Originally Posted By: rcy
Originally Posted By: Paul56
Now now... no need to get fiesty since it was me who was the goofball here.
I would expect a block heater that actually sits in the coolant to be more effective... particularly with the kind of winter temperatures I'm dealing with.
Umm..yeah. Sorry, I was kind of short with my reply.
I would tend to agree with you regarding an immersion type heater to be more effective, but a lot of the responses indicate that the conductive type heater works quite well.
[/quote]
I have the actual product listed and put it in a brand new car. My car saw temps with it installed of -10F frequently with some -20F and even some -25F temps thrown in.
I touched the block in -25F and it was luke-warm, thus, the heater did its job.
These heaters are commnonly put on Toyotas in Canada. In fact, you will seldom find them in the US or any dealers willing to obtain you one. I had to search high and low to find one.
My other car, a 2000 Saturn SL1 4 cylinder has a block heater installed on it and it is factory part. It also is NOT immersed in cooolant and just sits on a clip next to the engine block. It works well in the same temps as above.
Just because the heater is not installed directly into an engine plug doesn't mean it is not effective.