Heater replacement, capacity and approach.

[audia2ev]

I'm trying to figure out what to do with replacing my heater. On the one hand, I understand there is a legal requirement to have a system that demists the windscreen - for this I guess a 12V 200W ceramic heater like is available on eBay would do the job (any opinions on that?).

On the other hand, 200W doesn't sound like a very good option for keeping warm when it is just above freezing outside on a wet day.

I'm thinking of two possible approaches:

1. a bigger system (but how big?) that would inevitably have to draw on the main pack. I don't like this because I think it is dumb to draw on the main pack to get the car warm. Also I don't expect to make long journeys in the car so the car will only just get warm by the time I would stop.

2. Preheat the car with a 1 or 2kW 240V fan heater, on a timer or whatever, on the mains. Then use the 200W - and maybe ducted air off the motor/controller - to keep it topped up.

What have any of you done?

Simon

[MalcolmB]

One of the most widely used approaches is to replace the existing heater matrix with cores from ceramic heaters, which are self-regulating. I think there's a thread on it here somewhere, you could try searching for "ceramic".

I'm taking a cheap and simple approach. I just removed the heater from my mini yesterday and I'm replacing it with a 120V hair dryer I got from eBay. It has a universal motor and will run straight off 120V DC. You naturally can't use the existing switch on the hairdryer, as it's not rated for DC, so I'll wire the hairdryer via a contactor. I also plan to rewire the internal thermal cutout in series with the contactor coil, as the cutout won't cope with 120VDC either. The hairdryer will be mounted in the engine bay.

[ChrisB]

Those little 12v 200w ceramics are pretty pants TBH you'll be lucky to clear a 10" area of the screen from my findings.

You could go up and as you say use pack powered heaters of a few Kw but as you say that will pull your range down, but that does depend on how much voltage the pack is, my fiesta was 120v and hanging a 1000watts of heating off it only dented the range slightly, the CF I had at 216v didnt even really notice 3kw being pulled off it

Another option would be to put in a propex gas or similar



Or use a similar one to the Berlingo which is petrol powered, they are 5kw and will make the cab nice and toasty in just few mins, although they are a little thristy on fuel

ChrisB

[MB]

Webasto do a diesel powered heater that can run on cooking oil. They are supposed to be extremely good and also reasonably economical.

They are available as options for Reva's in some countries in the frozen north, as well as on the Maranello 4. Owner's who have them give glowing reports on their use. Economy is also supposed to be pretty good with most people reckoning they use no more than around 2 gallons of fuel a year.

[MB]

If you're interested in fuel heaters, do a quick Google search for 'cab heaters' or 'cab heating' (the heaters are usually installed in long-range HGV trucks with sleeping quarters).

I found a couple of web sites which might be worth further investigation:

http://www.heat-on.eu/
http://www.kampenwagen.co.uk/heaters.htm

[retepsnikrep]

I used a 2kw 110v american hair dryer innards in my van plumbed into heater outlet. That worked well for demisting.

[audia2ev]

OK thanks for the tips. I think I'm going to try a variant on the Webasto approach and have a timed electric heater (don't want to use any liquid fuels really) to pre-warm the vehicle, and see if I can get away with some light weight 12V demisting system. If that fails, I'll retro fit some pack powered heating, but I don't fancy pulling the whole dash on the A2 to bits just for that. Probably install it in front of the climate control intake in the engine compartment/bulkhead.

Simon