# Eos Block Heater different than standard?



## ashbinder (Nov 27, 2006)

Does the Eos have a different block heater than a standard one? The dealer would like to charge $500 for one, which seems unreasonable to me. His reasoning was that it wasn't like your standard block heater, which justifies it's higher cost. 
Comments?


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Eos Block Heater different than standard? (ashbinder)*

Hi Michael:
Welcome to the Eos forum.
I don't think Volkswagens have used 'block heaters', in the conventional sense of the word, for many, many years now - at least, not since the mid 1990s. This is because the engines do not have frost plugs in them anymore.
What seems to have taken over from the old-fashioned block heater (the electrical element that got stuffed into a hole in the bottom of the engine) is an oil pan heater. This is a small electric heating pad, about the size of a paperback book (but not as thick) that is glued onto the bottom of the crankcase (the oil pan). You plug the car into an outlet in the usual way, and this heater warms the oil up. Then, when you start the car, the oil is nice and warm, and circulates freely right from the get-go. There is also some residual heating benefit for the rest of the engine, just due to heat rising from the oil pan and (somewhat) raising the temperature of the rest of the engine.
I had one of these oil pan heaters installed on a diesel Golf I owned when I lived in North Battleford - a town with a similar climate to yours. Together with an electrical battery blanket, this did the job for me on even the coldest days when the temperature in the morning was -40°. I've posted a picture of the oil pan heater below.
There is another approach you can take, and that is to install an in-line coolant heater. This is a more expensive solution, and requires a bit of engineering skill because you have to determine exactly where the right place to put it is on each different vehicle / engine combination. The advantage of the in-line coolant heater is that you get a faster cabin warm-up after starting the car, because the coolant has been pre-warmed. The disadvantage is the extra cost, the complexity, and the engineering work needed to determine where to place it. On some vehicles, you have to do a heck of a lot of messing around with new hoses, re-routing hoses, etc. if you install an in-line heater.
The oil pan heater is a VW part and can be ordered from any VW dealer. I think I paid about CAD $100 for mine many years ago. It's easy to install, but requires that the car be lifted up to install it. Figure on about a hour's worth of labour expense for the installation.
Michael
*Oil Pan Heater (complete kit, ready to install)*


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## owr084 (Nov 15, 2004)

Try these folks here http://www.frostheater.com/ They make coolant heaters for the TDI community and have a few products for gassers.


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## just4fun (Oct 29, 2006)

*Re: Eos Block Heater different than standard? (PanEuropean)*


_Quote, originally posted by *PanEuropean* »_
There is another approach you can take, and that is to install an in-line coolant heater. 

When I ordered my EOS I too questioned the price of the heater. The salesperson told me the heater was a circulating type. 
The salesperson was very good, but not 100% knowledgeable about all aspects of the EOS, which I suppose is understandable on such a new vehicle. 
I wouldn't swear to the accuracy of this info, but the heater is identified on the invoice as a recirculating heater $350.00.







Kevin


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## neweosowner (Nov 25, 2006)

*Re: Eos Block Heater different than standard? (just4fun)*


_Quote, originally posted by *just4fun* »_When I ordered my EOS I too questioned the price of the heater. The salesperson told me the heater was a circulating type. 
The salesperson was very good, but not 100% knowledgeable about all aspects of the EOS, which I suppose is understandable on such a new vehicle. 
I wouldn't swear to the accuracy of this info, but the heater is identified on the invoice as a recirculating heater $350.00.







Kevin

$295.00 installed. I would encourage you to use these two numbers to negotiate an appropriate price for the block heater with the dealer asking for $500. Or suggesting you could order from "the other dealership in town".
(And yes, it says "block heater" on my bill of sale. What is actually there I don't know - I haven't plugged it in yet.)


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## timmyd (Jul 28, 2003)

*Re: Eos Block Heater different than standard? (PanEuropean)*


_Quote, originally posted by *PanEuropean* »_Hi Michael:
Welcome to the Eos forum.
I don't think Volkswagens have used 'block heaters', in the conventional sense of the word, for many, many years now - at least, not since the mid 1990s. This is because the engines do not have frost plugs in them anymore.
What seems to have taken over from the old-fashioned block heater (the electrical element that got stuffed into a hole in the bottom of the engine) is an oil pan heater. This is a small electric heating pad, about the size of a paperback book (but not as thick) that is glued onto the bottom of the crankcase (the oil pan). You plug the car into an outlet in the usual way, and this heater warms the oil up. Then, when you start the car, the oil is nice and warm, and circulates freely right from the get-go. There is also some residual heating benefit for the rest of the engine, just due to heat rising from the oil pan and (somewhat) raising the temperature of the rest of the engine.
I had one of these oil pan heaters installed on a diesel Golf I owned when I lived in North Battleford - a town with a similar climate to yours. Together with an electrical battery blanket, this did the job for me on even the coldest days when the temperature in the morning was -40°. I've posted a picture of the oil pan heater below.
There is another approach you can take, and that is to install an in-line coolant heater. This is a more expensive solution, and requires a bit of engineering skill because you have to determine exactly where the right place to put it is on each different vehicle / engine combination. The advantage of the in-line coolant heater is that you get a faster cabin warm-up after starting the car, because the coolant has been pre-warmed. The disadvantage is the extra cost, the complexity, and the engineering work needed to determine where to place it. On some vehicles, you have to do a heck of a lot of messing around with new hoses, re-routing hoses, etc. if you install an in-line heater.
The oil pan heater is a VW part and can be ordered from any VW dealer. I think I paid about CAD $100 for mine many years ago. It's easy to install, but requires that the car be lifted up to install it. Figure on about a hour's worth of labour expense for the installation.
Michael
*Oil Pan Heater (complete kit, ready to install)*


I have that exact same 250W pad installed in my TDI...not much help at all. Its better to go with an inline coolant heater (warm engine + warm interior







)


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## owr084 (Nov 15, 2004)

*Re: Eos Block Heater different than standard? (timmyd)*

timmyd - 
If you have a TDI, then definitely checkout http://www.frostheater.com/ They have quite a few kits for TDIs. Also, are you active over at http://www.tdiclub.com?


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Eos Block Heater different than standard? (owr084)*

Hi Richard:
Although it is true that an inline coolant heater, such as what the TDI crowd favours, would provide more heat than an oil pan heater, I am not so sure that the tradeoffs (far greater expense and a very complicated install, with possible complications) are worth the benefits when it comes to a gasoline powered car.
The TDI gang needs the coolant heaters because of the very low volatility of diesel fuel at extremely cold temperatures. With gasoline engines, we don't have to worry about fuel volatility, our only concern is lubrication and battery cranking power.
The biggest concern I have about installing inline coolant heaters is the amount of engineering work that has to be done to determine where to put it and what custom hoses have to be created. This is not a concern for the TDI community - they only have two different engine types to worry about, and the installation has been well tested and well proven over the past 10 years. The Eos is new, and I don't think I would want to be the 'guinea pig' that does the functional testing for the first inline coolant heater installation.
Michael


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