Heater Booster

[teaganravetta]

Hiya all, I have owned my Fortwo City Coupe CDI for about 17months now and have LOVED every second of ownership!! Seriously I love my Smartie!!

One thing which has always bugged me is this "Heater Booster" I don't really get what it is supposed to do? Warm the engine? Warm the Cabin? I can't really seem to see what it does, the revs drop a little when when you switch it on and the car is idling but some members say you should get 3 blobs on the thermostat in 10-15minutes but this doesnt happen for me?

I have searched the forums high and low for ideas and discussions as to what it does but cant seem to find any information!!

Anyone care to enlighten me on its purpose?

Thanksyou :thanx:

[lil.smartie]

Re: Heater Booster

Warm the cabin.

Kate

[teaganravetta]

Re: Heater Booster

Warm the cabin.

Kate

Thanks!! You know what that means? I am going to drive to work tomorrow taking note how long it takes the heater to get warm with the booster on and on the way back seeing how long it takes to get warm with the booster off!!

I herd it uses quite a bit of fuel when it's on? Is there really much need for it?

[lil.smartie]

Re: Heater Booster

Not really driven a cdi that much, mine's a petrol, but it must be like an electric heater. It's there as the engine is so efficient it would take ages to get enough heat to warm the cabin and the engine

Kate

[10:45PM]

Re: Heater Booster

I herd it uses quite a bit of fuel when it's on?

It is quite a heavy electrical load, so it will affect economy to some extent

Is there really much need for it?

depends if you're cold or not

Thanks!! You know what that means? I am going to drive to work tomorrow taking note how long it takes the heater to get warm with the booster on and on the way back seeing how long it takes to get warm with the booster off!!

Supposedly from the manual it's supposed to help warm the engine coolant sooner, as well as warming the cabin (depends whether it's pre or post matrix and I haven't looked/checked in detail.)
It'll only kick in when outside temp is <15C and coolant is <70C, and shuts down when set cabin temp is reached.

I know where it is in the heater block but can't tell from the outside whether its pre or post matrix.
If it's post matrix it'll just warm the air before it enters the cabin having no effect on coolant temp.
If its pre matrix it'll warm the matrix and so heat the coolant helping the engine warm up sooner.
It's here on the 451 >> http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/6671/auxheater.jpg

But this also depends how high you have the fan,: the faster the fan , the longer it'll take for the engine to warm up, cos you're constantly sapping heat away from the warmed water coming from the engine as it warms.

Have the fan on 1 and the engine can get up to temp sooner, have it on full blast right from the start and it'll take longer.

Hiya all, I have owned my Fortwo City Coupe CDI for about 17months now

So have you got the 450 or the 451?

[teaganravetta]

Re: Heater Booster

Ooh what a really handy reply!! I am assuming my smart is post matrix as it doesnt seem to affect engine temp really.... so fan on number one gotcha! and its a Lovery 2000Reg 450 best car I have ever had!!

[otisb]

Re: Heater Booster

"Heater Booster"

smarts have heater boosters??
how do you turn it on??
ive had smarts from 2004 and never known about the heater boost:redface:

[10:45PM]

Re: Heater Booster

smarts have heater boosters??

DIESEL smarts have heater boosters :p

Petrol's do not (cos they're not proper smarts )

How do you turn it on

RTFM!!, or this thread ^^

Turn the fan on at any setting and heat up to max..... but ....

It'll only kick in when outside temp is <15C and coolant is <70C, and shuts down when set cabin temp is reached.

[otisb]

Re: Heater Booster

so dose the 451 cdi have this?

[tolsen]

Re: Heater Booster

Previously posted on Smartmania:

The Cdi has a toaster style electric heater.




The electric heater has 7 resistor elements in total. These are internally wired such that there are 3 double resistors and 1 single. Power output of each double resistor is approximately 140 watts, single 70 watts. Total output is around 500 watts but you won't get 500 watts of heat unless engine is revved high.

Electric heater does not switch on before the controller is finished with the glow plugs. Only no 2 element (140 W) is on while engine is idling provided no other consumers are turned on. More elements are switched on as engine revs higher and more electric power is available. All will be on when making headway above 60 km/ hour with no headlights and fan off.

Experiment carried out with all available consumers (all lights, fan full blast etc) switched on:
Engine RPM - Heater Element On - Output
Idle - None - 0 W
1100 - 1 - 70 W
1300 - 2 - 140 W
2100 - 1 & 2 - 210 W
2300 - 3 & 4 - 280 W

Element 1 is 70 W, elements 2, 3 & 4 are 140 W each.

The electric heater will only be switched on when outside temperature is below + 8 C and engine coolant temperature below + 85 C.

Heat from the electric heater is hardly noticeable.

I have designed a special device that increases heat output from heater matrix and also speeds up heat up time to some extent. There is more info on this device on Smartz forum. Google for "restrictor plug".

[otisb]

Re: Heater Booster

thanks for the info mate but is it still the same on the 451?

[Evilution]

Re: Heater Booster

Yes, the 451 CDi has a heater booster.

[tolsen]

Re: Heater Booster

thanks for the info mate but is it still the same on the 451?

The 451 has a nearly identical toaster style electric heater and appears to suffer from the same poor cooling system design.
Study my thread on ClubSmartCar for further details on 450 and 451 cooling system.

[otisb]

Re: Heater Booster

Yes, the 451 CDi has a heater booster.

thanks mate
i love the cdi and only had it for a month now but the heater dose take the pee i can drive for about 20mins b4 i get heat from it!
and the new face lift dont have a temp gauge on it
my LHD petrol heater is a lot better

[tolsen]

Re: Heater Booster

thanks mate
i love the cdi and only had it for a month now but the heater dose take the pee i can drive for about 20mins b4 i get heat from it!
and the new face lift dont have a temp gauge on it
my LHD petrol heater is a lot better

I am working on another improvement but have been seriously slowed down by the adverse weather. MyCdi gets up to operating temperature a lot quicket than yours as I have a restrictor plug fitted and a fully working thermostat.
I strongly suggest you confirm thermostat is working.