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I have been collecting data on the block heater that I had installed on my 08 MMH.
The following information was collected for a summertime baseline. This winter much
more data will be collected to establish block heater efficiency based on outside
temperature variations.

My MMH is kept in the garage. Garage temperature was 75F and the starting block
temperature was 78F. It took 6 hours for the heater to raise the block temperature
to 116F. An additional hour did not change the block temp.

Outside temp. was 68F. The car went 0.3 miles before going into EV.
The following day with no block heating, outside and garage temp. at 75F I drove
the car 2.3 miles before going into EV.

The block heater draws 420 watts of power. My electricity costs 0.079 cents per kWh.

By my calculations it costs me $5.94 to run the block heater 6 hours a day for 30 days.
At $3.00 a gallon for gas and 35mpg, I save $5.10 a month using the block heater.
At least for the summer months I am not saving any money.

It will be interesting to see what happens as the outside temperatures start to drop.

Stay tuned. More to come.


Gary C

The more heat you add, the slower the temperature will go up; so the longer you are plugged in, the less benefit you are getting; Starting at room temperature, what is the block temperature after 1,2,3,4,5 and you already said 116F for 6 hours. If you reduce just one or two hours of time, you may find the numbers are even or better on cost savings.

Sorry if I'm butting in; I'm hoping to install a block heater on my Hylander in the next few weeks and see how it works.

Shiba3420, you're not butting in at all. I appreciate the feedback.

My initial tests were to find out how high the water temp. would go.
Now that I know, I'll drive the car with one hour less on the heater
each day down to one hour. You'll notice that the biggest jump is in
the first hour.

Outside Garage Car Time
57 75 78 5:20am
58 75 101 6:20am
58 75 103 7:20am
61 75 109 8:20am
62 75 112 9:20am
64 75 114 10:20am
68 75 116 11:20am


Gary C

Here are the results of my latest block heater test. I will be taking more data as the outside
temperature drops. Block heater rated at 432W, not 420 as previously posted.


Late August 2007, Central NM
============================================================================================
OUTSIDE---INSIDE----H2O-----EV MODE---HEAT DUR---$ HEAT---$ GAS---$ to EV---GAL SAV----$ SAV
.. 75 ..... 74 ..... 78 ..... 2.3 ...... 0 ....... 0 .... 0.198 .. 0.198 ... 0 ....... 0
.. 68 ..... 75 .... 101 ..... 1.3 ...... 1 ...... 0.034 . 0.112 .. 0.146 ... 0.0285 .. 0.052
.. 73 ..... 73 .... 103 ..... 0.9 ...... 2 ...... 0.068 . 0.077 .. 0.145 ... 0.0400 .. 0.053
** 77 ..... 76 .... 105 ..... 0.5 ...... 2.5 .... 0.085 . 0.043 .. 0.128 ... 0.0513 .. 0.070
.. 71 ..... 74 .... 109 ..... 0.5 ...... 3 ...... 0.102 . 0.043 .. 0.145 ... 0.0513 .. 0.053
.. 68 ..... 75 .... 112 ..... 0.4 ...... 4 ...... 0.136 . 0.034 .. 0.170 ... 0.0541 .. 0.028
.. 72 ..... 73 .... 114 ..... 0.3 ...... 5 ...... 0.170 . 0.026 .. 0.196 ... 0.0570 .. 0.002
.. 73 ..... 75 .... 116 ..... 0.3 ...... 6 ...... 0.204 . 0.026 .. 0.230 ... 0.0570 . -0.032
============================================================================================

35mpg = MMH average
0.086 $/mi = Cost to drive MMH @ $3.00 per gal
0.0285 gal/mi = MMH gas useage @ 35mpg
432W = Block heater power consumption
0.078844 $/kWh = Cost of Electricity
0.034 $/Hr = Cost to run block heater 1 hr
2.3 = Miles to EV mode, no block heater
$0.198 = Cost to EV mode with no block heating (2.3 x .086)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
OUTSIDE..= Outside temp (F)
INSIDE...= Garage temp (F)
H2O......= Water temp taken with ScanGauge (F)
EV MODE..= Miles driven to reach EV mode
HEAT DUR.= Hours the block heater is on
$ HEAT...= Cost of running block heater......(0.034 x HEAT DUR)
$ GAS....= Cost of gas to reach EV mode......(0.086 x EV MODE)
$ to EV..= Total cost to reach EV mode.......($ HEAT + $ GAS)
GAL SAV..= Gas saved using block heater......(2.3 - EV MODE) x 0.0285
$ SAV....= Block heater vs no block heater...(0.198 - $ to EV)


Gary C

The more heat you add, the slower the temperature will go up; so the longer you are plugged in, the less benefit you are getting; Starting at room temperature, what is the block temperature after 1,2,3,4,5 and you already said 116F for 6 hours. If you reduce just one or two hours of time, you may find the numbers are even or better on cost savings.

Sorry if I'm butting in; I'm hoping to install a block heater on my Hylander in the next few weeks and see how it works.


Just got mine put in on my 06 HiHy on Thursday last week...tried it twice and it seems to be pretty fine! Of course, I had to go back to the dealer the day after they installed it as coolant was leaking...so they tightened it up a bit and it's ok now. Just have to get the electrician over to put in a new set of outdoor plugs. My husband and I are fighting over the extension cord (he has an 07 Prius with an EBH)!! Too early to tell how it works on mileage, but it seems to heat up to about 120 F, drops to 109 F when the car turns on, then is back up to near 120 within a minute. Sweet! :woot:

I just got my EBH installed yesterday (thank you FireEngineer) so I am dying to see how it does this AM. Car is not garaged, outside temp 59 last night, 41 this AM. Don't have timer yet, so it will have been on 8 hrs when I leave for my VERY short commute. Don't yet have an outside outlet so I ran an heavy duty extension from car along fence to house to kitchen window to get it into a GFI outlet. Spouse thinks I'm insane. Wish I had the SG - waiting for it to ship. Next question - does using it on my lunch hour at home benefit? (It would get about 45 min time.)

Neicy, it will definitely help over your lunch hour if you plug it in as soon as you get home. The EBH has a hard time getting the block up to temp, but does a wonderful job at keeping it warm. If you use it you'll find that the car is pretty much fully warmed up still after 45 min.

Thanks! I appreciate the response. Too bad didn't get it til after lunch. Actually though the ICE shut down a lot sooner this AM than it usually does. Now just have to work on getting into stage 4 sooner. A work in progress.

This is hilarious; as Wayne was going east I was going west
and landed at Doc Willie's place, where Wayne just was! I
wonder where our crossover point was... I probably went
through Hartford around 3pm.
.
_H*

What is the cost for having the block heater added to an '08 FEH?

If you cant do it yourself call your Ford dealer(s) for a quote its not that hard unless they've never done one, but you live in Colorado so I'll bet they have done a few.

If you cant do it yourself call your Ford dealer(s) for a quote its not that hard unless they've never done one, but you live in Colorado so I'll bet they have done a few.

I know my way around a car, I'd just be afraid of hurting my warranty status.