451 Cdi electric heater

[ColSmart]

Just wondering if this electric crematic heater is on all the 451's Cdi's or only specific dates.

I believe if you turn the heater slider to fully on (max temp), the car will run on the electric heater to give you instant heat for a while, till the hot water heater matrix takes over, is this so?

I find with the heater slider to fully on (max temp) does nothing at all, till the hot water heater matrix heats up, and the heat starts to build up within the cabin,

I have the 451 Passion Cdi 54BHP with DPF filter, Model date....Jan 2010.

Do I have the electric heater or has it just never worked since the day I bought the car secondhand?

Can you physically spot it from under the dash?

[tolsen]

Not too sure how it works on yours but on a 450 Cdi, electric heater only switches on when outside temperature is below 8 C. It turns off when coolant temperature exceeds about 60 C.

[10:45PM]

the car will run on the electric heater to give you instant heat for a while

Think your expectations are a little high

It's not some 3kW job you know .....
Seem to remember it's ~1 or 1.5 hundred watts?

As Tolsen says , (on a 451) ambient outside needs to be below a certain value (15C) and water temp (below 70C) for the heater booster to work.

Within that criteria , it will work only if the demanded temp. is higher than cabin temp.
It's probably also shed under certain other criteria too

You might want to check the fuse also....

[tolsen]

Yes, there is load shedding. Electric heater is controlled by glow plug controller. 3 PTC heating elements in heater. Heater is only fed excess power generated. Heater loads are shed as required to provide power for essential services. Total heater power is about 600 Watts. Works fine in my 450. Important not to rev engine too low as not much electrical power is generated at low engine speeds.

[ColSmart]

Wonder why they bothered, as it sounds more complex than it should have been.

Anyway thanks for the info, but I think I will rely on the heater matrix for some decent heat.
which does not take that long to come up to heat.

Considering the last family car we had (a Mitsubishi Colt), with a crappy heater. This Fortwo has been a godsend in the Winter months,
with a toasty cabin

[tolsen]

Electric heater works fine as long as you keep the revs up in the region 2500 - 3000 rpm.
Many years ago I did an experiment and wired in indicating diodes to each of the 4 PCT heater elements in the electric heater.

Was kind of interesting to watch one diode after the other lighting up as I increased engine speed. I found heater fan has priority so not smart running fan on full power as electric heater controller will shed heater load. Max consistent electric heater output is with engine revs above 2500 rpm, lights off, radio off, seat heating off and fan on low speed.