I have been looking into these for my wife's Shogun Pinin which sits out in the cold all night while the Scooby is is the nice warm garage.
It warms the engine coolant before journeys so when you start up the engine is nice and warm, saves engine wear and petrol (up to 46% fuel on short journeys). Even save during summer months too.
All you need is an outside mains socket and a timer is used to warm the engine 20-30 mins before you set off it can also warm the interior and demist / defrost the windows.

I was even thinking of one for my Scoob even though it is kept in the garage as my journey to work only take about 10-15mins, so I would get to play more!

Simple DIY install too, just gets connected into a water line from engine block to heater connection at bulkhead.

Price if ordered in January is £198 (normal price is plus VAT, effectively VAT free for January) + £9 P&P, if there are enough numbers I was thinking of doing a group buy.

Anyone interested?

Bogie

PS I am in no way connected to the outlet / manufacturer of this item, just passing on what I see as a beneficial solution.

 

These gadgets have been around for a while now, should be quite good, most engine wears takes place in the first mile or two of a journey, efectively the engine would already be warmer than that, and also, should cut down vastly on 'choke time'. ok so I know modern cars don't have chokes, but the ecu does the same thing, this would aid fuel economy!
Never had one though, don't use my car eneough to worry!

 

bttt

 

Surly it's the oil temperature which is the reason we have to warm up & warm down rather than the coolant? Sure it would still get sumin hotter which may assist general warm up i suppose but hey i woz born a sceptic
Si

 

The water will be warm when you start, so the oil will warm up faster. (I think!)

May be worth it, although I don't have an outside plug, so I won't be able to join in

 

There are a number of products available within the aviation world which pre-heat the oil by the use of a very effective set of heat pads the stick to the sump. These pre-heat the oil, which is the important bit. I can dig-out the links if anyone is interested.

 

Cars are built and tested very thoroughly for this type of usage, my mate works for Opel and spends lots of time cold weather testing. The biggest issue is not engine wear(due mainly to modern lubricants) but emissions . Unless you are in a very extreme climate or hoping to run your engine for 500K miles as an experiment its really just helping your mind rather than your car. Its common in Sweden for example to have these connections in outside car parks, however its drops to minus 30C there.....The only benefit I can see is that the heaters will work quicker.

Cheers
Cammy

[Edited by camk - 1/20/2003 10:38:34 AM]