So I figured out how to install my block heater

[efusco]

Originally posted by kenkneeb@Nov 1 2005, 01:00 AM
OK, anybody with a detailed picture (or two) of just exactly where the block heater's receiving hole is???  I just got mine from Toyota Depot and I'm ready to 'engage'.  Do I understand it from the other's who have done this that on an '05 the receiving hole goes front to back (free end goes in first and points towards the front of the car, plug end goes in last and faces the rear of the car).  Anyone with a mental/verbal or a(n) actual picture(s) to share, please let 'em rip!

Thanks To All,

Ken

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Ken,
As others pointed out, this is more of a feel and find than something easily illustrated. My photo shows approximately where it is (red arrow), but the hole/heater itself is not visible in the shot. Look at the relative positions of the manifold and other stuff and you'll get a good idea where to start feeling.



As Frank mentioned the axis of the heater core is parallel to the axle of the car, not longitudinal with the car itself. IOW, it inserts from the center of the car toward the right front wheel of the car. Be sure to feel the outside edge of the hole before inserting the core...there's about a 1cm wide "lip" that the clip on the core snaps onto. You need to be certain that it snaps on there securely. I originally had the core "in the hole" and thought it was all the way in, but upon reviewing the instructions realized that it hadn't snapped/locked in and had to re-orient until it did.

IIRC I think the 'lip' was at about 2 O'clock position (see that flat edge outside the hole?) if you're looking at the hole in the orientation of standing up facing the side of the engine as per Ken's photo.

Please read through my lengthy install story. I definately recommend dropping the cord in from the top of the under-hood area.

See the photos at: http://www.pbase.com/efusco/prius_only&page=4
Particularly #0076--if you look at the "original" size you can see about where the cord drops down. You only need to let about 12" or so down (probably less actually) to get it to the hole where the core goes in.

[hdrygas]

Efusco, nice pictures but you let your engine compartment get dusty and dirty!! You should go right out and give it a nice sponge bath!

Around here the speed that an Ob patient leaves the ER for L&D approaches that of instantaneous teleportation. They once sent a patient with a broken leg to L&D, they took her back when I told them I was going to make the Orthopod cast it in L&D and they would have to listen to the whining!

[jayman]

Ugh I think I'll stick with industrial process control. At least those are organic chemical reactions I'm comfortable with!

As far as block heater plug ins, they're very common in the Prairie provinces and NW Ontario. Otherwise once it dipped below -30 C there is no way most cars would start.

Especially at motels, even cheap ones, there are plugs for every unit. At work I can use heated underground parking, and my condo also has heated underground parking. Otherwise you bet I'd plug it in all the time. I sure do at the hobby farm.

[efusco]

Ok, I need an engineer with some thermodynamics and electronics background.....

Most of ya'll doing the EBH (Engine Block Heater--I'm getting lazy) have mentioned how you turn it on about 3 hours before your usual departure. I think Frank measured cold temps then every hour until warm and found that 3 hours was the point where you got the most bang for your watts.

But here's my question. If I get home at say 6pm and will be leaving again at 6 am might it be better to just plug in the heater to maintain the higher temp rather than letting it cool all the way down then having to heat it back up from cold?

Here's my logic:
1)IF the EBH has a built in thermostat of some sort then it won't use any electricity anyway until the ICE cools below that predetermined temp.

2)Once it does drop below that temp the EBH will only use electricity until the ICE is back above temp..which shouldn't use much energy. And then it will maintain it there just trickling as needed.

3)That preset temp is likely higher than the temp that would be achieved with a 3 hour heat up from cold. Also, depending on the OAT it will take longer to reach optimum temp when it's colder out and 3 hours might not be enough in some cases.

4)It may be better on the ICE, oil, and other mechanicals to maintain that higher temperture rather than all the expansion and contraction that goes along with the repeated cooling/heating cycles (this is probably minor, but hey, I'm building a case here).

That said, if there isn't a thermostat and the EBH drains a constant amount of electricity no matter what temp the ICE is at then using a timer would, in most cases, make more sense.

Thoughts, numbers and formulae to confuse me and make me stop asking trivial questions like this?

