Coolant Heater

I have one fitted to my Citroen Synergie. A Webasto Thermo Top. It's the one which heats the water rather than the air in the cabin.

Mine is integrated into the heating controls and only activates if ambient temperature is below, I think, 3deg C. I can't manually control it. There is an upgrade to enable that function though.

There's a run on period after you switch off, so it purges hot fuel from the combustion chamber.

Just thought of something though. As I understand it, these heaters are pretty universally diesel fired. Don't know how you would get on with a petrol engined car.

They do tend to fetch good money, even 2nd hand. They can be used for trucks, caravans and motorhomes, so there is a demand.

See Bob Sherunckle's post above. I have seen them fitted to Diesel Audis and other marques and have often wondered about pulling one from a scrap car and playing with it.

I've no idea how much they cost new or used, or if the ones in modern cars are customised for each particular installation or if they are fairly standard.

I have read elsewhere of attaching an iron hotplate to the bottom of the sump to warm the engine oil before startup and I have seen marine applications where engines that are likely to need started and almost immediately run at full power have electrically powered heaters and coolant circulation pumps to keep the block at a reasonable temperature

24/7. There aren't many Twin V12 CAT Diesel powered cars around so that doesn't really help you either...

I think it's a fairly uncommon automotive modification in this country, so finding someone with know-how/experience might be tricky. Try somewhere like Canada or Sweden?

Narrowboats sometimes use this sort of heater for their central heating, perhaps that's a place closer to the UK to start.

In answer to your questions: "No." and "No idea."

(c:

Not sure what you're after. One of my small Ford V8's came with a heater in a core plug (Approx 2" in diameter) I guess this was 110V (US) but two could be put in series. Try looking at US Engine parts suppliers.

HTH

Petrol models are also available. Diesels tend to have them as stock as they run unthrottled. The large volume of cold air means that low load or idling they don't produce enough heat for the cabin.

A parking heater needs a pump. An auxiliary heater uses running engine coolant flow.

Much more common on petrol cars in Scotland than down south.

But you can upgrade the latter to the former. Because the Synergie is such a usefull tool for doing stuff, it would be marvellous to upgrade it to having central heating.

But you can upgrade the latter to the former. Because the Synergie is such a usefull tool for doing stuff, it would be marvellous to upgrade it to having central heating.