Typical block heater wattage/amps?

[KY Gun Geek]

What do you mean by "minimum time"? Minimum time before it heats the coolant enough to make the starts easy? That does depend on lots of factors - air temp, temp of tractor when plugged in, insulation/wind block of structure etc...

I set the timer to turn on the heater about 2 hours before I need the tractor in the am. It is actually good for another 2 hours or so after it shuts off depending on what the air temp is. Determining the 2 hours was a little T&E...

 

[greg_g]

Mine gets parked in an open ended shelter, and I seldom use it before 0900. So I set my timer to energize the block heater at 0800, and stay on for 60 minutes. Assuming it's still plugged in, the timer energizes the heater again at 1600, and again at 2400 (60 minutes each).

//greg//

 

[grsthegreat]

Yup.. love my timers. The only time i leave it unplugged are when i Know its not going to snow and i will be too busy to mess with the tractor anyways. These times i dont bother to plug the heaters in...no sense wasting electricity.

 

[CobyRupert]

What do you mean by "minimum time"? Minimum time before it heats the coolant enough to make the starts easy? That does depend on lots of factors - air temp, temp of tractor when plugged in, insulation/wind block of structure etc...

I set the timer to turn on the heater about 2 hours before I need the tractor in the am. It is actually good for another 2 hours or so after it shuts off depending on what the air temp is. Determining the 2 hours was a little T&E...

I didn't really define the criteria of "minimum time" and don't have one. But I know that at 1000 Watts, it's probably 1/2 the time of a 500 Watt heater.

 

[Looking4new]

I don't know what the wattage of my heater is, but I have a remote switch thingy that is supposed to be for christmas lights but it will control anything run by hydro and in the morning when I get up I look outside (7AM) and if it looks like I will be blowing snow I click the remote and the block heater comes on. (I have telltale lights on with the heater to show me that it is in fact getting hydro). I leave the block heater on for about 4 hours and then get to work.

 

[RickB]

Timers are great, just be certain the timer you use/buy has the appropriate wattage rating to control your block heater. If you don't know the wattage rating of your particular block heater, measure it with a Kill-A-Watt or other meter, or use 1500 watts as your criteria. Many cheap timers won't support the load of even a moderately sized block heater.

 

[DennisFolsom]

My block heater measures about 400 watts with my Kill-A-Watt meter. That low a draw makes me feel a little better about how I use it. I do not use a timer. If I anticipate using the tractor in the morning, I plug it in the night before. For yesterday's storm, I plugged the heater in at about 9 AM and didn't go out to plow until 7PM (though I had thought I might go out sooner).

There is no danger of overheating the tractor or boiling the coolant with this heater. When it has been on all day, the top hose and the top of the radiator just feel pleasantly warm. The temp gauge is a bit above the low end, but way below the running range.

Where does all my "waste" heat go? Probably a very tiny bit of it escapes into the garage, but most of it disperses throughout the engine and some gets to the transmission and the hydro sump. When I start it, the tractor warms up and smooths out quicker. The hydraulics and the hydro transmission are not stiff for so long as when I start from totally cold. To me, all that is better for the tractor, gives a better experience, and is well worth the extra few bucks I spend on electricity during the season.:dance1:

If your block heater is a small one like mine, I would argue that restricting the heater time to a couple of hours is short-changing your tractor and yourself. A couple of hours is better than nothing, but 4 hours would do a better job of warming that machine up.

That's my free advice - guaranteed to be worth at least as much as it costs.

 

[KY Gun Geek]

I keep the heater time short to preserve the element. I think they have a finite life and so the fewer number of hours you use them per day, the longer they will last.

I suppose you could make a case that cycling them on/off will lessen life, but I use it only for a couple of hours per day instead of turning it on the evening before an letting it run all night. So my number of cycles is the same, my use hours is way less.