Winter temps here regularly reach sub freezing but only dip in the mid/ low teens for a collective 2-3 weeks at most. A remote starter and ten minute warm up has always worked fine for me.

With modern cars they aren't really a necessity unless you live in the Klondike, but they are a good idea. They're meant to make it easier on the engine, if they help the interior warm up faster that's incidental.

I used to have them on all my cars, but since I finally moved into the modern world and drive cars with fuel injection I haven't had to worry about them not starting on subzero mornings.

I bought mine (though I never installed it) for my WRX. The car would have to sit outside when I worked nights and when the temperature dropped to the 20's, the turbo made a horrible shriek at startup.

lee21don wrote: Every Nissan sold in Canada comes with one installed from the factory and I'd wager 95+% of vehicles on the road in Manitoba have one. I like them better than oil pan heaters, they typically are higher wattage which = warms up faster/hotter. Battery blankets are not too common, they're a bandaid like you said. Probably better at extending the life of your battery than they are ensuring your car will start. Audi Grilles

a well disguised canoe

lee21don wrote: Every Nissan sold in Canada comes with one installed from the factory and I'd wager 95+% of vehicles on the road in Manitoba have one. I like them better than oil pan heaters, they typically are higher wattage which = warms up faster/hotter. Battery blankets are not too common, they're a bandaid like you said. Probably better at extending the life of your battery than they are ensuring your car will start. Audi Grilles

canoe

On topic, I'm going to be DD'ing a 1st gen RX-7 this winter, and I'm wondering how the cold will affect a rotary. Maybe I should consider one of these.

Had and used both block heater and battery blanket when I lived in Fairbanks, Alaska. On the 82 Nissan Sentra I brought up there and on the 81 K5 Blazer I traded the Sentra for. This was back in the early to mid-80's though. There was a battery sold in Fairbanks that didn't require a blanket, can't remember the name but that area was the only place you could get it. I used a Diehard because I knew I was leaving (stationed there in the army). It got cold enough that both was needed. Also had a recirc heater installed but not used that circulated and heated coolant through the system. The battery blanket only brought the battery temp up to around freezing, didn't heat much but brought the battery to operating temp range. As it was batteries didn't last as long as they would in the lower 48. We started plugging them in when it got colder than 20 below. You didn't want to have your block freeze, won't start and difficult to thaw. Have to either put it in a heated building for several hours or have a heater blowing hot air into the engine compartment for a couple hours. Anyway you look at it, it was not something you wanted to do at 30 - 50 below zero.

The only cars that used oil pan heater or dipstick heater were aircooled VW's which weren't very plentiful there.

We also used synthetic oil, Mobil 1 or Amsoil. The cold didn't thicken it up like dino-oil. And we did run our own test. Poured a cup of dino-oil and a cup of Amsoil and let it set overnight outside at 40 below. The Amsoil would pour, the dino-oil wouldn't.

SlickDizzy wrote: On topic, I'm going to be DD'ing a 1st gen RX-7 this winter, and I'm wondering how the cold will affect a rotary. Maybe I should consider one of these.

Cold affects a rotary in ways different from a piston engine. Condensation forming due to compression can stick the apex seals. There is a tank holding anti-freeze -if you fill it-that is injected into the engine to prevent that condensation from forming. A block heater may also help. Rotaries start easily in temperatures above 20 deg F.

SlickDizzy wrote: On topic, I'm going to be DD'ing a 1st gen RX-7 this winter, and I'm wondering how the cold will affect a rotary. Maybe I should consider one of these.

Good luck!!!