Thinking of blocking the grill in cold weather

[Goodtohave]

I am going to insulate all the heater hoses on my 2012 and was thinking of making a removable cover for the grill opening.

It is -19 C today, any extra efficency on the heater would help. It blows approx 145 degrees F when I preheat, drops to 110-120 in moderate cold, last night at highway speeds it dropped to 80 degrees F at -18 C. (I apologize for mixing metric and non metric but the little thermometer I bought on Ebay to stick in the vents is Farenheit ).

I imagine the grill opening is only for the AC condensor anyways, not an issue in the super cold weather....

My range is bad but the battery still charges to over 93% on my Dash Display and the fact that it runs flawlessly in ths kind of cold amazes me...I preheat and leave it plugged in. My gas car would be freezing and burning tons of gas on cold short trips anyways.

 

[jclemens]

I was thinking the same thing however the only reason I didn't is that I don't have a way to monitor coolant temperature.
There is a radiator that cools the motor and drivetrain, while I'm sure they will be fine in sun zero temperatures, an actual temperature measurement would be the only way to proove it.
I havn't had time to splice into the harness to add some probes.
Details on the coolant temperature sensor is in the service manual.

I expect blocking the front grill would also improve aerodynamics on the highway.

 

[KillaWhat]

Interesting...
Having the same problem here.

-11C here this AM, and while I know that compared to Yellow Knife, or Barrow, or some iceberg .... that's just spring time, I'm cold!~

Exactly what pipe(s) are you going to insulate?

 

[edatoakrun]

I believe the entire claimed reduction in drag from 2011-12 MY to 2013 LEAFs is from the partial blocking of the air intake.

So, I would think that completely blocking the opening could pick you up a very small bit of range, irrespective of heater use.

 

[Goodtohave]

I am not doing it for aerodynamics....

My homemade way of blocking it will be no great feat of engineering

There was a thread about insulating all the heater hoses . I bought a roll of the foil pipe insulation and will wrap everything incl the resevoir. If you pull the battery you get better access.

Is there a radiator or cooler for the engine? Or is it just airflow?

I am only going to use it at sub zero C temp so I am not worried about overheating anyhing. I will try and figure a way to easily put it on and off.

 

[xado1]

i did it 3 weeks ago with duct tape,an it seem do work.right now we have arround -5 Celsius

 

[Goodtohave]

So I cut a piece of cardboard and blocked the grill a few weeks ago.

Big difference. It preheats to 145 degrees (air temp coming from vents) and holds the temp a lot longer when driving.

The outside temp sensor reflects the lackof heat loss as it reads mich higher then the outside temp now.

-27 C today! Bad cold snap.

If you have not done it yet and live where it is cold, do it!

 

[DaveEV]

Are you doing a 100% grill block, or leaving a small opening so that the A/C fan can still pull air through since it's still probably running if you need defrost or left the A/C button on?

Here's the thread for detailed instructions on how to insulate the heater pipes on the '11-12 for those who didn't find it:
Insulating the heater on MY11

 

[Goodtohave]

Are you doing a 100% grill block, or leaving a small opening so that the A/C fan can still pull air through since it's still probably running if you need defrost or left the A/C button on?

Here's the thread for detailed instructions on how to insulate the heater pipes on the '11-12 for those who didn't find it:
Insulating the heater on MY11

AC Compressors don't work at -27C

But as soon as it "warms up" I will remove it.

I still have yet to insulate the hoses , the material is in the car, just haven't had time.

We almost broke a record, it is -37 C with the wind so I preheated for a while on the 220 and stuck her in my unheated detached garage on 110v charge. At least there is no wind and it is "only" -15 in the garage.

 

[xado1]

Vienna/Europe is unusual warm,right now we have +4 celsius(39 fahrenheit),but we sxpect +10 (+50 F)for sunday to wednesday,normal is -10 celsius (14F) for this time of the year.my leaf makes easy 120km(75 miles)with heating and winter tires.
my mask is still taped,and it works perfect.

 

[GRA]

Whenever I got up into snow country I used to do the cardboard bit (IIRR I covered it with some aluminum foil and dropped it between the grill and radiator, where it sat happily) on my '65 Impala, which had a belt driven fan (i.e. no clutch, so it ran continuously). Otherwise it could take an hour or more to get the heater to blow something approaching hot air. Before I started doing that I remember one morning when it dropped to -37 deg. F overnight where we were staying near Truckee, and I was transporting a bunch of Scouts to do some X-C skiing - It never did warm up in the half hour or so it took us to get to the trailhead, and it took _us_ quite a while to warm up (it was about +10, and windy) after we started. And my dad's '76 Peugeot 504 Diesel came with a grill mask for winter use - although starting that thing in below freezing temps was almost impossible. I never had any problems with either as long as I monitored the coolant temp gauge and removed the cardboard/mask when necessary, but then neither of those cars had much in the way of electronics.

 

[KLS]

it is -37 C with the wind

Wind chill is only on flesh. Your machinery only is affected by the actual temperature.

 

[Berlino]

Wind chill is only on flesh. Your machinery only is affected by the actual temperature.

In this case of cold weather, wind will cause warm machinery's temperature to drop faster.

 

[LeftieBiker]

So I cut a piece of cardboard and blocked the grill a few weeks ago.

Big difference. It preheats to 145 degrees (air temp coming from vents) and holds the temp a lot longer when driving.

The outside temp sensor reflects the lackof heat loss as it reads mich higher then the outside temp now.

-27 C today! Bad cold snap.

If you have not done it yet and live where it is cold, do it!

Can you provide details, and maybe a (smallish )photo? I looked at the car yesterday morning while clearing 9" of snow in 0 F weather, but the nose was filled with snow. Poor planning! ;-(

 

[LeftieBiker]

So it looks like a cardboard or plexiglass cut and shaped block would work well with this grille. How does one make a template of a recessed hole that is apparently smaller on the inside than on the outside...?

 

[Goodtohave]

I finally insulated my heater hoses and coolant resevoir as well as blocking the grill and it is a big difference.

The insulation makes the preheat even hotter and I lose less temp when I drive.

I have a thermometer in the center vent, I get 140-150 F degrees on preheat. Heat cools down less when I drive....

And it was -23 C last night

 

[LeftieBiker]

I tried making a grille block by measuring about four points in the opening, but it came out too big. If someone can make a really good one, I'm sure they could sell them here.

 

[Goodtohave]

I just used cardboard with some toggle bolts.

I thought of cutting something else to fit but I am concerned that anything rigid would scratch the paint as it rubbed , especially with all the road sand and salt. I guess a piece of plastic covered in vinyl could work.

It has to be snug, any gaps would defeat the purpose.

In the winter I am less concerned about how it looks.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I covered my attempt with black plastic, from a garbage bag. Had the dimensions been correct, it would have worked fine. I disagree that any gaps would defeat the purpose. I think that anything over 60% or so blocked will make a difference, although the more blocked, the better.

 

[Berlino]

A Volt owner used pipe insulation. The article is in French, but the pictures tell the story.

http://roulezelectrique.com/optimisation-thermique-de-la-volt-par-temps-froid/