It's topical :-)
Options i've found:
Ciggy lighter socket cabin heater, sit it on the dash pointing at the screen, set the timer on the inline control unit thingy, job done. Except it's a chocolate tea pot. 150 watts max through the ciggy lighter socket, battery will be flat before cabin temp is above freezing :-)
Buy a 2nd hand erbersparcher or webasto heater from an audi / land rover / whatever, they can be wired into any diesel pretty much. There are petrol versions but rarer. £250-£400.
DEFRA (or DEFA?) electric plugin system. Looks like the one to beat. Splice the coolant heater into a coolant pipe next to the oil cooler. Wire up the battery trickle charger component. Mount the cabin heater up under the passenger footwell and run the wiring through an existing hole in the bulk head. It's almost enough to crack out the masonry drill and fit an external socket... that'd be a selling point for the house :-)
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You don't have heated seats then? :-)
John
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Heated seats are for wimps.
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Heated seats are cool. If you see what I mean.
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How many folk could put a car in a garage but it's just full of junk!!
Last edited by: Bigtee on Tue 30 Nov 10 at 14:46
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My Cee'd estate isn't junk ! :-)
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Heated seats are for people with dead cows covering the seat and with piles...
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So speaks someone who didn't spec heated seats ;-)
My heated seats don't have dead cow on them (alcantara doncha know) and my bum doesn't have piles.
You're missing out.
John
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Until they're warm i think the cloth folks are winning...
BMW dead cow is very comfortable but somehow feels even colder than Skoda dead cow. BMW seat heaters are stronger so it balances out i guess.
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Do they still do cars with cloth seats then? Gosh !...
:-)
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"Heated seats are cool."
The pimp mobile blows ice-cold air up your pooper...
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I like these deep, meaningful discussions. Better than the flim flam elsewhere. :-)
John
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I prefer non cow seats as in Global Warming our hot summers mean you burn your legs in shorts getting into a car left in the sun.
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Your shorts must be unfashionably short. Are they like the ones from the 118 advert?
:-)
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I have the DEFA heaters in my cars. They're usually fitted in place of a core plug, and then the wiring is tee'd of to a regular socket in the passenger footwell. Into this is plugged a fan heater that mounts on a bracket on the centre console.
They work fairly well, but don't warm the engine, so mch as take off the chill. They're only about 600watts, and the fan heater is 1kw. In the coldest weather it won't clear all the windows, but at least makes a start. Having said that, mine are in the garage anyway, as clearing snow and frost every day for 3 or 4 months is a real bind. Plus you get to the point where you can never get rid of all the snow and ice, so eventually the wipers arms are all solid, the wiper springs are solid, the door windows won't move, the door hadles are solid with ice, and the doors are frozen shut.
If you don't start off with an ice free car, after driving for a hour with an outside temp of minus 20 or so, it only gets worse.
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Dave, where is the power connector sited in your setup? I.e. where do you run the power feed to?
I'm trying to think where the best place would be for convenience without compromising security, best i could come up with was either a fake tow bar electrics point, or go covert and fit a spring loaded flap topped socket through the engine undertray at the front.
I definitely don't need one of these, but i kind of want one.
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On the Skoda it's in the front bumper just under the headlight. On the other 2 it's mounted in the grill. It's a unique plug with a little spring loaded flap over it. With the DEFA kit comes a power lead with the correct plug, and a usual plug at the other end.
Not sure what you mean about security, but it needs to be somewhere easy to conect to, and not subject to too much water/spray.
They also do a small battery charger that can be situated under the bonnet somewhere, so your battery gets a little boost at the same time.
If you look on their website it tells you which kit you need and where it all goes. Some cars, like my Felicia, the heater goes into a hose, so it's a peice of cake to fit.
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Engine Heaters - Tooslow
