Battery

[Coyote machine]

I think most of my problem is that the block heater was only on for about a half an hour and the temp was -30F. I'm going out in a few minutes and will put the battery charger on it. Tomorrow, in the morning I will fire up the block heater and warm it up good for a couple of hours before I try starting it. (I get up at 7, but I don't bother to get around to doing anything until noon.)

I'd be real careful that you're not charging a frozen battery at those extreme temps. I'd connect the charger to teh battery and then plug in the charger away from the battery area just in case.
You might want to consider getting a battery blanket which wraps around the batter and plugs in when it's super cold out. I have one on my generator's battery and it works well.

Here in VA we normally don't get super cold temps, but this January has been different. Several consecutive days of subfreezing temps. As my tractor is only covered by a tarp and kept under the back porch (no garage), I remove the battery and bring it inside for Jan until early March. Probably unecessary, but makes me feel better!

Bet the battery wears a smile too.

I have a 1997 f150 with a freeze plug installed block heater. I also have a laser temperature gun that goes from -75°F to 980°. Has to be plugged in for at least 3 hours to make a difference on the coolant temperature measured at the thermostat and upper/lower radiator hoses. 4 or 5 hours works better. It was -14° F here a few weeks ago. I needed to make sure my truck would start so I could get to the truck shop I work at. I knew it would start when it was that cold as I had to start it at work without the block heater. It was the sounds, hard cranking etc that I didn't like. If I plugged it in for at least 4 hours than it would make a huge difference.

If I knew I had to start it soon after a nights sleep I would come straight home, shut the truck off, plug in the block heater, go to bed and the truck would whip right over sometimes like it was 50°F outside. I do not know if it makes a difference to plug it in when the coolant is cold or warm but it seems like mine maintains the coolant temperature well.

Starting with warm coolant is easier to maintain the warm temp than starting from a cold block and trying to warm everything up.

One more thing, you could buy a timer for christmas lights etc from a home improvement store. They are usually rated for 1800 watts is your good to go. Then you could set the time you want the timer to turn on for 5 hours before you have to plow the driveway.

Yeah, that's a good way to do it, and save on electric too.

 

[Looking4new]

I have a 1997 f150 with a freeze plug installed block heater. I also have a laser temperature gun that goes from -75ｰF to 980ｰ. Has to be plugged in for at least 3 hours to make a difference on the coolant temperature measured at the thermostat and upper/lower radiator hoses. 4 or 5 hours works better. It was -14ｰ F here a few weeks ago. I needed to make sure my truck would start so I could get to the truck shop I work at. I knew it would start when it was that cold as I had to start it at work without the block heater. It was the sounds, hard cranking etc that I didn't like. If I plugged it in for at least 4 hours than it would make a huge difference.

If I knew I had to start it soon after a nights sleep I would come straight home, shut the truck off, plug in the block heater, go to bed and the truck would whip right over sometimes like it was 50ｰF outside. I do not know if it makes a difference to plug it in when the coolant is cold or warm but it seems like mine maintains the coolant temperature well.

One more thing, you could buy a timer for christmas lights etc from a home improvement store. They are usually rated for 1800 watts is your good to go. Then you could set the time you want the timer to turn on for 5 hours before you have to plow the driveway.

I have 2 remote electric thingys on different frequencies that I plug the Heep and the tractor into. From the house I click on the key fob thingy and either the Heep or the tractor block heaters activate depending on which one I want. I put a 3 way power tap after the remote and hook up led lights to it and hang that outside either garage as an indicator of whether the block heater is on or not.

I just got back from town and the battery looks like it is all charged up (wasn't that low to start with). IF it snows overnite, then I will fire up the block heater when I get up (7) and try starting it at noon.

 

[Looking4new]

I'd be real careful that you're not charging a frozen battery at those extreme temps. I'd connect the charger to the battery and then plug in the charger away from the battery area just in case.


Bet the battery wears a smile too.

I pulled the caps and looked in the cells, not frozen. But I did plug the charger in AFTER I hooked the battery up anyway. That is just the way I do it anyway. I know what exploding batteries look like, I did one years ago that my boss was too cheap to replace (It was toast and he was too cheap to replace it), it was scrap after I got done with it.

