The Project Pad

Recommend one to me.

I am interested in one for heating the pan and one for the coolant /block. I have very little winter vehicle experience and want to keep the avant in tip top shape this winter! I prefer American made stuff too and don't mind paying a large premium for it if available, but I know better than to get my hopes up.

What temps are you expecting? Are you looking to put a heater on just to reduce cold start wear?

On a gas vehicle it shouldn't be necessary to start the engine unless is -30°c or colder. Then batteries get all wompus and you have extra resistance and all that jazz.

To answer your question, in the TDI I use a Zerostart 750w coolant heater. In retrospect I should have grabbed the 1000w version, but it still makes starting the car a breeze. As long as I unplug the coolant temp sensor that is, because otherwise the glow plugs won't come on and no matter what, it's hard to ignite that -30 air when you have no spark plugs

Benefits of the coolant heater are: warms up the whole engine bay, instant heat (or warm air at least), really helps reduce warmup times.

Pan heaters really only heat the oil, which still helps a lot, but the engine is still "cold" after startup. On the plus side they're 250w for bigger ones so they use much less power.

I have no idea if there are any US made heaters, pan or coolant.

Very popular TDI heaters: http://www.frostheater.com/

I put a block heater from Napa in my AAN (don't ask why, I sure as hell don't NEED it) and it hasn't leaked and works well getting everything warm before startup. Been 6 years now.

I no longer have the PN but it's on QW somewhere if you search.

Thanks guys, I am expecting between - 10 and - 20F this winter for a month or so and just want to reduce wear on things when starting in cold temps.

I figure having at least knew of the two of those will help a ton. I'm worried that having a coolant only one will still create wear becuase the oil will still be cold. I'll probably get both becuase why not lol

I may give those frost heater guys a shout and see if they'd just sell me the heater part. I can fab the rest up.

Well the great thing about the coolant heater is that it heats everything else and the coolant actually flows through the system by convection. Perhaps it doesn't heat the bottom of the oil pan as much as a pan heater but it will heat the whole block. Put Rotella T6 0w-40 in for the winter and you'll be fine.

You should be able to find the Zerostart heater (what froatheater uses) at any auto parts store in 750w, 1kw, and 1.5kw variants. Just take the check valve out so the coolant can circulate.

I'm not sure where the check valve is? I found kats heating products too. They look pretty high quality.

Well it's in the Zerostart units at the top outlet. Google images is your friend

Oh, I thought you meant some check valve in our cooling systems. Ok thanks!

I ran a frost plug block heater purchased through Napa or O'Reilly's back when I drove my car on E85 through winter. I forget what wattage it was, but I want to say 750 or 1k. I would plug it in two hours before I had to drive the car would bring the entire engine to 40-50F when I went to start it, even on -10F days. Like, the oil pan, cylinder head, intake manifold, etc. was all warm.

Sam

loxxrider wrote:Thanks guys, I am expecting between - 10 and - 20F this winter for a month or so

In western PA?

Mcstiff wrote:

loxxrider wrote:Thanks guys, I am expecting between - 10 and - 20F this winter for a month or so

In western PA?

That is what I was thinking too, but hell, I live right next to the largest/southernmost heat sink in North America, we don't often get below zero.

Greetings from Finland.

My experience is from Defa-series

Have 200 20v avant and have block heater p/n 411393
You can buy a loom with a splitter to cabin where you can mount any interior heater you want.
I used defa termini 2100W. Melts snow from the roof -5F.

Most common setup in Finland.

You can also buy webasto or Eberspächer petrol powered heaters, if you dont have long drives then its no good as it will eat the battery. These heaters can be wired to heat interior aswell, they pump the warm water around the engine and you can make it control the blower.

Noisy Cricket wrote:

Mcstiff wrote:

loxxrider wrote:Thanks guys, I am expecting between - 10 and - 20F this winter for a month or so

In western PA?

That is what I was thinking too, but hell, I live right next to the largest/southernmost heat sink in North America, we don't often get below zero.

Yes, believe it or not it gets veery cold here. Last year I saw about - 12 F for a few weeks and one week where it was - 15. The year before that was even worse according to all of the people I work with. Also, some of them say it feels colder working here than when they worked in North Dakota because it's a wetter cold. Either way, it's cold as hell lol!



Thanks stin! How hard is it to remove a freeze plug on these engines? I have a 200 20v avant too.

Crazy, back east we rarely were below 0. The humidity really does make it a biting cold!

Where back east Ed?

I grew up in South Eastern PA between Allentown and Philly. I guess I remember seeing some lower lows up in the NW, Philly TV didn't dwell on that area.

Ok yeah, my family has a farm closer to the center of PA, and it's significantly warmer there. I think the closer to the coast you get, the warmer it is. The western part of PA just gets hammered with snow and cold air streams a lot more I think.

Yeah, it's Canadian cold air versus the Gulf Stream!

stin wrote:Greetings from Finland.

My experience is from Defa-series

Have 200 20v avant and have block heater p/n 411393
You can buy a loom with a splitter to cabin where you can mount any interior heater you want.
I used defa termini 2100W. Melts snow from the roof -5F...

The Defa heater in your first picture looks very close to the one VW used to sell for my 1.8T GLI (Bora) - but they don't offer them any more... any suggestions on the best place to buy the heater and the basic extension-chord connection?

Ive used just about every shape, size and brand of heaters. The frost heaters are the best so far. Its just a kit made up for the TDI using a more generic coolant heater.

With the frost heater plugged in, my TDI will start in the dead of winter like its 90 outisde and the temp gauge will be at the full-warm position. Once the engine has run for a couple seconds, the coolant mixes and the gauge drops some. Its amazing, and totally worth having one on a timer for cold winter use. Its good for the car, and you get heat fast.

The simple freeze plug type block heaters are way cheaper and work well too. They are typically 600-1000 watts, but they dont warm things up like the frostheater. My tractor has a 1000w freeze plug heater, and without it the thing WILL NOT start when its in the zero degree range. It fires up pretty well with the heater plugged in for a couple hours.

My cars have all come with the factory freeze plug type block heater.

As long as the battery is charged, I've never had an issue with starting the cars... even in -40˚ weather.

Thanks for the advice Dana! I may get a battery blanket too...