if you heard an arc and gurgling, the block heater is working. you will need to be plugged in at least 2 hours to see any benefit, 3-4 hours is much better.

 

Any harm in leaving it plugged in all night, 8 hrs or so?

 

nope. the only one that will see anything by leaving it in all night is the person paying the power bill.

when the glow plugs died on my 88 i had to use the block heater for a month before i could change them. that month of block heater plugged in for 12 hours a day ended up costing me around $100 extra on the electric bill.

 

14.4 kwhr each night.... I could see that. Haha

 

Plug it in! A warm diesel engine will always ~always~ start easier than a cold one. I have a timer in my garage (yes, inside the garage) where I plug mine in at night and at 3am the heater will switch on, and run till 6:30 am - and automatically shut off. This is just enough time to warm up the engine. The start is immediate - as is the air...

 

i have a remote controled switch on mine. i turn the switch on 2 to 2 1/2 before i go out, as soon as i wake up. or if it is snowing i just turn it on before going to bed.
i can not use a timer because i never go out at the same time every day.

 

I really couldn't believe it was 10 amps until I tested it. My camper has a surge protector on it that reads out amps and I tested the ac to see what it draws, you guessed it, 10 amps. So it will up your E bill!

 

That's really only 1200watts. Pretty common for heating devices. They're power hogs.