Civic Block Heater Install

[TomO]

Originally Posted by Weather Spotter

Would an extension cord work?

An extension cord would work but then there'd be vehicles driving over it all day long and it'd need to be at least 75 feet long as I don't get the same parking spot everyday. I feel that the voltage loss may impede EBH performance as well as being a pain to wind up the cord as parents are driving through picking up their kids at the end of the school day.

I just live with the slightly less MPG for the drive home. I hit the highway within 1 minute of starting the car so at least the car warms fast and hits the highway mpg pretty fast.

Perhaps a solar array roof charging a secondary battery that would power the EBH???? Nahh, don't have the money or time for that, lol.

[steffen707]

Originally Posted by TomO

An extension cord would work but then there'd be vehicles driving over it all day long and it'd need to be at least 75 feet long as I don't get the same parking spot everyday. I feel that the voltage loss may impede EBH performance as well as being a pain to wind up the cord as parents are driving through picking up their kids at the end of the school day.

I just live with the slightly less MPG for the drive home. I hit the highway within 1 minute of starting the car so at least the car warms fast and hits the highway mpg pretty fast.

Perhaps a solar array roof charging a secondary battery that would power the EBH???? Nahh, don't have the money or time for that, lol.

Buy a super sweet retractable hose reel and mount it in your tiny engine bay somehow, then you can just pull the cord out the bumper. Bet people would wonder about your new plug in hybrid.

Thanks for all the block heater info Tom. I really gotta do this next year, because even with a 40+ degree heated garage, I would consistantly get 7-10mpg less this winter than last winter because I have a very short 2 mile commute that is 1 mile of highway.

The car would barely get up to temp by the time I got to work, and would blow luke warm air at best.

[8307c4]

Are you folks even reading?

Originally Posted by steffen707

Buy a super sweet retractable hose reel and mount it in your tiny engine bay somehow, then you can just pull the cord out the bumper. Bet people would wonder about your new plug in hybrid.

Thanks for all the block heater info Tom. I really gotta do this next year, because even with a 40+ degree heated garage, I would consistantly get 7-10mpg less this winter than last winter because I have a very short 2 mile commute that is 1 mile of highway.

The car would barely get up to temp by the time I got to work, and would blow luke warm air at best.

They don't put out that kind of heat.

I hate to tell you but at current electricity rates you'll be burning through more electrical cost than the extra fuel your car would burn otherwise.

Because 500 watts isn't enough to keep an engine "warm" and if you get two heaters or four or eight you better remember you are paying nearly 12 cents a kilowatt hour!

They done figured this all out.

If it's 40 degrees in your garage, your car does not need a heater.

The only vehicles that need one are ones that are parked in subfreezing temperatures where the vehicle will NOT start without.