Cold Car Starting / Driving

[Lloyd Danforth]

Don't or didn't they employ heated wire in windows?  I know they were used in rear windows.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Oh, I misunderstood about it running.  Still, you would have to produce 100 amps @ 12 volts to get the equivalent of a hand held hair dryer.

I think that's a frighteningly-powerful hairdryer...  My heat gun runs at about 1200 watts, and that would melt your head...

Joe

I don't use hairdryers as my hair drys walking across a room.  But, I see 1200 watts on the boxes they come in. Your heatgun's 1200 watts are concentrated  as is s the air flow.

[KBCraig]

Don't or didn't they employ heated wire in windows?  I know they were used in rear windows.

They're common in rear windows, and increasingly common in side mirrors. But they're not available in the windshield or side windows.

I recall reading a few years ago that someone was working on a system that could be used on the front glass. I don't think anything came of it.

[Tom Sawyer]

Don't or didn't they employ heated wire in windows?  I know they were used in rear windows.

They're common in rear windows, and increasingly common in side mirrors. But they're not available in the windshield or side windows.

I recall reading a few years ago that someone was working on a system that could be used on the front glass. I don't think anything came of it.

The Subaru Outback's with the cold weather package has heater wires in the windshield under the wipers... works very well.


Got to this thread late...
The engine and all mechanical devices need to warm up before putting a load on them. The dimensions of the metal, rubber etc change with temp. The lubrication is not working well until the oil warms and thins some.

You see people jump in their cars and before the starter has even stop spinning down they throw it in gear and let her rip... poor car.

[MaineShark]

I don't use hairdryers as my hair drys walking across a room.  But, I see 1200 watts on the boxes they come in. Your heatgun's 1200 watts are concentrated  as is s the air flow.

Still, that's kind of excessive.  I wonder if some are using peak-peak volts, rather than RMS volts to rate their products.  Especially when comparing AC to DC, the AC needs to be rated in RMS, not peak-peak.

And we should be using 13.8 for our automotive voltage, just to be accurate

The lubrication is not working well until the oil warms and thins some.

Uh, use the correct weight oil for the conditions?

Joe

[Tom Sawyer]

Hey you live in Maine you know that when you start talking below zero materials start behaving differently than at there operating temperature. Tolerances change, everything groans like hey I don't want to move.

The space shuttles O rings failed to seal at just below freezing. I bet they wished they could have let it warm up a little before take off.

[eques]

Not to run away with the topic, but I don't think the freezing of the O rings on the space shuttle had anything to do with allowing the system to warm up. 

[Tom Sawyer]

Not to run away with the topic, but I don't think the freezing of the O rings on the space shuttle had anything to do with allowing the system to warm up. 

Can't warm up a solid fuel rocket motor.

But it does illustrate that materials are effected by temperature... They change size, flexibility etc.

[eques]

Weren't the O rings used on the liquid fuel tanks (which, at STP, is in a gaseous state, implies that it is very cold in a liquid state)?

But yes, your point stands, the properties of materials change quite a bit with regards to temperature (which is actually an indicator of heat, which is something I don't remember much about from my college physics classes ).

[mvpel]

They added heaters to the SRB joints, as I recall.  Rube Goldberg would have been proud.

I decided to go ahead and get an engine block heater for our Acura TL, since we tend to use it for rather short trips during the week.  It replaces the lower drain plug for the engine coolant, and has a heating element that you plug into a household outlet which during very cold weather gets the coolant up to about 50 degrees in three hours or so.  This, of course, results in a much quicker warm up, and better engine efficiency - they say up to 20% mileage improvement for short trips.

They're much more common further north, but for our driving patterns and typical New Hampshire winters, I figured it was worth doing.

[Crocuta]

A device is also manufactured that replaces your engine oil dipstick.  Plug it in at night and it keeps your oil nice and viscous.  I understand they were outlawed in Canada because they were causing car fires.  We still have the freedom to torch our cars in the US of A, though.

[KBCraig]

The Subaru Outback's with the cold weather package has heater wires in the windshield under the wipers... works very well.

Makes sense. That's where the icy stuff accumulates, and it's down below the line of sight (can't have heater wires in the "swept area" of the windshield).

That Outback might not be a gleaming red Barchetta, but I'm sure it's an (above the-)mean, mean ride.

[Tom Sawyer]

Yeah the Subarus are a great snow car.
Our first one we put over 300,000 miles on it. And their all wheel drive climbs our steep driveway like a cat.

[Kat Kanning]

Plug it in at night and it keeps your oil nice and viscous. 

Why would you want your oil viscous?

[Lloyd Danforth]

I always go for the meanest oil I can find.