First test of the electric oil heater
Posted 02-03-2009 at 12:51 PM by Coley
I am driving mine back and forth to work and am wondering how the upcoming cold mornings will cut the performance.
This morning it was a little chilly and the windows were fogged up inside and out.
I installed an electric oil heater, in the rear seat area and had it on a timer to come on and warm the car about an hour before I leave for work.
Problems arose, when said timer failed to preheat the car!!
I wiped the windows down and started the heater while I did my horse chores.
The heater did a fine job and continued to give off some heat for the 10 minute drive. Cost of the heater was $ 2.00, at a household sale.
Tomorrow will tell...
11/13/07
I have been using the heater now, for some time and it is great.
I also have found out just how bad of an effect, one low battery can have on the performance of the car.
I tried to go to town on a 35 F degree morning and didn't look as though I was going to make it.
I checked the batteries and found out that one 3 years old battery had a bad cell. Not only was it not helping much, it also was restricting the rest of the pack.
A new replacement, after 4 chargings, has shown quite an inprovement.
I left to go to town this morning and it had dropped to 25 F. I had expected only 40 F. I ran in 2nd gear for the first 1/2 mile and then used 3rd as usual. As I neared town, I could use 4th and got over 40 mph.
When I got to the shop I still had 74.2 volts showing. It looks as though I will be running it longer toward cold weather that I had planned.
With gas hitting $ 3.35 around here, the more miles I can put on it, the better.
This morning it was a little chilly and the windows were fogged up inside and out.
I installed an electric oil heater, in the rear seat area and had it on a timer to come on and warm the car about an hour before I leave for work.
Problems arose, when said timer failed to preheat the car!!
I wiped the windows down and started the heater while I did my horse chores.
The heater did a fine job and continued to give off some heat for the 10 minute drive. Cost of the heater was $ 2.00, at a household sale.
Tomorrow will tell...
11/13/07
I have been using the heater now, for some time and it is great.
I also have found out just how bad of an effect, one low battery can have on the performance of the car.
I tried to go to town on a 35 F degree morning and didn't look as though I was going to make it.
I checked the batteries and found out that one 3 years old battery had a bad cell. Not only was it not helping much, it also was restricting the rest of the pack.
A new replacement, after 4 chargings, has shown quite an inprovement.
I left to go to town this morning and it had dropped to 25 F. I had expected only 40 F. I ran in 2nd gear for the first 1/2 mile and then used 3rd as usual. As I neared town, I could use 4th and got over 40 mph.
When I got to the shop I still had 74.2 volts showing. It looks as though I will be running it longer toward cold weather that I had planned.
With gas hitting $ 3.35 around here, the more miles I can put on it, the better.
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Total Comments 15
Comments
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Update on heater.
it works great. I set it on low heat side and it comes on with the timer just fine.
I found another small 12 volt, heater/blower at a sale and it does the defrost duties fine also.
Two oil heaters on full high, run for 24 hrs, cost $ 3.00 per day for office heat. Not too bad.Posted 10-19-2007 at 11:40 AM by Coley 
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Coley - I recommend posting that to the blog. Let me know if you need any login info.Posted 10-19-2007 at 11:44 AM by rbgrn
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Question Number 2 .... Right ... I will be living in Hokkaido, Japan the time I start building my Lexus EV ... Question .. The temp in Hokkaido is between -15℃(5℉) to 1℃(33℉) in winter .... Heat would be good and I have heard there are two type .. Electric and Oil .. Which is the better one ... also Running Air-Con in Summer time what are the best options for Air-con??
Posted 12-04-2007 at 07:03 PM by -
Hi,
You might try heating something with thermal mass that you could keep in the car. Might be able to keep the car warm for your morning drive if you do it right.
Best Wishes,
MitchPosted 12-16-2007 at 07:05 PM by MitchJi
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A 110 electric oil heater is about all the thermal mass I need.
It works fine clear to town or home.Posted 12-16-2007 at 11:01 PM by Coley
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What is the length of your commute?
Posted 03-01-2008 at 05:00 PM by TJL
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5 to 10 miles depending on what I am doing.Quote:Originally Posted by TJL
What is the length of your commute?
