Hello all. I am building a roadster and would like to tuck a small electrical heater under the dash. First, it would extent the driving time here in the Midwest and second (and more importantly), it would make my wife happy! I really don't want to do the traditional water heater (and hoses) if I can help it. Anyone use an electric unit? Any ideas? Thanks.
How big (i.e. Amp rating) is your alternator? That is probably a reason that A Google search of "electric automotive heater" does not show many "all electric" heaters. Here is an example of a compact heater (uses coolant from the engine) found at Summit Racing: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-991102-1 Russ
We have no tops for either of are roadsters, so having a heater in the car made no sense, but we did put in the plan for seat heaters. I think they will work ok. On the high side of the switch they picked up 40 degrees in butt and back heat!
Seat heaters, small water heater, or motorcycle gear. You’ll never get enough heat from the electrical system to work. My wife got by with a lap blanket (remember those? Period correct), a parka, and gloves. And that was with a regular heater.
Electric heaters don’t really give off much heat at all in my experience. The 24 volt heaters work a little better. But hot water heaters are far and away the best.
Thanks for all of your experiences and input. You know, every day is a school day. Maybe heated seats are the way to go............of course, with a good ole blanket!!
Make a heat exchanger around the exhaust under the floor [aka VW beetle heater] You could use the outer tubing and ends from a glasspack muffler Then just run a butterfly valve to divert the heat and a blower motor. It wouldn't matter about drawing too much current, and the waste heat is going out the exhaust anyway And it wouldn't matter if the top was down, these things can really cook
It sounds like everyone has already made up their minds about it not working but being I like to add a contrary opinion...I will. I installed an electric heater in my roadster when I built it, the car has ben done for 5-6 years. I used an electric one so I would not have to run water lines on this car, and it gets cold here if you like driving year round. My heater is on an isolated circuit (not through my fuse panel), 4 gauge wires bring power to it form the battery through a circuit breaker. I have a 125 amp alternator. On a cold evening at the beach a year ago it made enough heat to take the chill off, plus I have seat heaters, which keeps the arsenal section toasty. I have a friend who repeated the idea in his 31 coupe and he gets similar results. I did a tech week thread 10 years ago about it, a lot of naysayers on there as well. All I can say is it works, sort of. Maybe not "wife warmth", but good enough for me. The thread was something like, Instant heat, just don't add water (I think).
Here's the Instant Heat thread: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/instant-heat-just-dont-add-water-tech-week.993340/
Thanks Phil, I was on a device that I couldn't figure out how to use to post that link. And true that ! I don't drive my car in the rain unless I get caught out. I also have windows (huge factor). If I was open side curtain and 40 degrees I doubt I would feel the heater at all. I just went out and started the car and turned the heater on full, Obviously it doesn't need to warm up so in seconds there was a comfortable flow of warm air under the dash. Of course my garage is heated so it wasn't too cold to begin with. It is in no way a recommendable alternative to hot water heaters but it is better than nothing, a lot better. Oh, and is not cheap! I spent way to much on this heater idea.
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