Recommend an in car heater?
Discussion
My mum went down this route and wasted £60 on an "in car heater" it blew out luke warm air that did absolutely nothing. It certainly would not make a dent in defrosting a windscreen. 12v just can't throw out enough power to make it worthwhile.
In the end the part for the broken car heater was around £40 which was an easy fix...
In the end the part for the broken car heater was around £40 which was an easy fix...
A 1kWh electric heater in your house is a decent little heat source. The problem in a car is that this will need an 80 amp supply which is way beyond the capability of a cigarette lighter plug and probably the alternator as well. As for the comment about a 2kWh inverter - that would need a roughly a 165 amp supply!
Electric heaters plugged into the lighter socket will only produce a trickle of heat at best.
Electric heaters plugged into the lighter socket will only produce a trickle of heat at best.
Dinoboy said:
Thanks for the advice so far guys, unfortunately he's looking at around £1000 for a new heater for his cab so that's not really on the cards at the moment.
He doesn't have a lot of choice to be honest. Cigarette lighter powered heaters are all but useless, they produce a waft of slightly warm air that struggles to demist of a small patch of windscreen, so expecting it to keep the inside of the car warm in winter is not realistic.This makes sense when you realise that cigarette lighter powered heaters are rated at 200 watts or lower, and a typical car cabin heater will have an output of 4 kilowatts or more.
DrDeAtH said:
I take it that that is main dealer prices.... There isn't a lot to a heating system. A heater matrix, a fan, switch, speed control resistor, maybe a hot water valve. Each part is bound to be under 100quid.. Any decent garage would diagnose it in an hour.
It's not the parts that cost money, it's the labour, alot of cars is dash out to replace heater matrix.OP, to change a car heater is not difficult. Chances are it's either the mechanical regulator valve, valve cable linkage or the heater matrix. If matrix it's either bunged up with crud, which can be easily resolved by flush and reverse flushing until clear, or, the matrix has failed and will be leaking, noticeably. First port of call would be to confirm which component has actually failed, then plan the changeover. It's all quite simple.
The other option would be to professionally splice in another heater. This means a new fused 12v supply and extend the flow and return coolant pipes to a new heater fitted under the dashboard within the cockpit. This is not too hard to do. Your supplier is Clayton Heaters, who are the main UK manufacturer of car and commercial vehicle heaters i.e. Smiths
Contact Clayton here http://www.claytoncc.co.uk/
If this was my car I'd sort out the heater properly and it would not, in any way, cost £1000.
The other option would be to professionally splice in another heater. This means a new fused 12v supply and extend the flow and return coolant pipes to a new heater fitted under the dashboard within the cockpit. This is not too hard to do. Your supplier is Clayton Heaters, who are the main UK manufacturer of car and commercial vehicle heaters i.e. Smiths
Contact Clayton here http://www.claytoncc.co.uk/
If this was my car I'd sort out the heater properly and it would not, in any way, cost £1000.
v8250 said:
OP, to change a car heater is not difficult. Chances are it's either the mechanical regulator valve, valve cable linkage or the heater matrix. If matrix it's either bunged up with crud, which can be easily resolved by flush and reverse flushing until clear, or, the matrix has failed and will be leaking, noticeably. First port of call would be to confirm which component has actually failed, then plan the changeover. It's all quite simple.
The other option would be to professionally splice in another heater. This means a new fused 12v supply and extend the flow and return coolant pipes to a new heater fitted under the dashboard within the cockpit. This is not too hard to do. Your supplier is Clayton Heaters, who are the main UK manufacturer of car and commercial vehicle heaters i.e. Smiths
Contact Clayton here http://www.claytoncc.co.uk/
If this was my car I'd sort out the heater properly and it would not, in any way, cost £1000.
It could involve dash removal on certain cars so labour costs may be high.The other option would be to professionally splice in another heater. This means a new fused 12v supply and extend the flow and return coolant pipes to a new heater fitted under the dashboard within the cockpit. This is not too hard to do. Your supplier is Clayton Heaters, who are the main UK manufacturer of car and commercial vehicle heaters i.e. Smiths
Contact Clayton here http://www.claytoncc.co.uk/
If this was my car I'd sort out the heater properly and it would not, in any way, cost £1000.
v8250 said:
OP, to change a car heater is not difficult. Chances are it's either the mechanical regulator valve, valve cable linkage or the heater matrix. If matrix it's either bunged up with crud, which can be easily resolved by flush and reverse flushing until clear, or, the matrix has failed and will be leaking, noticeably. First port of call would be to confirm which component has actually failed, then plan the changeover. It's all quite simple.
The other option would be to professionally splice in another heater. This means a new fused 12v supply and extend the flow and return coolant pipes to a new heater fitted under the dashboard within the cockpit. This is not too hard to do. Your supplier is Clayton Heaters, who are the main UK manufacturer of car and commercial vehicle heaters i.e. Smiths
Contact Clayton here http://www.claytoncc.co.uk/
If this was my car I'd sort out the heater properly and it would not, in any way, cost £1000.
Spoken by somone who's never changed a jag, merc or saab heater matrix, "some" are easy, most are not, we dont even know what vehical it is.The other option would be to professionally splice in another heater. This means a new fused 12v supply and extend the flow and return coolant pipes to a new heater fitted under the dashboard within the cockpit. This is not too hard to do. Your supplier is Clayton Heaters, who are the main UK manufacturer of car and commercial vehicle heaters i.e. Smiths
Contact Clayton here http://www.claytoncc.co.uk/
If this was my car I'd sort out the heater properly and it would not, in any way, cost £1000.
I unflooded and dried out a merc C class heater moter last month and it took an hour, the matrix is a whole other job, 2 days to do it right and there is most deffinatly nowhere to "splice in" another heat source, i also recon that just getting an indi to do the work would save more money than buying a new heater and paying somone to " professionally splice it in" !
As is ALLWAYS the case without knowing exactly what vehical it is we are just guessing how much it "should" cost.
Quick update, ordered one of these 12v heaters;
http://www.pfjones.co.uk/ptc-ceramic-in-cab-heater...
Had it connected up for about a week now and he says it's more than enough to warm up his little bit of space in the front of the taxi
It'll see him though til he gets new taxi in March.
Thanks for all the comments guys.
http://www.pfjones.co.uk/ptc-ceramic-in-cab-heater...
Had it connected up for about a week now and he says it's more than enough to warm up his little bit of space in the front of the taxi
It'll see him though til he gets new taxi in March.
Thanks for all the comments guys.
ks to the passengers eh? 
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