I first heard about pre-heaters on a trip to Sweden about 10 years ago.
Someone pointed out a socket through the grill of a volvo. "You can electrically pre-heat the engine on cold winter mornings before you start it up" I was told. Smart idea I thought, wonder how it works? - although I didn't even own a car then and I soon forgot about it.

I've recently been looking into ways of improving the my winter FE, namely by the warm air mod or radiator block often mentioned on here, neither of which are easily possible on my car, things being difficult to get at - then I remembered the pre-heater

I've found a manufacturer in the UK, take a look, not only does it preheat the engine, it warms the interior too, plug it in 20 minutes before you set off - it looks like a neat little system, surely a 'must have' for any auto environmentalist/early winter morning commuter/short distance driver. I got more info sent to me - the components have changed slightly to those pictured on the website - it's now a neat little cylindrical unit and the interior pre-heating facility comes as standard. Price is about £235, which is around $400 or so.

It makes me ask the question "why don't manufacturers fit these as standard - especially on cars such as hybrids, or at least offer them as an option?" and "why haven't I heard them mentioned on this forum before?" I did a search but nothing showed up.

There is a US manufacturer of similar devices, although it looks like it's not electrically powered - check this article

The only thing stopping me from getting one is the probability of it voiding my warranty - but I thought I would post some info here for others who might not be aware of such a device. Has anyone ever used one?

That looks like a coolant heater. I played with one once, but never installed it. The other option is commonly called a 'block heater' and it's a heating element inserted into the engine block that warms the coolant and engine, but doesn't circulate the coolant as I believe the kind you linked to does. I've had used cars with block heaters, but it doesn't get that cold here that people find them necessary, it's mostly a convenience or luxury, but further north, I'm sure it's almost mandatory.

I doubt it will void your warranty. Honda would have to prove that it caused the malfunction, generally third party equipment doesn't automatically void a warranty because the warranty covers manufacturing defects, and by law they have to honour that, unless you make drastic changes that clearly caused or aided the failure. It's like saying installing a third party radio will void your warranty. Clearly it does not, but if the radio somehow drew too much power and your alternator or DC-DC converter dies as a result (unlikely, but it's just an example) that would not be covered under the warranty, but it would still not void the warranty on the rest of the car.

2001 Prius Photos       2005 Prius Photos
1992 Mitsubishi Delica Diesel-WVO Hybrid Photos

I've surfed J C Whitney and other sites. I've seen three kinds of engine heaters:

• Coolant heater like the type stoner mentioned
• Oil Pan heaters that are glued underneath
• Heated Oil Dipsticks. No installation but make sure no plastic parts touch.

I've heard of stories of Canadian towns with electrical outlets by the parking meters for the engine heaters.

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

Best Run >
www.cleanmpg.com

"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

FYI, 235 GBP is about 400 USD.

-Charlie...

Hi All:

___Block heaters as they are referred to are a lot less expensive then $400 … Your local Honda/Toyota dealership should have them in their parts catalog for easily < $40.00. Install can be upwards of $100 if you do not do it yourself.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

Electrical block or coolant heaters are popular in Sweden both for comfort, less engine wear, less emissions and better fuel economy. But you have to have access to a power outlet... Heaters that run on the cars own fuel is also popular, but are more expensive and will of course give emissions when run, and reduce mileage compared to the electrical heater.

I have asked my Toyota dealer (in Sweden) how much it would cost to have a electrical heater retrofitted in my 2001 Prius. This particular one heated both the engine and interior, and also charged the auxilirary 12 V battery (not the big battery unfortunately...). The wanted about $ 1 000 for it all.

I believe my winter mpg would improve drastically if I installed and used it. Only problem is that I don't have a power outlet at home or at work...

Johan Erlandsson

See mileage data for my 00 Prius.
See my environmental performance (still in swedish only, feel free to ask).

Thanks for the info.

I checked with a few UK Honda dealers but none of them could offer me a block heater for my car - I guess they are not available, for the UK market at least.

I am unfortunate that I don't have a garage at the moment (not many people use them over here anyway because they are so small) so the ability to pre-warm the car at 6am would be a real bonus when it's sub-zero outside, besides the extra fuel economy. I have an outside socket with an indoor isolating switch, so I could just set it up the night before and start it running when I got out of bed from inside the house!

For now though I am going to save my money and purchase a windscreen cover for the AM frosts and a small car fan heater that plugs into the cigarette lighter (numerous available) to help pre-warm the interior - a total spend of around $40 plus any saving that might have been made in fuel costs.

Those cigarette lighter heaters are pretty useless, make sure you can return it. I have had better luck using a small household space heater in my car for pre-heating the interior, but it's much more satisfying having a pre-heated engine so that when you start driving the air coming from the vent is warm rather than just the air sitting in the car (until you open the door).

2001 Prius Photos       2005 Prius Photos
1992 Mitsubishi Delica Diesel-WVO Hybrid Photos

I feel goofy even mentioning it, but here in Phoenix, where the coldest nights are usually in the 30s, and we hardly NEVER get into the 20s, I'm going to experiment with using an electric space heater in my garage with my HCH at night.

Just on the coldest nights, I'm gonna set the space heater thermostat on probably 60 degrees and put it about five feet in front of the car.

( My brother-in-law did that in Alaska a few years ago but put it too close and it melted the plastic bumper on his Ford Escort, so I am aware of the danger of putting it too close. )

Anyone have any thoughts on how effective or not this method might be for keeping my HCH warmer and helping reduce the cold weather effects on the morning commute?

A little space heater in an uninsulated garage will have a tough time getting to or maintaining 60, even if you start out there from daylight heating. It will be on constantly; the electric cost might outweigh the FE savings from a slightly warmer engine.

Maybe as a twist on the oilpan heater idea- if you could find a thin heater that is cooler to the touch (oil-filled heater, maybe) that you can slide under the pan and timer it on an hour or so before you drive. Not a hot electric-coil one, though- too close to flammables. Is there a plastic shield on the oilpan? Might need to remove that for good.