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Anonymous
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Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots.
#3482066 - 12/11/04 02:51 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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At my apartment building, I have a spot to plug in my car... and I'm wondering if anyone here knows whether or not the outlet would rack up on my meter, or if its probably just one building owned line that runs the parking lot... I'm not entirely sure about this, but intend on finding out.. and when I do, I'll NEVER have to get into a cold car again. (assuming its not run through to my line.)
I've got a remote starter, but when its minus 30 out, you need to leave the car running for a half hour to get it unthawed.. unreasonable. My idea, is to purchase a cheap space heater.. a little 20$ dealie, and extend my heaterblock powercord to under the front passenger seat.. (to power the space heater.. ) So whenever the car is plugged into the mainlines, the engine is being wrapped in juicy heated metal, and the interior is heated the whole night, into the morning.. so no ice, snow, or anything can build up on it.. So the steering wheel doesnt burn my hands from being so cold... so my windows dont have a mm coating of frost on the inside. A waste of energy? A bit, I suppose... but less than letting the car run for a half hour each morning.
Summary: I'm going to run a space heater inside my car all night, so its nice and thawed every morning. I intend on running it off of my apartment building's power, assuming that the outlet at my spot isn't wired to my meter.
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Anonymous
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: ]
#3482080 - 12/11/04 02:53 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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Also, I just had another idea as I posted.. if it does run off my meter, I could rig it up on a timer.. so that every morning around 6:00 it turns on the space heater.. conserving power. Muah. Muah. Muah.
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SlackerKM
Unusual suspect
Registered: 05/15/04
Posts: 80
Last seen: 17 years, 9 months
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: ]
#3482474 - 12/11/04 04:29 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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Sounds like a a decent idea. You wouldn't use too much power if the space heater was only running for an hour or two.
-------------------- Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a night. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
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Hendostan
Registered: 07/18/04
Posts: 4,444
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: SlackerKM]
#3482489 - 12/11/04 04:35 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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Just make sure you don't set your car on fire... otherwise, it's a great idea. mooch as much free heat as you can, that shit is expensive..where do you live that it gets 30 below at night on a regular basis? that's some frigid air man
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Anonymous
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: Hendostan]
#3482523 - 12/11/04 04:43 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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Eastern canada.. it gets colder than that, too... but not too often. Generally its -20 to -30c.
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Adamist
ℚṲℰϟ✞ЇѺℵ ℛ∃Åʟḯ†У
Registered: 11/23/01
Posts: 10,211
Loc: Bloomington, IN
Last seen: 9 years, 30 days
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: ]
#3482527 - 12/11/04 04:45 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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I lived in a parking lot in Charleston for close to 2 weeks once.
It was fucking sweet! During the day I would walk around and pretend I was going to the college there. It wasn't during winter though...
-------------------- { { { ṧ◎ηḯ¢ αʟ¢ℌ℮мƴ } } }
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Hendostan
Registered: 07/18/04
Posts: 4,444
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: Adamist]
#3482551 - 12/11/04 04:51 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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oh, ok..damn canadians and your celsius temperatures. always confusing me
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40oz
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 30,119
Loc: Sandy Eggo. Ca.
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: ]
#3482575 - 12/11/04 04:59 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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" and extend my heaterblock powercord to under the front passenger seat.." whats a 'heater block power cord'? sounds like a good plan as long as you dont put any thing in your car that will catch it on fire. is there an apt building above your garage? edit: also, there can be combustable fumes emitted fom a car in a closed area i would imagine.
-------------------- - - - - tiny_rabid_birds said: "your avatar is dirty."
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Jim
Registered: 04/07/04
Posts: 20,922
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: 40oz]
#3482579 - 12/11/04 05:00 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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you are going to set your car on fire. I think the outlet is there for those battery warmers that you get for trucks. They are like small heating blankets.
-------------------- Use the Fucking Reply To Feature You Lazy Pieces of Shit! afoaf said: Jim, if you were in my city, I would let you fuck my wife.
Edited by GratefulJim (12/11/04 05:20 PM)
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Vvellum
Stranger
Registered: 05/24/04
Posts: 10,920
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: ]
#3482647 - 12/11/04 05:16 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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bad idea.
real possible outcomes:
fire dead battery
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Anonymous
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: Vvellum]
#3483067 - 12/11/04 06:40 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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40, The building is about 50 feet from my parking space, its outside.. not in a garage. Bio, Dead battery? Fire? The heaterblock is a 120v heating element that is wrapped around the engine.. so the engine stays warm through the cold nights... Theres a standard 120v plug that you plug the car into, doing this makes it much much easier on the engine when starting. I wouldn't be doing anything to the wiring, I'd just splice the 120v plug in (which runs along the inside of the engine compartment) into another direction, through the firewall.. along my amp power cable, but off the side and through a small hole in the seat in the carpet for it. I'd silicone all connections, and then shrink wrap em.. the only thing that could start a fire would be if I didn't wire things properly.. and I'm 90% sure theres a fuse on the line, anyways... and if not, I could wire a breaker in. I've been wiring stuff up since before I could walk, so I'm not too worried about that part. All space heaters I've ever encountered have a safety shutoff point once they reach a certain temperature, so they don't start fires.. so that would also be little concern... though, if I sprung for a slightly more expensive one.. I could get one with a full blown thermostat. The battery would really have nothing to do with any of the wiring.. they're totally isolated from each other, and so, itd be impossible for the 120v wiring to do anything to the 12v system... :P
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: ]
#3483412 - 12/11/04 07:59 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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I used to use a heater stick for my car. It's basically a long thin heater and goes into the hole your dipstick goes into. It worked very well, it was safe and it didn't cost a lot of money. I'm willing to bet you could find one at your local auto parts store...
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Anonymous
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: Le_Canard]
#3483434 - 12/11/04 08:07 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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my car has a built in heaterblock.. I'm just focusing on warming the inside so the ice on the windows melts.
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: Winter Ice, Space heaters, and Parking lots. [Re: ]
#3483937 - 12/11/04 09:27 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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Oh, I see. Carry on then!
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