[metromizer]

Like a lot of us, I park my car in the driveway every night. Granted I'm a little spoiled compared to my friends who live "up nordt' " or in the mid-west, but I like a warm car in the am, and want my Metro to get out of 'cold start mode' asap for better FE.

A couple weeks ago, I started heating the interior of my Metro with a small 110v thermostat controlled space heater that is on a timer. I like it so much, this weekend I went the next step, adding a 110v Kat's in-line coolant heater <thanks to Johnny Mullet for the pics and nice write up>.

The space heater system:
It's nothing fancy, just stuff from Home Depot, a cheapie under-desk-type space heater w/fan and internal thermostat, and a medium duty outdoor Christmas lights timer rated at 15a. I set the outdoor timer to kick on at 4am, I am out the door at 5:30, and the interior is nice and cozy at about 65 deg F when I get in, and windows are defrosted before I even start the car. When I leave the driveway, I just move the air intake selector to recirculate, and output air selector to defrost. That draws the semi-heated air from the interior space and blows it onto the windsheild. By the time the pre-heated interior air has cooled, my engine coolant and heater core are warmed up and operating, just as I enter the freeway.

Aside from comfort and better FE is safety. I've been commuting for 28 years, and have had several close call as a result of foggy windows while driving through my neighborhood. Running the car in the driveway is no good for FE and the air quality. Wiping down the windows leaves them spotty and glare glare during the afternoon drive home. Even though it's been down in the low 40's to high 30's most mornings, I don't run my car to warm it up anymore, don't need to wipe my windows, don't need a jacket either.