It’s an electric engine block heater. Keeps the engine, coolant, and oil warmed up, which makes the car easier to start in the morning.
Just adding that the last time I saw one used was when I was a kid living in Wisconsin, and we didn’t use it all the time. I probably could have used one when I lived in Minneapolis. There was one absolutely frigid evening when I left my car running in a store’s parking lot as I was afraid it wouldn’t restart when I came back out. At least a quarter of the cars in the lot were running.
Bah, you’re only at -15ºC, you big baby.
A note on the block heaters - your car will probably start without being plugged in in these temps (no guarantees, though), but it is very hard on the engine.
I’ve been plugging my car in at night most of the nights for the last few weeks, especially the last couple. My car doesn’t like it when it gets below about 15F. Last year at 12F it simply wouldn’t start; I had the heater installed the next day. Seeing as it’s twelve years old, I can’t say I blame it.
-1 C, в Санкт-Петербург, в России, в 21:37 часов.
(-1 C in St. Petersburg, Russia, at 9:37pm. Hearing that it’s warmer in Russia is probably not what you were looking for… :))
We woke up to 15" (38cm) of snow this morning and it’s still coming down and will be for a couple more hours, if the tv is to be believed.
We had taken our 5th wheel to California for a couple of days. When we started packing up to come home friday afternoon I discovered that the jacks on the front of the trailer would only lift one leg, and that with a goodly amount of clanking and other sounds that one doesn’t like to hear. Taking a quick look I discovered the bar that connects the two legs had sheared off. Ended up cranking it up by hand, which is, looking at the bright side, good exercise. Every little bit Ms Hook would stick another block under the inoperative leg to keep the tipping danger down.
The plan was to haul it over to the dealer this morning to get it fixed. Guess we’ll be putting that off for a day or two.
I remember one time during a particularly cold winter (probably around -40 or so, not uncommon for a Winnipeg winter (so take that, Cat Whisperer )) it was mentioned on the radio that we were colder than Siberia. (I think they mentioned a few times when we were colder than Antarctica, but since they’re in summer during our winter, that isn’t fair). I seem to also recall (though I could very well be wrong about this) that there was even a place on Mars that was warmer than us and this was again mentioend by the radio DJ during a particularly cold winter.
It’s 39.7 degrees at noon + ten minutes, PST. Early this morning it got cold enough that we had a little slush falling. This is rare in central valley California.
).
)) it was mentioned on the radio that we were colder than Siberia. (I think they mentioned a few times when we were colder than Antarctica, but since they’re in summer during our winter, that isn’t fair). I seem to also recall (though I could very well be wrong about this) that there was even a place on Mars that was warmer than us and this was again mentioend by the radio DJ during a particularly cold winter.