Does using your heater, use gas?

[chr328is]

I know using your air conditioner uses/wastes gasoline, but does using your heater use gas too?

Half my friends say using the heater does, half say it doesnt.

Does anyone have a definitive answer? I'm cold in the mornings and too cheap to use my heater, someone tell me if I am freezing for no reason!

[Itsablurr]

lol- no, of course not. The AC does impact gas mileage slightly due to the parasitic drag on the serpentine. The heater runs off of the hot coolant flowing through a radiator core located near the firewall, heating air being forced through by a fan. The only effect that blasting a heater on a car has is that it actually helps the car run a little bit cooler since your drawing heat out of the cooling system. That is the reason why if your car is running hot during the summer, it is recommended to run the heater at full blast to help the cooling effect as much as possible.

[beatniks325]

using the heat does use a small amount of power to run the blowers, but the heat itself is a byproduct heat of the combustion process.

[chr328is]

it is recommended to run the heater at full blast to help the cooling effect as much as possible.

like in the movie "the cannonball run", where john candy's car is overheating and he puts the heater on full blast, and continues driving.


Anyway, So is that a definitive NO- THE HEATER USES NO GAS.

[beatniks325]

the short answer is no it doesn't use gas like the ac uses gas.

the longer answer is it uses gas in the sense that the heat is created by the engine combusting the gas and it is channeled into the heater core by the cooling system.

the energy the engine gives off as heat is wasted energy unless you consider this as one way to use that enegry.

the engine still gives off the heat whether you have the heater on in the car or not.

[Mitch]

a slight increase in drag on the alternator to run the fans
on par with having your stereo on

if you're that pressed for gas you should just get a civic

[promp3]

the REAL short answer is NO

[dinomite]

Since when is it cold in California? In April?

[HOOJ]

like in the movie "the cannonball run", where john candy's car is overheating and he puts the heater on full blast, and continues driving.


Anyway, So is that a definitive NO- THE HEATER USES NO GAS.

Exactly. When in doubt, just ask yourself: WWJCD - What Would John Candy Do?

[cyanprinter]

Half my friends say using the heater does, half say it doesnt.

Rumors! Damn rumors! lol

Like everyone else has said, using the heater 1) draws waste heat from the engine, 2) draws a negligable amount of electrical power, and thus 3) is extremely efficent at warming up the car cost effectively. Your alternator is running all the time anyways when the engine is running (the battery is only used for startup power). The only thing I would recommend is waiting to turn on the heater until after the engine has fully warmed up, which in Cali doesn't take long unless it's snowing out.

Do you have seat heaters? I have them, I plan them being a feature in every BMW I own. They're nice for when you only want your back heated, and want to keep the air in the car cool so you don't lose your concentration whilst driving (due to droziness/fatigue).