I have a 2002 F-150 SuperCrew. (FX4, air, etc...). I also have a small commuter car. I live in Minnesota and I have heard varying opinions about leaving my truck plugged in for an extended period of time (upwards of a week straight). My truck gets a lot of use during hunting season, but not so much during the duldrums of Jan/Feb etc..... Any opinions ?
Thanks, Mike
Your truck can't remember how toasty (or how cold) it was on Monday when you come to start it up on Saturday... so if you're sure you need a block heater, get a timer, or a friend to plug it in a couple of hours before you need to start it. Unless it's going to be -20F or colder at the time when you plan to start it[1], you won't need a block heater anyway, although a battery charger/maintainer with an automatic top-up feature isn't a bad idea.
I believe the typical block heater is about 750W, at $0.076/kWh it will cost you $9.58/week or $41.50/month for the privilege of knowing your truck's engine is warm. I wouldn't want to find out the hard way whether a block heater is rated for continuous duty, though.
[1] Cold storage doesn't hurt vehicles in the least, as long as the battery is charged and the cooling system has enough protection against freezeup.If you are using synthetic oil, the truck will "think" it's about 40 degrees warmer on startup. I use it in my Benz for that reason, old M/B's are hard starting below
10 degrees. My PSD starts down to -15, as cold as it gets here. It has a block heater {OEM}, I rarely use it. I do put in two new Batteries every 5 years {WallyMart} as preventive maintenance. They are cheap and made by Johnson Controls, very good. The old batteries I donate to my kid(S), they always seem to need them.Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
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