Engine block heater working?

You're in Alaska---right?

Easy check.
Go outside in the morning, lick your finger and place it on your engine block.

Does it stick?
If so---the EBH isn't working.

OK...maybe you don't like my test....but on a more serious note---we use EBHs for our standby generators, and they're noise free. I would think that you could feel whether or not the block heater is working by touch.
If you have a meter, you could check for voltage at the element lead---if it's accessable, but I wouldn't worry about whether or not it's making noise.
Remember that you're not trying to poach your engine---you're just keeping it from getting reeeeeeally cold.

 

If the engine shuts down after the initial warmup phase, it's working! Otherwise the engine would run for several minutes in severe cold.

 

From my experience, you can tell that it's working just by holding the power cord in your hand, after a few minutes that is, you should feel that it's warmer than when unplugged.

Also, you should be able to get some "warm" air vent in the cabin when you first power on the car on a cold morning.

I keep my car in a garage and this morning, with an outside temperature of -12oC, my garage was really warm (althought my baseboard was off) thanks to the Prius block heater. I ran it all night (5 cents per Kw/h in Quebec) and its 400W of heat were enough to really warm up the whole place .

 

The heater is mounted very low on the engine... you won't likely hear anything. Plus it is pretty low wattage so you are going to have to leave it plugged in for at least 2 hours to get anything out of it.

Where you at? I am in Anchorage.

 

Great, well welcome aboard and probably be seeing you around.

Peter

 

Just make sure you have some warm water or a companion within yelling distance, in case you get stuck with your finger attached to your engine.

 

This does'nt directly answer your question but just FYI:
Most Alaskan vehicles that have been "winterized" in addition to the block heater will have a heating pad under the battery and another glued to the bottom of the oil pan. All three connected to a plug hanging out the grill usually is lighted/glows when plugged in.
If "glowing" you can assume your block heater is cooking.

Toyota tech in Fairbanks says that the Prius has a trickle charger installed instead of a battery warmer.

If my Prius starts easily at -30 then I assume that stuff is working.

 

My old subaru (RIP) made a hissing noise too. It was a blown head gasket !!

Have you checked out the grill blocking threads? I've bought $3.98 of foam pipe insulation and spent about 20min cutting and pushing into the upper and lower grill.

 

Frost plug heaters make a hissing sound because they are directly heating the engine coolant, like an electric kettle.

The old circulation coolant heaters you'd plumb into the heater hose - actually those worked best - would make a soft "chufff chufff chuff" noise. Even -40, instant starts and instant warm air out the defroster

Almost all new Toyotas use a heater that is designed to plug into a machined hole in the aluminum block. The heater is smeared with thermal transfer grease, if you or the mechanic forget this step then the heater will quickly burn out

An easy way to determine if the circuit has continuity or if the heater isn't open or shorted is to use an ohmmeter. Power in watts is voltage squared divide by resistance in ohms

So 120 squared is 14,400. If you want to get scientific and use whatever RMS value for voltage is in your area, go ahead but for this case we're close enough

The same heater is used in the 4 litre V6 of my FJ, it is rated 400 watts. If I use my ohmmeter, I get 35 ohms including the cordset.

So it will use 411 watts

A common failure point is the plug. I really don't see the heater lasting very long. My '04 Prius I would plug in at my hobby farm, but not at my condo as I had heated underground parking. Only got 3 years out of the heater

 

Hey Roy... what is your mileage like up there at this point? Are you able to plug-in at work?

 

That's a great idea

Slightly off topic, somebody told me the new Chevy Cruze has an oil pan heater instead of a coolant heater

For HD equipment if I have a choice of either, I take the oil pan heater any day. I'd rather have quick oil flow and warm oil aids starting, but does little for quick warmup

 

Most places around here have plug ins for employee parking. Those that don't you always see the employees scurying out every 2-3 hours in bitter cold to start their vehicles

 

That's a new one for me: The block heater cord is not a voltage source

You can check the resistance across the prongs though: it should be around 35~40 ohms if the cord is good.

Anyway, we have the same gen and same block heater, and again: contrary to our last '06 Civic Hybrid, who's block heater sounded kind of like a kettle on an element, our Prius' block heater is dead quiet. What I did to verify it's working:

Plug it in, wait say an hour, maybe more, then feel the large diameter coolant hose on the right side of the engine (as you stand in front of the engine compartment): it should be warm to the touch.

 

Yeah, Fairbanks is good about having many outlets around... Anchorage, not so good. But then we don't usually have the 30-40F below either.

 

Bought my Prius day after Thanksgiving. Just bought 1st tank of gas getting mpgs in the mid 30s. On the warmer days (-10 to +10) getting mpgs in the low 40s. Garage at night, always plug in at work. I don't like auto starts or idleing to warm up however tonight was -36 so I gave the car a few minutes to warm up.
For the drive home it was cold enough tonight that the tires had flattened out of round and the car was bouncy for about a quarter mile until they rounded back out.

 

I checked mine with ”kill a watt” kind of meter. It’s easy to check also how much car’s cabin heater costs to run. It’s really nice to come warm car from indoors...

I’m not sure do we have same block heaters what you have because of our 230V system. Here Toyotas own heater is so small wattage that I need at least 3 hours of heating to get some warm to engine.

 

DEFA of Norway

DEFA

makes the heater and is 230 vac as that is the voltage for the EU. Plugs are specific to country. DEFA suggests their #859 for the 2001-2009 Prius, and their #3840 on the 2010 Prius

Can't find the specific wattage but would guess 400 watt, same as here

Correct, in very cold temperatures the heater takes a long time to warm up the motor, especially -40 C

 

Oh wait a minute. The DEFA heater for the 2010 Prius is an oil pan heater, not a block heater