Use block heaters!

In another thread there was a discussion about heaters, and one guy
described block heaters like they are just a convenience item - They
make the car warm, period.
And that is so completley wrong. A block heater is one of the best
things you can invest in if you live in a tempered zone. They are
effective up to +10 degree celcius and they save money and the
environment.
Just wanted to say that. /Patrik

 

I agree! I would also like to add that anything below 60C is considered a
cold engine. I use the block heater year round, even on sunny summer days,
and benefit from the cold start valve being disabled =$$$ saved on fuel!

 

Engines heat up so quickly in the summer, it would be a tough debate saying
which costs more, the electricity or the extra fuel. When the temps go above
0°C I don't bother with the block heater, car has no problems. Below 10°C I
take off the timer, and have the heater running for as long as the car is in
the driveway.

 

As the "one guy" who supposedly made the assertion that block heaters were a
convenience item I think I should pipe in. I didn't say quite that, but
block heaters ARE a convenience item for most climates save those north of
the far north. Your car will start in most normally encountered
temperatures. Regardless of how good or bad starting a car at 0 to -30 is
for the engine it will start nonetheless. Therefore, a block heater is a
convenience item. As far as saving money: Maybe right now but when
electricity prices go up it will be cheaper to brave the cold and start your
trip before the car is fully warm. And as for saving the environment: A cold
car is not very good as the catalytic converter is not hot yet ( BTW, a
block heater won't help this either) but I think we all agree that
electricity has to come from somewhere and that somewhere generally has some
form of polution.


Jordan 1999 S70 Loaded!

 

Well i'm going to take comfort in the fact that Ontario uses quite clean
nuclear plants to produce my electricity, at quite a low rate... and even if
my rates were doubled blocks heaters are ridiculously cheap to run... I
think I calculated it out to around 20 bucks a year, at MOST.

I'd rather the car have an easier time starting... I've started a diesel
motor at -35C... it isn't pretty, yes IT DOES IT, but there is a lot of
smoke from the pipe, and the engine just doesn't want to give more then
maybe 10-25% power for a while... For gasoline engines, yah not really a big
deal, they start pretty easy... But they do help things, and aren't too
expensive, so why not use one when it's below freezing.

 

I use synthetic.



Regards,

Boris Mohar

Got Knock? - see:
Viatrack Printed Circuit Designs http://www3.sympatico.ca/borism/

 

So the fact that your car CAN start without a heater, makes the heater
a "convenience item"!? What a logic conclusion...

Any mechanic can tell you that cranking up any engine in -30 is pretty
stupid and dangerous and should always be avoided if possible.

You go break even with a heater after about a year, counting only the
money saved on fuel.

You where very concerned about parking heaters and the environment,
well did you know Jordan that around 90%(!) of the harmful emissions
in a typical city comes from cars thats been running less than an hour
and has been coldstarted.
So if everyone used heaters it would be a HUGE cut in emissions.
This is figures from official research.

A cold engine has to be fed a very rich fuel mixture. This leads to a)
high fuel consumption b) high emissions c) lots of soot buildup in the
engine.

This is plain wrong. A heater helps the Cat significantly! The heater
also prolongs the Cats life because the rich mixure a cold engine
needs soots up the Cat. And Cats aint cheap.

As for the electricity, come on... with that arguing I could say that
driving a car without a Cat is just as good because the factory that
makes them *could* be bad for the environment.

/Patrik 1999 S70 GLT Fully loaded! (The heater makes it "fully";-)

 

WTF?

 

I should come clean. I am sort playing the devil's advocate on this one. If
I had a block heater I would most likely use it when temps fall below -10.
However, I don't so I don't. I know they cost peanuts to run and prolong the
life of your engine but I thought I would see how the argument against them
would play out. Same goes for the parking heater. Clearly most people feel
they are necessary or at the very least useful.
As for the electricity argument, using power for whatever purpose when it is
not needed is wrong if not socially unacceptable. I don't know where you
live but I live in one of the regions of Ontario that was without power for
more than 26 hours during the blackout last summer. Clearly electricity is a
finite resource. Just my 2 cents.

