Webasto heater ? JUST INSTALLED :-)

[busa]

Yeah I know that. you are talking about a heater that pre warms the coolant.
I’m still struggling to see the benefit of the block heater, I understand the benefits of it in an ice vehicle in cold climates, gets the coolant warm, easier starting, the engine gets up to temperature quicker, using less fuel, the heater matrix can warm the cabin quicker.

But from what I’m reading this is wanting to be fitted because you don’t want to use the ICE for heating the cabin?

But.. there’s the cost of buying the heater, getting it installed, you have to partly drain the cooling system, so there’s the cost of OAT coolant, you should never reuse old coolant, it’s a closed system and you don’t want dirt getting in the cooling system, worst of all air and causing an air lock.

Then the electric to heat the block heater and coolant.

If you are not using the ICE, the warmed coolant will quickly cool when you put the heater on as the incoming air over the heater matrix will cool this as it blows warm air in the cabin and without the ICE the coolant will not heat up.

Plus, the Block heater will not warm all of the coolant, as there will be a thermostat, this will be electrically controlled and it operates around the 90-to-95-degree point give or take.

Yes, the thermostat will be partly open and some coolant will circulate.
The link that was posted was for an externally powered heater,

Something to think about?

be really interested in the results

 

[EVGeezer]

The heat from engine is circulated to

• cabin heat exchanger
• main radiator - the air intake blows directly into it.

If you want to use block heater or use engine less, you need something to not cool the coolant too quickly.

At -2C, the car needed 3.5 miles with cabin temp set to 18C to allow EV mode. After a further 3.5 miles, it decided that coolant wasn't warm enough and started the engine again. I then dropped the temp to 16C and switched to EV mode again.

Suppose going forward I will stick it to 16C and hopefully it will stay in EV mode longer. That and the 250VAC 2kW heater I plan to use to warm up the cabin on cold mornings

You do know that there is a thermostat that will not open, and bypasses water circulation through the radiator? A Webasto heater will cleverly exploit the existing plumbing to keep things simple, dumping heat only into the cabin heat exchanger.

Of course, it depends on the distance you mostly travel - if it is just a few km, quick pre-heating with a block heater is more economical.

Gosh, its cold here today, too, we were dipping into the mid twenties, and having set the AC to 24 deg C, I was not sure whether the ICE would inadvertently kick in, too.........lol

 

[JABO]

The main radiator should'nt be opened for circ. Until 88 degrees , but i'm thinking just a piece of cardboard or similar between grille & radiator should do the trick. I'll know more in a few days ?

 

[djenson]

You do know that there is a thermostat that will not open, and bypasses water circulation through the radiator? A Webasto heater will cleverly exploit the existing plumbing to keep things simple, dumping heat only into the cabin heat exchanger.

Of course, it depends on the distance you mostly travel - if it is just a few km, quick pre-heating with a block heater is more economical.

Gosh, its cold here today, too, we were dipping into the mid twenties, and having set the AC to 24 deg C, I was not sure whether the ICE would inadvertently kick in, too......

What are we talking about here, A block heater that is plugged into mains while the vehicle is charging, or a heater that's using a separate fuel source to constantly maintains the engine block temperature during driving. The latter Would work great, but not sure how it would be done. I know the webasto make those diesel based engine heaters.

While the radiator thermostat won't be open, you will have lots of airflow around the engine block with the current front grill, Cooling both engine and coolant. In my experience, at temperatures <5 degrees Celsius the heat stored in the coolant doesn't last long at all, maybe 5 minutes of driving before it goes out of EV mode into normal mode and starts the ICE.

If i were to make a modification to the car, it would probably be installing a diesel heater. This has the advantage of a low current draw from the battery (it peaks at 10 amps 12v) and a high heat output of 5KW, downside is that you have to find a place to install the actual heater, Where to duct the hot air too, Where to put the fuel tank and where to route the exhaust.

 

[BruceT]

thinking if installing a heater would solve the EV mode issues, or just make them worse.....
it seems as the HS is starting the ICE not only to heat the cabin, but to charge the 12V batt as well, meaning that using heated seat, rear window heater, fan, etc. makes it use ICE, so installing a webasto would just draw even more 12V power :-( does anyone know if the 12V batt is charged when HV batt is ?
it seems that having to use ICE for heating means that pure EV is possible max 1/3 of the year, at least in DK.

Hi, I just saw this and thought you might find it useful.

​

 

[JABO]

Just had a Webasto Thermotop EVO 4kw installed for 2 days now, and it's all i hoped for
it's petrol powered from the EHS own tank and installed so it heats the inlet side of the cabin radiator (heating the cooling water) It's controlled from an app on your phone.
After it's been running for 20mins prior to driving i can drive away in EV mode in zero degrees celsius (been down to -3 which was also fine) with a 20 degrees preheated cabin, and if i keep the heater running when driving it keeps the cabin warm & Engine off
there's no warning lights or any other signs of the car not 'understanding' the preheated engine, it's almost like the car is designed to work like this.
the heater uses the built in 12v battery, which is recharged along the HV batt.
petrol usage is around 0.3L /h
the shop that installed it was quite surprised about the build quality of the EHS, he said it's really easy to work on and construction/assembly is on par with Japanese brands, not the worst to be compared with

 

[Dragonfly]

