Winter sucks, all time low so far
 

Today on my drive home which is 2.79 miles one way. I got 23.7 Mpg I was pulling over 55 this summer sometimes 65 if traffic was good. I HATE Winter. I just wish I could plug in the block heater at work. It was 19F on my drive home today.

Wow that stinks, :) Block heater?

Yeah, I have one but can't plug in at work. They are jerks about that kind of stuff.

That sounds way too low, even for winter. Sure there isn't something else going on?

I hear ya. Had my all time low last tank. Sad part is it hasn't even gotten cold yet. I hear next week were going to have lows down to -8.

I've been toying with a battery powered block heater. I've got a 200watt magnet mount block heater and a 400watt power inverter. Sadly the old battery from my Jeep just won't hold enough charge to do it. So I would need to find a better one. I can't decide if it would be worth buying a marine battery to do it.

Yeah that is low, car is running like a top. The only problem are idiot drivers who forget how to drive during Christmas shopping season. I have to drive right through the chaos to get home, unfortunately. MpGuino tells me no lies at this point dialed right in, I love it when I have high numbers. I would like to throw it out the windows on the bad days, 27 mpg sucks.

how about an extra battery and a power inverter?

I was going to use the old battery from my jeep, I replaced it last year. Sadly it just won't hold enough charge. I can run a 60watt light bulb off it for about 20-25min. I was hoping I could get about a hour or more using my 200watt block heater. That would make it worth while to haul it in and out of the house. I'm not sure if it's worth buying a new battery for it. That's why I was hoping to test it with the old one.

Would it be crazy to just run it off the good battery for 10-15min before starting? I know it would need to recharge it after starting and that would require more gas. But it would bump the starting temp up 10-15F. Would it counter act whats needed to recharge?

How much power is in the typical car battery anyway? I'm sure the guys making the electric cars would know the answer to this one.

magnet block heater! holy crap I'd forgotten about those! It's cold enough now I'd like to plug the GP in, especially since I CANNOT convince the wife to walk to work (1mile) so she drives, which doesn't help when the car is cold. It never warms up properly and she never exceeds 25mph (all residential). (I can't blame her, she's like cold fusion, makes energy but never heat).

Hot damn I'm excited to go to checkers or napa or wherever I find one!

bbjsw10 - this thread DEFINITELY doesn't belong in the "Success Stories" forum. :)

If I were you, I'd be looking to become the first person to do a battery powered block heater experiment. Not with your starting battery though - you'll kill it in short order and I doubt (just guessing) you'll see a net savings anyway with the added alternator load.

If I were you, see if you can source a used 12v truck battery. They'll probably give them to you at scrap rate at a truck service center.