electric car heaters

[the4bidden]

hi all


i have just had to take the gearbox out of my a.k. and as a result the dash and heater box as well (polo) as the casing was right up against the bell housing.

horrible job as it was well siliconed in!

i would rather get rid of it any way (less heater hoses under the bonnet!) and wondered if any one out there has used one of the little 12v electric demister fans that car builder solutions sell (or any other electric fan heater for that matter).

i am not worried about heating the footwells as the exhaust headers do that quite nicely thank you!

thanks

adam

[oglyoodoo]

Hi

Most conventional car heaters output a good few kilowatts of heat perhaps 4 or 5 and in large cars somewhat more. Relating this to 12V means that a suitable unit would require just over 80 Amps to give One kilowatt. I don't know of the units you describe but some I have seen plug into the Cigarette lighter socket. I suspect these will draw around 10A and only be capable of delivering around 120w. Not a lot of heat...
IMHO you are much better off with the Hot water... also bear in mind that if you have an electric heater it isn't powered for free, your engine would have to provide this power and is therefore power not available to the wheels..

Denis

[the4bidden]

hi denis

thanks for the reply - i hadnt realised how much power an electric heater would actually draw. i will try and find a smaller fan and modify the polo heater matrix casing


adam

[nicklouse10]

HI there,
I have just fitted 2 of these electric fan heaters into another Kit car I am building. I wired them both together, then plugged them into the fag lighter on my Girlfriends Citroen AX 1.1, the car was idling nicely... I switched them on and it stalled!
I did have the wipers on, but thats an indication of how much power these things draw, and the heat they were blowing out was pittiful, it may be just enough to demist the screen, but it's no substitute for a heater.
If I ever install a heater in the cobra, it will be water powered.
Nick

[tonym]

Adam, if you do decide to get rid of the polo heater give me a shout, i want one for my cob :thumb:

[the4bidden]

hi tony

im probably off to the scrapyard soon to get a new heater from a polo as the one i have is leaking - give me a call if you want one and ill pull you one out - only takes 2 mins - paid a tenner for the last one!


cheers

adam -

ps are you coming to elvington??

[tonym]

Cheers Adam, if you can get me a heater i'd appreciate it :thumb:
Yes i'll be at Elvington