By design, the electric engine block heater is to keep your fluids slightly warm, to make for better lubrication, less wear, and easier cold starts. It was never meant, nor promised to save you fuel, or money. ( But I guess in the long run could save you repair bills due to reduced wear. )

Some users in borderline, lets say "cool" climates, 30's to 50's for A.M. temps may find it will save gas/money. That, in my well researched opinion is the sweet spot.

I am a proponent for using the heaters. Just don't think it is some magic cure for an age old problem. They are good to use for the reasons above, and the gas savings from no idle time should pay for most of the electricty in most of the cases. It is pennies a day, and a dollar or two a year either way you go.

 

I think this needs some clarification for those new to the vehicle. The AWD functions under all weather conditions; it is not "part time" in the usual sense of some vehicles. Many vehicles depend on wheel slippage to engage the rear wheels; the FEH will engage in these situations also, but in fact the rear wheels drive every time one moves off from a start. Evidently (from the marketing materials), it also engages sometimes at speed to enhance handling. Ford calls it "Intelligent".

It is not like a Subaru, which drives all four wheels all the time, or like a true 4WD, which can engage the wheels manually and lock in a "low range".

 

"80% goes into heat energy."

No, that 80% goes out the tailpipe as heat rejected to the environment, that's how heat engines work. The remaining 20% goes to the block or to mechanical propulsion (and that's optimistic!).

It's not a wash at all.

Came out this morning, -10ºF. On the block heater all night. Started the engine and it went on the battery in less than 7 minutes, not bad. Had the engine & battery been cold soaked it would have taken much, much longer to get on the battery.

PS Look over otto cycle T-S diagram (temperature-entropy) and look at the heat rejection part of the cycle. That is not water jacket heat that is the heat going out the tailpipe.

 

Further to the block heater issue. I have noticed that this engine is far more sensitive to preheating than other cars I have owned (& all had block heaters after my time out in Idaho in the 70s.

It is clear that the gas put into heating up the block reduces fuel mileage. So adding heat by an electric block heater should save gas and that's precisely what I have observed. In northern Virginia in Jan/Feb mileage drops from around 28 (town) to as low as 22. Never seen this kind of drop in any other car. Perhaps part of the issue is the aluminum block, aluminum transmits heat far faster than other metals.

Its true that a block heater reduces stress on the starter and reduces wear on the cylinder walls due to the "cold oil pumps slowly" issue...

But this engine seems to be very sensitive to preheating, I suppose that part of this is the requirement for the traction battery to be in its temperature band to go hybrid.

 

Say whatever you like Bill.

You can't skirt the facts regarding cost.

My 2005 FEH was "cold soaked" for, well, 3 weeks!
Went out today. Ambient was 30 degrees. Battery pack, 32 degrees.
Water, Oil, Engine Block, everything, near 30 degrees.

No block heater use, since I just returned from a long trip.
After the first 2 minutes or so of idle, the consumption rate went from 0.5 GPH to 0.3 GPH. Presumably, since the cat. converter was up to normal 1350 to 1500 degrees in those 2 minutes. So I over-estimated the fuel use before.

In 5 minutes, the water was reading 126 degrees, and I had pleasant temperature air from the cabin vents. Sure, seats were still cold, but it was comfortable sitting there.

In 7 to 8 minutes, the water temp reached the requisite 156 degrees and the car's engine shut off. I then pulled out of the driveway and went 1 block to the first stopsign, in EV mode. Now when you have a battery at 32 degrees, the available amps are 40% lower than at 92 degrees, where the available amperage is at the maximum. So pulling away from that stopsign, the engine kicked back on a little sooner. Which was good, since the cabin was getting a little chilly. My electric water pump for the cabin heat is disabled.

So to review...

2 minutes of warm-up at 0.5 GPH
6 minutes of warm-up at 0.3 GPH
EV mode then enabled.

My local cost for gas = $2.599
My gas used to warm up = 0.046 gallons
My cost to warm up = $0.121

In my town, $0.121 buys 0.89 kWh or 2 hours of block heater use.
Do you think 2 hours of block heater would be better?
Running the block heater longer than 2 hours would for sure cost me more money.

