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Originally Posted by Brian Carlton
As a professional mechanic, I'm sure you realize that a block heater costs you money.
It's there for the convenience of the owner. Sure, it helps a diesel start easier when it gets quite cold. However, the cost of purchasing and installing the block heater, and operating it, can never be recovered by saving fuel due to starting a "warm" engine.
As posted above, operating a block heater overnight (even the typical 400W heater) is very costly to do.
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Well, you don't do it overnight. You do it just long enough to warm the motor by using a timer and adjusting it for the temperatures.
With synthetics you don't need a block heater to start your car anymore but up here everyone uses them. Trust me, you do see the difference in gas consumption when it gets cold.
An electric element is 100% efficient in the block. I'm not sure how efficient it is to heat the motor with gas but I suspect not very. Most of the heat goes out the exaust. If it's more economical to move your car with electricity than with gas then surely it is more economical to heat your motor with electricity than with gas considering you don't need batteries, etc.
Jorg
Jorg