Electrical connection - block heater

[Robert Milling]

I own a 39'6'' National Tropical Sterling and had a question I could use your help on: In the back of the coach on the drivers side there is what appears to be a regular household electrical receptacle mounted right near the main power cord box and there is a line hanging down, but not plugged in that says "Block Heater". Should this line be left plugged in all the time? Why the previous owner left it unplugged and just hanging down is beyond me but I just wanted to see if I could get an answser from soneone out there who might know something I don't. Thanks a whole bunch!!!

[srydve]

I own a different type of coach but have a similar setup. The ac block heater cord is brought out to an ac outlet, but not plugged in. The reason is you do not want the block heater plugged in most of the time, only during cold weather and only then if you plan to start your motor. On some coaches the dedicated block heater outlet has a switch, so you can leave it plugged in and use the switch when you need the heater. Hope this helps.

[Theberrys]

I have the same outlet in my 99 Tradewinds. Mine was also unplugged and when I plugged it in the block heater didn't work. That outlet on mine is controlled by a switch on the panel by the drivers left arm. When I checked the outlet I found a bad wire nut connection in the box the outlet is mounted to. After fixing that it operated as normal. I leave mine plugged in all the time because it's turned on and off with the switch in the cockpit.

I checked it with the coach plugged into a Kill-A-Watt meter. When the heater is on it draws about 700 Watts. When parked I plug mine into a single phase 20AMP service using a couple adapters on the 50 AMP power line from the coach, to keep the batteries charged.

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Dick