Heat Revisted
01-06-2008 | 09:41 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 794
Likes: 0
From: St Johns, FL
Heat Revisted
Still looking for a good heating option, I bought an infrared heater (it has a fan too), built for aircraft use. It is a 12v, 35 amp heater with dimensions of 4Hx5Wx6D and a three position switch (hi, lo, off).
I checked my alternator and have a 72 amp model. Since I no longer have an air conditioner or rear window defogger, even with everything electrical running, it should not tax the alternator. I wired it right to the battery with an in-line fuse and mounted it right under the steering wheel brace. This still provides plenty of room for my knees and use of the pedals.
About 3 days ago, it was 20 degrees the morning I took it to work to see how it would do. As soon as I got it out of the driveway, I turned it to hi output to see what would happen. It's about 20 minutes to work, but this thing warmed up in about 2 minutes and was blowing warm air up past the steering wheel. I have to say it did a reasonable job of warming the cockpit and taking the edge off the biting cold. When I drove home, the outside temp sky-rocketed to 32 and the heater felt like it did much better. I actually had to turn it to low for a time, then off.
The only color choice was a creme, so I painted it matte black to blend with my black interior.
Pros: reasonably warmed the cockpit taking the edge off, its 12v, easily wired, its infrared, but also has a fan for forced heat
Cons: its expensive at $180, not too many places to mount it, draws a lot of power (those of us with ECU's need to correct for the loss of power to the injectors)
When the weather warms this spring, it'll take less than 5 min to remove everything except the wiring.
Here's a picture from the mfg website:
I checked my alternator and have a 72 amp model. Since I no longer have an air conditioner or rear window defogger, even with everything electrical running, it should not tax the alternator. I wired it right to the battery with an in-line fuse and mounted it right under the steering wheel brace. This still provides plenty of room for my knees and use of the pedals.
About 3 days ago, it was 20 degrees the morning I took it to work to see how it would do. As soon as I got it out of the driveway, I turned it to hi output to see what would happen. It's about 20 minutes to work, but this thing warmed up in about 2 minutes and was blowing warm air up past the steering wheel. I have to say it did a reasonable job of warming the cockpit and taking the edge off the biting cold. When I drove home, the outside temp sky-rocketed to 32 and the heater felt like it did much better. I actually had to turn it to low for a time, then off.
The only color choice was a creme, so I painted it matte black to blend with my black interior.
Pros: reasonably warmed the cockpit taking the edge off, its 12v, easily wired, its infrared, but also has a fan for forced heat
Cons: its expensive at $180, not too many places to mount it, draws a lot of power (those of us with ECU's need to correct for the loss of power to the injectors)
When the weather warms this spring, it'll take less than 5 min to remove everything except the wiring.
Here's a picture from the mfg website:
01-07-2008 | 01:03 PM
#2
Pro
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 590
Likes: 8
From: Seattle
Don,
Cool. Er, warm! I never thought of going electric. It looks a bit industrial, but it sounds like it gets the job done. Do you have a pic of it installed in your car? How did you adjust for the loss of power to the injectors?
It would be nice to have a heater that somehow blows air into the original heater tube system. A couple of hair dryers come to mind...
Rob
Cool. Er, warm! I never thought of going electric. It looks a bit industrial, but it sounds like it gets the job done. Do you have a pic of it installed in your car? How did you adjust for the loss of power to the injectors?
It would be nice to have a heater that somehow blows air into the original heater tube system. A couple of hair dryers come to mind...
Rob