How to keep engine block warm in cold climates without a block heater

Not 0w- or 5w- oil. They are designed and tested to flow properly at subzero temps.

 

For everybody's reading pleasure. Independent oil test of dozens oil against their listed standards.

https://pqia.org/passenger-car-motor-oil/
If you sort the table by Type, you will see that Conventional oil goes down only to 5w-20.
0w- oils are ALL synthetic.

 

I thought block heaters went out of fashion after the 1980s.

 

OP, you are worried about block heaters, which implies to me that you are inexperienced with the bitter cold, and are still willing to go winter camping in North Dakota. I salute your sense of adventure.

Winter camping in the great white north is no joke. Few Minnesotans even attempt it. I’m not sure about those hardy North Dakotans next door. The only things I know about them come from the movie Fargo and their college hockey team fans that visit my hood from time to time.

I think you should worry more about more important things than block heaters. Make sure you can survive if your truck is non-functional for any reason.

 

Exactly. The truck will be fine. I'd be more concerned about myself.

The Wisco crew is doing some winter camping this weekend.
I'm meeting up for a Saturday ride but I'm not enough of a diehard to camp in winter........yet.

 

Still standard equipment on most new non-electric vehicles in Canada.

 

Much of the (densely) populated parts of Canada are warmer than Minnesota. Wutz you guys worried about?

 

They make cabs to heat up much faster. While V6 Isuzu started up just fine without a block heater, just with synthetic oil, I got heat out of vents much earlier after I installed a block heater in it.

 

I think Winnipeg, Edmonton, Montreal and other big cold-ass cities up there have y'all beat solidly

 

That much is true.

What's cheaper, running a block heater or getting a remote start?
(I've never had either)

 

I'd say the answer is pretty even.
The initial price of the block heater is probably less but you'll have to run it at least 2 hours and most people run it overnight. There's the cost of that electricity for as many cold nights you have.
The remote initial cost will be more but you can use it wherever you are like the mall, friend/family house, movie theatre, sports arena, bowling alley, etc. You can also use remote in summer for a/c. It uses cost of vehicle gas of course.

 

I’ve met many jets fans when they come to my hood for a hockey game.

Winnipeg is colder. Montreal not really. Not sure about Edmonton

The twin cities is the coldest major metropolitan area in the US. It’s colder than Anchorage, Alaska.

 

Idk man… it’s $0.15274/KwH here right now and a robot told me:

“A typical block heater uses between 300 and 1500 watts of electricity, with the average being around 600 watts; this means if left plugged in for 12 hours, it would consume approximately 7.2 kWh of electricity”​

So a buck ten if I left it plugged in over night? I use timer and it runs for 2 or 3 hours before I leave.
Our city gives out free cords and timers every fall under a “plug@20” campaign, claiming better air quality from reduced co2 or emissions or something. Cheap insurance and warmer buns. Just playing devils advocate really. Still don’t think it’s necessary for a camping trip

 

Ya on a constant basis, 6 months per, and don't forget about Calgary (Coldgry), minus -15F/-25C this weekend.

 

Not as cold as Fairbanks, Alaska.
That's the only airport I've seen that has electric outlets in its parking spots.

 

I had both. Started remotely, went outside after 15, 20 min. Otherwise, seats were solid concrete. And breath would fog up the inside of the windshield.

Plus I would start car remotely at work.
It would get dark before 5, and car would be cold by the time I left work.

 

True, but Fairbanks is not a major metro area. Anchorage isn’t either, but it is the capital of Alaska and I live in the capital of Minnesota which is colder. The pacific mitigates anchorage’s temp. St. Paul is in the middle of the continent and the jet stream brings cold air from the arctic in the winter and warm humid air from the Gulf of Mexico in the summer.

 

Fairbanks is the second largest city in AK. So yes, it is a metropolitan area.
And it is not so much Pacific, as the tail end of the warm current from Japan that helps to keep Anchorage warmer. Bethel and Nome are also on the Pacific coast, but too far north for Kuroshio to be of any use.

 

All this Alaska talk makes me feel all warm and fuzzy
This winter has been crazy. ANC has been warmer and had less snow than many places east of Texas this season! Finally seeing some sub zero temps this week

 

The twin cities metro area has 2.6 million people. Fairbanks has like 100k. I don’t want to turn this is into a dick measuring contest. I’m just clarifying the word “major”. I grew up in a town of 10k.