Block Heater Cord Plug Replacement

[mu2bdriver]

Removing the extension cord from the block heater plug-in, I pulled out one of the male connectors about 2/3rds of the way out. I have a replacement male plug and was wondering if anyone had experience with cutting the existing cord and putting a new plug on it rather than getting a complete new cord. If I cut the head off of the existing plug are the wires to be exposed marked at all or can I tell if they go to the hot/neutral/ground based on their position relative to the connectors?
Thanks in advance.

 

[vegas39]

Its very easy. When you look at a flat cord such as the block heater one, one side will be smooth and one side will have ribs. The ribbed side is your neutral and the smooth side is your hot. The middle wire will be your ground and when you peel the two halve apart, you'll find that there is a skinny green wire right down the middle. As mentioned before, thats your ground.
When you buy a replacement end, the brass screw will be your hot and the silver screw will be for your neutral. The ground screw will be green.

 

[mu2bdriver]

Brilliant! That's perfect info! I've done plenty of house wiring with romex and BX but never flat wires. I'll fix this up later this morning; thank you again!

 

[IDIoit]

make sure its waterproof.

 

[sassyrel]

new ones at napa, are like 18 smacks...

 

[mu2bdriver]

Yeah, I have a waterproof connector and just put it on. There weren't any ribs on either of the outside wires but the center wire was green. The outside of one of the wires was clearly marked 'neutral wire' so that made it easy. I'll find out how I did in 12 hours when I crank it over.

 

[theguruat12]

Just a thought, but for a simple resistive heater, polarity of the line and neutral most likely does not matter. Good to know it's marked though, that always takes the "fun" guesswork out.

 

[snicklas]

I've done this on both of my block heaters. The cord on my truck was damaged by someone trying to "help" and just ****** the cord out by grabbing the drop cord, instead of using 2 hands and unplugging it correctly. The car, when I bought it, had about 6" of computer cord spliced onto the original cord with WIRE NUTS AND BLACK TAPE!!

I bought 2 of these:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-...Dead-Front-Plug-Clear-R50-515PV-LIT/205165460

What is nice with these, when they are plugged in and have power, there is a little green light that comes on. I've had a couple of time my drop cord was unplugged inside the garage, but the truck was plugged into the cord. This way, no matter what cord I plug into, it will light up. Much cheaper than a lighted drop cord.......

 

[madpogue]

+1 on the polarity; it's just a big heating element. In fact I think, since the end that goes into the element is round, that it will connect either way. The ground lead on the cord just goes to a tab on the outside of the element end plug, which makes contact with the body of the oil cooler (and thus the truck's chassis ground) when you install it. It's not tied to the hot or neutral on the element.

And you don't need 12 hours. If you do much house wiring, a gizmo like this - http://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ - comes in handy. It will tell you right away whether the heater is drawing the right amount of power. That's how I discovered that my BH cord had failed last year (night before an out-of-town trip, aprx. -10F...). And it only needs to run about three hours to get the engine as hot as it's going to get it.

 

[mu2bdriver]

Thanks again for the follow-ups and products. Just to clarify, I didn't run it for 12 hours, that was the time between shutting the truck off and going back out to drive it later that night. I have it plugged in on a timer for two hours prior to my departure time and that's been sufficient. And it cranked over really well and came off the high idle solenoid within a few minutes so it looks like it's doing it's job.
Thanks again for the advice!