How to Warm up a Car

There's nothing more miserable than sitting on ice cold seats holding a frozen steering wheel in a frigid car looking through ice when your eyes are barely open. Though I now live in sunny Alabama, I grew up in snowy Massachusetts and Rhode Island and I well remember the days. There are some things you can do to help the situation.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Seat covers
• Steering wheel cover
• Two over sized thick towels or old blankets
• A dryer
• A big thick throw

1. It's a good idea to warm the car up before you drive it so that the defrosters will do their job - and not blow cold (and useless) air in your face. Turn the car and the defrosters on and take care of the blankets on the car. If you live where your car is perfectly safe left alone for a few minutes while running - like in your own driveway - then go back inside for five or ten minutes. This was the way I always went to work in the winter up north. If you can't do that you can buy a key chain remote that will turn on your car (and any heaters) before you get in it without unlocking your door. These start at about $50 and go up a lot.

2. Buy hand warmers. There are all kinds to choose from, some of which you could slip under your gloves or mittens and still drive. There are some made by lighter companies that are slim and refillable that are used with a small bag. There are others that work by stretching them to release heat - but these don't reheat. There are several others that you can easily find online by putting 'hand warmers' into a search engine. There are also foot warmers available as well that fit into socks or shoes.

3. Buy a seat warmer. They start at about $20.00 and go up to around $60.00 from the results I found. Each seat warmer covers the bottom and back of one seat and they usually tie on. All the ones I saw were black and they looked fine--and comfortable--for seat covers. Some also had a massager in them and they weren't very expensive either.

4. Next there are actual car heaters that plug into your lighter that start at around $20 and go up to nearly $200. Some are small fans that blow hot in the winter and cool in the summer, some mount under the dash, some have hoses and some vents. Just type in car heaters. They can b heating up before you even turn the car on.

5. Cover your windows to prevent snow and ice from building up. It also keeps the car a tad warmer. Old big towels or blankets work well. It's much nice to peel those off than to stand there scraping - just the sound made me feel colder.

6. Don't dismiss the impact of thick warm seat covers. The fake fur kind are not cool - but they'll keep you much warmer. You can pad them if you have leather seat with towels underneath to make them work better.

7. Cover the steering wheel with the warmest cover you can find. Nothing is colder than that hard plastic so anything will be an improvement. Actually leather is probably the warmest but stay away from vinyl or thin fabrics.

8. When your car is parked, throw a huge towel or blanket over the front and back windshield. It will keep the snow and ice off of them which means you won't have to scrape them and freeze more. Although they won't make the car warm, they will also help the car to stay a bit warmer overnight.

9. Stay warm - if you follow every one of these guidelines you may stay warm enough to end up with heat prostration in January! So don't overdo!

[Jmayone]

on 1/4/2009 This article is not about "how to warm up your car," but how to warm yourself while your car is warming up. Buying handwarmers, for example does not warm your car up. I believe the topic requires a more technical answer; I suggest renaming this to "how to keep warm." People navigating to this page are looking for facts regarding warm-up methods ie driving or idling.