Plug in car heaters
 

Hello
I am having a second recce next week in Calgary and am spend some time in the hills.
What is the deal with plugging in the hire car?
When and where do I have to plug in the car?
Do you have to plug in every time you stop the engine ? E.g. if I was just popping out to the shop?

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Basically it just helps the engine start if it's got really cold (below -20 or so); so no need to bother for short stops, but if you're leaving the car out overnight in really cold weather it's not a bad idea to plug it in. Odds are it will still start OK without the extra heating, but it will start easier if it has been plugged in.

I do remember watching a documentary some years ago about people driving across Russia in temperatures down to -60C or below, and they did have a problem where one of the cars stopped overnight (they left them running 24 hours a day) and couldn't be started in the morning. But you're not likely to find temperatures that low in most of Canada.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

It's a block heater that makes starting the engine from overnight stone cold that much easier. We have ours on a timer in the garage - it comes on around midnight, switches off around 7.30am before I leave for work. I remember my hubby using a sump heater - don't know if they're avaliable here - in really cold English weather :)

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Thanks for the info
The car will be in the hotel heated car park over night so it looks like I will not have to plug the car in to the grid.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

You could save some money on electricity if you set the timer for about two hours (approx 5:00am) before you need to start the car. That's all it needs.;)

Most block heaters are installed in a frost plug close to the bottom of the block and warm the coolant.

Come on, you really don't expect anyone in Canada to believe that it gets cold enough in the UK to need a block heater. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

budge up!

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Iain is away on some nice warm island this is a non-starter. :p;)

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Aaaaah block heated the natural way :rofl:

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Nah...it won't start 'cause it wasn't plugged in. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

You might think differently if you'd ever owned a British car from the 60s or 70s... they need all the help they can get to start on a good day :).

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Sorry, the cars in the garage or just the block heater timer?

If the car is in the garage what are you using a block heater for?

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Unless the garage is heated, the temperature will eventually equalise with the outside no matter how good the insulation may be.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Our garage is a separate building and is not insulated.

It does manage to stay a few degrees warmer than the outside air temp even on the coldest days but even that is only two or three degrees.

Block heater still required.;)

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

WE have lived in Winnipeg for nearly ten years, our cars do not go in a garage, we don't use the block heaters and the only problem we have had is with my daughters brand new Mini, it wont start in the cold, despite synthetic oil etc etc. BMW have loaned her a brand new 3 series for 4 weeks now as they can't sort out the problem. May be they will let her keep the 3 :thumbup:

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

I didn't say a block heater was needed in the UK - I said a sump heater.....a completely different animal. ;)

Thanks for the money saving tip, BTW - I'll pass it on to him indoors :)

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

We forgot to plug the car in a few times in Winnipeg when we probably ought to have... it still started.

Don't worry about what it does to the engine when it's a rental car OP :thumbup:

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

What?

I thought, perchance, the OP didn't understand how thing worked - being a girlie, I couldn't resist explaining! :p

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

But the intent is still pretty much the same, it just warms the oil instead of the coolant. :p
You're welcome.:):)

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

[quote=Steve_P;5724372]But the intent is still pretty much the same, it just warms the oil instead of the coolant. :p

Oh for Pete's sake - and yes, sometimes it was cold enough for just such a heater....so there! :p

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

If you say so.;):p

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

My garage is not heated and even with minus 20 outside has never dropped below 5 degree's

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Then you're violating the laws of physics or have buried it underground. Heat goes from warm things to cold things, and insulation only slows the rate at which it goes... normal garage insulation sure won't keep an unheated garage at twenty five degress above the outside air temperature, particularly if you're opening the door to drive in and out.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Your talking in a very literal sense and I assume you are either a physicist or some form of engineer or perhaps a specialist in insulation? Given that my house is heated I thought it may well have been obvious that some heat would transfer to the garage. My origional point was that a block heater is NOT needed for a vehicle stored in a garage, unless you dont use any form of heating in your property and you have no insulation in your garage?

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

But it will save you money!!!, using electricity to heat the engine up a couple of hours before you need it, will improve your fuel economy and per joule of energy the electricty off the grid is cheaper than petrol you’d use to heat the block

Plus it puts significantly less wear on the engine starting with the oil in a fluid rather than waxy state

I switch mine on (in the garage) when the outside is -10 or below, and you can easily tell the difference, if you use a standard gear box, heated the gear shift moves easily, unheated the box will feel sticky for a while until the engine is fully up to temp, not hard to figure out what happening to the gears and parts in the engine

and last year did the math too

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

My stick shift car lives in a unheated garage and we don't use a block heater and the gears don't get sticky.

And neither garage attached or unattached has dropped below zero inside. The unnattached one does need some form of heating if OH want to work in there though as it get a bit too chilly for that.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

I don't bother plugging them in either. My experience now stretches over 20 years of BC, Ontario and NB winters.

I use 5W30 year round. One vehicle is garaged (unheated) one is not.

Some folks swear by them, but as long as you have a good battery and don't live in Yellowknife etc...you should be fine...

So are they a must...not in my estimation.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

This morning the thermometer in my the car read -27. My box was sticky.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Thers nothing like a sticky box first thing in the morning

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Was it actually sticky?

Or was more sort of like stiff and sluggish.;)

I'm not at all sure I would want a sticky box, but one really can't be too choosy.:p:rofl::rofl:

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Be thankful you weren't in Algonquin Park or Borden where it was -35 c and -31 c overnight.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Does it really matter? I mean below 55 or so F is not pleasant, once it's -20 or -30 or -40 life is just something to struggle through and it's arguable if one should bother, it seems pointless to quibble over negative degrees.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Well at -31 or -35 your box would have been stickier (or stiffer). You know it is cold outside when you press scan on the radio and you can visibly see that it is scanning through at a slower speed.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

I'm resisting the urge to add to this...so I will leave now smiling after reading the last few posts.

REgards to one and all...:rofl:

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My radio froze. No shit the lcd, or whatever, display in the Sirius radio has gone solid and I can't get the BBC anymore. At -27 and without news from abroad I really feel that I'm in the wilderness.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

But you are, you are.

You should leave the radio turned on all night. Keep the 'orses amused.

<what is it about this forum and block heaters anyway?>

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Never had mine freeze before, but it has gone sluggish. It co-incided with having what seemed to be square tires (it was -26 or something and I was driving on all seasons).

DBD you are north of Steeles Avenue aren't you?. I recall in high school in Toronto (I moved here when I was 17) and the teacher asked in geography class where the 'north' started in Canada. One kid put up his hand and quite honestly said 'Steeles Avenue'.

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

Beats me. There is a perfectly good wiki article on the subject now.;)

Re: Plug in car heaters
 

True, and thanks, but it's just not the same!:(