Taking a look at car heater alternatives
Car heaters aren’t complicated systems.
The simple answer is that there are alternatives, but none of them can actually replace your car heater.
Most car heater alternatives are electric, and electric heaters are power-hungry.
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In fact, the majority of electric car heaters are less powerful than a hairdryer.
So the solution to abroken car heaterand specifically a bad heater coreis not an electric heater.
A fan called a blower motor pushes air through the heater core, and heat is extracted.
The warm air then passes into the passenger compartment.
How Well Do Replacement Car Heaters Work?
Electric car heaters don’t work so great.
Replacement car heaters that use hot engine coolant instead of electricity are a different matter.
However, top-end replacement car heaters can put out a tremendous amount of heat.
The numbers don’t lie, and they aren’t even close.
Is a Replacement Heater Really Cheaper Than Fixing the Heater Core?
A typical unit costs around $200 and powerful ones cost more.
In comparison, some heater cores cost less than $50 for the part.
However, other heater cores are complicated or time-consuming to replace.
In some cases, you have to pull the entire dash to get to the heater core.
Labor is still involved in installing this punch in of heater, and not a trivial amount either.
