Along the lines of “Husband needs to put a stop to the way he shifts”, my husband leaves the radio, heater on when he turns the car off. That way it heats up when he uses the remote start. I tell him this is bad for the car (he also does that shifting thing a bit) because its all “on” and he should power the equipment down before he shuts the vehicle off. Who is correct?
He is correct. Leaving the accessories on does no harm whatsoever. The ignition switch turns them off when you shut down. It doesn’t matter at all if their individual switches are on or off.
Yep, he’s correct.
He’s right that it’s not hurting anything, but having the electrical accessories on isn’t going to warm the car up noticeably faster. Having the heater running full blast from the second the car starts might actually cause the engine to warm up just a little bit slower-- the best way to do this so the car is toasty warm when you get into it is to have the heater on a low fan speed.
Ok to leave every thing on except the heater.
The car will warm up faster if he drives it.
It doesn’t matter what is left on, nothing is on while starting the engine. But if he is starting it remotely so it will warm up before he gets in, the heater should be on.
Sorry, but leaving the accessories on doesn’t hurt anything.
Leaving the accessories on doesn’t hurt the car.
I do have one cautionary tale about this. My old boss had an extended cab truck that was always full of miscellaneous junk. It had a remote starter and one day he started it up and forgot about it and left it running for about two hours with the heater on full blast. When he finally got in it was hotter’n heck and smelled awful, and continued to do so until he cleaned it out and had the carpets cleaned a week later. There must have been something growing in a spill that was incubated by the high temperature.
Just something to think about!
Here where it’s cold, a remote starter’s big advantage is to have a toasty warm car when you are ready. It may be wasteful and not the best way to warm up a car, but the sacrifice with little harm done to the car is well worth it to most. I would argue for some, it may be a safety issue as well. Go for it.
When I steal a car from someones driveway, I REALLY appreciate it when it’s all warmed up and cozy inside…But I lock the doors, Ha Ha! Have you ever watched a pro with a Slim-Jim? Ha ha! Call 911!! Someone’s taking my car!
I agree that theft may be an issue but, I’m not thinking of the car, I’m thinking of my daughter and grandchildren having the van warm and ready to go and without hesitation on a cold night in parking lot in NE while dealing with toddlers.
He is right about leaving them on, but I would suggest it would be better for the car to not use that remote starter and drive off very shortly after starting the car and warming it up while driving. This is easier on the car, but not enough to get in an argument about. It will use up a little fuel and might take a couple hundred miles off the life of the car over 300,000 miles.
Joe, you are correct, however the OP wants the car to be warm when he puts his wife and toddlers in the car.
Also, it’s often not practical to just hop in the car and drive off immediately because of fogging and icing on the windows.
The way I do it is I usually start the car, get out and scrape all the windows and by the time I’m done it’s usually starting to warm up. But, if you’re lazy, you can just remote start it, leave the defroster on low and it’ll be mostly thawed by the time you get out.
What’s best for the car is not always what is best for the owner. The car exists to serve the owner, not the other way around.
Just make sure that you don’t have the recirculation set before you get out of the car before going to bed. Speaking from personal experience, you’ll get the ice/frost on the inside of the vehicle, not the outside.
That much is true.
It kinda begs the question(for Joe); do you turn off your heat or AC when you leave the house for the day and then turn it back on when you get home, or do you leave it on while you are gone and come home to a warm/cool place?
It kinda begs the question(for Joe); do you turn off your heat or AC when you leave the house for the day and then turn it back on when you get home, or do you leave it on while you are gone and come home to a warm/cool place?
Not speaking for Joe, but I believe it would be wise to keep the heater going most of the time in a car, if it had 3000 sg. feet of floor space. Many do (self included) turn the heat down a little during the day when off to work. So there are similarities.