I have twin block heaters on my 1997 F350 7.5L. It seems each of them go straight to a freeze plug on each bank of the engine. Only one appears to have ever been used. From what I gather, a block heater is worth about 1000 watts+/-; does this sound about right? I've never used one before; none of my past vehicles have ever had one.

I live in Northern Ohio; it's cold here during the winter, but not frozen tundra, ice road trucker cold. I don't drive my truck often, but when I do, I don't want to sit and wait 5 min. for that big piece of iron to warm up before I drive off. (I always let it warm up at least a little before driving off.) I am using 5w40 Rotella synthetic oil and recently flushed/filled/checked the coolant.

I bought an extension cord and 24hr outdoor timer capable of 1850 watts. I don't want to leave that 1000w "light bulb" plugged in 24/7. How long do you guys leave 'em juiced in for before driving away? If I plugged one of them into the timer, what would you set the thing to?
I don't want to see my electric meter spinning the needles off.

I've about got my garage to the point where I can pull the truck in there to keep it out of the weather....almost there.

These are probably noobie questions, but thanks for the help!

 

I live in Colorado, the block heater in my diesel truck is 1000 watts. The heater is a KATS circulating tank heater. I have the heater plugged into a 1850 watt exterior timer set to start two hours before I need to leave for work. It was 9 degrees this morning and the truck fired right up.

 

My diesel has I think a 1500W heater. I was told to plug it in at least an hour before I have to leave somewhere. Temperatures were in the 30s yesterday, I plugged it in for an hour, the truck started very easy and it warmed up very quick. I think there is absolutely no point in keeping the truck plugged in all the time, unless you are a firefighter or some other kind of emergency-response person - they need to be able to run out the door on a moment's notice so they cannot wait for a block heater to do its magic, but most regular people do not have the need for such preparedness. Your truck is not even a diesel, so I think you should not even worry about that timer thing and just plug it in manually on cold days an hour before you have to leave. My ex used to wake up an hour before he had to head out, run outside and plug the truck in (cord was plugged in the truck from the night before, he just plugged the cord in the outlet by the door), and then proceed with his morning routine - by the time he was done jogging, showering, coffeeing, breakfasting, and all that, truck was ready to go. I would use two heaters if I had them, I only have one, but I think if you use both you will like the truck more (it will be warmer). Make sure your cord is big enough for the power, or buy another cord for the other heater - I use a 12-gauge cord for my heater.