 

[Looking4new]

Had my sweetie (Kioti) running today for about an hour. I charged up the battery yesterday and turned the block heater on at 7 this morning. I went out at 11:30 and she started right up after two cycles of the glow plugs. I guess it was my bad for only letting the block heater run for about a half an hour and then trying to start it in -30*F temps.
Thanks to everybody that threw suggestions and cautions at me.

 

[diesel lover]

Had my sweetie (Kioti) running today for about an hour. I charged up the battery yesterday and turned the block heater on at 7 this morning. I went out at 11:30 and she started right up after two cycles of the glow plugs. I guess it was my bad for only letting the block heater run for about a half an hour and then trying to start it in -30*F temps.
Thanks to everybody that threw suggestions and cautions at me.

Not a problem!! I'm trying to spread the word to more people fast this time of year. I'm getting up set with these people that "know" block heaters only need an hour max to warm up. After that it could catch on fire or something .... WRONG. So wrong. I have a laser temperature gun and after doing my own research with my own block heater here were the results at 20 degs : freeze plug heater plugged in and in under 5 minutes time out side surface temperature of freeze plug is 100 degs F!! Check again maybe 20 minutes later and surrounding areas from freeze plug are 40 degs and freeze plug is 50 degs. Pretty amazing. Upper and lower radiator hoses are warming up. 4 to 5 hours is perfect with mine. The heat circulates around the engine. Its one of the best inventions in 100 years when it comes to cold weather!

 

[k0ua]

Not a problem!! I'm trying to spread the word to more people fast this time of year. I'm getting up set with these people that "know" block heaters only need an hour max to warm up. After that it could catch on fire or something .... WRONG. So wrong. I have a laser temperature gun and after doing my own research with my own block heater here were the results at 20 degs : freeze plug heater plugged in and in under 5 minutes time out side surface temperature of freeze plug is 100 degs F!! Check again maybe 20 minutes later and surrounding areas from freeze plug are 40 degs and freeze plug is 50 degs. Pretty amazing. Upper and lower radiator hoses are warming up. 4 to 5 hours is perfect with mine. The heat circulates around the engine. Its one of the best inventions in 100 years when it comes to cold weather!

Nothing like doing some actual real world testing:thumbsup:

 

[diesel lover]

Nothing like doing some actual real world testing:thumbsup:

Could not agree more, the truck shop I work at full time our trucks have idle timers so they won't run more than 5 minutes on their own. They will shut off with out increasing the idle using the cruise controls. We have 250 trucks parked at one time at our 40 acre facility. When the bad weather hit we had close to 300+/- parked due to roads closing down and red alerts with officers giving tickets for driving in these conditions. The long and short of it is that if the trucks block heater was plugged in, it was likely to start. Over 90% of the trucks that didn't get plugged in would not start. A cold start is not only about the battery's, fuel additives and block heaters but it also has a lot to do with block heaters. My advice here is that every little bit helps. There is a huge difference between almost starting and barely starting. If an engine almost starts in the cold your cursing and throwing wrenches around!! If an engine barely starts you feel a chance to get things accomplished.

We have had so many trucks not start this winter. Its been -14° F very tough to work with trucks that are shut off and not plugged in. These trucks do not have trickle chargers hooked up so dead batterys are a large issue. We run 15w40 engine oil as well. Corporate has finally decided these trucks if they are 2010 and newer they need to stay running. This was not until all these "no start" situations. In the shutoff policy in order to save fuel they have bought several battery's at 100$ a piece (trucks have 3 or 4) and several wrecker calls easily 1500$. We get paid to get trucks running but what a pain!! Its not easy when the battery's are discharged and they were not plugged in. Its easier for us to take our pay loader and DRAG them across the ice. They slide as easy as a hockey puck with how much ice we have this year. The brakes are usually locked up because the air tanks don't have enough air pressure built up to force the brakes to release.

All I can say here is after years experience is keep it simple, come up with other plans this year in cause you have equipment down and can use other equipment to help, plan ahead, keep chains/ thick tow straps on hand as they are worth their weight in extremely tight situations and try to be safe!! I do hope all of you have helped a neighbor in time of need with this weather. They will remember that and repay you when you need it