Aftermarket windscreen heaters

olias

Hi all,

this cold weather has highlighted a problem with my car - Landrover Discovery TD5 2001. The heater takes about 10-15 minutes to get hot enough to start to properly clear the windscreen/heat the cab. Trouble is my twice daily journeys are only about 15-20 minutes long!

I have had one of those ceramic fan heaters that plug into your cigarette lighter previously in another vehicle, but it was cr4p! Hardly provided any heat, or through flow of hot air.

Now there are hundreds of these things on the market, so I wondered if anyone had any experience of one that really worked well that they could reccommend? Thanks

Olias

red_eye

olias wrote: »

Hi all,

this cold weather has highlighted a problem with my car - Landrover Discovery TD5 2001. The heater takes about 10-15 minutes to get hot enough to start to properly clear the windscreen/heat the cab. Trouble is my twice daily journeys are only about 15-20 minutes long!

I have had one of those ceramic fan heaters that plug into your cigarette lighter previously in another vehicle, but it was cr4p! Hardly provided any heat, or through flow of hot air.

Now there are hundreds of these things on the market, so I wondered if anyone had any experience of one that really worked well that they could reccommend? Thanks

Olias

cover half of the radiator with a cardboard box and watch the temp rise, just make sure you keep an eye on the temp gauge to make sure your not getting past half way. if your getting to hot then remove some of the card.

This is an old hackney taxi trick

Gloomendoom

Your best bet is to retrofit a heated windscreen.

A new one will be expensive but you should be able to pick up a second hand one with all the relays etc for a lot less.

red_eye

that is a lot of labour hours

epninety

Maybe not terribly MSE but I have auxiliary heaters fitted in both my Land Rovers.

One has a Webasto coolant heater, preheats the engine either on a timer or a remote control. Turn it on when I get out of bed, when I leave the house I have a warm car with defrosted glass. Uses about a cupful of diesel a day, and gets the car fully warmed from overnight temperatures in 30 minutes.

The other has an Eberspacher air heater - as fitted to sleeper cab lorries. That doesn't warm the engine, but can easily make the cab uncomfortably warm if required. This will get the cab toasty warm in 5 mins.

Both have been used and appreciated north of the arctic circle in blizzard conditions. Both tend to cost a lot new, but can be got second hand for a couple of hundred quid, if you are up for a DIY fit. I've had one for 5 years, the other for 8, and they've been utterly reliable.

If you can park off road near a power socket, there's a Webasto 240V coolant heater thats more reasonably priced.

Gloomendoom

epninety wrote: »

If you can park off road near a power socket, there's a Webasto 240V coolant heater thats more reasonably priced.

We just perch an ordinary 240v fan heater on the centre arm rest. It only takes a few minutes to de-ice the windows and make the cabin toasty warm. It can be turned on from inside the house.

jsmith4519

a slightly different solution for you, open the bonnet, look under the scuttle ( black big plastic bit wipers go thru) if you see 2 plugs one each side the car is wired for a heted screen, although to connect you will have to get a switch and maybe a relay. Then (if you have glass cover on insurance) "break" the windscreen, book for a new one saying it is heated, give windscreen fitter a "drink" and he will probably fit it, job done heated screen!

forgotmyname

Think of a standard 240volt fan heater thats 2000 or 3000 watts.

Then see the little car ones at 150watts. Its never going to be brilliant.

webasto or eberspacher? (spelling) heaters. They run on diesel. They can provide around 2000 watts and work very very well. Had them on the lorries.

But expensive. If you have access to the mains then there are cheaper alternatives. But that wont work when you go and park without power.

closed

a cloth and cold air on full blast will demist the screen, unless it's frozen. 15 minutes sounds a long time for an engine to warm up.

forgotmyname

Diesel and short low speed journeys. Take an age to warm compared to a petrol car.

But are the thermostat(s) working? Cooling fan running when it shouldnt?

When you demist does it switch the aircon on? This can cause the cooling fan to run which doesnt help.

olias

epninety wrote: »

Maybe not terribly MSE but I have auxiliary heaters fitted in both my Land Rovers.

One has a Webasto coolant heater, preheats the engine either on a timer or a remote control. Turn it on when I get out of bed, when I leave the house I have a warm car with defrosted glass. Uses about a cupful of diesel a day, and gets the car fully warmed from overnight temperatures in 30 minutes.

The other has an Eberspacher air heater - as fitted to sleeper cab lorries. That doesn't warm the engine, but can easily make the cab uncomfortably warm if required. This will get the cab toasty warm in 5 mins.

Both have been used and appreciated north of the arctic circle in blizzard conditions. Both tend to cost a lot new, but can be got second hand for a couple of hundred quid, if you are up for a DIY fit. I've had one for 5 years, the other for 8, and they've been utterly reliable.

If you can park off road near a power socket, there's a Webasto 240V coolant heater thats more reasonably priced.

Thanks - did you fit your webasto yourself? how easy was it, and does it need any specialised tools? Have seen a few on ebay, that although a lot more than I was hoping to pay, may well be worth it in the long run.

Olias