how many amps does the heater pull?

[DFrank]

Warm extension cord to block heater. Anyone else?

Anyone know how many amps our plug in block/manifold heaters actually draw?



I always back my truck up against the garage (no room to park in it of course), so I wired an RV style jack with flap into the rear bumper both for ease and so I can see the cord and remember to unplug it before driving off (come on you know you've done it!).



I recently noticed that the cord end gets warm, which seems really wrong.



I'm running about 20' of 14 gauge wire from the front to the rear bumper, then another 20' or so of 12 gauge to go from the bumper to the receptacle. The circuit has a 15 amp fuse that has never tripped, so I doubt I've created a short, but the warm cord has me worried so I've stopped plugging it in for now.



Does this thing pull too many amps for a 14 gauge wire even at this relatively short length?



I sure don't want to catch anything on fire.



Thanks, Dave

 

[Bob Wagner]

700w 110V = 6. 3 amp very low draw

 

[DFrank]

So then the 14 G cord should be fine. Does warm cord end mean I have a short?



Anyone else notice a warm cord in the morning?



While 6. 3 amps does not sound likea lot, the 700 watts means plugging your truck in uses as much energy as leaving 7, 100 watt lights on all night long. That sure seems wasteful. I was running mine on a timer, but when temps got into the single digits, 4 hours of electricity was not enough to negate the coil light waiting time.