Improve time it takes the heater to warm up?

[mickburkesnr]

So we've officially hit winter this morning, went outside and was greeted with jack Frost's calling car all over my windscreen. I turned the engine on, threw the heater to Max, A/C on, and I went around scraping the ice off the car. I get inside and the windows inside are still all foggy and misty. It's always been like this since I bought the car from new, but I've driven other cars in those 6 years and I know other cars heat up quicker than my 107/Aygo.

Is there an upgrade or anything I can do/add to the car that would improve the time it takes for the heater to warm up? So it gets hot quicker? 

[Konrad C]

I wonder if it because of the size of the car. Is this the smallest car you have had? 

What I do is make sure the general vents are off so maximum force is sent to the wind screen. Try with/without re-circulation, open the windows slightly. 

[mickburkesnr]

I had a Clio for a month about 4 years ago, but that seemed to warm up fairly quick. The Corolla warms up quite quickly too, but both of these had 1.2 and 1.3 petrol engines.

I have tried with the vents closed to throw everything at the windscreen, with/without circulation. Didn't try opening the windows though, but it generall blasts cold air for a long time then warms up gradually. I'm not so fussed with the demisting, just the speed it takes to get up to temperature.

[Konrad C]

I have  3 ideas:

Change the coolant - when was it last changed. 

Make sure there are no air locks. When I first had my old Avensis, it kept blowing cold when turning. I changed the coolant and bled the air from the system, and the heater was fine after that.

Check and change the thermostat. The thermostat may not be working properly. It may be open, prolonging the engine warm up period.  

Finally check the Citroen C1/Peugeot 107 forums to see if there are similar problems.

[mickburkesnr]

It went in for a service a while ago, the last one of when it went to a dealership. Would assume it was done then, but let's take it as: it's never been changed. I will check the thermostat when I change the coolant, although it's probably a good pre-emptive maintenance measure regardless.

As for the Peugeot forums, never had a great experience with them concerning this car. A lot of the posts get read but no reply. This is why I like this forum so much, I know strictly speaking it's not a badged Toyota. But from dealing with my Corolla which is my first Toyota, the two cars are so similar in the way they're put together, how they feel. I Can't really explain it correctly, but the 107 never felt like a Peugeot it felt more like a Toyota even when I drove it for the first time. Probably because Peugeots aren't amazing - and owning two of them outside of the 107 means I say that from experience!

[Cyker]

I think this is just a natural downside of the engine being so efficient; It takes practically forever to heat up if it's just left idling; It needs to be doing work to make it heat up faster.

 

If your goal is to demist the interior, recirc OFF, AC on and set blower to windscreen is the optimal way. If the AC is working properly the windscreen should clear in a matter of seconds regardless of the temperature of the blower. (If it doesn't, may need a regas or change the cabin/pollen filter)

Another tip is to leave packets of that silica gel stuff that gets packed in with electronics (A porous bag of rice/coffee also works I'm told!) as that absorbs moisture inside the car so it can't condense on the windows.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

There is a school of thought which says that if the fan is turned off and temperature control set to cold, the engine will warm up quicker. Then when operating temperature is reached, the heat will be available quicker, and one can adjust the fan and temperature control back to normal.

The one year we had an issue with our previous i20 where demisting was more difficult than usual. The car was garaged when not being used, though there is no power or heating in the garage.  We used one of these silica demisting bags (bought from Amazon) overnight for a period for about three/four weeks, and this certainly seemed to help. Bag dried out by leaving on a radiator during the day. We didn't have the issue re-occur.

[Justhandguns]

Yes, I agree with all the other posts. The 998cc engine is so small that it takes a long time for it to warm up in winter. My way of quick de-misting is either full on A/C to the coldest setting, or, completely the opposite way round, A/C off, heater all the way up plus gentle occasion rev to 2000-3000rpm (may not be good for your engine though).

[eygo]

maybe get a 12v ceramic heater and have it on the dash in the morning

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TYPE-2-BAY-WINDOW-RHD-1972-1979-POWERFUL-150W-12V-PLUG-IN-CAR-HEATER-FAN-DEFROST-/191965693819?hash=item2cb20c077b:g:ZOkAAOSwl9BWHMuc

[Plob]

+1 for the 12v heater idea...

+1 for leaving the heating off while the engine gets up to temperate, as the heater is drawing heat from the engine, cooling it, prolonging 'warm up'.

+1 for 'cracking' a window for ventilation/demisting.

In my experience, start the car, 'crack' a window, re-circulate on, air to foot well, temp high, no A/C, scrape the ice off 'all' windows and clear lamp clusters too. Then re-circulate off, air to screen!

My reasoning;

A few years back the wife's windscreen, (not an Aygo), cracked right the way across where the hot air hit the frozen glass due to thermal shock because of the very low temperature. Worth warming the car as a whole and the glass slowly at first if possible!

Not sure as I haven't really experimented but does the Aygo's A/C even add heat? Or is it simply an additional cooling/refrigeration system? I don't know, just in my experience, the heater seems to provide higher temperature air by conventional means than by using the A/C... (just an observation, I've not experimented and I may be wrong)

I've always used A/C to cool a hot car with air blowing in the foot well and re-circulate on. As I understand it, generally speaking, re-circulated air is drawn from the foot well to be fed back through the system! Thus your A/C blows cold air, draws it back in and chills it again, etc, brrrrrr!!! The same would seem to be true of heating a cold car!!! Just watch for fogging, as re-circulate allows the humidity to build! (Hot humid atmosphere and a chilled surface)

[FROSTYBALLS]

I've used air con in conjunction with heat to demist ever since 1998, when we were given this tip on taking delivery of a new Primera.

The air con provides dehumidified air and when used with the heater provides warm, dehumidified air.

[Plob]

So if you re-circulate with the A/C then that's the humidity problem solved then!!!

Guess I'll be trying that this winter then... ;-)

[eygo]

my other top tip is dont  have a hot drink just before you get in your car as you will breathe out hot air

this will aid in the misting of the windscreen