[Closed] Leave your car warming up while you go back in the house?

By the time you've scraped the ice off, the windows will be demisted anyway? Heated rear window sorts that, winding the side windows down then up again sorts those, wiping the windscreen with a sponge sorts that.

I use a more extreme version of DezB's method, where I don't have a driving licence or a car.

And does it show.

Unless your window seals are heated the side windows will still be frosty.
Ice clears quicker than mist.
Iced inside = long wait.

Quickclear is the best thing I ever got for winter starts, even if the drivers side is rubbish and patchy it still beats the hell out of sitting waiting for the inside to defrost on the old Civic. If I had a driveway I'd have a sump heater.

"The company announced Wednesday at CES 2017 its newer vehicles will work alongside Amazon's popular Echo smart speaker and its voice assistant Alexa.

The move will allow select Ford owners to make voice requests via the Echo such as "Alexa, ask MyFord Mobile to start my car," provided they're within earshot of the smart home device.

Other capabilities include the ability to turn off the car, lock or unlock the doors and check a vehicle's battery power level. The technology could also be useful for those who want to loan a car to a friend without handing over a key. A car owner could ask its Echo to unlock and start the car, even if its miles away. "

http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/04/technology/ford-amazon-alexa-echo/index.html

Seems secure

Don't worry, knowing the Ford voice controls they would still be arguing about it; the windows will be down, AC on and Radio 3 blasting out full volume by the time you get outside.

They get around it in Scandinavia by having plug in oil heaters that warm the sump up.

Many do, but many don't. Mostly a hangover from the days when cars were hard to start in really cold conditions. Modern car tech means it's often not worth the trouble.

Keeping the car in the garage is a lot more popular though.

ret·ro·fit (r?t?r?-f?t?)
tr.v. ret·ro·fit·ted or ret·ro·fit, ret·ro·fit·ting, ret·ro·fits
1. To outfit (a device, vehicle, building, or system) with newly developed or previously unavailable parts or equipment: retrofit cars with new safety features.
2. To install or fit (a device or system, for example) for use in or on an existing structure, especially an older dwelling.

Yep i retrofitted the heated screen.

sbob - Member

So private land - no offence.

It's not as simple as that.
I don't have time to dig out the legislation but there is a "for the purposes of" clause that will allow prosecutions for certain offences on private land in certain circumstances. It's about being accessible to the public, not actually being public.

Otherwise you could get pissed up and doughnut your old 3-series around Tesco's car park with impunity.

As you state in your follow up its about public access, but in that you're missing the other meaning of the word. Private, as in belonging to or for the use of one particular person or group of people only.

So on your own drive, do what you want. Idle away, dont run a CAT, pollute a plenty, you dont even need to pay VED (almost like you are not on the road so not obliged to pay taxes to use it... which are not a road tax apparently). This, funnily enough, is how race tracks* work too, no free public access = do what you want in terms of making pollution with your car/motorbike (within the limits of other laws, safety, noise etc.)

*tracks in the loosest sense also included, motocross muddy tracks, fields, old airfields, laps of you herbaceous borders on a mini-bike, any enclosed private land without public access.

I'm sure that one of my cars said in the manual that you should *not* do this and should drive off straight away. Can't remember which car...

BMW's do unless it's been designed from Factory for remote warm up phase, in which case it will either use WEBASCO (or other) system, or use the electric heater and pumps.

Main issue is that oil pumps generally only work under load (i.e. you drive by the bugger), so you can end up starving the engine of oil thus knackering it.

Most new cars defrost pretty damn quick now anyway as there is minimal moisture able to get in, and when it does the AC normally clears it quick.

HOWEVER My missus - wont use AC and then wipes the windscreen with a sponge/hand/snot rag it it winds me up cronic..

This is where, as mentioned, 'lecy cars are streets ahead of their Dino powered cousins!

My i3 is already defrosted and warmed to 21degC when i get out to it in the morning, and if i need to leave at a unusual time (my normal commuting times are set in the idrive) i just hit the "precondition now" button on the phone App and wait 5min before going out to it 😆

[img] [/img]

And for the really cold starts, ie, first thing in the morning, the power used to precondition comes from the mains, not the battery! (in fact, it's also heating the battery as well) because car is left plugged in, having charged overnight on cheap rate 'lecy

what if you dont have a smart phone ?

trail_rat - Member
what if you dont have a smart phone ?

then you're the Dino running my car 😉

trail_rat
what if you dont have a smart phone ?

As mentioned, usual Departure times are preset in iDrive (via normal iDrive knobulator in the car) and you can also walk out to car, unlock, and hit the "precon cabin now" button on the Hvac, relock, and pop inside for brekie, coming out 10m later to a defrosted car.

[i]'lecy cars are streets ahead of their Dino powered cousins[/i]

You do know where a lot of the power used to charge electric cars from don't you?

"Indirectly Dino powered"

might be a better description rather than 'lecy?

I know where the power is coming from for my 'le you car.

