Looks like a drawn out  winter this year....  and as  I watch my electric bill soar I'd  like to buy a  good  24 hour  timer for  my  main  chore tractor.  It's the one  I  jump in every morning at sun up. Instead of having it plugged in  all night, I wish to have it come on about  3 hours  before hand. If  I know I'll be going to town after chores,  that's when  I'll  plug in the  Dodge.

 

any recommendations  on a  good  outdoor  timer? I'd think  one  up to 1500 watts  should handle  my tractor.

 

Usually, we  get  a blast  of  cold,  then  it  tempers  within a  few days. So far,  it's been zero  or less  every night  since  almost  Thanksgiving...

What about an air conditioning timer? You can get extra pins and run a couple cycles if desired.

  On 12/23/2013 at 4:28 PM, joecool911 said:

What about an air conditioning timer? You can get extra pins and run a couple cycles if desired.

 I used something like this years ago when I had my '99 and didn't have a garage.  Would plug her into the timer which was set for about 4 hours before I used to leave the house in the AM. Worked great.

I saw -32* on my pickups thermo this morning on my way to work.

I have used several of the plastic ones and they last only a couple weeks and then they crap out. I think the bigger ones that come in a steel box are better. I don't use them as working shift work and all the other running around we do I would spend more time programming these and never knowing when we are running. I just plug it in before I go to bed and let er burn.

 

The tank heater in my wifes jetta is actually t-stat controlled internally unlike block heaters.

Edited December 24, 201311 yr by Wild and Free

I don't know what the watt rating is but I have an outdoor timer on the side of the house.  I've been using it 10 years or more, on & off.  It's the kind you insert tabs to trigger the on/off cycles.  The only thing I had to do was sand a bit off the HD extension cord so it could physically go into the slightly recessed receptacle.  It does not get that cold here, a couple of hours is sufficient.  I don't have the truck plugged in right now...  it's running the outdoor Christmas lights. 

You're basic home outlet timer will work just fine.  No need for something industrial as the block heater is only 750 watts.  Most hairdryers are twice that.  Just make sure you get a time that has the ground receptacle plug.

  On 12/23/2013 at 11:47 PM, Wild and Free said:

I saw -32* on my pickups thermo this morning on my way to work.

I have used several of the plastic ones and they last only a couple weeks and then they crap out. I think the bigger ones that come in a steel box are better. I don't use them as working shift work and all the other running around we do I would spend more time programming these and never knowing when we are running. I just plug it in before I go to bed and let er burn.

 

The tank heater in my wifes jetta is actually t-stat controlled internally unlike block heaters.

 

Is the heater in your Jetta a Frost Heater? I have one on the wifes Beetle, that is the real deal! 1000 watts, and the cooling capacity is a fraction of my truck which has a 750 watt element. I recently hit my hoses with my IR gun on a 10 degree morning and saw temps over 140 degrees. Instant heat on start up.

Yep it is the frost heater tank heater, thing has been awesome after I fixed the two cord issues it had. They came with a crappy cord, first the end went bad so I cut it off and wired on a new one and then the connections inside the heater where the cord hooks up went bad so had to disassemble the unit and replace the internal connectors, that has been several years ago and has been flawless since, the first few years I had to retighten the coolant hoses a couple times a year until they finally stopped weeping.