Living in Iowa can you leave your engine heater on for a long period of time on a 2006 6.0 liter diesel engine?

 

I've had mine on since Sunday! I don't think it's a big deal when it's this cold.

 

Do it all the time with trucks, tractors, the only thing it affects is the power bill, and really, it doesn't hit that too bad, something like 15 cents a day to be plugged in.

 

Only 15 cents? How many watts?

 

That was a friend telling me what it cost to keep their semi plugged in.

 

I just remembered a little test I did a while back, had my dad's 84 plugged in, and watched the meter. By the numbers given on that, it was on track to cost about $30 a month if it were plugged in 24/7.I read the meter at the same time 24 hours apart, and our power is about 10 cents a kilowatt/hour if I remember correctly.

 

24 hours x 30 days =720 hours
500 watts / 1000 (kilo) = .5 kilowatt
720 hrs x .5 kw = 360 kilowatt hours
10 cents x 360 kwh = $36

 

They make little meters to check electrical usage, just plug it in then plug in whatever, tells you how much it uses. Bought mine for $45 and I found out I needed a new deep freeze pretty badly. Kinda nice to know what uses what.

 

Ohms law works too. E=I X R

 

Ohms is nice for estimates, but without knowing the actual resistance and current, it is an educated guess. Ratings don't guarantee usage. I do know what themeter said for usage, so that's why I went that way. (Not to mention, forgot to try figuring it by Ohm's law...)