Topic: Monday Rant: Freezing my Arse Off

[Noto]

Great rant, Justin!

...I only disagree with this:

So, where’s your heat going if you’ve got a brand-spankin new ride today? Right out the tailpipe is my guess.

Your guess is wrong.  A more efficient burn means less energy is converted to heat.  While exhaust gasses will always be hot, other than Toyota's heat-recovery system found on 2010-and-later hybrids, you're correct with all of your other points about why smaller/aluminium engines simply produce less heat.

The oddball, IMO, is my 2010 Corolla CE.  I drive the same route to the gym every morning.  By the time I've driven 1.7km, I  have lots of heat (with the fan-speed on 3 or 4, which is far too loud), but I can turn it down to 1 after another half a km.  If I leave 'Rolla to idle in the driveway, it'll take ~15mins before it heats up sufficiently.

I'm surprised to hear that the Impreza didn't warm up even while driving for a bit.  Our Forester (albeit a piggish XT with the 4-speed auto) is warm 'relatively' immediately.  As is the RX400h, with its now aged 3.3L V6.  Not sure if the 2006 hybrid has any sort of electric heating, but to my understanding, it does not.

[random006]

Another reason to have an older car, I guess.  My car as a 6 cylinder with a cast iron block.  While it takes about 4 minutes or so to see the dial move and another 3 or 4 to get real heat on the coldest of days, the defroster seems to be able to work within a minute or so. 

The heated seats are useful in the intervening time, although I find the driver's seat to heat more slowly than the passenger's seat.  Strange.

[dkerr24]

It sounds to me like engine block heaters should almost be standard for Canadian drivers as much so as air-conditioning is for drivers in the southern US.

[Triple Bob]

If I leave 'Rolla to idle in the driveway, it'll take ~15mins before it heats up sufficiently.

Why on earth would you do that?  It's much better for the engine, and the heat (and the planet for that matter), to get driving sooner.

[Noto]

If I leave 'Rolla to idle in the driveway, it'll take ~15mins before it heats up sufficiently.

Why on earth would you do that?  It's much better for the engine, and the heat (and the planet for that matter), to get driving sooner.

Exactly - I don't do that.  I always drive off right after start-up (unless I'm clearing snow off the car, then I start the car for the defrosters/heated mirrors).  I just don't push the engine hard until it's warmer.

[Bubba]

If I leave 'Rolla to idle in the driveway, it'll take ~15mins before it heats up sufficiently.

Why on earth would you do that?  It's much better for the engine, and the heat (and the planet for that matter), to get driving sooner.

Precisely why the sale of remote starters should be banned. 

[mmret]

Precisely why the sale of remote starters should be banned.

Silly idea

Why not ban turning the thermostat past 18 deg in the winter and 29 in the summer?

[Fobroader]

If I leave 'Rolla to idle in the driveway, it'll take ~15mins before it heats up sufficiently.

Why on earth would you do that?  It's much better for the engine, and the heat (and the planet for that matter), to get driving sooner.

Precisely why the sale of remote starters should be banned.

I don't know, firing up the car before you get outside by a few minutes and having it run while you scrape to windows isn't a bad idea.....also when the car has been sitting at the airport for a week or two while you were somewhere warm, sure is nice to start the car from the terminal and have it being somewhat warm when you get there.

[mmret]

Also its not actually that bad I don't think. The Volvo according to the computer uses 1.2 to 1.3 liters per hour when idling, that is with a warm engine. So with a cold engine maybe a little bit more, but you're only talking like 10-15 minutes.

I wonder how much CO2 etc. gets produced when I run my snowblower / lawnmower. Cars have very good emissions control. Lawnmower...not so much.

[Spec5]

With all the technology out there I'm surprised nobody has come up with a way of using an electric heater connected to the block heater so that if your car is plugged in it will "warm" the interior as well. I'm not talking about piping hot stuff here but like turn on the seat heaters for example. I find the seat heaters in my Civic warm up quite quickly. A minute or 2 on high and I'm not shivering anymore.

Guess we need more designers to come live with us for a few months!

