Quote:
Originally posted by dcarrb
I'm sure the author is much brighter than this writer, but nothing in that book will convince me that a few moments of warming a car with the heater operating would use significantly more fuel that idling under the same conditions with the heater off. Enough to graph under controlled, laboratory conditions? No doubt. Enough to make a meaningful difference to one's wallet? No.
Yes, idling a car is indeed very wasteful, that's why you should let it run just long enough for the juices to get flowing, then get rolling. And it won't hurt a thing to have the heater on.
dcb
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You misunderstood. Turning on the heater will not waste gas. Causing the engine to take a while to warm up WILL.
However, you are aware that in a car's cooling system there is a thermostat right? Well this thermostat stays closed until the coolant warms up. Why? Because it tries to warm the engine up faster by recirculating the ever warming coolant. Once it reaches the right temp, it sends the coolant through the radiator.
Putting the heater on is effectively the same thing as opening the thermostat before the engine is warm. It doesn't use GAS, but it takes longer for the engine to warm up.
The longer it takes for the engine to warm up, the worse your mileage is.