Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - Pre-heating the Prius Transaxle and Engine for better fuel economy

orange4boy · 01-22-2010, 04:44 PM

Well, I went and installed the circulation tank heater last night. Does it work? Uh.... yeah. It works. I think 1500 watts is overkill for sure but I originally bought it for the engine. Actually, come to think of it, 1500 watts would be overkill for the engine even more so becuse it's mass, jacketed by the coolant, is much lower than the transaxle.

The transaxle temperature as read by the graham scanner went from about 16˚C to 56˚C in about an hour. I couldn't try it from dead cold having driven it earlier in the day. It gets to >75˚C while on a long drive. It warms up the whole transaxle nicely thanks to the high thermal conductivity of aluminium.

WARNING: Rant below.

The real joke here is that we are having the mildest winter I can remember. It's so mild that the Olympic organizing committee is having to push snow uphill to save it from melting. They also plan to bring in snow by truck and helicopter. So much for a "sustainable" Olympics (as if I fell for that one). The fleet of vehicles for attendees is a guzzle of SUVs (with a token 6 fuel cell Equinoxes for the pretty camera shots) and Whisler got saddled with a crap fleet of hydrogen busses which will be written off after the Olympics.

Meanwhile, our Bush clone Prime Minister has shut down Parliament so his minority government can take over the Senate using the Olympics as an excuse. Yay Olympics.

Ok that's enough hot air from me.

01-22-2010, 04:44 PM	#16 (permalink)
orange4boy Master EcoModder Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: The Wet Coast, Kanuckistan. Posts: 1,275 The Golden Egg - '93 Toyota Previa DX 90 day: 31.91 mpg (US) Chewie - '03 Toyota Prius 90 day: 57 mpg (US) The Spaceship - '00 Honda Insight Thanks: 100 Thanked 306 Times in 178 Posts	Well, I went and installed the circulation tank heater last night. Does it work? Uh.... yeah. It works. I think 1500 watts is overkill for sure but I originally bought it for the engine. Actually, come to think of it, 1500 watts would be overkill for the engine even more so becuse it's mass, jacketed by the coolant, is much lower than the transaxle. The transaxle temperature as read by the graham scanner went from about 16˚C to 56˚C in about an hour. I couldn't try it from dead cold having driven it earlier in the day. It gets to >75˚C while on a long drive. It warms up the whole transaxle nicely thanks to the high thermal conductivity of aluminium. WARNING: Rant below. The real joke here is that we are having the mildest winter I can remember. It's so mild that the Olympic organizing committee is having to push snow uphill to save it from melting. They also plan to bring in snow by truck and helicopter. So much for a "sustainable" Olympics (as if I fell for that one). The fleet of vehicles for attendees is a guzzle of SUVs (with a token 6 fuel cell Equinoxes for the pretty camera shots) and Whisler got saddled with a crap fleet of hydrogen busses which will be written off after the Olympics. Meanwhile, our Bush clone Prime Minister has shut down Parliament so his minority government can take over the Senate using the Olympics as an excuse. Yay Olympics. Ok that's enough hot air from me. __________________ Vortex generators are old tech. My new and improved vortex alternators are unstoppable. "It’s easy to explain how rockets work but explaining the aerodynamics of a wing takes a rocket scientist.