Electric heat in a car?

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Woodys cudas said:
Volkswagen beetles used gasoline heaters not electric.. It used 1 gallon of gasoline per hour to heat but it had instant heat! It worked great.... the stock heater started to work just before frostbite set in. Lol
I had one
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these been around fer years and still today in small private airplanes

stewart warner is earliest popular ones, called south wind.

http://www.proheat.com/trucks/airHeaters/

http://classiccars.about.com/od/maintenancetips/a/Southwind.htm

http://www.bramclassauto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/South-Wind-Gas-Heater-Poster.jpg
 
amp and voltage cant be that big of an issue i had one of these plug in heaters in my road tractor a while back and it would at least keep the window clear on a 20 amp fuse id imagine 2 or 3 X the heat would solve most hotrodder issues anyway
 
A lot of the American Luxury cars used to have electric heaters to supply instant heat during cold weather. As soon as the coolant reached temperature, the heat coils would shut off, and the regular heater core would take over.

A I recall, the late 70's Bonneville had it, so did Caddies, and high end Buicks, and Oldsmobiles. I'm not sure about Chevys. Probably the Caprice.
 
Motomaster electric car heater from Canadian Tire in the 70's. I have mine on a timer comes on at 5:00am and shuts down at 7:00am to warm the interior and help keep the windows clear of ice... tip, don't forget to unplug before ya head out, ha ha
 

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Why bother with electric heat in a car, when you can get a gasoline powered turtle necked sweater????
 
rj72cda said:
amp and voltage cant be that big of an issue i had one of these plug in heaters in my road tractor a while back and it would at least keep the window clear on a 20 amp fuse id imagine 2 or 3 X the heat would solve most hotrodder issues anyway
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20A is only 240 watts. you heat your car with a 300w light bulb? not me
 
kazooom said:
Motomaster electric car heater from Canadian Tire in the 70's. I have mine on a timer comes on at 5:00am and shuts down at 7:00am to warm the interior and help keep the windows clear of ice... tip, don't forget to unplug before ya head out, ha ha
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that thing plugs in, right? to line power? i actually do that. just set a heater on the console and plug it in for 'while

small_milk_house_heater.jpg
 
Yep... you plug her in... any ceramic heater or small portable would do. You don't have to run it all night, just put in on a timer and your car is warm when you wake up! I like mine cause it's old and it still works.... same as me.... ha ha
 
Frankie said:
A lot of the American Luxury cars used to have electric heaters to supply instant heat during cold weather. As soon as the coolant reached temperature, the heat coils would shut off, and the regular heater core would take over.

A I recall, the late 70's Bonneville had it, so did Caddies, and high end Buicks, and Oldsmobiles. I'm not sure about Chevys. Probably the Caprice.
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I worked in service at the local Buick dealer from 77-1990 and have never seen electric heat.
You need a 120 volt heater and I wouldn't want to leave one plugged in and setting on my console. I would be afraid of plastic melting and fire. A dc powered heater can't be too big because the battery can only provide so much power. Amps x volts = watts. A 12 volt supply with a 10 amp draw only provides 120 watts of heat. a common hair dryer uses 1200 watts and you know how much heat they put out. I am afraid a 120 watt heater wouldn't do much good. tmm
 
yeah, what Toolman said. To get any decent heat youre gonna need some serious amps.
-Say even just 800 watts like that in-car heater. 800watts/12vdc = 67 amps. I guess your car battery could power it up, for what? 1 hour? maybe 2 at most. While its doing that it needs serious cabling with serious connectors, which, if they fail could take the rest of the car down in a flaming ball of fire!
-But if youre just gonna use it while driving, youre gonna need a serious alternator.And the serious alternator is gonna need some hp to drive it with more belts, and serious cabling, again,and a serious regulator. You see where this is going, right?
-Now, if they could figure out a safe way to suck heat out of the exhaust, and bring it into the cab, That would be some fast heat.Oh well. I guess hot water will kinda have to do.
 
AJ/FormS said:
yeah, what Toolman said. To get any decent heat youre gonna need some serious amps.
-Say even just 800 watts like that in-car heater. 800watts/12vdc = 67 amps. I guess your car battery could power it up, for what? 1 hour? maybe 2 at most. While its doing that it needs serious cabling with serious connectors, which, if they fail could take the rest of the car down in a flaming ball of fire!
-But if youre just gonna use it while driving, youre gonna need a serious alternator.And the serious alternator is gonna need some hp to drive it with more belts, and serious cabling, again,and a serious regulator. You see where this is going, right?
-Now, if they could figure out a safe way to suck heat out of the exhaust, and bring it into the cab, That would be some fast heat.Oh well. I guess hot water will kinda have to do.
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actually the heat from exhaust is something Volkswagen did , mostly with the micro buses but I think they might have also did it with the later beetles . if you google Volkswagen Heaters you will find diagrams and pics of the system .
 
cannucky said:
actually the heat from exhaust is something Volkswagen did , mostly with the micro buses but I think they might have also did it with the later beetles . if you google Volkswagen Heaters you will find diagrams and pics of the system .
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Way way back, model A Ferd

this is what i remember as a real young kid. the big end captured aire from the fan and blew back into the inside of the car. i'm sure they was a duct hose between

274581-1000-0.jpg
 
In Europe the Ford Transit with the Diesel engine was fitted with a PTC heater as a factory option. We had a few when I worked for the local dealership.
It draws a lot of current. So much so that it was equipped with 2 alternators. One just to supply power for the PTC heater.
 
Doesn't the rear window defroster/defogger fan on the 64-66 Barracudas have a small heater coil on it to supply warm air?
 
AJ/FormS said:
Yeah we know all about Beetle Heat. And their burned up heat modules.what else could they do?
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I don't know what crawled up your backside but someone pondered exhaust gas heating and I posted about a system I found while searching for electric heaters . sorry your backside is so chafed bud !
 
64conv65hard said:
Doesn't the rear window defroster/defogger fan on the 64-66 Barracudas have a small heater coil on it to supply warm air?
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some of the ferd / lincoln stuff had special alternators for the rear defrosters. these tapped into the 3 phase AC of the alternator and ran dedicated wiring to the rear. don't remember what year these were imbedded elements like all the newer cars use
 
DDodger said:
typical portable heater is 1000---1500 watts. your alternator would have to be 'least 100A and working at full steam at all times, not including "the rest of" the car. hope you like buying belts
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Yea I agree electric heaters draw too many "Amps". You would need a power source and wiring to keep up with all that "Juice"
 
Watch the volt meter on a Cummins Dodge truck as the manifold heater cycles on and off. The heater draws far more than the alternator output, so voltage drops. That's with 2 batteries.

The factory generally sizes alternators not so much by total possible load, but reasonable battery recharge time. Charging the battery too fast will shorten its life.

A resistance coil big enough to deliver reasonable heat is going to draw quite a load at 12V. It could certainly be done, but it might not be super cheap or simple (a second battery might be required). If you aren't getting warm air 5 minutes after start, suspect a thermostat that stays partially open or a blocked heater core.
 
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