My new job means lots of 5-6am starts, so I'm thinking of options to pre-heat the engine and car.
It'll mostly be used for a 3-mile trip to the station. There is only one train an hour, so I need to be away very promptly.
Options seem to be:
1 - A fuel burning heater. Such as Websato or Eberspacher. Probably not a good option (for me) because the pump draws a fair current from the car battery, and combined with the short runs I may well end up stranded. Advantage is that is can also be used away from home. Cost £1000+ plus fitting
2 - A mains-powered coolant heater, linked to the car internal heater. Such as Kenlowe. Seems to fit the bill perfectly, and a UK company so easy to get backup if needed. Disadvantage seems to be the amount of space it needs, and the need to break into the car's heater wiring. Cost around £300 + fitting.
I did find a much more compact version from Defa, but there does not seem to be any UK distributor or support. Shame because it looks a particularly compact installation. Cost unknown.
3 - A mains powered engine block heater, plus a fan heater - such as calix. The big advantage seems to be that it is compact, and installation is largely 'just' knocking out a core plug. There is a Calix distributor in the midlands, and I've dropped them an email to ask about installers. Cost unknown.
Has anyone (especially those who have lived in cold climates) used any of the three options? What would you recommend?
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3 miles? About 10 minutes on a bike, 15 if you're taking it easy. Heats you up a bit too. Only fuel bill is a bowl of weetybangs in advance and you don't have to scrape yourself on cold mornings.
:-)
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Hmm. I've been cycling and walking in the summer, but not pleasant when its icy out there!
Last edited by: Tigger on Sat 15 Jun 13 at 09:40
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Has it a history of struggling to start when it's cold, is it kept outside? For that sort of money couldn't you do a deal with a taxi firm in the winter, I'm sure they would do a deal.
Another car forum I'm on, quite a few people have got webesto heaters, they all rave about them and I've never heard of one failing.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Sat 15 Jun 13 at 09:49
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Kept outside and always starts first time. Indeed, no bills apart from servicing from new.
But it is a big car, so takes a long time to warm up. I'm not worried about me, but the windscreen has a habit of re-freezing over about .5 mile into a cold start run.
I know the car is too big for the station run, but I use it for caravanning and off road work from time to time, and am part of a local emergency response team in bad weather.
Thanks for the feedback on Webasto.
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If it's the windscreen refreezing perhaps a plug in the cig lighter fan heater is more the thing? Or a better de-icer?
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I have a Webasto heater fitted to my Santa Fe. They recommend driving it for as long as the warm up cycle. Anything between 0C and say 7C takes about 15 minutes. It needs 20 to 30 minutes the colder it is and at -13C last winter with an early morning start in Munich 30 minutes was easily enough. The demisting is a real bonus, I used to have to start the car and fire up the AC for several minutes before being able to drive off safely.
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Plenty of webasto units come on e bay used with videos showing working if you ask, save a fortune but why bother for that mileage a simple luke warm water over windscreen has seen me right for the past 25 years.
We use Webasto units here at work big flippin things.
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The webasto type are the best, because they pump in a lot of heat in a short time, and can be set with a timer etc.
Here the most popular are the Defa and kalix that go in a core plug hole. But they are a bit weedy and don't get the temperature up much unless running for hours. The one in my Landcruiser is 800w I think, but with a big engine it loses heat almost as fast as the heater can put it in. The one on the skoda works better, but even after an hour at sub zero temps it probably only raises the water temperature by maybe 30deg.
With the Defa, you can also get an underbonnet battery charger that runs with the heater (when plugged in, obviously).
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Thanks folks. Really helpful advice. Especially helpful to have feedback on the ones we don't see in the UK - Defa and Callix.
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>> 2 - A mains-powered coolant heater, linked to the car internal heater.
>> Such as Kenlowe. Seems to fit the bill perfectly, and a UK company
>> so easy to get backup if needed. Disadvantage seems to be the amount
>> of space it needs, and the need to break into the car's heater wiring.
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Dunno where you get those objections from, the MG Owner's club used to sell those and I've seen a few installed.
Small box containing pump/heater screws to inner wing or bulkhead (needs very little space actually). Plumbs into the pipe running to the car's heater unit. No need to touch any of the vehicle's wiring(!)
About the only tricky bit is finding a convenient place on the exterior of the car to mount the power socket, that's easily accessible, unobtrusive and also away from being pelted with road crud. Many owners opt to have the socket under the bonnet and open the thing to plug it in.
When plugged in (ideally via a timer) the thing heats the vehicle's coolant and pumps it round the cooling circuit. The engine and heater are already warm when you start the car.
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An acquaintance of mine lives in Alaska, and there if you don't have a plumbed in electric heater on all the time (or a heated garage) the car does not start in the morning. In fact in some morning in a bad winter it does not even turn over.
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>> When plugged in (ideally via a timer) the thing heats the vehicle's coolant and pumps
>> it round the cooling circuit. The engine and heater are already warm when you start
>> the car.
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How does it do that? It would have to get the water in the block hot enough to cause the thermostat to open before the water could circulate?
Or does it only heat the block a bit, and leave the radiator cold?
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Only heats block & heater-same as when you first start engine.
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Imagine a mini boiler with 2x pipes flow and return the flow pushes warm coolant through the engine as it gets hotter the flow gets hotter opens the thermostat on the engine and the mini boiler has a pump which in turn pushes all through the radiator and the upto the heaters.
You can set for the desired heat say 83c which is about right for most thermostats the engine coolant won't be flat cold anyway even in winter with coolant added and it can be set to come on for 2hrs then knock off for 2hrs and repeat, or to come on at a certain temp as the sensor picks up the loss of heat.
Webasto do different timers to suit the others do similar products.
Great device should you really need one...
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All the cooling systems I've come across circulate water round the heater circuit when the thermostat's still closed.
I wonder how it would work on Fords which have a 'pulsed' valve in the heater circuit?
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>> No need to touch any of the vehicle's wiring(!)
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Kenlowe include the option to power up the car's heater fan, so that the interior warms up as well as the engine.
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Toyota Land Cruiser LC - Fitting an engine pre-heater - Tigger
