PS I kinda smiled when you mentioned 0*F, that's only the beginning of cold where I live and it gets a whole lot colder than that. Canadians and northern US states also are used to having block heaters installed. It is simply a 500-800 watt replacement for an engine block frost plug that allows you to keep your oil warm and make it easier to turn the vehicle over. To go along with this, I have a 70-100 watt battery "blanket" that wraps around the battery to keep it warm. A warm battery is a lot easier to start.
Roar,
I wasn't intending to brag when I mentioned 0 F (-18 C), it just happened to be the temperature at the time I helped the guy jump his car.
Anchorage is about 61 N Lat, but has a strong marine influence, so tends to be somewhat warmer than the interior. I think the all time low for Anchorage is somewhere around -30 F (-34 C), but more typical lows this time of year tend to be in the range of 0 F to -20 F (-18 C to -29 C), depending on what part of town you live in (the east side of town typically being colder). Fairbanks and the interior get much colder than Anchorage, and most folks up there have block heaters. The coldest ambient temperatures I've personally experienced was -60 F (-51 C), but that was when I was up on the North Slope at Prudhoe Bay.
I've had both block heaters and battery blankets in the past, but I have found I generally don't find I need them in Anchorage, especially since I now park the car in a garage at night. With a decent battery I haven't really had any issues at typical low temperatures in Anchorage, except when I've done something dumb like leave a dome light on.
Previous Topic
Index
