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coolant heaters

Hello,

Following the bad winter, did anyone fit a coolant heater?

I'd like to fit one to a 1.4L, 56 plate, Astra. Perhaps that's not the kind of car you might expect to fit one to? Being a modern petrol, I suppose the heater does warm fairly quickly but it would be nice for it to be warm when you get in, rather than a mile down the road. And that would help with clearing the windscreen too.

There's plenty of room under the bonnet on the 1.4L model but I'm not sure where I would fit the heater. As far as I can see the coolant inlet and outlet are on top of each other on the engine and are big (inch and a quarter?) hoses. The hoses to and from the radiator seem to be the same size too.

I was expecting to tee into a narrower tube and to mount the heater so that convection could carry the warm coolant upwards, but the coolant hoses seem to be pretty much on the same level.

Any ideas?

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen
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Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

In the old days when the only cars I could afford invariably got damp inside, I just used to leave a thermostat controlled1 kW fan heater in the luggage space (they were always estates) and switch it on just before breakfast. This would demist the inside and defrost the outside.

Reply to
newshound

I've been using this method for 20 years but use a time clock to control it. Used it to defrost both our cars - including a MX5 where it sat on the rear shelf. I put it in the boot of mine and put one of the rear seats down. The only problem I've ever had is the 'moving' heat setting the alarm off but turning it down to a lower setting cured that. I have two caravan sockets on the outside of the garage connected to an inside socket with the time clock. . Yes it is great to get into a warm, demisted car but not having to clear the ice off the windows is even better.

Slatts

Reply to
Sla#s

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