Does turning on your heat when the engine is cold make the heater warm up faster?

[illusion88]

I see this all the time.
People get into a cold car, and turn on the heat even though it is pumping out cold air. Does this really make it heat up faster? I can't think of any reason why it would. Are people just dumb?

 

[PHiuR]

good question...I don't think it does, but i could be wrong.

 

[NutBucket]

No. If anything it'd make it warm up that much slower.

 

[Lithium381]

it's probably not going to slow it down any, and maybe they figure the sooner it goes up a fraction of a degree the better...? i put mine on light vent when i turn my car on just to know when it's hot and i can turn it on higher, no sense in blasting myself with cold air

 

[AsianriceX]

I know some people think that the heater will instantly pump out hot air... needless to say, I yell at them when cold air blowing at me begins to sap out the body heat I exude.

Edit:
Whoops!

 

[illusion88]

Originally posted by: Lithium381
it's probably not going to slow it down any, and maybe they figure the sooner it goes up a fraction of a degree the better...? i put mine on light vent when i turn my car on just to know when it's hot and i can turn it on higher, no sense in blasting myself with cold air

but in the meantime I'm cold!

 

[Leper Messiah]

if anything, turning on the heat would make the engine heat up slower, since your heater is directly powered by the engine heat.

 

[RegaPlanet]

Its just a fan blowing air through a mini radiator thats filled with the same coolant your engine is filled with. Until your engine starts getting warm you wont get any heat... I agree its super annoying when people do this!

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: illusion88
I see this all the time.
People get into a cold car, and turn on the heat even though it is pumping out cold air. Does this really make it heat up faster? I can't think of any reason why it would. Are people just dumb?

When you say "make it heat up faster," is "it" the interior of the car, or the engine?

 

[MrDudeMan]

it definitely takes longer to get hot if you turn the heat on full blast before the engine is hot. i timed it in front of my sister once to prove it to her.

 

[illusion88]

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: illusion88
I see this all the time.
People get into a cold car, and turn on the heat even though it is pumping out cold air. Does this really make it heat up faster? I can't think of any reason why it would. Are people just dumb?

When you say "make it heat up faster," is "it" the interior of the car, or the engine?

oh sorry. "it" is the interior of the car. Turning on the heat would defiently not add heat to the engine. In fact, that's nhow I kept my 1984 Caddy running up hills.

 

[notfred]

The heater core in a car is essentially a second radiator, except the air that blows by it is directed into the cabin instead of out under the back of the car. Running the heater will make the engine cooler, not hotter.

 

[RollWave]

Originally posted by: AsianriceX
I know some people think that the heater will instantly pump out hot air... needless to say, I yell at them when cold air blowing at me begins to sap out the body heat I exhume.

Main Entry: ex·hume
Pronunciation: ig-'züm, igz-'yüm, iks-'(h)yüm
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): ex·humed; ex·hum·ing
Etymology: French or Medieval Latin; French exhumer, from Medieval Latin exhumare, from Latin ex out of + humus earth -- mor

Main Entry: ex·ude
Pronunciation: ig-'züd
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): ex·ud·ed; ex·ud·ing
Etymology: Latin exsudare, from ex- + sudare to sweat -- more at SWEAT
intransitive senses
1 : to ooze out
2 : to undergo diffusion
transitive senses
1 : to cause to ooze or spread out in all directions
2 : to display conspicuously or abundantly <exudes charm>e at EX-, HUMBLE
1 : DISINTER
2 : to bring back from neglect or obscurity
- ex·hu·ma·tion /"eks-(h)yü-'mA-sh&n, "eg-zü-, "egz-yü-/ noun
- ex·hum·er /ig-'zü-m&r, igz-'yü-, iks-'(h)yü-/ noun


whoopsies.

 

[RCN]

No. As others have said you would be cooling the water coming from the head and going back to the water pump so it definately won't heat up faster. It isn't going to make it warm up much slower though.

That is the reason your car has a thermostat in the cooling system. The thermostat blocks the flow to the radiator until the car warms up.

 

[Vic]

It has no effect.

 

[CyraKrin]

its to defrost the windshield, atleast thats why I do it.

 

[bmacd]

I start the car, turn the heat on, and leave it for five minutes. When i come back, it's nice and hot

-=bmacd=-

 

[PatboyX]

Originally posted by: rnp614

Originally posted by: AsianriceX
I know some people think that the heater will instantly pump out hot air... needless to say, I yell at them when cold air blowing at me begins to sap out the body heat I exhume.

Main Entry: ex·hume
Pronunciation: ig-'züm, igz-'yüm, iks-'(h)yüm
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): ex·humed; ex·hum·ing
Etymology: French or Medieval Latin; French exhumer, from Medieval Latin exhumare, from Latin ex out of + humus earth -- mor

Main Entry: ex·ude
Pronunciation: ig-'züd
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): ex·ud·ed; ex·ud·ing
Etymology: Latin exsudare, from ex- + sudare to sweat -- more at SWEAT
intransitive senses
1 : to ooze out
2 : to undergo diffusion
transitive senses
1 : to cause to ooze or spread out in all directions
2 : to display conspicuously or abundantly <exudes charm>e at EX-, HUMBLE
1 : DISINTER
2 : to bring back from neglect or obscurity
- ex·hu·ma·tion /"eks-(h)yü-'mA-sh&n, "eg-zü-, "egz-yü-/ noun
- ex·hum·er /ig-'zü-m&r, igz-'yü-, iks-'(h)yü-/ noun


whoopsies.

yeah, i was going to bring it up but i thought i would be an ass for doing it. thank you for doing so for me.
(also: i thought maybe he had dug up corpses in order to keep himself warm. as in: I exhumed McCarthy, do you think he looks good on me?)

 

[Specop 007]

No. A car heater works by removing heat from the coolant and putting it into the cabin. If you run the heater before the engine is warm (Read: Coolant is warm) your actually putting an extra load on the heating system thus causing it to take longer to heat up.

That said, most larger engines probably wont notice the extra drain. Thats one advantage to inefficient large block engines. They heat up pretty fast.

 

[slag]

that little extra heat the engine produces just seconds after startup is often enough to make the defrost work. Sure, you might not notice any real heat, but your windshield sure will.

Joe

 

[phantom309]

Not only will running the heater make your engine slower to warm up, it'll help cool your engine down if you overheat and can't get off the road right away.

 

[Kelemvor]

It will make it heat up slower, but not by any noticable difference. The air blowing across the heat element isn't going to have much of an effect when you consider the size of the engine that's making it warmer.

But it sure doesn't make it heat up any faster.

However, it does help your car heat up faster because any amount of heat is more than the temperature in the car to start with. If you wait until the air is really warm before turning on the heat, you just wasted all the time up to that point when you could have at least had warm air instead of freezing cold air. I wait until the needle at least moves (starts at 100) before turning on the heat.

 

[GamerExpress]

Originally posted by: NutBucket
No. If anything it'd make it warm up that much slower.

Yes you are correct sir, all you are doing by turning the heater on while the car is cold is taking any of the heat that is starting to build up and forcing it out.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Absolutely it will slow the heating process. The heater core is just a mini radiator that the blower pushes air across.

In fact, an old trick with a car that's starting to overheat a bit is to put the heat on full blast to help cool it down.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: NutBucket
No. If anything it'd make it warm up that much slower.