Straight from my roof if the sun is shining, 4kw worth of solar panels.

If......the sun is shining then it's free power for me.

"A lot"? And as the grid greens, so does my car.........

Take a look at [url= http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/ ]gridwatch[/url] to see how rapidly the UK grid IS greening btw!

Added to which, my i3 is managing over 200mpg equivalent (ie as a total energy used comparison) so even if it IS completely dino powered (which it isn't), it's still at least twice as "Green" as a direct ICE vehicle........

[i]Straight from my roof if the sun is shining, 4kw worth of solar panels.[/i]

but not for those that

[i]having charged overnight on cheap rate 'lecy [/i]

I'm not denying that electric vehicles *can* run on electricity beyond fossil fuels but they're not automatically any more green, the polution and emissions are just sometimes just moved elsewhere. and with systemic losses in the electricity grid etc it's not always a clear cut 'electric is better' overall (although locally clearly there's some benefit).

On that Gridwatch page, if the top, left hand dial goes into the red does something blow up?

If so, I'm boiling a FULL kettle and turning the immersion heater on.

I use a more extreme version of DezB's method, where I don't have a driving licence or a car.

And does it show.

Unless your window seals are heated the side windows will still be frosty.
Ice clears quicker than mist.
Iced inside = long wait.

I've not de-iced or got into a cold car since Sunday. By the time I'd cleared the windows, my wife arrived and we got into the car and she drove it away after about a minute of waiting for the misted windows to clear.

No licence isn't the same as no experience.

You do know where a lot of the power used to charge electric cars from don't you?

"Indirectly Dino powered"

Not always. And it's improving all the time, unlike petrol power.

STATO - Member

As you state in your follow up its about public access, but in that you're missing the other meaning of the word. Private, as in belonging to or for the use of one particular person or group of people only.

Funnily enough, I've just bumped into an old friend of mine who I haven't seen for over a decade who lost his licence due to shenanigans in a private car park, not open to, but physically accessible by the public.

Luckily my Freelander has a heated front screen & seats as well as a pre heater for the coolant system so I unlock it, start it with the screen heater & seat on & aircon on recirc aimed at dash then scrape the windows. By time I've done the outside the inside of the screen is clear, my bum can be toasty warm and the air in the cabin is pretty warm too.
Assume that the screen heater is a benefit from the days when Ford owned LR as it's a 13 year old car.

Volvo and JLR retain access to the patent for heated screens as far as I know.

VAG have a different version but for some strange reason didn't offer on Audi (at least in 2014).

As the first screens appeared in [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quickclear ]1985[/url] and EU patents last 20 years other manufacturers should be able to offer it (GM and BMW through Mini seem to).

Someone bought me a demister sock for Crimbo. A sock filled with kitty litter, leave it on the dashboard wedged against the window.

I haven't had to demist the car at all so far since Christmas. Such a good idea I went and bought a bag of litterrors, filled some socks and handed them out to family members, shoved a couple in my Asgard shedo etc. It's great.

My much loved T2 Combi had crap heat exchangers and couldn't produce enough heat to melt a choc-ice. Luckily I had an Eberspacher petrol heater plumbed in. Think of a flamethrower crossed with a cylinder vacuum cleaner on 'blow'.
In the morning I'd get in, pull out what looked like an old choke lever and then press the big green illuminated button. There would be a whirring sound from the fan, followed by a CRUMP! as the petrol ignited and with the timer running I'd walk inside, grab my stuff and wander back out to a toast fumefilled deathtrap. The ignition was never turned on and no keys needed.

Windscreen covers are a few quid. Just put it on when its cold. Takes 30 seconds.

Fine. Until you take the cover off, and the screen instantly ices over, which has happened to me on a number of occasions.
It also does nothing about an iced up interior, which is a Royal PITA because of the reverse curvature of the screen, plus obstructions like the mirror, and the top of the dash.
Clearing thick ice where a wet screen has frozen is like trying to scrape off Teflon, even with a screen spray, and I've had the screen refreeze after getting the ice off before now, as I've been driving along the road, forcing me to find a safe place to pull over and scrape the ice off all over again.
If it's better to have the screen blower on a low speed when you start, why then does it automatically go onto full blast when I start the car and switch to screen demist?
As far as heated screens are concerned, it does seem odd that they're not offered by more manufacturers, as the patents have lapsed; one week a while back I drove six Corsa SRi's, ex-fleet cars, and every one had a heated screen, but Vauxhall don't offer them on every model, the Mokka can't be ordered with a heated screen, despite lots being sold, and it being an obvious subject for having a heated screen.
I really do miss the heated screen on my Puma, especially when I'm outside at 6am de-icing whichever car I've brought home and have to drive it to whatever destination it's required at.

Do you drive abroad alot or something count zero. Your describing things that rarely happen in the north of Scotland and yet your in the tropics of south of the border.....

I had a loaner VW T6 a few weeks ago which had the heated screen
bloody terrible in the dark with the filaments showing up in the oncoming lights and flaring badly
certainly put me off any heated screens in future vans

Sounds like another be let down.

