What is the fastest way to heat the inside of a car or room. Set the heater to desired temperature or initially set it higher than wanted?
In: Engineering
assuming the engine or room are both cold to start, just choose 71º. room heat blows at one v high temp so speed is not controllable. it turns on & off to hold 71º. a cold engine must reach a temp able to blow 71º air into the cabin. once the cabin reaches 71º throughout, the air continues but temp stabilizes at 71º.
engine hot/cabin cold: blowing 90º air speeds up how fast the cabin temp reaches 71º but it will continue increasing to 90º unless lowered to 71º.
Modern cars’ climate control systems will optimize how to most quickly get your car to 71 degrees if you set it to that temp. They’ll often blast air at higher fan speed and through the feet vents first, then open the upper body ones and drop the fan speed once the temps are reached.
It will depend on exactly how the thermostat system of the car work. But the common way to heat up stuff is simply to put in as much heat as possible into the cabin and reduce the heat when it is reached likely with an overshoot of some degrees. The car might slowly reduce the heat inflow when it gets a few degrees below to not overshoot.
So the unfrotionlay answer is that the true answer depends on the car. But the difference in time will be minimal as any change will be in the last few degrees
There is another question to consider: Is the goal temperature for the air in the car or does it include another part in the car like you that is cold?.
If you are induced set the temperature as high as possible will result in warmer air so it hit up other stuff faster. The air will get warmer so you get heated up faster. Then when you are warm set the temperature for what you like for the trip.
If it is you that is cold removing clothes or just opening your jacket when the air start to get a bit warm will heat you up faster. Cloths rescue the rate of heat transfer, that is both heats from you going out and heat from the outside going in.
If you use multiple layers removing the outer shell layer that keeps wind and water out will is a good idea as it will stop the air in the car from heating you up by blocking airflow
There is one other function in the ventilation system that can make the car heat up a lot faster. If you use the air recirculation button you will not use cold air from the outside but reuse air from the inside. There is a drawback because moisture trapped in the car will circulate around and can start fogging on the windows. So it is a compromise, you can use it and turn it off if there starts to be any fogging.
Setting the thermostat way too high is an emotional impulse.
Not even Data responded to emotions, and he had a positronic brain. Your thermostat does not.
Just set it to where you want it.
99% of temperature systems don’t slow down as they get close to cut off.
They heat FULL POWER HEAT UP RIGHT NOW! Until the thermostat says “yeah we’re warm enough now”
If you set it higher than you want it, you waste energy overshooting where you need to be. Plus you end up too hot then.
It’s *different* if you’re talking about a car or a room, so let’s split those up.
A car will try to output air at whatever temperature you set. If you set 71F, it will try to output 71F. It’s not “closed loop”, it’s not paying attention to how hot the car itself is, it’s just regulating how hot the air coming out of the vent is. So if you set it to max, it will put out the hottest air it can. This will warm you up faster. So, in a car, set it to max until you’re at at the temperture you want, then dial it back. Note: fancy cars that have “auto” modes or computer-controlled climate may do this on their own, but it won’t hurt.
A house only has “on” or “off”. It doesn’t control the output temperture, it controls how *long* the furnace runs. It will turn on and run until it gets to the set temperature. It doesn’t matter if you set 70F or 100F, it’ll just be “on” for as long as it takes. As a result, it doesn’t heat faster if you set a higher temperture, so you should just set the temperature you want.
Well, in a house, the heater kicks on full blast and then turns off when the thermostat senses that it’s acheived the desired temperature, so setting your thermostat hotter won’t make it get warm quicker.
As for a car, however, I’m not positive, but I believe that your temperature knob usually controls the voltage going to the heating element, therefore THEORETICALLY turning it all the way up can help get hot quicker. Maybe someone else can fact check me on that one.
Edit: Spelling
Setting it higher probably helps a little bit.
Even if it’s designed well and doesn’t needlessly slow down heating as the target temperature is approached, you’ll still be colder initially while all the stuff around you in the car is still cold. Being in a cold car with 71 degree air is going to seem colder than being in a warm car with 71 degree air. There’s also the stuff you’re wearing, which can be cold if you spent a lot of time outside. I find boots warm up slowly.
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