Superduty warm up questions

[Arkas]

I am thinking about buying a 2008 SD F350 (diesel) but I have a few questions first.

How good does the supplemental heater work for those who have one?

What do you guys do when its -30C and theres no plug-ins at your work?

If it was -30C and I had a remote starter to start the SD every 15 minutes for 5-10 minutes would that help in such cold weather? Would you recommend this?

What does everyone else do when temps drop this cold?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Phil G.]

-30 will be a problem with a diesel. It may or may not start, even if it does, it I sure would not want to be doing to that engine every day. Starting it every 15min would be brutual on batteries, starters and the injectors. Here are the issues I see: if you are using it as a daily driver just to drive to work, that engine will never warm up in the winter unless work is at least 1/2 an hour away and not just idling at stop lights. Your mileage will be terrible (which is already bad enough with the 6.4's) and your truck will be constantly regenerating the DPF. These light diesels, especially the 08+ with DPF's do not respond well to not being worked. They really need a heavy load behind them regularily and run hard at highwway speeds to stay clean and work the way they are intended. Unless you have plans to work this engine regularily, I would suggest saving your self the $8K and grief and get the 5.4 or V10. Just my .02 worth.