[Frank Hudon]

I don't think it's a trivial question, but if for some reason you don't leave the next morining (one of the other Dr. swaps shift for a personal reason) and have to go out 12hours later at 6PM now the bh has run for 18 hours whereas on a timer it would only have run for 3 hours. What I did find and your report of 113F after 10 hours at work tells me that it has an internal thermostatic switch that controls it at 113F, which by the way was the temp I found it at way back in the spring of 2k4. Like I said I'd love for someone with a demand meter to do a 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24 hour reading on the current useage at those times, that would give us on PC some difinitive cost per hour of useage.

[efusco]

Originally posted by Frank Hudon@Nov 1 2005, 09:52 PM
I don't think it's a trivial question, but if for some reason you don't leave the next morining (one of the other Dr. swaps shift for a personal reason) and have to go out 12hours later at 6PM now the bh has run for 18 hours whereas on a timer it would only have run for 3 hours. What I did find and your report of 113F after 10 hours at work tells me that it has an internal thermostatic switch that controls it at 113F, which by the way was the temp I found it at way back in the spring of 2k4. Like I said I'd love for someone with a demand meter to do a 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24 hour reading on the current useage at those times, that would give us on PC some difinitive cost per hour of useage.

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So where do we find that someone? I, too, think that would be good stuff to know. And it's good to know that there is a 113 F thermostat. Obviously my ICE cooled down from the 190 F or so that it was at when I parked to 113 F in that 10 hours, the only question is how much did it take to maintain that 113 F. When did it get to 113 F the first time--how long did it take? Maybe the EBH only ran for an hour or so? Maybe it ran nearly continuously for 6 or 7 hours...I just have no idea.

[Frank Hudon]

remember that it's about 350 watts which is like 4 hundred watt light bulbs in there and you have a fair mass of metal to keep at 113 so I'd guess that cool down to 113 from 180 would probably take about 1 hour depending on OAT so then the bh starts pumping in the heat so as a quess in a ten hour period I'll guess 6 1/2 hours of useage. Timer is probably 3 solid hours of operation just to get it to 113. Now this is all speculation. Yur a Dr. making big bucks buy a watt hour meter and try it you'd be doing all of us a good deed

[kenkneeb]

Originally posted by efusco@Nov 1 2005, 10:31 AM
Ken,
As others pointed out, this is more of a feel and find than something easily illustrated.  My photo shows approximately where it is (red arrow), but the hole/heater itself is not visible in the shot.  Look at the relative positions of the manifold and other stuff and you'll get a good idea where to start feeling.



As Frank mentioned the axis of the heater core is parallel to the axle of the car, not longitudinal with the car itself.  IOW, it inserts from the center of the car toward the right front wheel of the car.  Be sure to feel the outside edge of the hole before inserting the core...there's about a 1cm wide "lip" that the clip on the core snaps onto.  You need to be certain that it snaps on there securely.  I originally had the core "in the hole" and thought it was all the way in, but upon reviewing the instructions realized that it hadn't snapped/locked in and had to re-orient until it did. 

IIRC I think the 'lip' was at about 2 O'clock position (see that flat edge outside the hole?) if you're looking at the hole in the orientation of standing up facing the side of the engine as per Ken's photo.

Please read through my lengthy install story.  I definately recommend dropping the cord in from the top of the under-hood area.

See the photos at: http://www.pbase.com/efusco/prius_only&page=4
Particularly #0076--if you look at the "original" size you can see about where the cord drops down.  You only need to let about 12" or so down (probably less actually) to get it to the hole where the core goes in.

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Doc... Thanks for the details and the pics. I'll be going 'fishing' real soon, perhaps when this storm sequence passes (or I can get a few minutes on my tire guy's lift!)

Thanks again for the trailblazin'!

Ken

[hdrygas]

I have to differ. The ScanGage suggest the temp is at 137 on power up dropping to between 110 and 120 after a few seconds after the power on. It then rises to 156 (or so) with in 1-2 min. Three hours get it to 137 on start. If I had a few days off I could get up every hour and plot the temps with and without timer and compare them that would be a fair comparison to a watt hour meter. Not soon I am out of here for a few days of CME in Portland.

[efusco]

Originally posted by Frank Hudon@Nov 1 2005, 10:14 PM
Yur a Dr. making big bucks buy a watt hour meter and try it you'd be doing all of us a good deed

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Is that a radio shack kinda thing that's easy to just plug into the wall or are you joshing me and it's a big expensive pro tool kinda thing?