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Do you have engine block heaters in cars in Yukon? In Scandinavia we have electric heaters installed to engine blocks for people who keep their cars outside. Th
by ptaipale 12y ago
Do you have engine block heaters in cars in Yukon? In Scandinavia we have electric heaters installed to engine blocks for people who keep their cars outside. The heaters are typically in the 500 W range and keeping it on for an hour before starting up the car in the morning makes the starting a lot easier.
We also have cabin heaters for cars (typically in the 1000 W range) but they are more for the convenience (but also safety, car windows are clear when you drive off, and vapor from breath doesn't condense and freeze to the insides of the windows).
- jessewmc 12y agoI live in Alberta (south of Yukon) and it's the law here that all new vehicles be sold with a block heater. I imagine it's the same there. We don't see -60 usually, but -40 once or twice a year is normal.
- ptaipale 12y agoCool (sic). We don't have them mandatory in new cars - presumably because it would be a trade barrier within EU to require them only here, and we're too small to force the Mediterranians have them. [edit] BTW there is a legend here that in Siberia people actually keep a fire under engines to warm it up. I even found a photograph of lorries to support this: http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/art/photography/workers/russia/siberia/misc/minus-45C.jpg http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/art/photography/workers... Not sure if I would do it with gasoline engines. With diesel engines it's quite understandable, particularly if you have summer-grade diesel fuel that starts to congeal in -15C.
- nawitus 12y agoI'm pretty sure that's still sometimes done in the military.
- exprE 12y agoIf I had to guess, the reason why block heaters aren't mandatory is because they are rarely necessary, especially with petrol engines. Helpful perhaps, but not necessary. (Yet I do have a petrol-operated heater to help reduce harmful emissions and possibly engine stress -- if only I remembered to use it those rare occasions I store the car in the cold. I've yet to come across a situation where a car wouldn't start because of temperature here.) These areas, in Siberia and northern NA are much colder at times, even when they aren't within the Arctic Circle, so their situation might be considerably different.
- _delirium 12y agoYes, I think it has to do with most of the Scandinavian population being in areas that just don't get cold enough to need a block heater. Many people have one anyway, but a modern car doesn't really need a heater until it gets below about -20 C. And the biggest Scandinavian cities (Stockholm, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Oslo, Aarhus, Bergen, Malmö) rarely get that cold. A typical winter day in those cities is gray, hovering within a few degrees of freezing, and covered in a light mist of rain or sleet. Now if you live in Kiruna or Luleå or so, things are a bit different...
- ptaipale 12y agoYou're right. I was a bit sloppy, I'm from Finland which is not geographically Scandinavia, and it's somewhat colder here than in Scandinavian population centers which are south of 60°N. Though the Golf stream helps us too, it's much warmer here than in Alaska at same latitudes. [edit] It is true that modern cars don't need a block heater to start up successfully, but heating the engine before starting reduces fuel consumption and emissions radically.
- grecy 12y agoEvery car here has 3 heaters actually. Block Heater: Like you mention, in the 500W range and heats the coolant (basically a kettle element) Oil Pan Heater: A stick-on heater that goes on the underside of the oil pan, usually in the 200-500W range. It heats the oil, because past about -35C oil has the consistency of butter, even synthetic will do that past about -40C. If you have a big vehicle, you stick more than one on. Battery Blanket: Like an electric heating blanket for the battery. If the battery freezes, it's done for, so you don't want that. You'll also get a lot more current out of a warm battery, which is critical when you turn the key at -40C and have to spin all that cold oil. Everyone also puts cardboard or whatever in front of their radiator for the winter so when you drive on the highway the vehicle can actually get up to running temperature.
- gambiting 12y agoInteresting. My dad has a "Webasto" system, which is essentially a tiny, diesel(or petrol,if your car uses petrol) powered heater, which heats up the coolant - when you turn it on(it has a remote) it also turns the fans on, warming up the engine and the interior. And it uses the fuel from your tank(it has its own fuel pump), so it doesn't deplete your battery to heat up the interior.
- ptaipale 12y agoYes we have many of those here as well. But they actually do deplete the battery somewhat, because the heater needs to run the fuel and water pumps and interior fans on battery.