Hot air mod question

bfivelover · 10-13-2008, 06:50 PM

This is probably a stupid question, but I thought I'd ask anyway. I have a ceramic heater. I was wondering if something like that could be put near the air intake during cold weather to heat the air? They really don't get that hot, at least the one I have doesn't, so I don't see how it could do any harm to anything. It would be an easy mod. Wondered if anyone has tried or thought about something like that, and if it would even work?

Insightful Trekker · 10-13-2008, 06:58 PM

Where you gonna get the energy for the heater

(it ain't free like the exhaust's heat)

There were some early experiments with 12v hair dryers. IIRC little or no difference in MPG from the scavenging method.

bfivelover · 10-13-2008, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Insightful Trekker

Where you gonna get the energy for the heater

(it ain't free like the exhaust's heat)

There were some early experiments with 12v hair dryers. IIRC little or no difference in MPG from the scavenging method.

Damned if I know

I am not a mechanical or technical person

The one I have plugs into the cig lighter. I assume someone with some knowledge could figure another way to wire it to the battery or something

I thought about hair dryers too, but they probably wouldn't last long being on for an hour and a half trip each day, over 3 hours round trip.

**IamIan** · 10-13-2008, 07:42 PM

If you have the 1,000+ Watts of electricity to power a space heater... you will get better MPG returns by feeding that same electrical power into the IMA system to directly move / power the car.

bfivelover · 10-13-2008, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamIan

If you have the 1,000+ Watts of electricity to power a space heater... you will get better MPG returns by feeding that same electrical power into the IMA system to directly move / power the car.

I'm not talking about a space heater, just a little ceramic heater. The one I have is maybe slightly larger than a radar detector. I wouldn't think they use much power.

Insightful Trekker · 10-13-2008, 09:16 PM

Nor will such raise ambient temperature much at the flow demands of the engine.

By previous experiments with larger heat sources I'd predict a lower MPG improvement vs. exhaust heat scavenging.