A few years ago, Ford was offering an optional electric heating element in the cabin heater of their pickups, because it would warm up much faster than the coolant would (especially if it has a diesel). I wonder if they still do that, because it seems like a nice touch and something that could be used this way, too. (I haven’t watched the video.)
They are. It’s just most urban people don’t bother with them anymore because the electronic ignitions and fuel injectors make ICE engines very reliable starters even in quite cold weather. My, now eight year old vehicles, still start reliably at -40F even parked outside because I know I will be faced with those temperatures every year and I keep them well repaired to handle that.
Mostly you will see block heaters on diesels and older unreliable cars. And yes, they do work very well and are a cheap insurance policy for getting your car started.
Besides diesels, they’re almost unheard of in the US. At least in the continental states; they might have them in the nastier parts of Alaska. Even there, a lot of the places where people actually live don’t get that cold. Anchorage has an average low of -10C in January, which is cold, but not crazy cold.
Yeah I have actually been kind of baffled no one else mentioned these, are conventional engine heaters not a thing outside scandinavia?
Are engine block heaters being confused for pre-heating the cabin? Because we have block heaters too.
There’s a separate cabin heater which is connected to the same circuit as the block heater.
A few years ago, Ford was offering an optional electric heating element in the cabin heater of their pickups, because it would warm up much faster than the coolant would (especially if it has a diesel). I wonder if they still do that, because it seems like a nice touch and something that could be used this way, too. (I haven’t watched the video.)
That’s super cool!
They are. It’s just most urban people don’t bother with them anymore because the electronic ignitions and fuel injectors make ICE engines very reliable starters even in quite cold weather. My, now eight year old vehicles, still start reliably at -40F even parked outside because I know I will be faced with those temperatures every year and I keep them well repaired to handle that.
Mostly you will see block heaters on diesels and older unreliable cars. And yes, they do work very well and are a cheap insurance policy for getting your car started.
Besides diesels, they’re almost unheard of in the US. At least in the continental states; they might have them in the nastier parts of Alaska. Even there, a lot of the places where people actually live don’t get that cold. Anchorage has an average low of -10C in January, which is cold, but not crazy cold.
Ah OK, I would have expected it to be quite a lot colder than that.