block heater question

[rodman68]

did a search and found this thread my question was does the heater have a thermoswitch so it will shutoff at a certain temp. The reason I ask is if your starting your truck in the morning and say 10 hours later you make another trip does it make sense to keep the heater on during that time? The temps are in the 10-20s around here for the next couple days, I have noticed my old and gone 6.9 will start better in the cold than the factory turbo 7.3 I guess due to the lower compression.

 

[HammerDown]

As mentioned >2 hours prior is plenty.
Plus, if you leave it plugged in all the time you won't be happy when it burns out... and you're drinking antifreeze replacing it.

 

[rodman68]

so the consensus is 1-2 hours is plenty. need to set alarm to switch on before the trip for opening day late muzzleloader elk season.

 

[87crewdually]

It's just a heating element, no self regulating. 2 hour prior is plenty.

 

[Compu Doc]

When I had a few glow plugs that were bad, three to be exact I would plug my truck in nightly on a timer and have it come on about 4 hours before heading to work. Now that I have all good glow plugs I don't bother plugging it in even in single degree temps it fires up. All I do is cycle the glow plugs twice to make it easier on the starter.

 

[idi traveler]

I have a crankcase heater only, would those heat time also apply?