glow plug based coolant heater

[DifferentPointofView]

On the highway, it takes me about 5-7 miles to heat the engine up. I drive 10 miles to school everyday, and at 55+ stop signs and slowing at speed zones It takes about 15 minutes to get there. so it takes about half the drive to warm up the vehicle.

I'd like the vehicle to be warm when I get in it already. Saving me some $$$

then the engine is transferring about 5000W to the coolant, just to put a 1300W heating system into perspective.

Are you saying I should put in a 1300Watt heating system in?

[roflwaffle]

Oh, I was referring to Coyote X's idea, but in your case DPoV, payoff depends on how much electricity is for ya, how much it costs to put in the block heater/s, and what the difference in mileage is w/ the block heater/s. You could probably put in more than one heater for faster warmups, but like I said, whether it will be worthwhile financially depends...

[DifferentPointofView]

Hey! I just bought a 1000w Tank-type Heater. It is thermostatically controlled, which from what I'm getting at, shuts off at the temp that I set it at, then starts up again like a house furnace therm.

What Exactly is a tank type? I bought it today (gotta pick it up tomorrow tho ) and they said I do the same thing as a freeze-plug heater. Hopefully this is true. I'm not up on engine block heaters and the different types, only that they all do the same thing, heat up your engine for the morning.

[roflwaffle]

It looks like you just put it inline with one of the pipes and it circulates/warms the water. A timer may be worth considering so that it would turn on a couple hours before you need it instead of leaving it on all night and paying an extra quarter or more.

[DifferentPointofView]

How much is a timer? I'm pretty sure it shuts itself off when the coolant reaches temp, then turns back on when the coolant gets cool enough again.

[roflwaffle]

Around five bucks. Instead of running for, say, six hours all night as the coolant heats/cools, it'll run for a couple hours right before you drive.

[TimV]

Gonne post on an really old thread....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK0sCoCRzw8

I want to build myself an coolant heater inline of the cabin heater core.
What parts do i need?
How can i figuere out witch diameter the coolant line is?
Probably need an bypass when in ok cabine temperatures the heated coolant goes directly back (bypassing the heater core). Because if i turn the fan off and the temp to cold, there is no coolant flow and the coolant will boil, and heating ellemant will fail.

[trooper Tdiesel]

i have one of the glow plug heaters, the glow is not in contact with what ever your heating, it uses a thermal mass of allowy to transfer heat to the fuel, or in your case coolant.

[Piwoslaw]

I've been thinking about these glow plug coolant heaters. Svietlana takes at least 5 km to get up to temp with temps below freezing, and this is with a blocked grille and after preheating the engine for 2,5-3 hours. With no preheating and going downhill it can take even 15 km.

I guesstimate that the additional load will increase fuel consumption more than faster warm up will decrease it, but:

1. It may reduce the time I listen to my passengers nagging about "When will you finally turn the heat on?"
2. My OEM glowplugs (the ones in the cylinders) do not seem to work. I've checked the cables and replaced the relay and still nothing. So I need some help with cold starts.
3. I have a 300W heater in the cabin ventilation, but it hardly makes a difference, and does not warm the coolant.

There are lots of cheap used 12V coolant heaters, which can have 1, 2, 3, or 4 glow plugs. A long downhill after a cold start would allow me to use engine braking to power the heater, putting the otherwise wasted energy to use.

What do you guys think?

[dremd]

I'm aware that it is outside of reasonable for an ICE, but WOW I love how fas the heat pump makes cabin heat in my Leaf. Maybe an inverter powering repurposed refrigerator parts?