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How to tell if my cold morning fast heater is working?

A

Alan33

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Location
Scotland
Car
Accord Sport cdti
Hi,

Does anyone have any input on the "heat up quick on cold days" heater system thingy (←technical term) on the cdti? The owners' manual seems a bit vague.

I've had the first cold day (2 degrees) and didn't notice any difference. It's not that the car takes forever to get warm (about 5 miles or so) but I thought I'd notice it working. It didn't seem to matter whether air con was on/off, heating at HI, or left at auto. Perhaps more "test days" would confirm differently tho. I know some Mercs had a diesel fed system - you could tell it was working by the exhaust fumes from the aux heater and the sound like a small jet engine. Any input on whether it's some sort of fancy reverse-action air con thing which you can't tell if it's working, or if it's a thing you can blatantly confirm it's doing it's job?

Any input welcome.

:)
 
Alan you will hear it like your air conditioning noise if your stationary
 
Cant remember 100% what the temp has to be below for it kick in, make sure your climate is set to Auto. Only time I really knew mine was working was for some reason it used to smell a bit funny but then I was never sure if it was the heaters sucking fumes in whilst I was busy scraping the ice off the car.

When it works you will notice that the air is warm pretty quick like within a mile or so especially when its like -4 outside. We did have some debates on this last winter have a read here.

http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/topic/1865-diesel-smell-in-cabin/
 
I think the manual says below -2 doesn't it? So if your dash says 0 or higher it isn't likely to come on?
 
Thanks for the replies. I'll monitor it over the forthcoming months and report back.
 
Alan33 said:
Thanks for the replies. I'll monitor it over the forthcoming months and report back.
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Up here in the cold north (Sweden) I'm pretty disappointed with the "hot gas heater" on my i-dtec. I have to admit that -2C is just basically summer weather up here, but the heating in the 2.2 diesel is far from perfect for my climate.
In slow traffic and really cold weather (we're talking -10C till -16C) it can take up to 20 minutes until the temperature meter shows something higher than the 0 and "warm" air starts getting into the cabin. And with warm I don't mean hot air like it was in the petrol Civic I used to own but luke warm air. So I never really noticed this hot gas thing really, but maybe it would have been worse without it. :)
My dealer tells me this is normal for modern diesels. Should really have installed the diesel heater that is standard on Volvo's. :)

The wife drives a HR-V petrol, which is basically a driving sauna. A few minutes outside the house it's burning hot air coming into the cabin. She also has the fuel heater, which makes it swimming wear warm in the car, while everyone is freezing outside. :)

Ah well, I guess our i-DTEC's are very efficient and don't waste any heat. I have no way ot knowing this heating device works, like the original poster basically. I don't hear any noise or smell any smell.
 
Cold morning heater, interesting, I didn't even know it existed. I'll have to have a look at the book, don't even know what Auto does yet...................
 
don't even know what Auto does yet.
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That is kind of the point :D. We use the same principle with our heating systems. The less fiddling the customer does, the less chance they have of screwing it up :lol:
 
Auto just lets it do as it pleases, so it can utilise whatever fan speed and whatever vents it needs to obtain the set temperature. Also noticeable when the sun comes thru the windscreen as all of a sudden the fan speed will go up and the centre vents start blowing air out (usually cold).
 
Dan Robinson said:
That is kind of the point :D. We use the same principle with our heating systems. The less fiddling the customer does, the less chance they have of screwing it up :lol:
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lol, sounds good to me Dan,

I take it you set a temp for your car do you? Say 20c and the car does the rest? If it's -2 it puts on the cold morning fast start, if it is really hot it takes the temp down to 20c..........................can you set different temps on the auto or do they have to be the same. IE: if Hubby is driving he likes it really hot, I have the car really cold.

Do you know, I've not even looked at the owners manual yet and I've had he car for five months or so............ :blush:
 
Yeah that about sums it up, you set the temp and the car does the rest so if its really cold then when engine warms up you will notice blowers coming on then when its warmed up they slow down etc.

You have dual zone climate, so hubby can set his at 25 and you can set yours at 16 and he'll get hot air and you'll get cold air, still with Auto turned on. As soon as you touch the temp buttons for the passenger side the Dual light comes on.
 
Then watch your MPG plummet :lol:
 
davecmr said:
Yeah that about sums it up, you set the temp and the car does the rest so if its really cold then when engine warms up you will notice blowers coming on then when its warmed up they slow down etc.

You have dual zone climate, so hubby can set his at 25 and you can set yours at 16 and he'll get hot air and you'll get cold air, still with Auto turned on. As soon as you touch the temp buttons for the passenger side the Dual light comes on.
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Thanks Dave, sounds as I thought.
 
Dan Robinson said:
Then watch your MPG plummet :lol:
Click to expand...


Umm, only problem. I've not used the aircon for that reason. That and the MPG is going down as it is. No idea why, I drive it like a snail. Well, unless an idiot boy racer sits by the side of me revving his car engine and looking straight in my window at me. The foot went down and he was dust.........................just the once mind. I looked towards him, yawned and hit the excellerator.....................Well, I'm 40 in a couple of weeks got to get the odd thrill in!
 
You've turned it off manually then via the touch screen on the head unit? As soon as you press auto it'll start using the a/c again. I just leave mine on auto then I aint gotta worry about seals drying out etc or the horrid smell and the misting up of windows.

Erm two words Girl Racer :lol:
 
I seem to get slight hesitation when the AC is on, it's been normal in other cars I've had does anyone else get the same?
 
Yeah you can kind of feel it kick in the compressor but its not really that noticeable on mine to be honest.
 
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