Testing Block Heater

Kneale Brownson · Post by **Kneale Brownson** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:19 pm

My block heater quit functioning during the winter.

Is it like an electric water heater element that can burn out with age/use/corrosion? Should I be able to check for continuity through a good element with a multimeter connected to the two sides of the plug?

Any other tests?

Post by **Fatmobile** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:39 pm

Yeah, you should be able to check for continuity.... sometimes it's the cord.

82vdub · Post by **82vdub** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:04 am

Some block heater plugs have a cord that plugs into the block heater and some have a cord that's hard wired to the heater. If you have a plug in style, check for continuity of the cable. If the cable is ok, the block heater is toast.

tylernt · Post by **tylernt** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:56 pm

I measure 32 ohms of resistance at the plug prongs on my 400W block heater. If you read an open circuit, what Fatmobile and 82vdub said applies.