I need a timer for the block heater

[HOBrian]

Since moving into the new house and now having a detached garage I need to find a good timer. I do not plan on waking up and having to walk 60 feet into the garage to plug her in. A timer with a 100 amps strong enough for the block heater? TIA

 

[JHardwick]

Just plug it in before you go to bed. It's usually late enough when I get home for the evening to just plug it in then.

 

[CO Lineman]

Just get a regular timer it will work fine.

 

[bpenrod]

I got one for air conditioner service from Wally Mart and it works great. I figure it's only a 20 amp plug so anyhting at that level should work. I found plugging it in at night was really hard on the electric bill. I usually set the tinmer for about three hours before I plan on leaving and it seems to work good.

 

[VStahl]

I bought a 30 amp timer from home depot and it is set to begin warming 2 hours efore I leave. I have used the timer for 2 years without a problem. oh yeah, my username says that I am in north Texas which does not get that cold but I spend alot of the winter at my parents place in Northern New Mexico where it is cold and I have found the 2 hours has been more than suffiecient.

 

[SRadke]

Bought mine from Grainger, approx $60 IIRC. I can get a part number for you if you like.



-Scott

 

[mberry]

I got a 15 amp timer from home depot. 15 amps is plenty and I set mine for 3 hours.

 

[Parks]

I bought mine from Wal Mart for around $6. 00 and it has been working fine for almost five years. Just a plain fixture timer.

 

[HOBrian]

Bought mine from Grainger, approx $60 IIRC. I can get a part number for you if you like.



-Scott

I did not even think about Grainger, I have one (Grainger store)about 10 min from the house I will go and check it out thanks

 

[JHardwick]

I'm thinkin this whole timer issue has been gone through. That $60 timer will take like 4 winters to pay for in electric!



Besides that, these block heaters work like a slow cooker, and 2 or 3 hours aint gettin it when it's 0 and blowin! A stove top or oven for that matter gets hot and cools, gets hot and cools in a series of cycles to maintain a preset temp. A slow cooker (block heater) only heats to a preset temp and stays there, waiting on the surrounding to achieve the same tempurature. And even then the oil is gonna get cold being in the pan.



I like my baby to stay toasty, I'll pay the $5 a month

 

[bkaiser]

I picked up a GE industrial timer from Allied Electronics (Grainger may have it too). It cost about $25 and is rated at 15 Amps. The nice thing with it is it can be programed differently for each day of the week, so when I sleep in on the weekends, so does the truck.



I've found that 2 hours gets it warm enough so the defroster works right away, even when it is sub zero.

 

[DTroy]

From what I've seen, our heaters are 750 watts, so. .



750 watts at 120 volts = 6. 25 amps





Just in case anybody was curious.





I also leave mine plugged in 24/7 just in case I want to jump in at any time.

 

[BigEasy]

A timer with a 100 amps strong enough for the block heater? TIA

Yup... that should take care of it... and everything else in your household at the same time, except maybe a welder.

 

[DGFoster]

I was just going to look into a timer,I have been leaving it plugged in 24/7,but I have heard it is costly,so far a havent noticed anything different on the electric bill...

 

[DieselMinded]

I plug mine in @ work (12hr days) its plugged in the whole time... . FREE ELECTRIC



Can you leave it plugged in too long??? will it hurt anything???



DM

 

[hammersley]

Depending on your electric cost -

If you are paying say 10 cents per KWH - a 750 watt plug will cost you 7. 5 cents per hour. So if you keep it plugged in for 3 hours it will cost almost a quarter/day - 6 hours 50 cents or $15/month! You do the math on your rate. BUT a Timer will pay off pretty quick and depending on temperature outside will depend on how long you leave her plugged in. If the temperature is above 40 - don't waste your $$$$. Since I'm retired now I don't get up till 7:00 and my timer goes on at 2:00 AM. Now I only plug it in when temps will be below 40... ... .



A quantitative measure of electric current flow equivalent to one thousand watts being used continuously for a period on one hour; the unit most commonly used to measure electrical energy, as opposed to kilowatt, which is simply a measure of available power. Customer billings for all but the largest consumers are usually based in part or in total on the number of kilowatt-hours of electricity used. The standard unit of current flow used in physics is the joule, but since a joule is only equivalent to one watt-second, kilowatt-hour has become a much more convenient standard.



A kilowatt-hour of energy typically costs between two and twenty cents depending on where and when it is purchased and by whom. This much energy will operate a 40-watt lightbulb for a full day, a 19" color television for about four hours, a personal computer for 2-1/2 hours, an electric hairdryer for 30 to 60 minutes, an electric razor for 36 hours, a clothes dryer for 15 minutes, a microfurnace heater for 40 minutes, a clock radio for up to several days, a portable stereo for as long as a week, and a telephone answering machine for as long as a month.

 

[rbattelle]

We have this discussion every year here...

I'm thinkin this whole timer issue has been gone through. That $60 timer will take like 4 winters to pay for in electric!



Besides that, these block heaters work like a slow cooker, and 2 or 3 hours aint gettin it when it's 0 and blowin! A stove top or oven for that matter gets hot and cools, gets hot and cools in a series of cycles to maintain a preset temp. A slow cooker (block heater) only heats to a preset temp and stays there, waiting on the surrounding to achieve the same tempurature. And even then the oil is gonna get cold being in the pan.



I like my baby to stay toasty, I'll pay the $5 a month

Ahh, yes I remember it well. I was religiously plugging my block heater into a timer every night, set to come on around 2-4 hours before I wake up. Then there was a thread about it and Jeff asked me why I use a timer. I had no good answer. That night I stowed the timer in the garage and haven't used it since. Like him, I just plug in when I'm done for the evening. This past weekend it was plugged in from around 5pm Friday to 6:30AM Monday morning... ready to go in case I needed the truck. Arguments about wasting energy aside, my point is that no harm whatsoever was done to truck or block heater, only to my wallet.



-Ryan

 

[bpenrod]

I used to plug my 99 2500 in when I got home from work at 7 and unplug it when I fired it up the next morning at 5:30. The first month I did that it almost doubled my electric bill! I actually called the electric company because my bill was up 80% compared to the same time the previous year. I ws shocked and it took me awhile to figure out what had changed. I switched to a timer the next month and the bill settled down. Now reading about guys plugging in the truck all night I wonder if mine was just not working right??

 

[DWordinger]

As already noted by others, the block heater is only 750 watts; about 6. 25 Amperes. Leaving it plugged in longer than 2 or 3 hours will affect your electric bill more than anything else. All the timers refered to so far will work, but some of them sound a bit expensive to me. I've been using an Intermatic #TN311C for years. You can get one of these from Home Depot, Grainger, and other hardware stores. The #TN311C has a receptacle to accomodate a ground pin. Intermatic makes others that look very similar, but are ungrounded and only have a receptacle for the two straight prongs.

 

[Eric_77]

I bought a heavy duty(15amp) X-mas light timer. I may have spent $5 on it winter before last and it has four outlets built into. Not as fancy as the one that does daily settings but works well and was the right price.