Patrik,
Your car gets better and better the more you post! {>

/Patrik 1999 S70 Fully Loaded ;-)

/Patrik 1999 S70 GLT Fully loaded! (The heater makes it "fully";-)

 

Where is the convenience if the car starts either way. It is actually
inconvenient to hookup and unhook block heaters. It is not a
convenience item. The block is the engine block. It only heats the
engine. It doesn't make the car interior any warmer. It is:

Ecology item. Emissions are much lower when the engine is warm.

Economy item. You use less fuel if you can proceed immediately after
starting and don't have to wait for the oil to get warm.

Longevity item. The engine is going to last longer if it doesn't have to
run when very cold and the oil is like molasses.

 

You might want to look down the road at the Nanticoke coal fired
generating station on the north shore of Lake Erie, the largest single
source polluter in all of Canada. Our friends in Western Pa. and New
York really appreciate it. Here's something on electricity produced
from coal in Ontario:
http://www.ec.gc.ca/air/formal_comment_e.html

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

Patrik,

Ehh well it is a Volvo S70 GLT (the european version). I usually dont
advertise my cars type and model, but since I have the same great car
as you have, only slightly better ;-), I thought it was funny to match
your "line"
Take care Jordan and now get that heater installed will you!

/Patrik 1999 Volvo Fully driven

 

Yea.... that thing is a crying shame... so are the other coal stations. My
area gets its main bulk of power from one of the nukes tho ;-).

 

I got hit with 10 hours or so of blackout. At night the electrical
consumption isn't as high as during the day... so even if people put on
block heaters it still balances out. That electrical failure was due to a
problem in a US based grid, there was a cascading chain of circuit problems
that caused current to get redirected, this blew a ton of line breakers all
over Ontario and the states... A few zones were able to isolate themselves,
but not the highly interconnected ones.... Ontario does need new power
generation, but this is not going to stop me from plugging in... But I think
I would look at gas powered appliances ;-).

 

They may not make or keep the car interior any warmer but warm to hot engine
fluids from the block heater equates to faster overall engine warmup times
which equates to warmer interior faster. I think several of us mentioned
that we were less than thrilled to hop into a frigid car and wait the few
minutes while the oil thinned out enough to proceed safely.


Jordan 1999 S70 Loaded!

 

I am in the process of ordering one for my own car.

Cheers, Peter.

: Why do you think a cabs motor lasts so long ,because its always warm ,starts
: up and doesn't cool down till the shifts finish .
: So why not use a block heater any way ,cold or warm climate its sure going
: to make the engine last longer ?..
:
:
: : > Yea.... that thing is a crying shame... so are the other coal stations. My
: > area gets its main bulk of power from one of the nukes tho ;-).
: > : > > Rob Guenther wrote:
: > > >
: > > > Well i'm going to take comfort in the fact that Ontario uses quite
: clean
: > > > nuclear plants to produce my electricity, at quite a low rate... and
: > even if
: > > > my rates were doubled blocks heaters are ridiculously cheap to run...
: I
: > > > think I calculated it out to around 20 bucks a year, at MOST.
: > > >
: > > > I'd rather the car have an easier time starting... I've started a
: diesel
: > > > motor at -35C... it isn't pretty, yes IT DOES IT, but there is a lot
: of
: > > > smoke from the pipe, and the engine just doesn't want to give more
: then
: > > > maybe 10-25% power for a while... For gasoline engines, yah not really
: a
: > big
: > > > deal, they start pretty easy... But they do help things, and aren't
: too
: > > > expensive, so why not use one when it's below freezing.
: > >
: > > You might want to look down the road at the Nanticoke coal fired
: > > generating station on the north shore of Lake Erie, the largest single
: > > source polluter in all of Canada. Our friends in Western Pa. and New
: > > York really appreciate it. Here's something on electricity produced
: > > from coal in Ontario:
: > > http://www.ec.gc.ca/air/formal_comment_e.html
: > >
: > > --
: > > Mike F.
: > > Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.
: > >
: > > NOTE: new address!!
: > > Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
: > > (But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)
: >
: >
:
:

 

Why do you think a cabs motor lasts so long ,because its always warm ,starts
up and doesn't cool down till the shifts finish .
So why not use a block heater any way ,cold or warm climate its sure going
to make the engine last longer ?..