When you live in the South or somewhere with warm or mild winter, many everyday things of people in the north may not seem obvious on first view. They may even be totally unknown to you because they wouldn’t have a function or use at home. Read this real life story for an answer on “what is a plugin for a car?”, and for entertainment.
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A Male Plug Hanging Out of the Hood
Plugins Serve to Operate to the Block Heater
I must have made a face like a question mark or so. After a short pause she explained that Alaskan cars have a motor block heater. This heater serves to keep the engine and battery warm so the car would start when it is standing outside in negative temperatures (temperatures below -18oC).
Then she pointed to the about a yard high (~1 m) poles in the parking lot of the hotel. Due to my jet-lack and stress related to interviewing, I hadn’t even taken notice of them. “See these poles? They are to provide the electricity for the block-heaters. You connect your car with a connection cord to power the block heater. Such connections exist in the parking lots of schools, employers, public buildings and even private residences. Sometimes permafrost causes plugins to stand at an angle – like that one.” She pointed to a pole on the other side of the street. With a sudden, I saw them everywhere, and realized that all cars – including my rental car – had a male plug hanging out of their hood.
She continued “The cord tells us how cold it is.” Because I already had inquired what is a plugin for a car, I put on my poker face to hide my thought “What on Earth is that supposed to mean?”
You Have to Order a Block Heater as Extra When Buying a Brand-New Car
Anyhow, when we came to Alaska and had the challenge to buy a new car without credit reports, we demanded to add a block-heater so we could plug-in.
What She Meant with “The Cord Tells Us How Cold It Is.”
In the first winter, I learned fast what she meant with “The cord tells us how cold it is.” The colder the ambient air, the stiffer the cord becomes. At 40 below, you can hold the about 4 to 5 yards (3.66 to 4.57 m) long cord horizontally, vertically or at any angle in the air like a stick. The cord won’t bend on its own. Therefore, you have to bend it to get it into your trunk, roll it around your side mirror or about the hooks when you have a Wrangler (see photo).
Starting Your Car with a Remote Control
Plugging in your car is not only about getting your car to start in the cold. You could as well idle the engine for ten to 15 minutes every two or three hours. In deed, the majority of people even use a remote control to do so. The remote starts (and stops running) the engine of automatic cars. The owner just goes to the window and points the remote towards their car.
Some car owners plug their cars in and use the remote control to idle the car its inside is already warm when they enter the car.
Plugins Can Reduce Winter Air Pollution
In winter, you see a lot of cars and trucks with diesel engines idling all by themselves in front of stores, in mall parking lots and in front of restaurants. Of course, idling your car means that your car produces emissions. Even worse, running an engine on low load means incomplete combustion. Or in plain English, high emissions.
When you plug in your car, the block heater warms the engine (and battery). Consequently, when you start the engine its emissions are smaller than when it would start (if at all) at low temperature. Cold-start emissions increase with decreasing temperature. Therefore, plug-ins help to reduce winter air pollution in Arctic and sub-arctic cities.
Look of the Day
Now that you know what is a plug-in for a car let’s look another example of how to get more wear out of your wardrobe. Here I am wearing a dress as a skirt by pulling a sweater on top. To imitate the half tuck, I pinned the sweater to the dress.
How do you like this look? How do you “pretend” to have a larger wardrobe than you actually have? Just curious.
Photos of me: G. Kramm
Photos of equipment: N. Mölders
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