Any D.I.Y Heater that will heat up a car?

StringsOfLife

Any D.I.Y Heater that will heat up a car rather than running a cars engine + heater?

onomatopoeia99

Do you mean heat up the passenger compartment so it's warm when you get inside, or heat up the water in the engine so you don't have to cold start it?

There are solutions for both - heating up the passenger compartment just needs an electric fan heater plugged in to the mains in your garage / house, for example.

StringsOfLife

Yes; passenger compartment so it's warm when you get inside, no access to electric power due to location of car in the mornings

onomatopoeia99

If you have no electricity supply, generating heat safely is going to be difficult, because the alternative source of heat is combustion of something (e.g. petrol, diesel, gas) and that means flames, inside your car. I wouldn't want any kind of "DIY" heating solution like that.

Eberspacher make diesel heaters for permanent installation in vehicles, but they aren't cheap and fairly obviously your vehicle has to run on diesel. People generally have them fitted to camper vans where they are going to be occupied for extended periods while the engine isn't running. Not something I'd recommend DIY installing unless you are very, very confident in your ability to do it safely and given how they work I can't see one being viable for a car.

Is it a truly great problem for the car to be cold for the first couple of minutes of the journey?

dunroving

StringsOfLife wrote: »

Yes; passenger compartment so it's warm when you get inside, no access to electric power due to location of car in the mornings

Maybe use heated seat covers?* It's amazing how quickly you can feel warm in the winter when you get that glowing butt feeling!

A hiking friend has heated seats in his Landrover and I love them - definitely on the list of must-haves for my next car.

Gloomendoom

You could fit a webasto type cabin heater.

Not a cheap solution though.

https://www.webasto.com/gb/markets-products/car/heating-systems-for-automotive-industry/auxiliary-heaters/

getmore4less

Google parking heaters

abssorb

StringsOfLife wrote: »

Any D.I.Y Heater

These are called "Parking heaters" because the assumption is that you will be sitting in the car when you want it on.

Getting it working when you're not in the car means you have to contend with the alarm system, which will usually freak out if you draw power or change cabin conditions without the ignition on.

For the DIY-er, least problematic is a 12v ceramic heater connected to a separate leisure battery. But prepare to be underwhelmed, they are not powerful.

You can't connect the heater to the main battery because the sudden voltage drop will set off the car alarm, and it can leave you with a flat battery.
Also test with a mains fan heater first because car alarms can also be triggered by a sudden change in the cabin conditions.

If your car alarm can handle the temp and humidity change without affecting the cabin sensors, it might be worth getting a ceramic heater to try.

There are non-DIY solutions, but they are very spendy.

StringsOfLife

abssorb wrote: »

These are called "Parking heaters" because the assumption is that you will be sitting in the car when you want it on.

Getting it working when you're not in the car means you have to contend with the alarm system, which will usually freak out if you draw power or change cabin conditions without the ignition on.

For the DIY-er, least problematic is a 12v ceramic heater connected to a separate leisure battery. But prepare to be underwhelmed, they are not powerful.

You can't connect the heater to the main battery because the sudden voltage drop will set off the car alarm, and it can leave you with a flat battery.
Also test with a mains fan heater first because car alarms can also be triggered by a sudden change in the cabin conditions.

If your car alarm can handle the temp and humidity change without affecting the cabin sensors, it might be worth getting a ceramic heater to try.

There are non-DIY solutions, but they are very spendy.

Thanks for that, I will look into these 12v ceramic heaters...might help speed up the diesel car faster if nothing else.