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Hey guys, I need to know the power consumption (draw) of the engine block heater, obviouslt its 110v but I need to know the amperage. Thanks in advance, Jeremy |
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Block heater is a 1000 Watt element in the cooling system. You're the engineering student, you figure out the amperage. Edited by haul_n_horses2 (01/08/04 12:18 PM) |
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I went out and put a Fluke meter on mine.....it draws 12.3 amps. |
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That's alotta juice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Quote: I just measured mine with my clamp on ammeter and with the voltage at 121VAC I measured 7.75A and that is thru a 50ft, 14/3 extension cord with the ambient temp right at 33*F. Larry |
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bomar76, While poking around the archives I found THIS THREAD and THIS THREAD and from your post in the second link it appears your block heater is now drawing almost 30% more than last year and if all the other factors are the same, you might have a block heater going bad or something else.  You might want to keep a close eye on it.Larry |
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That's a really good point Larry! I went out and checked it again with the Fluke and got almost the same (12.1 Amps) reading @ 118.5 volts. I haven't had the Fluke meter that long, so I dug out the old meter I used prior (a Chinese Fluke clone) and it read 9.7 Amps @ 118.7 volts. Odd indeed. Tomorrow I will borrow a friends meter and see what it says.... perhaps my Fluke is all fluked up!
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Quote:Quote: I did the same as Larry and was real close the the 8 amp figure. It will change a bit with the temp of the water. Jim |
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You could also measure the resitance of the heater element (just ohm out the two wires) and use ohms law to determine the INITIAL current draw. Volts divided by ohms = amps. Keep in mind that as the element gets hotter it resistance goes up, making the current go down. The 12 amps sounds close using the formula for watts (amps X volts = watts) |
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Quote: Happen to know what voltage that was at? Thanks a lot to all of you guys for all if your help! |
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Quote: It was about 116 volts if I remember correctly. Jim |
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What should the correct resistance measurement be for a good Block Heater? I haven't measured mine, but I suspect that I have a bad block heater. I bet if I would go out and check mine, it would be an open circuit. |
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Remember that heating elements usually change resistance when they heat up, so your cold resistance isn't exactly what the resistance is while hot. Yes, I know the thing is in cold water but there is still some thermal gradient between the resistive conductor and the water. While on the subject of power consumption: When I lived in Minnesota I put mine on a weatherproof plug-in timer, experimentally determined when it needed to come on. Worked out that I had it come on at 4 AM and it would reliably start at 7:45. Saved a lot of electricity that way. Doug |
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Very close to my own assessment. I set the time for four hours. Anything less doesn't do the trick for me, and anything more is just as waste. |
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Quote: Mine measured right around 8 ohms when I replaced the plug on the cord. Shouln't be much different than that. 1000w/120V = 8.333 ohms |
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First Time Poster - Two Week Lurker W/V=A 1000W/120V=8.33A It is not electrically possible for the resistance to change when the element heats. A resistive load has a constant draw (a preset amount of resistance)from the time it is energized until it is shut off. A 120V circuit has a hot(+) and a neutral(-). The electricity makes a circle from the transformer on the pole. It leaves from your breaker, goes through the block heater and returns on the neutral wire back to the transformer. Thus a circle. While the electricity is "fighting" through the element, it consumes electricity, making heat. All electrical consiming devices make heat. Hope this helps. |
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Vinnie, if the wattage that someone said earlier is correct and it is 1000w heating element, then the current draw should be roughly 8.7amps. ( current=watts/voltage: I=1000w/115vac; which equals 8.69 amps). With that calculation the resistance can be calculated with the formula resistance=voltage divided by current (R=E/I) so resistance=115vac/8.7amps. the resistance should be roughly 13ohms. You can also use the formula of, resistance=watts divided by the current squared (R=P/Isquared) , I come up with the same result.Temp. can have an effect so if your in the ball park you should be okay. You don't want to see lead resistance or a high resistanc when checking the heater. Also disconnect one side of your heater when taking resistance readings, depending on the circuit the meter can read resistance of any associated circuits. Have fun! mike |
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what about the factory battery warmers ? Are they part of the block heater ciruit ?? If so they might be whats drawinig more amps . Carlos |
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Quote: No, it doesn't. The neutral wire is bonded to the earth ground in the electrical panel. The current goes through the device and eventually back to ground, as in earth, as in this big planet we live on. |
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I don't know, good question. I don't have a schematic for the truck, to look at. I think Vinnie wanted to know what resistance the block heater should be, that's what I was trying to cypher fer him. Mike |
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Tried another meter and came up with 9.3 Amps. Fluke was showing 12.0 and the old china special was at 9.5. I will be returning the Fluke.
