block heater for cold climates?

For those of you that live in freezers...

I was always curious about having a block heater. Is it common for public
places / workplaces to have a place for you to plug in ?

Seems like it would be awful generous of them to give away "free" power ??

Just curious... Being born and raised in the desert, I haven't seen too many
block heaters ( although I bought a diesel Caddy a bunch of years ago that
had one...I was wondering what the H3ll the electric cord was hanging behind
the grille )

Oh, BTW.... it'll be ~68 today..... Think I'll drop the top and cruise


"Gordon S. Hlavenka" > wrote in message
om...
> Grant wrote:
> > How is the Explorer on cold starts? I know some vehicles can survive
> > without ever having to be plugged in, probably mostly due to the
> > strength of their battery.
>
> I remember a few years ago leaving my '94 (V6) parked at the Aurora
> (Illinois) Airport (ARR) while I was in New York for a week. When I got
> back, there'd been "some" snow -- the back of the truck was completely
> clear but the rest of it was in a drift. Seriously, it looked like
> somebody had just painted the back end of an Explorer onto the side of a
> snowdrift :-)
>
> You can probably guess where I'm going with this: I opened the rear
> hatch, climbed over the seats, started her up and backed out. Since the
> truck had had time to cool to ambient before the snow fell, nothing
> stuck -- I didn't even need an ice scraper; I just knocked off the big
> chunks with my arm and drove away. I did pop the hood, though, and
> found the engine compartment packed solid with snow. It all melted out
> while I was driving home :-)
>
>
> As you said, the main thing is having a strong battery.
>
> --
> Gordon S. Hlavenka http://www.crashelectronics.com
> "If we imagined he could _find_ the car,
> we could pretend it might be fixed." - Calvin
>

A lot depends on the employer.... fringe benefits for some, I guess. For my
case, it is expected that my vehicles will start - I go home for lunch,
anyway, so 4 hours isn't such a big deal even on the coldest days.

Average block heater would be 750 - 1000 watts (for most gas applications)
and cost concious consumers will spring for a timer to turn on the heater
about 3 hours before the usual departure time.Never quite got to the good
side of freezing today and now the flurries are starting again 8^p

And your parting shot - OUCH!!!


"Chief_Wiggum" > wrote in message
news:ws9ed.100609$Lo6.5891@fed1read03...
> For those of you that live in freezers...
>
> I was always curious about having a block heater. Is it common for public
> places / workplaces to have a place for you to plug in ?
>
> Seems like it would be awful generous of them to give away "free" power ??
>
> Just curious... Being born and raised in the desert, I haven't seen too
many
> block heaters ( although I bought a diesel Caddy a bunch of years ago
that
> had one...I was wondering what the H3ll the electric cord was hanging
behind
> the grille )
>
> Oh, BTW.... it'll be ~68 today..... Think I'll drop the top and cruise
>
>
> "Gordon S. Hlavenka" > wrote in message
> om...
> > Grant wrote:
> > > How is the Explorer on cold starts? I know some vehicles can survive
> > > without ever having to be plugged in, probably mostly due to the
> > > strength of their battery.
> >
> > I remember a few years ago leaving my '94 (V6) parked at the Aurora
> > (Illinois) Airport (ARR) while I was in New York for a week. When I got
> > back, there'd been "some" snow -- the back of the truck was completely
> > clear but the rest of it was in a drift. Seriously, it looked like
> > somebody had just painted the back end of an Explorer onto the side of a
> > snowdrift :-)
> >
> > You can probably guess where I'm going with this: I opened the rear
> > hatch, climbed over the seats, started her up and backed out. Since the
> > truck had had time to cool to ambient before the snow fell, nothing
> > stuck -- I didn't even need an ice scraper; I just knocked off the big
> > chunks with my arm and drove away. I did pop the hood, though, and
> > found the engine compartment packed solid with snow. It all melted out
> > while I was driving home :-)
> >
> >
> > As you said, the main thing is having a strong battery.
> >
> > --
> > Gordon S. Hlavenka http://www.crashelectronics.com
> > "If we imagined he could _find_ the car,
> > we could pretend it might be fixed." - Calvin
> >
>
>