Coolant Heater
Introduction
The main difference between coolant heaters and block heaters is block heaters go into the engine block and coolant heaters are external.
A Coolant heater can slowly or quickly pre-warm the engine before starting with a 200 to 5,500 watt (electric) or up 20,000BTU/hr for fuel fired.
The 2 main categories for coolant heaters are fuel fired (usually diesel) and electric. Electric are usually 120 but can be 240 volt powered.
The reduced warm-up time can dramatically improve fuel economy, especially for short trips.
Most higher powered coolant heaters need to use some kind of forced circulation.
Fuel fired coolant heaters tend to be the most complicated, expensive, difficult to install and they still burn fuel so they aren't really saving any fuel so we wont really be talking about them.
Contents
Instructions for mod
Refer to workshop manual and installation instructions for coolant for installation methods
User experiences
Please enter your user name and any relevant data in the table
User Name | Car Make, Model, Year | Cost of Mod | Time to Perform Mod | MPG Before Mod | MPG After Mod | MPG improvement guess | Instruction Link |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oil Pan 4 | Chevy suburban diesel 84 | $100 USD | 3.5 Hours | FE effect untested. Was able to raise coolant temperature from -2'C to 22'C in 15 minutes with out running the engine | 3500 watt universal fit coolant heater |
Problems / Consequences of mod
- User of electricity to heat car is almost always cleaner than cold starting an ice cold car
- Idle reduction
- Enter the much more efficient closed loop mode sooner.
- Remove frost so you can see, avoid crashing into objects.
Forum thread links
Fast warm up ideas, 3500w coolant heater
5,500 watt coolant heater, Just incase 3500w isn't fast enough
850 watt tank style heater in a metro
External links
Related or prerequisite mods
http://ecomodder.com/wiki/index.php/Block_Heater
http://ecomodder.com/wiki/index.php/Electric_coolant_water_pump