Never been much of an issue in the landy or any ford I've hired with it.

trout - Member

I had a loaner VW T6 a few weeks ago which had the heated screen
bloody terrible in the dark with the filaments showing up in the oncoming lights and flaring badly
certainly put me off any heated screens in future vans

No issues in my Evoque, doesnt inhibit my view in anyway.

Love it in a morning, takes about 30secs to 1min max to totally melt/demist the screen.

No need for preconditioning the car malarky, sit in it with heated seats which heat up in a matter of seconds as well, oh and the heated steering wheel. 😀

Warming your car up, or cooling it down by smartphone app is yesterdays tech. 7 series BMW's, S class mercs and Audi A8's have had that for a few years. Give it a few years and it will be a standard feature on any car just like electric windows.

About 3 years ago I was in Dubai and a guy I worked with did this. Started his car up from the office via app about 30 mins before we left, so when we got to it it was ticking over in the car park, A/C blasting out cool air so we got into a nice cooled car from 40+ degs instead of a sweat box. I suspect if you did this with an electric car the battery would be dead before you got to it - unless it was plugged in.

I don't mind my heated screen in the dark, but in thick fog it's pretty annoying.

Re cooling the car, the Prius has (or used to have) an option of a solar panel on the roof that powered the fan (although not the A/C) indefinitely to keep the air reasonably cool in the sunshine. £1500 though, iirc!

The one in my old S Type was rubbish at night, the ones in the X Type and Grand C Max are fine. Perhaps the non Ford ones use an older version?

We can't park in our street (double yellow lines) and don't have a driveway, so I deliberately bought a car with a heated windscreen. It's brilliant!

"Warming your car up, or cooling it down by smartphone app is yesterdays tech."

Yep

...walks downstairs...."Alexa start car 1 climate control please"

Otherwise you could get pissed up and doughnut your old 3-series around Tesco's car park with impunity

Oh what a night that was

wwaswas
I'm not denying that electric vehicles *can* run on electricity beyond fossil fuels but they're not automatically any more green

Well, other than the fact they can recapture KE from their mass when you brake (your ICE can't do that), they are much more highly optimised for a lower road load (unlike your draggy ICE), they don't need to be warmed up and they don't use hugely more energy when cold (unlike your ICE), they get more efficient the slower they go (unlike your ICE) so are still efficient when stuck in traffic, but yeah, other than those things, you're right..........

knobulator

😆

just seen a video from a mate - he’s used the tesla integration to get his Model X to report how charged it is and start the aircon up through Alexa. very neat piece of integration. supposedly you can also summon it to drive itself out of the garage to your front door via alexa.

@molgrips: oil definitely heats up after the water, which is what I’d expect - the path the water takes round the head, block and turbo is explicitly designed to take heat away, while the oil's main function is to provide lubrication, to bits that don’t really get that hot (apart from the turbo, but theres an oil/water cooler on the outflow from the blower).

[img] [/img]

Yep the engine oil in my car takes roughly twice as long to reach ideal temperature as the coolant.

Whoever said oil pumps don't work when the engine is not under load is talking out of their hat.
The oil pump is driven by the end of the crank and the oil will actually be at its highest pressure in a cold engine.
The oil pressure in my car is limited to 5 Bar (ish) by a prv and as the engine warms it drops to 3 to 4 Bar at idle.

I seem to have ended up with the best de-ice vehicles known to anyone outside of the artic circle - Transit with Eberspacher and timer, Volvo petrol that heats pretty much immediately and winterized Defender with heated screen!
Almost seems a shame to never use them and cycle to work!

Good to see this "willy waving" mentality is alive and kicking.

"Well my car...& my car does...."

What a load of boring tosh you lot spout.

What a load of boring tosh you lot spout.

Surfing!
Look I'm surfing!
I've been surfing!
You should surf!
etc

🙂

Our fiesta's quickclear is fubared. Gutted. Almost tempted to get a hole punch and smack the screen with it to get another on the insurance. Tsssk.

I'll be honest. I'll start the mondeo, quickclear on, heater on full, heated seats on full and go inside and get uniform on for work.

A. It's worth diddly squat.
B. It's on a private rear drive in a rural area.
C. It's nice to get into.

I have to do it as it's majorly wet inside for some reason. Can't find a source but it smells slightly damp and the glass is wetter than an otter's pocket. Takes an age to dissipate

Blocked drainage channels ?

Fill old bike water bottle with hot tap water.
Start car, whilst holding breath, put blower and rear screen on.
Pour water on, quick scrape, do side windows, put wipers on.
Done and clear in 3 mins max.

My routine on cold mornings is as I'm taking the dog out I run an extension cable from the shed to the car, plug in fan heater, walk dog, have coffee, then car is warmed up and good to go.

FTW.

Press button on remote or preset time in car or on app and built in webasto pre heats car deices, etc

As it heats the coolant as well the car doesn't refreeze