Hi everyone,

My truck, like every other Ford vehicle sold in the Minneapolis area, came with the factory block heater. I was curious how powerful the heater was, the only other one I could compare it to was the 900W unit in my two Powerstroke trucks.

So I measured it this afternoon with my Kill-A-Watt device, and it came in at 399W. That's good because you won't be melting your extension cord or blowing breakers, but that seems a little wimpy to me. Left it in for about an hour and a half, and the coolant temp was reading near ambient before starting up. After starting it up to get the coolant circulating it rose quickly from 35 to 85 degrees within about 30 seconds, so I'm assuming the sensor isn't located close to the heater.

I'll be interested to see how it affects fuel economy. On my 6.7L truck there was a noticeable fuel economy improvement from preheating the engine, perhaps the little 3.5 will respond the same way

 

I did not know there was an engine heater available for the gas engines. I have not seen it as an option anywhere. Maybe it's a cold climate build only.
Also I thought they heated the oil not the water.

 

Huh, now that's interesting. Just took a look at the order guide and found this:

Looks like if you live in Alaska or the upper midwest it's standard, all other states need not apply. Very interesting.

I've never seen one work that way, but the only ones I've had before were on diesel models. But every one I've ever owned or read about is comprised of a heating element that replaces one of the block casting plugs and is immersed in coolant. I'll have to do some more digging, but I'm assuming that's what this one is.

 

Found a little more information. Looks like it's a cartridge-style heater that installs into a port on the block specifically made for this purpose. My Prius had something similar. The heater fits tightly inside the port in the block and doesn't touch the coolant.

Ecoboost Block Heater Puzzle - Ford F150 Forum - Community of Ford Truck Fans

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-NEW-2011-2013-Ford-F-150-Block-Heater-Cord-Element-3-5L-EcoBoost-V6-/251181589473?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a7b96e3e1&vxp=mtr&rmvSB=true
ON edit: Never mind, that design was changed. Looks like it's a traditional-design heater that replaces one of the casting plugs. It apparently requires the removal of the left turbocharger to install.

http://www.f150forum.com/f38/ford-te...243990/index2/

 

I hope I never need one here in Tennessee but I am disappointed that you can not order one on a new build. Really surprised. You can order one on a diesel regardless where you live.

 

My 2015 I purchased of the lot has one. I live in NC and purchased the truck here. Never had one before, not sure why the dealer would have ordered the truck with it. Trying to decide if I should even use it, since the truck is garaged and it doesn't get down to freezing to terribly often. I think it's 28F here tonight. What are your thoughts? What temperature is cold enough to warrant the heater?

 

I live in Fairbanks, Alaska where it gets pretty chilly. I moved here in 2000 and the coldest official temp we have seen is -64. Our garages are heated so we don't need to plug in but if that's not available then here they recommend plugging in at 20 above for emission reasons. We also have transmission pan heater, oil pan heater and battery pad heaters.

 

Thanks Hawk! Try to stay warm this thanksgiving weekend! And remember keep that cold air up there, we don't want it down here!

 

I'm going to experiment a bit as it gets colder, but I used to plug in my previous trucks for a couple hours when it got below freezing. The truck will happily start colder than that, but it's really inefficient running that cold. I'm thinking a few cents in electricity may make it easier on the truck and save a little gas.

 

Here in Pa I've never needed one. I had a '66 Rambler Rebel 232 that sat outside and I let it go for 3 weeks in Feb and it would still fire right up. It's all about good maintenance. It just doesn't get cold enough here often enough to be much more than a crutch for a weak battery.

Source

It would be interesting to see the fuel economy vs electric consumption figures.

As for the NC dealer, it could well have been a fleet ordered unit that was switched to retail because a fleet customer changed their mind or the unit was mis-ordered or something. My fav fleet only option is on the Transit Connect where you can get the taxi LWB with only one row of passenger seats. They used to have the crew seating on the last generation for everyone but they dropped it to Taxi only now. It'd be one I'd be tempted to get for myself as a family truckster.

 

How about adding the block heater to the 5.0?

I'm in Colorado which looks like I'm excluded from standard issue.

Josh

 

I have the block heater on my 5.0 in Illinois. Dealer had to go to Minnesota to find the other options I wanted. I was surprised when I saw it had the option. I had never seen a block heater on a gas engine before now. Only on diesels around here. I brought this up in another thread. It hasn't been cold enough yet to seriously consider using it. After talking to you guys & gals here I understood the need for it in the upper Midwest. I'll be interested to hear how everyone uses their heaters.

 

Before the advent of alternators, electronic ignition, and fuel injection cold weather starting was always an iffy prospect. Many people installed block heaters, oil pan heaters, dip stick heaters, etc. Even a 75W incandescent light bulb left in the engine bay on the intake manifold would help.

Today most gas engines will usually start no problem in cold weather. The block heaters I am familiar with are made by KAT, out if Canada iirc. Installed inline with the lower radiator hose.

 

Kat's heaters is a brand I've heard of quite a bit in the past. Our local farm and hardware store sells them. They have a variety of different types and an application catalog that's fairly comprehensive.

Kat's

I wish I knew, I could only find a couple things when searching around on it. Looks like you have to drop the front differential to access the plug the factory one uses. Here's the Kat's heater listed for that application, for some reason they don't specify any of their lower radiator heaters for this model.


Here's their catalog:

http://www.fivestarmanufacturing.com...5_Cat_Web.aspx

 

Conflicting info on the 5.0;

Block Heater Install - Ford F150 Forum - Community of Ford Truck Fans

This shows the lower mount:




Element is $40, cord alone is $93

Josh