Lazy...but clever.

[simon.r]

My car has an app that you can use to pre-heat the car from a remote location. It starts the engine and turns the heater on, but leaves the doors locked. I suspect it’s not legal to use if the car is parked on the road.

I used it once when I first had the car, but haven’t bothered since. It only takes 2 or 3 minutes to defrost and scrape the windows.

 

[NorthernDave]

I suppose that with plug in charged electric cars then cockpit preheating could be a very simple option. I assume either this already happens or it has been patented. If not I have just chucked away a load of royalties by stating the idea publically.

There are quite a few you can do that with an app now - not all of them plug-in EVs. The latest Prius has an option for the heater in the winter or the a/c in the summer to ensure the ideal temperature when you get in to drive away, with a solar panel in the roof to keep the batteries topped up.

[QUOTE 5095565, member: 9609"]I remember burning trays of diesel under the wagon back in 84? to unwax the fuel - seems a bit extreme in our H&S world[/QUOTE]

I remember trucks grinding to a halt on the M62 during the winters of the 70s and 80s as the diesel waxed up in the cold - and the drivers setting fires beneath the fuel tanks in an attempt to get running again, not always successfully and sometimes setting the whole truck on fire...

 

[BoldonLad]

I suppose that with plug in charged electric cars then cockpit preheating could be a very simple option. I assume either this already happens or it has been patented. If not I have just chucked away a load of royalties by stating the idea publically.

My son has a Hybrid Mitsubishi, it is possible to switch on heated seats, de-icers etc from app on his iPhone, (no doubt an Android version is available too). So, he can warm car up, as he has his breakfast.

It is a hard life these days

 

[Salad Dodger]

Was thinking about fitting one of these to my VW van, but to be honest I don't think it would get used enough to justify the cost.

I have thought about the electric heater idea though, since the van needs to be plugged in now and then to charge the leisure battery.

When we had our campervan converted for us, I was all set to include an Eberspacher diesel fired heater. The van builder said he would happily instal one, but that if we were camping on "proper" campsites, as opposed to wild camps or minimum facility sites, then using a low powered room heater would be much cheaper. We bought a skirting board heater from Argos for about twenty quid, and it has given us nine years of great service. Of course, it only heats up slowly, but once it gets in its stride it generates enough heat to make the van toasty warm. It draws a small current, so is fine on low amp electric hookups, and is not thermostatically controlled, so it doesn't cut in and out and then trip the electricity bollard...

 

[screenman]

There are quite a few you can do that with an app now - not all of them plug-in EVs. The latest Prius has an option for the heater in the winter or the a/c in the summer to ensure the ideal temperature when you get in to drive away, with a solar panel in the roof to keep the batteries topped up.



I remember trucks grinding to a halt on the M62 during the winters of the 70s and 80s as the diesel waxed up in the cold - and the drivers setting fires beneath the fuel tanks in an attempt to get running again, not always successfully and sometimes setting the whole truck on fire...

If only they had put a couple of pints of petrol in with the diesel.

 

[cosmicbike]

When we had our campervan converted for us, I was all set to include an Eberspacher diesel fired heater. The van builder said he would happily instal one, but that if we were camping on "proper" campsites, as opposed to wild camps or minimum facility sites, then using a low powered room heater would be much cheaper. We bought a skirting board heater from Argos for about twenty quid, and it has given us nine years of great service. Of course, it only heats up slowly, but once it gets in its stride it generates enough heat to make the van toasty warm. It draws a small current, so is fine on low amp electric hookups, and is not thermostatically controlled, so it doesn't cut in and out and then trip the electricity bollard...

We use a 1kW fan heater to take the chill off, once you get the van warm it stays that way with 4 bodies and 2 dogs in.