Just had a Webasto Thermotop EVO 4kw installed for 2 days now, and it's all i hoped for
it's petrol powered from the EHS own tank and installed so it heats the inlet side of the cabin radiator (heating the cooling water) It's controlled from an app on your phone.
After it's been running for 20mins prior to driving i can drive away in EV mode in zero degrees celsius (been down to -3 which was also fine) with a 20 degrees preheated cabin, and if i keep the heater running when driving it keeps the cabin warm & Engine off
there's no warning lights or any other signs of the car not 'understanding' the preheated engine, it's almost like the car is designed to work like this.
the heater uses the built in 12v battery, which is recharged along the HV batt.
petrol usage is around 0.3L /h
the shop that installed it was quite surprised about the build quality of the EHS, he said it's really easy to work on and construction/assembly is on par with Japanese brands, not the worst to be compared with

That sounds good and also neatly avoids having to run an additional cable for pre-heating. I realise your in Denmark, but can you give me an approx cost when fitted?

So if it heats the cooling water, like a block heater does, does it also trigger the fans etc. i.e. when pre-heating the car, or does it just heat the coolant so that when you power on the car, the car has heating available without the engine?

 

[JABO]

It controls fan speed, timing & the vent so it does'nt go to recirc as it otherwise has a bad habit to engage that when ignition is off.
Installation is around 1.9k GBP including app control and first year of subscribtion.
In the app you can see cabin temp, voltage, heater status, etc.

 

[Dragonfly]

Not sure how I feel about the ongoing subscription. Other than that 1.9k of fuel equates to approx 8000miles of driving, and ofcourse you do still use a small amount of petrol, so probably nearer 10k miles cost.

Then weigh that against the convenience ofcourse.

 

[JABO]

To me it's a matter of driving EV and of course convenience. Local pollution is down to maybe 5% this way, opposed to burning petrol by the hundreds of liters for the next 4 years.

 

[Dragonfly]

I agree with that, but I also like to weigh up the costs, At that cost I'd say it was at the top end of what I'd budget, anymore and I think it wouldn't add up. When I get a little more time, I'll have to investigate the UK cost.

 

[busa]

at that cost, plus still burning petrol I'll stick to what I have.

 

[djenson]

at that cost, plus still burning petrol I'll stick to what I have.

I just want to know how much fitting is. Can get a used thermo top C for around £600.

 

[JABO]

Around 60-70% is installation, and under Any other circumstances i would have bought used and installed myself, but that would break MG warranty.

 

[Henri8]

Just had a Webasto Thermotop EVO 4kw installed for 2 days now, and it's all i hoped for
it's petrol powered from the EHS own tank and installed so it heats the inlet side of the cabin radiator (heating the cooling water) It's controlled from an app on your phone.
After it's been running for 20mins prior to driving i can drive away in EV mode in zero degrees celsius (been down to -3 which was also fine) with a 20 degrees preheated cabin, and if i keep the heater running when driving it keeps the cabin warm & Engine off
there's no warning lights or any other signs of the car not 'understanding' the preheated engine, it's almost like the car is designed to work like this.
the heater uses the built in 12v battery, which is recharged along the HV batt.
petrol usage is around 0.3L /h
the shop that installed it was quite surprised about the build quality of the EHS, he said it's really easy to work on and construction/assembly is on par with Japanese brands, not the worst to be compared with

Hi JABO,
This is the solution I was looking for! Thanks to your investigations I am willing to follow up on this. I have the same driving pattern and use EV 90 % of the time in summer.(Golfbuggy?)
I contacted the nearest Webasto installer here in the Netherlands and he informed me that there is no such thing as a MG HS Plug In installation manual produced by Webasto. can you confirm this?
He is willing to have a look at it and make his own plan, but does this affect warranty?
Could you upload a picture of the actual location of the heater unit? It is rather loaded under the bonnet!
Did you ask for permission with your dealer before installation and did they have any restrictions?
Lot of questions I’m afraid… but thanks in advance

 

[JABO]

Hi Henri, according to MG it does'nt affect warranty, as long as it's not yourself Who installed it. He made he's own plan, the heater is installed in a cavity between the front bumper and fender on the right side of the car. The controls is in the kick panel of the footwell in passenger side. I'll take a few pics ?

 

[JABO]

And yes, no manual from Webasto yet. MG had no restriktions, but also cannot install the heater ?

 

[JABO]

Hi Henri, i've tried to take pics, but he managed to install it in a way that i can't even see it ? i can only see the hose connecting into the cabin. Just ask if I can be of Any help

 

[Henri8]

Ok Jabo, that makes sense. The reason I asked for some visual guidance was to advice my Webasto dealer here for a possible best solution.
If you can’t see anything you cannot shoot anything. I have to stick to your original description which is good enough I think.
I will show my MG in January on his request to him in order to make a plan to work with and will keep you informed if this materialises.

 

[gandalf44]

Ok Jabo, that makes sense. The reason I asked for some visual guidance was to advice my Webasto dealer here for a possible best solution.
If you can’t see anything you cannot shoot anything. I have to stick to your original description which is good enough I think.
I will show my MG in January on his request to him in order to make a plan to work with and will keep you informed if this materialises.

Hi Jabo, have you made any progress with this?
As I live in NL too, I would be interested in your experience!