Heater to warm vehicle interior for cold am.

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I also do the cheap space heater thing. Most space heaters you'd get these days have powerful fans for safety so there isn't superheated air anywhere near the thing.

Extention cord is run through the firewall and I fish the plug out from behind the headlight when needed.

Figure electricity is cheaper than gas on those real cold mornings... -10'F is my threshold for using the thing.
 
Didn't early Beetles have fuel-fired heaters?
I use the space heater for the woman's car. She plugs it in via extension about 20 min before leaving in the morning.
 
Checked that Corvair thread and checked Blueheat. So far the idea of a small household heater is best. Prefer something that can be clamped under dash and leave it there though, but so far it looks like most (inc Blueheat) run off the vehicle battery, which I don't want because somehow I don't think it's a good idea to do that before trying to start a very cold engine. May need all the battery for the start.
 
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Blueheat is a bit pricey too!...but I wanted to show you an angle you hadn't seen...


It certainly is nice though.

I think I'll look for a small desktop size space heater.
 
That's exactly what I did with my outside beater. I've been doing this since 1992 and have not burned up a car yet.

The door has rubber stripping that protects the cord, and the timer either cycles on an hour and off an hour when there is snow or I'm on-call and may need to leave at any moment.

Otherwise, the timer is set to start about 2 hours before I leave for work.

I used a heavy duty timer, rated for 15A, so I could support a heater of up to 1800W, give or take.

Just keep the floorboards clear of paper and aim the air (mine had a fan) from the drivers floorboard to the passenger floor board.

My car was about 90 degrees when I got in it, with the thermostat set to about 3/4 of the maximum temp.

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I park outside and in winter it's a hassle to take off in the early am because of frosted windows. I don't care it the interior is cold, though warm is always nice, but would do it to clear the windows.

Can I just buy a cheap space heater and put it on a timer, or is there a permanent mount version?

I have seen some that plug into cig lighter, but that would wear down battery, right? Maybe they have one that is also timered?

Anybody have an interior heater for this purpose, and how do you like it?


 
Just don't know if the 12 volt will be good as it must drain the battery a bit, which is not desired on a cold morning.

I don't need the truck (F150 extended cab) interior at 90F, so can set the heater lower. If it maintains 40F it will be enough to keep the windows clear I would think.
 
Hang an auxiliary battery. Nice deep cycle one. Setup an isolator circuit. Charge it after you've started up.
 
I am surprised. I Sweden combo block heaters with routing into the coupe with a automobile interior 220v heater and maybe a battery charger is close to standard equipment, would say more than 30% of all cars. Makes excessive winter idling unnecessary too. See the Calix or Defa websites for what you would want. Dont know about your 110V though.
www.calix.se
www.defa.com

Just be careful, ordinary cables are not allowed for permanent use because of the risks if cable damage in a vehicle environment which could make the whole car electrified.
 
Read somewhere the electricity generated by the alternator is 10x as expensive as grid power. Why I like the extention cord/shore power ideas.

Tried one of those 12v heaters a while ago, smelled like a cheap toaster and was good for nothing! Could not defrost a 6x6 inch section of windshield.
 
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Hang an auxiliary battery. Nice deep cycle one. Setup an isolator circuit. Charge it after you've started up.
Nice idea. I have thought of that for the oil pan heater so I could heat during the day at work. Actually a setup like an RV propane heated hot water tank would be great for the oil pan.
 
Running an extension cord is fine when your at home but that only covers you half the time unless you find an outlet every time you park.

Will it truly drain your battery to run an inverter and a small heater? If your car is already started and your alternator is already charging the battery, how would that effect the batteries power level?
 
No, the power from a heater will drain your battery quickly. Power is power and with a inverter you will loose some efficiency too.
Say you want a very small heater, like 500W. At 12V that would use 42 Amps. If you want to start the car and not ruin the battery you could never go under 50% of the Ah rating and if cold outside the battery may only delilver 50% of the rating.
Say you have a 55Ah battery, you could use 15 Ah at most.

You would have 20minutes use of a very small heater. This type of heater is only useable to defrost small windshields.

Your generator will deliver appr. 50 Amps but if you run the engine you will get heat anyways, so thats a non question.

I say it again: Install a block heater and a cab heater and connect to real power. You will reduce the cold starting and get a nicer ride, at lease when you are close to an outlet.
The only way around this is to install a fuel heater like Eberspecher. Same effect, no need for a power outlets but quite expensive.
 
Early Beetles did have auxiliary heaters. My dad used to tell me of a bug that he had in Montana in the early 60's. I don't know if it was electric or propane, but it would warm the interior immediately once the car was started.

I have to think that if EVs ever become big, many of us are going to need an optional propane heater for the interior. Running a heater off a battery would decrease mileage by, at least 75%. (My guess...) That would not be an option. It's also not an option to go without heat when it's below 20 F. That happens here every winter, sometimes for weeks at a time.
 
I know it would drain a battery if I started the heater before starting the car but what I am considering doing is starting the car and driving and then turning the aux 12v heater on until the car is up to operating temp. Would this still drain the battery if trips are long enough that the alternator has enough time to do its job?
 
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Well as I said, it's of no use for you. An extra 500w heater wont make any noticable difference in the timeframe from where you start the car until you will have full heat from the engine.

Please try, by all means try. Remember to use thick cables too because the power outlet in your car will not allow more than max 200W or 20A.

This power stuff is hard...
 
Plug the car in and put it on a one hour timer so it start warming the block an hour before you get out there.

Warm coolant = faster warming up for the car. Easier starting too.
 
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