glow plug based coolant heater
 

Some glow plugs draw 15 amps so depending on the plug it can put out 150-250W of heat. So how about mounting 3-5 of them in the intake line going to the heater core. It would load the engine down by making the alternator work harder. That also helps warm the engine up faster. If there were 5 of them running it would be ~1000W of heat being put into the coolant along with the extra load from the alternator.

On most cars the heater core is on a bypass so it circulates no matter what the thermostat is doing. It would also put a bit of heat into the heater box to give a bit of heat to help keep the windshield clear.

I figure my car takes about 5 minutes of driving to reach operating temperature. I don't know how much faster it would warm up with a setup like that though. Anyone got any ideas?

Intriguing idea! http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...beer_cheer.gif

Only thing I'm wondering is, glowplug tip temps get very hot- how hot I don't know- would they fry the coolant and/or would there be enough flow to prevent that?

This is indeed an interesting idea. How much money do you think this would cost to set up?

I have seen 8 packs of plugs for 50 bucks on ebay. It is really hard to find specs on them though. I have not been able to find a listing of current or wattage anywhere.

They heat up to 900 degrees but with water moving even slowly it would not boil the coolant since they would only be on when the engine was under 80-120 degrees F or so.

I keep seeing 12A for fast glow plugs on pages so I think that seems like a pretty good bet to stick with.

so 12A X 14V = 168W each. 1300W for 8 of them. That seems like a decent amount of heat to me.

So anyone here using a block heater that pulls like 500W or more? How long does it take to warm up the engine by itself?

I think darin's block heater pulls > 500W

Just get the coolant glow plugs from a TDI. There are 3 of them, supposedly they add up to 750watts. They last the life of the car (mostly), factory turn off is 110degF coolant temp. I want to have my ecu modded to run till 125 ish . . .

I haven't measured the time vs. temp of my 800w inline tank style unit.

The external 300w bolt-on heater that I installed first: Plugged in for an hour and a half to 2 hours, the engine temperature reads 40-50 F above ambient temperature at start-up, according to the ScanGauge.

Probably not very helpful, since it's not nearly as efficient as an inline heater.

Speaking of Block heaters, How long would I have to plug in a 600w block heater to warm my engine up? it's a 6 cylinder. I'm just wondering because I'm gonna buy one, and saw that 750watts takes all night to warm the engine for a six, and like 2-3 hours for a 4 cylinder. It was specs. for a tank type. I'm about to buy a freeze-plug type specified for my vehicle, (not tank type) and the only type is a 600watt one. Also, should I go permanent or removable?

If your warmup time from freezing to say, 92C, is five minutes, and you heat half of your two gallon coolant capacity, then the engine is transferring about 5000W to the coolant, just to put a 1300W heating system into perspective.

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 $$$

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

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

Aren't glow-plugs designed for short-duration ON periods, unlike block heaters which are designed for long-periods of use?

I run the coolant glow plugs in my TDI for as long as 15 minutes, they have been in service for 370,000 miles with no failures as of yet. That said, they are designed for the use.

I found one of these 12V coolant heaters, used, for a very good price. It was a bargain, since it not only came with all of the plumbing that connects it, but also with the fuse/relay box, with all cables still connected (not cut!). And the best thing: everything still works - the relays, the fuses, even all 4 of the glow plugs:)
http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1459190232
I found a forum with the following info on this model:
So this device should give me either 60W or 120W of heat, depending on whether I turn on one pair or both pairs. My cabin ventilation has a 3x100W electric heater, which is hardly noticeable when used (no sense using it when it's warmer than -5C outside). The coolant heater will provide even less heat to the cabin ventilation, but at least whatever is not used will help heat the engine a bit faster.

Soooo, I got this installed - hooked it up to the coolant line which goes from the engine to the cabin's heating core, and to the manual switches I had for the 300W ventilation heater (no plans to use it any more). I've only had one drive since installing, but not enough feedback to know how much faster the engine heats up. I do know that with the engine off, each pair of glow plugs drops the battery's voltage by ~0.5 volt, and I can hear the coolant start to sizzle.

So it looks like my van has one of these heaters as standard. Unfortunately, it's mounted under the battery so not exactly easy to get to.

My question is, are these designed to help engine warm up, or just to provide cabin heat sooner?

Any idea on the activation and deactivation temps etc? Do they turn on only with the engine running, or with the glow plugs?'

My goal is to connect these to my solar panels to help with engine warm up beyond the factory parameters, but knowing those parameters would be a good start.