[aquadorhj]

With all the technology out there I'm surprised nobody has come up with a way of using an electric heater connected to the block heater so that if your car is plugged in it will "warm" the interior as well. I'm not talking about piping hot stuff here but like turn on the seat heaters for example. I find the seat heaters in my Civic warm up quite quickly. A minute or 2 on high and I'm not shivering anymore.

Guess we need more designers to come live with us for a few months!

my old Saturn had aftermarket interior heater on the same plug as block heater, so the interior was toasty in the morning.

snow would literally melt off the entire car.

i'm sure it used sh1t ton of electricity though.

[Ex-airbalancer]

If I leave 'Rolla to idle in the driveway, it'll take ~15mins before it heats up sufficiently.

Why on earth would you do that?  It's much better for the engine, and the heat (and the planet for that matter), to get driving sooner.

Precisely why the sale of remote starters should be banned.

Hey, the remote also turns the heated seats on if it cold outside 

[PJungnitsch]

With all the technology out there I'm surprised nobody has come up with a way of using an electric heater connected to the block heater so that if your car is plugged in it will "warm" the interior as well. I'm not talking about piping hot stuff here but like turn on the seat heaters for example. I find the seat heaters in my Civic warm up quite quickly. A minute or 2 on high and I'm not shivering anymore.

Guess we need more designers to come live with us for a few months!

my old Saturn had aftermarket interior heater on the same plug as block heater, so the interior was toasty in the morning.

snow would literally melt off the entire car.

i'm sure it used sh1t ton of electricity though.

Exactly what I put in my truck. I put mine on a timer so it was only on for a couple hours before I got in. But that was enough. Having a bit of time for the interior to soak up some heat was huge.

[tooscoops]

i'm another that is hoping for electric heaters in the cars... just makes sense to me.

as for actually griping about it... i can handle being a bit cold when it is freezing outside... kind of expected in my mind. some things, while annoying, are just not worth the effort to fix. electric heater? cool. other than that... i don't see what else they need/should do.

this is one of those cases that it is a double edged sword... you want fuel efficiency, smaller displacement, lower emissions, lighter vehicles... there is a trade off. if you can't handle that... my jeep warms up damn fast.. even my soft top one got the cabin toasty in winter... had to keep the fan on pretty high constantly, but it worked.

[Spec5]

Maybe you wouldn't b!tch so much Pritch if you didn't work out so much and put a little fat on!

[Northernridge]

Living in Manitoba I think it's important to start the commute in a heated garage at home (or at least an insulated one) and then end up in another at work, which is what I've been doing for years. Even with that the Berlin taxi can take awhile to heat up on the highway at only 90kph (my commute speed) so I'll sometimes drop a gear to help the car warm up faster.

[Noto]

Maybe you wouldn't b!tch so much Pritch if you didn't work out so much and put a little fat on!

...but he wears that cute little hat!  I love that hat!

[jjc]

It's conservation of energy. The reason older cars put out more heat is because the fuel is not being used as efficiently for propulsion but it still contained the same energy as it does now. That energy that is now being used for propulsion was then just turned into heat. As engines get more efficient then less and less waste heat energy they will generate.

If all goes well it shouldn't be long and electric heaters will become relatively common.

(And no, generating heat from electricity just to warm the cabin will not counteract even a fraction of the efficiency gains of reducing the waste heat from fuel)

[mlin32]

I have the active grille shutters on my Mazda3 but interestingly, I was reading through the service manual and they remain open when starting up at temperatures below -5°C for some reason related to condensation build up stemming from too rapid a warm-up that could freeze the throttle. The torque converter does not lock up until the transmission temperature reaches ca. 45-50°C.

Our experiences with the newer BMWs is that they heat up fairly quickly so I'm not sure where that statement comes from. The Mini I mentioned has a small engine and 3 cylinders so that is understandable, but the 325i with the N52 motor warmed up reasonably quick with its electric water pump, and the X5 35d had that auxiliary heater that was amazing......

[babstude]

get rid of your gas burning vehicle and go electric, you can pre heat the vehicle with your app. Toasty warm when you get in whilst burning minimal to no extra hydro carbons. Win/win