It works great and if the sun is out, the small car gets so warm @ 0 F, that I need to open a window....Posted 03-01-2008 at 10:09 PM by Coley
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I didn't notice any problem during cold weather other than the battery punks out. And there's no drop in performance. Longer commute may actually affect the car's performance during cold weather.
________________________
Autopartswarehouse.com Car Solutions.Posted 07-19-2008 at 02:31 AM by jamzky
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Mainly a bump here but it's getting cold in the south now. How did the oil heater work out. We're installing the ceramic element in my truck now but an oil heater on a timer seems like a good idea for me to try as well.
If it works well I may install an electrical outlet in the truck to pull power off the 240V line of the charging circuit so I won't be diddling around with another cord...
Posted 10-31-2008 at 10:28 PM by ElectriCar
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The oil heater is about to go back in. It worked so well last year, that I'll just keep on using it.
I also bought a Coleman camping catalytic heater that has no flame, but won't be using it in the EV. Fumes and still buying fuel for it. Also takes longer to start and could be in town before the heater took off.
Electric oil heater, on a timer, is the answer for me.Posted 10-31-2008 at 10:35 PM by Coley
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Just be careful you don't get fumes of carbon monoxide from the oil heater in your driving compartment...Posted 11-01-2008 at 05:43 PM by tj4fa
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My guess is that it's an electric element heating oil in a sealed radiator, no combustion, no fumes.Posted 11-01-2008 at 07:01 PM by JRP3
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Well not sure yet what's happened with my electric heater core but it has died. Not sure if it's a connection problem or heater burned out due to 160V on a 120V element. I don't think it's burned out, more likely a connector came loose.
However I did buy an oil heater before it went bad as it wasn't heating like I wanted, even though it was a 1500Watt heater putting out 2000W at 150V or so. Now it's dead so I've been hauling this thing around.
It does great to get me 8 miles to work. The one time I've used it, it was 35 or so out and I turned it on for about 15 minutes. It never got completely warmed up but I had to crack the window for a bit as it was probably 100 in the truck, not kidding!
Only thing was the air around my feet got cold by the time I had a mile or so to go, even with it very warm from the knees up. Probably need a 12V fan to stir the air and I'd be great!Posted 01-02-2009 at 09:28 PM by ElectriCar
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Can you set your dash blower to recirculate cabin air and set it to the floor position? That may be enough to keep your feet warm.
Posted 01-03-2009 at 07:09 AM by JRP3
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Y'all aren't going to believe what I found. The temp control must be in the warm position for it to generate any heat. I can't believe it. Yes, I had it in the cold position. And no I'm not an idiot but I'm not an auto mechanic either!
My F250 has a valve, as I understand it, that when you want heat this valve opens and sends hot water to the heater core. Being this truck has no heater core it doesn't matter where the cold-hot slider is I surmised.
After removing the cover and discovering the connections were good, I decided to turn the heater on and check the voltage. Of course when the fan came on I began to feel a little heat from the element but hardly any air.
Just behind the element is a flap that allows air to bypass it. Noticing this flap had a cable going to it I immediately knew what was happening. I slid the temp control to hot and voila, the flap closes and hot air begins pouring out of the element. Just brilliant.
But there's a real revelation I discovered. Ceramic heaters I've read and subsequently verified by testing, are self regulating. What I found is with the air flow bypassed, hardly any air came through the element. The element got warm but as it heated up the resistance went up enough to limit the current to 1.5 amps at 145V, preventing overheating as it only allowed it to produce about 200 watts of heat!
That is incredible as they only recommend the element be allowed to be powered at full fan speed. At full fan it produced about 2000W! This self regulating means you don't have to run the fan full bore and change the temp control to mix in cold air to moderate the temps, and you don't have to cycle it on and off when it gets hot either. Just turn the fan down and it produces less heat!
Tonight it's forecast to drop to 12, temps not seen here in a while. I've got to test the thing in the morning when it's super cold. One thing I noticed this morning was pathetic power from 20 degree batteries. Going up hill I had to basically floor it and only got about 250A out of the pack. It was all I could do to hit 45mph with a full pack with no lights or heat on as I used the oil heater.Posted 01-16-2009 at 07:56 PM by ElectriCar
