http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Winter_Driving

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

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

What?

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

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

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

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

If you say so.

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

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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

Thers nothing like a sticky box first thing in the morning