Engine-heaters, other heaters.

[old jupiter]

(In the Unicorn Corral forum, "Cd" started a thread asking about using some variety of engine pre-heater to get the catalytic converter to light-off earlier. For the various speculative answers to his specific question, go there. I would like to make a broader statement about the more usual employment of pre-heating devices.)

IMOH, plug-in pre-heaters for the engine, engine oil, transmission oil, differential lube, fuel, etc., comprise a topic which ought to be of high interest to mechanical types who are modifying their vehicles for increased fuel efficiency. Yet I see little discussion of them on sites of this kind; I took a quick look at the "65+ Efficiency Mods" without spotting any reference to pre-heaters.

So I want to suggest that an engine heater is a wonderful thing to have on any engine, saving fuel and reducing engine wear during warm up, with the likely added benefit of somewhat-reduced emissions. Furthermore, there are quite a few engines that have a propensity to crack cylinder heads because the manufacturers wanted to save weight and material with thin-wall casting techniques. Ask any old and experienced auto machinist, and he can rattle off names a dozen engines that crack heads. My opinion is that the use of an engine heater, by reducing the range of running temperatures the engine has to stand up to, makes life easier for these thinwall castings, among its other benefits.

There are a number of types and makes of engine heaters. And there are transmission heaters and differential heaters which reduce "churning losses" of cold, viscous lubricants. There are even fuel-line and fuel tank heaters which could aid atomization and vaporization of gasoline, but should be of particular interest to anyone thinking about home-brewing his own bio-diesel or greasil.

Plug-in pre-heaters are a natural for plug-in hybrids (you're plugging in already, and just adding another circuit). Incidently, battery-warmers are in wide use in places with seriously cold winters, as are all of the other pre-heaters.

I personally am only using engine heaters so far, but am interested in them all. I feel that these devices, which are easy add-ons, are not talked about nearly enough on fuel economy sites, and should be considered among the basic improvements you can make to your vehicle. About the only kind I don't think much of is the "dipstick heater" a cheapo variety of engine oil heater that replaces your regular dipstick with one that plugs into 120VAC. I had one long ago, and found it ineffective. Other types work well. Obviously they are more useful when and where it can get cool or cold, meaning anywhere outside of southern Florida or San Diego. And they often offer the same benefits of reduced wear and fuel consumption on powerboats, welder-generators, and so forth.

Nope, I don't sell 'em or own stock in the companies that make 'em.

[t vago]

Originally Posted by old jupiter

IMOH, plug-in pre-heaters for the engine, engine oil, transmission oil, differential lube, fuel, etc., comprise a topic which ought to be of high interest to mechanical types who are modifying their vehicles for increased fuel efficiency. Yet I see little discussion of them on sites of this kind; I took a quick look at the "65+ Efficiency Mods" without spotting any reference to pre-heaters.

You know what? That's a good idea. There are people here that have attached engine heating mods for this very reason. I was going to do that to my truck at some point too, again for this reason.

Might could be worth adding to the Efficiency Mods.

[Frank Lee]

Engine block heater has always been on the list.

[t vago]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Engine block heater has always been on the list.

Where? I didn't find it in the engine or transmission mods.

Edit: Never mind. Found it. Sorry

http://ecomodder.com/forum/fuel-econ...ications.php#2

[Frank Lee]

I can sure see where heating an a/t would help; they're always so slow to upshift when cold.

[old jupiter]

Dang, there it was!! Well, I think i'm still right that the heaters don't get mentioned very often along with the usual suggestions to free-up the intake and exhaust systems, raise compression, unload all the heavy junk out of the car, etc., etc..

I'm working on a real orphan, a 1985 Toyota Camry with the 1TC turbo-diesel engine. VERY few were sold here. This little 1800cc engine is a prime example of an engine that cracks heads, and in fact the head on this one was cracked, along with other serious problems. Potentially it's a nice little car, super-economical if you brew your own fuel from waste veg-oil, and since the aluminum head was easily weldable, I'm rebuilding the engine. To give the new engine some chance at avoiding more head-cracks, it's getting an aftermarket "tank-heater," the term often used for a heater that is plumbed into the engine's cooling system.

One of the benefits of the various heaters that I failed to point out in the first post was that a whole lot of people, especially older folk (and I'm one), frequently tend to make very short 1 or 2-mile trips in their cars. Vehicles used in this way never really get warmed up, and consequently wear out prematurely and waste fuel. This diesel Camry was being used by its previous owners in just this way, and I think this kind of driving is particularly hard on diesels.

Have I thumped the tub enough?

[Frank Lee]

I like my electric scooter for those short hops when I don't take the bicycle for whatever reason. Micro trips are perfect for EVs. No fuel brewing either.

[old jupiter]

Agreed!!

A lot of people in cities, towns, and burbs would be very well served with small, simple, cheap pure-electric cars for 95% of their driving. But I think the electric car builders are way off-track with their insistance on range, high performance, and sleek styling. My elderly dad could have run any low-tech electric car for three weeks of normal use on one charge, and never gone over 45mph. And the requirements of old codgers are going to be ever more important as we Boomers get into our dotage. Elon Musk with his absurdly expensive hyper-car is answering a need no one has, while the cheap little electrics with lead-acid batteries from India and China won't meet the stupid regulations our government insists upon to keep us all very safe and unthreatened. There were cars a hundred years ago that would do the job for a lot of us, given some better brakes and tires. Seems to me that hybrids are best suited to people in cities who have only one parking spot and need a do-it-all car. The plug-in hybrids will be great for such folk. But, IMHO, for most of the rest of us, hybrids are an excessively complex, rather problematic compromise, and for that matter the manufactures don't like them a lot because they don't make money on them.

(EDIT--Why do I persist in abbreviating "In my humble opinion" as IMOH??!!)

[syncro_user]

They are very useful, pre-heaters. I use a coolant heater mounted in one of the core plug holes to pre-heat for a 2-mile commute during the winter. There is also a cabin heater to pre-heat and defrost the car so the engine can warm up more quickly.

Next mod would be an adhesive oil sump heater, as it's surprising how long the oil takes to heat up. If I ever get round to putting an undertray on, I am seriously considering using it to help duct hot air from the radiator to various other places on the car. Especially to the shock absorbers, at -25C they make the ride unbelievably crashy.

[Frank Lee]

Heck, should come up with a car-tent and heat the whole dang thing- engine, trans, shocks, tires, bearings, interior, windows- in one swell foop.