I found out a year or two ago that my car actually has a block heater, but I've never used it before and I really doubt my grandfather, who owned it before me, ever used it either. Since winter has arrived and I don't like going into a cold car, I've given thought to using it. Are there any risks with plugging it in even if it hasn't been used in a really, really long time, if at all?

Do you have the one that heats and circulates the coolant? Or the "dipstick heater". The first is fine, the second will crystallize all kinds of things to it (because of the high heat of the end of the dipstick heater), then allow the particulates to come off and lodge where they may.

Definitely not the dipstick kind, it'* the stock one that came with the car, but I'm not sure if it'* the kind that heats and circulates the coolant. I recall reading somewhere that the Canadian models came with an optional block heater?