Engine heater

ndavid

ndavid

A2OC Donor
Hi all,

I know there are some members from the arctic area, and you are using some kind of external engine heaters, I suppose. What brand and setup would you recommend? I found a DEFA installer here in Hungary, it's prices seem a little bit high at first sight:

~280EUR for the basic kit incl. fitting
an additional ~430EUR for the WarmUp DeLuxe package that includes battery charger+cabin heater+fitting.

Can you comment these prices as well? (These were offered for my offtopic car, which is a Toledo 2.0 TDI...)

Thanks,
Norbert
 
Hi,

I've fitted a Kenlowe Hotstart and would highly recommend it - quality aluminium construction and takes about an hour to get car to operating temp from just below freezing. I have a 2Kw model but a 3Kw version is available.
 
Hi,

Does it mean that the coolant is just 90*C after 1 hour? It seems that with the DEFA stuff the engine is just "warmed" but not heated to the operating temp. I could not test it in cold weather still, the temperature was not below -15 since I'm being up here...
 
DEFA is the *known* brand and it's not difficult to get set up and installed. I don't remember exactly what engine you have. The standard DEFA is 700W, which is pretty good, and if you install a termini @ 1350W, you'll get windows defrosted even at -30C.
The charger is a bit of an unknown, though I do like the idea when you do lots of short trips. So I'd currently honestly recommend getting a DEFA heater element and set of cables, including the interior socket, and a Termini. I can help you fit this if you need teh help; the biggest questions are where you want the power socket for the input.

Most of the Hotfrogs of this world only heat the engine block and do this quickly. The DEFA will hit around 70C over ambient, with the max being around 60C, which means the block is getting a warm start and means you get warm air virtually immediately. With a Termini, though, you don't really need it, as the interior is nice and warm anyway. It's lovely getting into a car at 5C when it's -30; you can take your jacket off again immediately.

Remember you're only OK pulling 3kW through a standard socket anyway, so I'd be careful adding too much. And even then, some housing corporations forbid the interior heaters. I'm happy with my DEFA, even if the connector gets warm with both the block heater and Termini.

Only time it doesn't work as well as it should is around 0C and with a thick layer of snow.

- Bret
 
on the 307, the temperature was higher with the DEFA, as it heated the coolant, whereas on the A2, it heats the block. Neither is spectacularly more effective than the other after a couple of kms. I will be taking mine off this summer and replacing the heat compound to make sure the efficiency stays high, it's around 9 years old already...

- Bret
 
Out of interest which heat compound do you use?
Can you use Arctic Silver or a similar high performance PC heatsink thermal compound?
 
I already have the DEFA installed on my A2 (BBY) and on my wife's Toledo (2.0TDI, BKD) as well. Both car's kit is a contact heater so not as effective as it could heat the coolant directly. And in the Toledo case it heats the oil not the coolant. My wife got the Termini 1350W and the charger as well, my A2 has the heating element only. As far as I remember the internal charger works with 1A, but I also have a CTEK MXS 5.0, which charges with 5A.
 
there are at least two chargers, one of which is a smart 3A and another, newer, which is 4. I'd personally like to go towards a Webasto and then a dual battery setup with charging on both / either.

I'll be using Arctic Silver, I think, no point in using anything different IMO. Will check, though.

- Bret
 
yeah, I'd like a 1203 if and when I do a Webasto, to make sure that the starter battery is always full when the car's parked at home. At the moment that's future music, though, and the charger itself isn't cheap (€100 or so, if I remember correctly).

- Bret
 
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