Cabin Preheating on a winter morning

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raytaylor

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#1794768 5-Jun-2017 09:19

Yes I have heated seats :-) but they do take about 20 minutes to get really hot.

It seems they get a little warm after about 5 minutes, but then they turn off for a while and then kick back in and get really warm a while later. I think there is some sort of computer that controls them in a funny way. One of my staff likes to randomly turn his side off and on to get them to heat up faster.

I have decided I'll look into the diesel fired heater and see where that goes. The next car is definitely going to be a plug in hybrid.

Ray Taylor

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lxsw20

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#1794806 5-Jun-2017 10:44

If it's just for you, what about a heated jacket? https://www.bunnings.co.nz/aeg-12v-heated-jacket-kit-large_p06230202

Coming from cold Dunedin mornings, the thought of a pre heater in the car sounds a bit over kill tbh :P

raytaylor

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#1794989 5-Jun-2017 17:53

lxsw20:

If it's just for you, what about a heated jacket? https://www.bunnings.co.nz/aeg-12v-heated-jacket-kit-large_p06230202

Coming from cold Dunedin mornings, the thought of a pre heater in the car sounds a bit over kill tbh :P

Its not as good as my milwaukee heated jacket which can take the 12v mini battery, or my 18v 4ah cordless drill battery and has a usb output to charge my phone at the same time :-)

Ray Taylor

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dimsim

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#1795021 5-Jun-2017 19:10

lxsw20:

Coming from cold Dunedin mornings, the thought of a pre heater in the car sounds a bit over kill tbh :P

mmm, have to agree... how about a great big mug of harden the f$#! up?

richms

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#1795024 5-Jun-2017 19:13

My issue with the cold car is a safety one in Auckland. The car ends up colder than the very humid morning air so if its not warmed up then condensation forms on the outside where I cant do anything about it other than put the driver and passanger windows down and wipe off the mirror on the driver side. Back window takes ages for the demister to heat thru the glass to the outside, and the passanger side mirror I cant do anything about.

At least if the car is warmed up the windows stay clear.

Richard rich.ms

Aredwood

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#1795043 5-Jun-2017 20:33

My 2002 Mercedes Vito had a eberspacher 5KW diesel fired water heater installed from the factory. As the diesel engine takes forever to warm up if you are stuck in rush hour traffic. And it won't warm up at all if you have the heater going while in rush hour traffic. It was also a factory option to add remote starting and timer based starting of the eberspacher. Unfortunately my van doesn't have that option.

So would definitely recommend the diesel coolant heater if your engine is also slow to warm up. Yes I have checked that the thermostat is working properly before anyone asks. My diesel engine simply uses such a small amount of fuel at idle and light load, that warming it up in winter is a nightmare.

My eberspacher is currently not working as it needs a new glow plug. Van has done over 300,000K and first owner was Christchurch airport. Who presumably used it as a shuttle bus. So the eberspacher probably has done really high running hours. Plenty of YouTube videos on how to rebuild them.

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