Remember that leave a car idling with no-one inside is illegal, even if on your own drive and the car is locked. It will also invalidate your insurance if the car is stolen.

It will because the heater will start blowing warm air much sooner than it would without being pre-warmed. The snag with block heaters is that they need to be switched on hours before you intend to set off-and you need to remember to unplug them...!

A quick blast with an electric fire is more convenient and more efficient ecause les of the heat is dissipated to the surroundings.

Edit: Starting a car with warmer oil is kinder to it and has a small fuel economy benefit to boot.

Edited by unthrottled on 24/11/2012 at 21:22

Just get a bike. :)

Here are 3 different types available on eBay :-

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Engine-Block-Heater-240-Volt-Pr...1

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Engine-Pre-Heater-240v-Hot-...1

Cheaper one if you don''t mind waiting for it to arrive from the States

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cooling-System-Heater-circulati...1

Seem like a good idea if you regularly have to leave home on dark cold mornings & probably pay for themselves in reduced fuel consumption. Plus a nice warm heater & clear screen from the off.

Edited by dieselnut on 25/11/2012 at 13:46

I live in the High Peak and have a Subaru Outback.

The weather does mean that the windscreens quite often have a generous cover of frost. I have an indoor / outdoor thermometer in the house and - only provided that I remember to look at it - that reminds me to put a fan heater in the car. I use the socket in the hall and run an extension lead to the car. The door seals are very compliant and the door closes nicely over the flex.

Generally the 1kW setting is sufficient, but if the temperature is too low below freezing the 2kW setting is used. Half an hour is usually enough.

If, in the extreme case, the door seals freeze on I firstly use a hair dyer to get in. The electric locking means that is no longer a problem.

Further to my previous postings; if the extension lead that you use is in the form of a reel don’t try to reel it in when the cable has been out in freezing weather. A, it will be very difficult to reel in and B, you may damage it. Remember that PVC becomes brittle at low temperatures and might crack.

Today is the first real day of winter. Yesterday was colder but the sun was shining brightly in the morning. My house fortuitously faces almost South East and the morning sun thaws any frost on the car windscreen. Additionally, I can park the car next to the gable wall and despite the wall being insulated there is still enough heat lost to make a difference. That means that in all but the most onerous conditions the side of the car next to the wall is free of frost.

This morning the temperature was hovering around freezing but with full cloud cover. The car was free of frost. My neighbours on both sides park their cars further down the path and their cars were covered with frost.

I find that at the beginning of winter and the temperature is around 5 deg.C I’ve got to heat the car before we get into it. The windscreen inside quickly mists up if I don’t. Later in the winter when the humidity is lower it doesn’t seem to be a problem.

"If you don't unroll it the current draw of a heater will turn it into a melted smoking mess!"

Yes, that's axiomatic. There are sometimes two current ratings given for the reel, one with the cable IN and one with the cable OUT.

"This is the exact problem I have, maybe because the Berlingo is all glass. I can't find any leaks"

You don't have to have leaks, it's down to the relative humidity of the air in the car and the temperature of the glass. When you breathe it adds moisture to the air and raises the relative humidity. Dependant on the dew point of the air the moisture may condense on the nearest cold surface. At about 5 deg.C the normal rules of the dew point break down and the moisture condenses anyway.

I was once giving a lift to a workmate who has poor circulation and he kept playing with the heater controls to try to keep his feet warm..He set the air controls to recirculation and the humidity in the car built up. When we came over the brow of a hill into the full arctic blast of air the windsceen misted up instantly. I had to stop the car ands open all of the windows. It was a dangerous situation because it was 10 o'clock at night on an A road.