car auxhilliary heater

In any case, at best, it simply ensures the heater is working at full power from when the engine is switched on. You are still getting into a freezing cold car.

Reply to
GB
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The main purpose was to help with scraping the ice off in the mornings. How ever, you soon get onto the whole issue of engine block pre-heaters, which heat the oil or coolant, and which have the dual effect of better engine li fe and faster cabin heating. The best option is a fuel-burning device, but very expensive. The least efficient, I would think, are heating pads that f ix to the sump and connect to the mains.

Also, my car had a factory option for an electric cabin heater, which I cou ld probably get retro fitted for a price.

This is crying out for a DIY option (some on youtube), but the insurance co mpany might not be happy.

Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

Just to keep the cabin clear you would probably fine with a greenhouse heater - just a low wattage sealed tube IIRC which puts out enough heat to stave off frost.

Likely to be safer than a fan heater.

The main issue would be getting mains electric into the car without compromising the bodywork.

I assume it is mainly the front screen because you can wind down the side windows and you should already have a rear screen heater.

Those silver quilted external screen covers are quite good as well - although probably not enough for more than a couple of degrees of frost.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David

ornings, and I have a diesel car which is slower to heat up than a petrol c ar. So I was thinking of some type of auxhilliary heater that can get thing s going. Any recommendations? - most of the 12V lighter socket ones seem to have poor reviews.

Space in the market for such a heater but wired in properly rather than usi ng the lighter socket then - not as good as an integrated solution but a lo t cheaper as a retrofit.

Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

If you're unlucky, you do what a friend did. Crappy little French diesel p od-car, but I can't remember what sort.

Fit a Kenlowe heater, salvaged from a Disco some years back. Neatly fit ext erior socket to house, and to plastic airdam of car.

Warm up engine, with timeswitch. Coolant is nicely toasty.

Start car. Badly. Chug slowly out of drive. Hit the adjacent motorway slip and floor it to an immediate 70mph (one of the reasons for wanting better starting).

After a week of this, throw it at the dealer (clueless). Throw it at the lo cal garage. Mechanic, doing some thinking, unlike the dealer, soon finds th e problem. The ultra-clever ECU is seeing warm coolant too soon, and assumi ng the engine is already warmed throughout. So it backs off with the heater plugs and whatever else the injection system ought to have been doing. Res ult - lousy cold starting, worse than ever.

Fix #0 was to abandon pre-heating. Fix #1 was to add a switch and resistor to the temperature sensor. Fix #2 (which I think is still breadboard and gaffer under the dash) is goi ng to be an Arduino controlling a spoofed temperature sensor, which if it d etects cold weather and the block heater having been used will then keep th e "cold spoof" resistor in play for a few minutes to allow proper warming u p.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Remember the terrible Volkswagen 411? This had a auxilliary Eberspacher heater fitted. A timer was an optional extra I believe. It used petrol as its fuel.

The main heater on the aircooled VW was from a finned heat exhanger on the exhaust manifold - perhaps not such a bad idea as the exhaust gets warm before the water system on a modern car.

Reply to
DerbyBorn

Yep. Resistance heater works off the traction battery in my car. Knocks about 25% off the range. Car can be preheated/cooled when it's on charge.

Reply to
harryagain

I've never used it at such alow temperature. Guessing, I should sy you'dneed warm clothing. Knocks 25% off the range, maybe more. Battery works less well in cold weather too. Also = reduced range/charge. Can't quantify this last.

Reply to
harryagain

On my Beetle, the heater control was basically a lever which opened flaps allowing hot air in from the engine area. These stuck after a period of disuse, always in the open position.

I recall one motorway run where ex's (expensive) shoes distorted in the heat.

Chris

Reply to
Chris J Dixon

Heated windscreen, blooming marvelous. Start up, switch on HWS, go around the other windows with squirt and scraper, get in, switch on wipers, clear screen. Even loosens a couple of inches of snow so the wipers can shove it off, though generally with that much snow a long handled window cleaner/squeege is used first.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Since ciggy sockets tend to be fused at 10A, so 120w absolute maximum, I'm not greatly surprised.

If you want the heater to something quickly, look at Scandi-style plug-in coolant warmers.

If you really want an auxiliary heater, look at Webasto/Eberspacher-style diesel-burning ones. Many modern diesels have them as standard, precisely because the thermal efficiency is good enough that the coolant can take a while to brew up.

Reply to
Adrian

For what sort of heat output? 1kw would be damn near 85A.

Reply to
Adrian

I think the factory fitted option was something like 500W and it included an uprated alternator, so I suppose something like that. Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

Ford ? Wife has a fiesta - the little wires in the screen really show in some lighting conditions. Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

This guy knows his stuff. I think he's a pro electrical; engineer. Tons of interesting stuff on his channel.

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How to Install an Auxiliary 12V Car Heater in Under 10 Minutes

Reply to
Simon Cee

Landrover Disco II

IIRC heated screens are only found on Fords and Landrovers, something to do with licencing/patents?

The only time I really notice them is in near whiteout conditions when your eyes can only find one thing to focus on... Might get a bit of glint occasionally.

But that minor thing is well worth it to just being able to start up, push a button, wait 30 seconds and clear the screen with the wipers. Esp. on a DII were reaching to the middle of the screen with a scraper is a bit of stretch.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Nowhere near as much as the *head up* display when some garage erk has been over the dash with a silicon spray and the Sun happens to shine.

Reply to
Tim Lamb

+1 and some more.

Have one on the Galaxy, had one on the Mondeo, as you say does the job well. And can't say I've ever found the fine wires an issue either.

Reply to
Chris French

Wouldn't be without it.

It gave me a certain satisfaction that my Mondeo had a heated screen, but my boss, who had a company Jag (which at that time made it also a Ford) had to scrape his.

Chris

Reply to
Chris J Dixon

Back in the days when I was a wage slave, I found the most effective way to de-ice the glass on early morning winter journeys was to use a

1 litre jug of warm water (about 40 deg C).

It was extremely effective at de-icing the windscreen, rear screen and side window glass, had the benefir of being cheaper than consuming several cans of de-icing spray each winter as well as putting some heat into the glass[1] which eliminated the problem of condensation during the first few minutes it took for the demister air to get above freezing.

The can of de-icer would last several winter seasons since it was only used on rare occasions when I was remote from a source of warm water and had an urgent need to quickly de-ice the glass.

[1] the big problem with de-icing spray is that it chills the glass even further, especially if you start off before clearing the excess away with the windscreen wipers.
Reply to
Johny B Good

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