does a car heater increase fuel consumption?

[steppen22]

Same question for radios etc.

Daft, I'm sure it is. But I've only just started using my car - clarificatio would be nice.
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[Cigaro]

Presumably you mean the inbuilt heater.

The heater itself won't - in fact, if anything, running it is more efficient - your engine generates waste heat; all you're doing is using it to warm the interior of the car.

However, the blower fan does take a small amount of electricity.

Running any electrical device will increase the load on your alternator therefore causing more fuel to be burnt.

Cheers.

[0ddball]

Anything that puts extra load on the alternator, hence the engine increases fuel consumption. You probably won't notice that much difference though.

[Syris the Indomitable]

How can you tell when an auto mechanic just had sex?
One of his fingers is clean!
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[Paxovasa]

The radio is ok to use.

Have you been watching top gear? the episode that JC goes from London to Edingburgh and back on one tank full of diesel?
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[craigT19]

[The Artist]

It will make minimal difference.

You would save more fuel by not using the brakes unless you have to.

[G]

Mythbusters did a thing about the aircon which is well known to decrease fuel economy. Turns out that if the alternative is opening the windows, it's only more fuel efficient up to a certain speed to do that - above that the extra drag makes it more fuel efficient to use air con.

I really wouldn't worry about the heater.

[map]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[map]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

If you set the idle at (say) 2000rpm so you're not affecting it with the throttle, the revs will drop when you turn on all the electrics. Same as using a genny, the revs will drop when you turn the load on.
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[pits]

Fuel economy? Heater? Eh? Oh right, yeah, those are the things that were designed into my Defender but don't seem to work right well.

[map]

[G]

Think of it like driving up hill - you need more throttle to keep the same speed (and thus revs). Basically the engine needs more 'bang' to overcome the forces acting against it.

[blurredman]

Well, normally I wouldn't notice something like that in the summer, I have the vents open in the winter to allow the warm air in from the engine however the blower is quite distracting.

I have noticed that my fuel is down more than it would be in the summer according to the trip metre. But this is no doubt connected to the fact that you gotta have alot more choke in the winter and for longer
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[The Artist]

[silky666]

Heater = nothign you will notice.
AirCon = can be significant at low speeds and traffic (where you are likely to use it most)

Tyre pressures and driving efficiently makes a huge difference.

The big petrol blockades in 2000 (?) .... Mrs.Silky gave birth and the hospital was 40 mins up the M40.
So I had one tank of petrol (luckily) to last me a week ish.
I made sure the tyres were at right pressures and drove like Miss.Daisy.
Trying to roll to a stop if possible and no hard acceleration .. and 60mph tops.

That tank lasted me AGES .... at least 3x as many miles (it felt like)
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[Paxovasa]

[Phoenix]

The heaters will only increase fuel efficiency although you will never notice it, the heaters run off an internal radiator behind the dashboard which has engine coolant circulating through it. It simply dissipates heat from the engine like the normal radiator when the valve is opened (the heating is turned up), this will cool down the engine by a minute fraction and increase efficiency. The electricity required by the blowers on max probably negates any efficiency gain from the extra cooling.

The biggest difference is definately driving style, braking makes a big difference but throttle use moreso, if you put your foot down and wait for the revs to climb when you drive you will use a lot more fuel than if you gradually increase throttle as the car speeds up, this is how I get crazy mpg figures out of bikes, i'm never anywhere near full throttle as there's just no need on a 140hp bike and riding like that can give you an extra 10-15mpg over a tank. The same principle works in cars but to a lesser extent as you generally need much more throttle than on a bike to get the thing moving at all.

Using cruise control can help and hinder sometimes, over a long flat distances it'll increase economy but if you've got hills it can reduce it as it will increase throttle in a wasteful way simply to maintain your cruise speed up hills. If you drive manually you can just keep a neutral throttle and let your momentum take you up the hill but dip some speed and regain it on the way down which saves fuel.

[Ariel Badger]

[doggone]

Studies have been done calculating the extra fuel used by Europe's cars if daytime lights were compulsory - can't be arsed to look it up but it's surprisingly large amount, after all if that lighting came from petrol generators then obviously lots of fuel gets used.
You can't get something for nothing.

An example of the extra work the engine does with heavier loading on the alternator can sometimes be noticed if you use jump leads.
The donor vehicle engine note will become more laboured the moment the leads are connected to the weak battery.

But running the fan for the heater is pretty insignificant, 50watts or so?
Maybe more on full blast.

[Cigaro]

With regards to using more electricity = burning more fuel, try this:

Let your car engine idle and then turn on all the electrical loads in the car. Heated screen, blowers, lights, the lot.

What will happen is the engine will momentarily drop in revs before the ECU injects more fuel to compensate. Therefore you are burning more fuel to keep the car idling.

You'll also use more throttle to get the same power when driving.

[P.]