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Quote: I don't agree; test the current to your glow plugs. As they go through their timed cycle the current drops until they turn off. Since the voltage is constant ohms law would mean that the resistance is going up. You cannot actually measure the resistance on a live circuit, but you can make calculations from the current and voltage readings to determine that the resistance is going up -- E=IR. |
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Hey fuzzyfan, i'm not trying to bust your chops, however it is possible for resistance to change when an element heats up. This effect is called the temperature coefficient of resistance. A positive temp. coeff. means the resistance will increase with temp. A negative temp. coeff. resistance will decrease with a temp increase. Copper and tungsten have a pos. temp. coeff. A light bulb with a tungsten filament will have a different resistance at room temp (about 14 ohms) then when burning at 100deg C the resistance is about 21 ohms. However just checking the block heater temp. will not make a big enough difference to worry about. Ayway I can send you the formula for figuring out the temp.coeff. if you would like. Cograts on being a member, lots of helpfull info on this site. Mike |
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So if I am plugged in for 24 hours, and i pay $0.121 per KWH, how much does this cost?? |
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Jace, If I have this figured correctly, you are spending a whopping $2.90/day if you leave your truck plugged in for 24 hours. You are paying 0.121/KWH...and our trucks draw 1KW(1000W). So, I just took 0.121 times 24 to arrive at that total. If I am wrong, I am sure somebody will come along and fix it. Hope you are staying warm. Dave |
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Yep, 12 cents per kilowatt hour is almost $3 per day for a 1000-watt draw. At that rate, it wouldn't take long to pay for an automatic timer. 
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All this 120 volt talk is good 'N all, but does anyone manufacture a 12 volt DC block heater? Often I am away from a plugin, don't wanna use an inverter(drastically poor efficiency), and am set up with aux batteries charged constantly with an isolator, and can provide current for quite awhile to such a device. Having both would be convienient?
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No there is no 12V block heater available due to the tremendous amount of current it would require to keep the engine warm. Even using an inverter would not be practical as the 12V current required to provide 10 amps of 120 volt power would be over 100 amps 12V DC. Assuming a good deep cycle battery might be able to provide 100 amps for one half hour, ( before being discharged 50%, which is the recommended max discharge), you would need 2 batteries just to power the inverter/block heater for 1 hour. The only solution is the diesel fuel powered aux heaters. They work well but are expensive. |
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Quote: Yeah, International manufactures 12V DC block heaters. They're called glow plugs, and they draw over 100 amps when activated, but they will get you started when you can't plug in. Like the other guy said, powering a 1000 W heater with a 12 V battery would kill it in short order. |
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As CPSS said, 12V block heaters are actually diesel fired. You can get them from Eberspacher (ESPAR) or Webasto. They go in the heater line and have a circulating pump, and can be bought with a programmable timer. I think I paid about a grand for mine, but it is one slick piece of hardware when you are parked in the middle of nowhere at -40. I run mine from a bank of aux batteries (so it doesn't effect truck starting) and also run the cab heater fan from the same source (so the block heater will warm the interior as well). Most controllers have an output to do this with a relay. Pat |
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What is The Power Consumption of The Engine Block Heater
Re: What is The Power Consumption of The Engine Block Heater
