[duckcanuck]

(11-20-2010, 04:02 AM)Mystake Wrote: what about any wear/tear caused by the heat?

could i potentially, and theoretically leave the block heater on for a month without causing damage to the internals of the engine, or anything? I mean, it would wear out the heater but I think you may get the point.


edit: assuming the heater is made of undestructibilium, what if I DID leave it on for a month straight?

Well, I can vouch for the fact that they have a finite life span, so it is best not to leave it on longer than needed.

I base it on the outside temperature. If it is really frickin' cold (below -20C) then I would use a timer to turn it on about 3 hours before I want to leave. Less time if it is not quite so cold. Even an hour helps.

"Someone" in my house (aka SWMBO) left the block heater on my '95 Escort plugged for a couple of days once. When I drove it, I found out that a fair volume of coolant had disappeared (it overheated and there was not enough coolant to keep the thermostat consistently open). No signs of any external leakage. My theory is that the water portion of the coolant mix had been slowly boiled away. After a tense inspection, I topped it up and all was well. So, for that reason, I certainly don't recommend just leaving it plugged in.

Oh, one last thing: personally I don't use a block heater if the car is in a garage attached to the house. There have been cases of the cord shorting and starting a fire. Since I have had to replace many plugs on block heater cords, I guess I can see how this can happen.

Bob