I thought I could put in a engine block heater on a 97 dodge ram. I removed the front freeze plug on the drivers side but there is not enough room. The hole is the correct diameter, but it isin't deep enough to install the heater. Should I have removed one of the other freeze plugs?
Driver's side? Isn't that backwards, always plug in the driver's side first, then the passenger's side when really cold? That way the driver's side of the truck warms up faster, right?
Most block heaters are about 700 watts, so two would be 1400 watts. Say eight hours, that's 11.2 KWH. At six cents a KWH (that's a low number, you probably pay more) that's about $0.67 (vs $0.34 for one)
True, true... Also, I don't know about you, but around here (NH) I rarely plug in for more than two hours unless it is *really* cold out. Even two hours makes a world of difference.
What really helps is an outdoor outlet with a smart timer on it. You can set it to kick on the block heater about two or three hours before you usualy leave and both save money and not have to worry about it. In my case, the timer is indoors, so I can both disable it easily, and turn it out when off manually as needed.
i live in georgia but have a block heater on three of my trucks. since we go to new hampshire every febuary and kolo"rad"o once per winter i figure it is worth the extra couple of bucks.
i decided to do this the winter of 1993 when we were in cadillac vermont and awoke to -29 degrees temperature not including windchill. the nice tow truck driver that got us started up said, "all those dodge dakotas have trouble when its below minus 20."
ever since all my trucks that i travel in get a block heater. the winter we decided to go through wisconsin and north dakota on our way to canada i added a battery heater. the guys at the local dodge dealership thought i was loony buying a mopar battery heater. the morning we woke up in north dakota to -47 degrees and half of the vehicles in the motel parking lot were not cranking, ours fired right up. it was worth every penny that morning.
important piece of advice. remove the battery heater during the georgia summer even if you are smart enough to not plug it in. just the extra insulation will cook your battery the first day the thermometer breaks 100 degrees. don't ask how i learned that.... michael
Battery heaters are (very) useful, as much use as a block heater. I'll agree with the fact that they also insulate the battery, so in (very) hot cliimates that observation can be valid. One alternative is a bottom pad heater for teh battery, one that goes under the battery and not on the sides.
we go to north conway every febuary. the wife has been sick for the past three weeks so our trip is on hold this year until we see if she is going to get to feeling better. michael
Before I retired from the Coast Guard in 2005 in Portland, Maine, one of our favorite trips was to the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire....never made it to Mount Washington......(thinking out loud)
i have spent a good deal of time on the kancamangus hwy. mount washington is really nice in the winter if you catch it on a day when the winds are reasonable. was on the summit in 100+ mph winds one particular trip and that was plain miserable. michael
we have all the summer we want down here in north georgia and north carolina. we like the skiing and ice climbing around conway. the white mountains have the best low altitude winter mountaineering i have ever experienced. michael
Not terribly near Mt. Washington, but today I had to walk around my parking area and pick up all the next door kid's toys and toss them back towards their house! Winds? Naw, just a gentle breeze.
Can't blame the neighbors, they are new to the area and don't realzie that a gentle winter's breeze is about 40 MPH or so, and that anything not tied down (including the kids!) will blow eastwards!
If you want an experience, you can volunteer to work on top of Mt Washington at the weather observatory in the winter. That one week tour of duty will give new respect to the term "Winter Weather" (note the caps!)
every time i have been on washington it has been blustery. in the winter if they predict less than 70mph winds at the summit i consider it perfect weather. over 100 is miserable, especially if the temps are less than 0 degrees farenheit. michael
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