Block Heater temp

[RWhitehead]

How warm is the water supposted to get, when you use the block heater. I have a 2004. 5 and have tried leaving it plugged in overnight, and on a timer. When I get in it, the temp gage barely moves, and actually goes down when its running.

 

[txhawg]

The temp gauge shows the temp of the engine coolant, not the block. That's why you see it go down when it is running, as it lets the cold coolant from the radiator into the engine.

 

[WM-300]

Have no idea what temp the block heater heats the coolent to. However, When the temps go below 20 degrees, I plug in my block heater and let it run all night. In the morning the block is just warm to the touch... ... ... not hot by any means. And even with that warm block, when the temps are 30 below it takes forever to come up to temp to throw decent heat.



WM-300

 

[LightmanE300]

I need to get a timer setup. The most I've left my block heater plugged in is about an hour - when I get up , before I get ready for work. I can't say I've noticed much difference from a cold start. I was just hesitant to leave it plugged all night, thought it might get too hot. What are you guys finding as optimal - 3-4 hours?

 

[rbattelle]

I need to get a timer setup. The most I've left my block heater plugged in is about an hour - when I get up , before I get ready for work. I can't say I've noticed much difference from a cold start. I was just hesitant to leave it plugged all night, thought it might get too hot. What are you guys finding as optimal - 3-4 hours?

I plug mine in when I'm done with the truck for the night. Usually it's plugged in at least 9 hours. Sometimes on weekends I leave it plugged in for well over 12 hours. Never had any trouble at all. At one time I used a timer, but then JHardwick asked me why and I didn't have a good answer. Plus his logic for plugging in when you're done for the day made sense to me... so now I do that. No trouble so far.



-Ryan

 

[MGordon]

I have a mine on a time clock. It turns on at 4:00 AM which gives me 3 hours of warm up. This works well down to about 20 degrees. For colder temperatures I'll set it for 4 or 5 hours.

 

[WM-300]

I do the same as Rbattelle; When I am done with the truck, usually about 4pm, it gets plugged in. I have gone all weekend not needing the truck, but its still plugged ready if I need it. With the small block heater, the heat sink of the engine and coolent, you could NEVER make it overheat. You could not even bring it up to any reading on the temp gauge. After a ebntire weekend plugged in, my temp gauge was still on zero whe I started the truck.



WM_300