Nope. I know people who leave it plugged in for weeks at a time.

 

If you can justify the electricity, keep her plugged in all you like. It's an aprox 0.750kW heater if you're looking to calculate the cost. (kW) X (hours) X ($/kWh) = $

 

It'll sure damage your electric bill. An hour two before starting is all that's needed. Beyond that, I can't imagine it will harm the vehicle.

 

.75x.08x24=$1.44 every 24 hours here.

 

Couldn't see any issues caused, but I would call it job security.



Not that it makes much of a difference but $.08 is usually your cost per kWh and your delivery rate is close to $.08 so it would actually be closer to $3 per a day. May know a little about electric rates.

 

I live in Northern Canada and leave it plugged in all the time. When the temperature is -30*C or colder 2 hours with the block heater don't do much.....need at least 4-6 hours to warm all that cold iron.

 

Mine is always plugged in.. it doesn't move every day anymore. Im ok with the electric bill $20-$30.00 a month.

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Too bad your rates are that high. Not here I may know a little about my rate.

 

Yea rates vary greatly just going a couple hours away, let alone the country......

I figured out mine once, think I figured it at $35-$40 for the month.

 

Didn't mean any disrespect by what I said but 99% of people don't realize it's not just the electric that costs money. Most people use the $.06-.08 per kWh and don't realize that usually the delivery rate adds about the same cost per kWh and isn't part of that first amount. In the short term doesn't look like much, however it quickly can add up to a lot with bimonthly billing which many utilities use.

Wish out electric rate was that cheap. Canada is usually cheaper than the US but not by much.

 

Our rate is 5x that, hence why a lot of people use timers. 2-3 hours for -20 to -30C, 3 to 4 hours for -30 to -40C is plenty for the truck, but both batteries also have a battery blanket, and that helps out immensely. Will probably install a trickle charger like on the wife's car next time they go on sale.

As for the OP's original post, some people leave their vehicle plugged in for weeks at a time.

 

We are trying to export (and currently export some) hydroelectricity to the US.

Still, as cheap as our hydro is here for the time being, it will be more exponentially more expensive in the next 10 years. (Thanks for nothing socialist government)

 

Yes we should enjoy our low rates while we can. I did some work recently for a helicopter company working on bipole and watching how money is spent is amazing.

 

Won't damage the heater, but it might do some bank account damage. I measured its draw the other day at ~650W. Leave that running for 5 days straight is 78KWh. I know our rate here in winter is about 11 cents per KWh, so that's about $8.58, or $1.72 per day. $52 for a whole month.

I have a timer I put on the block heater, and I have it turn on around 3am, that way it's running for a few hours before I start it at 8.

 

Won't damage the heater, but it might do some bank account damage. I measured its draw the other day at ~650W. Leave that running for 5 days straight is 78KWh. I know our rate here in winter is about 11 cents per KWh, so that's about $8.58, or $1.72 per day. $52 for a whole month.

I have a timer I put on the block heater, and I have it turn on around 3am, that way it's running for a few hours before I start it at 8.

Thanks for the confirmation of this. I have read numerous times the block heater was around 750 watts, but NEVER saw any solid information if it was so, although 750 watts seems reasonable.

Thanks again !!!

 

I have an outlet in the garage that is controlled by my home automation system (Z-Wave). That outlet turns on at about 2AM, and engages the block heater through the extension cord it is plugged into. I usually leave the house around 6AM, so I was once told that it takes about 4 hours for a block heater to achieve and maintain temp. Works well for me, and that way I am not wasting any electricity.