I say it is a push. Too close to call.
In two hours, my battery may have been 40 degrees vs. 32 degrees.
In two hours, my water jacket may have been 40 degrees vs. 32 degrees.
With two hours of use, I may have gone into EV in 7.5 minutes instead of 8.

The readers can judge for themselves. Them's the facts, Jack.

 

"Them's the facts." Go do some homework.

Unfortunately you understand so little about heat engines your facts are just observations (haven't we been down this road before?).

Go do a wiki search or some other search and look over the heat engine cycles and how they convert chemical energy to heat energy. Rankine (steam & closed) cycle, Otto (spark ignition & open) cycle, Atkinson (alternative spark ignition & open) cycle, & diesel (compression ignition & open) cycle.

Then consider the vast amount of generated heat that has to be rejected out the tail pipe (since it is an open cycle) to produce usable energy inside the engine. In the case of electricity it is produced in a far more efficient cycle (& a closed one at that) than the Otto/Atkinson cycles.

But in the end you mislead people with your observations.

 

Now THAT's FUNNY! Coming from YOU!

You who gets "Miraculously Higher Miles Per Gallon" just by changing oil, and base your data on what, 1 tank? When someone suggests maybe the fuel company changed the formula of the gas, or the weather was a tad better that week, higher air pressure in the tires helped more than the oil, etc.... you jump all over them.

YOU ARE A POOR EXAMPLE and have no room to talk.

How come you always come to me for help on the blogs, and in personal messages when something is broken on your car, or you want more information on something?

Look, you and I are not even talking about the same thing entirely.
And you and I both agree the ICE is very inefficent.
I was first to say this. You've made no good points here.

I've simply pointed out that using electricity to pre-warm your FEH can be helpful, can be useful, can be convienient, can make you more comfortable, can get you into EV mode quicker, can and will improve your overall average MPG. I was an early adopter, and was one of the first to install one in my FEH, I helped you install yours in your FEH, and I like to use the electric heater. I also have the factory electric battery warmer installed.

I was first on any blog to investigate, and post that the Ford block heater was 400 watts. ( you can use alternate brands ) I posted at the same time that the electric battery warmer was 75 watts. Up to this point, everyone thought the small gauge wires from under the hood, to the HV battey pack were used for a service shop to "trickle charge" the HV battery if the car sat for a long time. I proved this was not the case. It simply warms the battery, using a 24 volt, 3A AC/DC transformer.

I've also demonstrated NUMEROUS times that it takes some, but very little gasoline to heat up your FEH the old fashioned way. So if you are not near a power outlet, don't crap your pants Bill.

I've also demonstrated that using the block heater, over many hours/days/months is very costly. And in some cases, will cost you MORE money than not using it at all.

It's all about personal preference Bill, something you do not agree with.
For you, there is only one way to do something. Well. I think that is very closed minded, and stubborn.

 

A likely overall cheaper more fuel efficient method is install Ford's Remote Start feature. In winter, leave the heater setting on Defrost when you park the car at the end of the day.

In the morning, 5 minutes before you plan on driving, hit the remote and when you get to your car, its warm, windshield is defrosted and it's ready to go.

The Defrost forces the engine on all the time so you can change it to Automatic with the Eco switch on so that it will go into EV mode when it can.

Overall, winter driving means less mileage for all cars, warm up is running without any movement so mileage goes down, need for defrost, the physics of cold itself on cars. I average about 32 mpg for nine months of the year and 25 mpg for Dec-Mar and that is with remote start, with snow tires, with a lot of mountain driving for skiing.

Ford Escape is the highest mileage AWD vehicle so the mileage you are getting in winter is the best available.

 

Remote start will come on my 2011 Explorer Limited I ordered and we will more than likely use that to cool down the interior during the summer on real hot days. It also comes with heated and cooled seats in the front, but I bet they must be turned On in the vehicle each time. The rear door also raises and lowers at the push of the fob. That will be nice when shopping and it starts raining and need the cover to unload or load. The third row seat also folds out or in at the push of a button but I don't know if that's on the fob. The rear camera can zoom in for hooking up a trailer or boat to the hitch which I really need. The Explorer is 20% more fuel efficient than last year and 30% better with the EcoBoost engine.

GaryG

 

That would take 35 minutes on a typical winter day where I live.