170 degree t-stat and heat

[boostedflex]

Hey guys,

Slowly starting my mods, I did an Airaid as the dealer was cool with it, now I am thinking of a 170 t-stat, which I am sure the dealer wont notice or care about.  My question is, how does this affect the in car heat on cold days?  I noticed last winter my Flex took fffooorrreeevvveeer to get warm inside on really cold days.  I do not want to do this mod if it will make that even worse.

Anyone have any thoughts or experience on this?

 

[DJE624]

I am pretty sure your heater will be less efficient.

 

[4DRHTRD]

I can't comment, AZ and all. Winter is 60 BRRRRR

 

[SHOdded]

Off the top of my head, since coolant flow would start earlier, it will not be as warm as with the standard tstat.  Do you drive city or highway?  Where are you located, and how cold are we talking about?  May want to get an aux 12v heater to get you through the interior warmup period.

 

[QwikEVO]

man, I miss Phoenix "winters"

 

[crash712us]

For Michigan winters I have adequate heat with my 170 t-stat.

 

[arttyszka]

Crash, "adequate" is in, "well, that will have to do" or as in "no problem"?

Thanks
Art

 

[Larrylu]

For Michigan winters I have adequate heat with my 170 t-stat.

Crash what's a Michigan winter like?  I'm in upstate NY. Course with global warming winters just don't seem as bad as they used to be!

 

[SHOdded]

Flex does have more volume to heat up than the SHO ...

 

[jomc111]

For Michigan winters I have adequate heat with my 170 t-stat.

Crash what's a Michigan winter like?  I'm in upstate NY. Course with global warming winters just don't seem as bad as they used to be!

Similar to your winter here in mi

 

[ecoboostsho]

I have no problems with mine in Mn and it gets plenty cold up here. Then again I always use the heated seats...

 

[arttyszka]

I have no problems with mine in Mn and it gets plenty cold up here. Then again I always use the heated seats...

I'm in MN too, so that's good news.  I grew up in MI and a MN Winter is a lot different than what I was used to in MI . . .

 

[EcoBrick Bob]

I have run a 170 Deg T-Stat for over 3 years in my Flex.  I return to Iowa at Christmas for at least a week every winter.  I have noticed NO difference in heating up the engine & heater at any time.  I also was running a 160 deg T-stat in my Denali XL for at least 6 years, and I had the same results.  It will not affect the heater time.  In both instances, I saw a 10 -15 degree drop in Coolant temp over stock T-stat.  In the summer, when over 80 deg, it helps to have the fans come on sooner, to match the cooler T-stat, especially if you are at a strip.  Otherwise, it really makes no difference from my experiences in 4 vehicles with 160-170 T-stats.  Go for it.  It is a much better investment than the AirAid...

 

[boostedflex]

Thanks everyone, I am in lower New York, on some winter mornings I would see 5 to 10 degrees outside.  I will probably go with this then, what I had observed was the engine itself took a long time to reach temperature with both the main and rear heat on high in stop and go traffic (mostly stop).  My guess is once it hits 170 I should have enough heat

Now I just need to wait for warranty to expire to get the new 4+ tune, I am DYING to have a low to mid 13 second brick

 

[bpd1151]

Never had issues with heat blowing from the vents with my 170 degree thermo.

This after having driven through two seasons worth of arctic tundra-like weather here in Chi-Town, when temps sometimes would be not only in the single digits, but also at times, below zero.

You'll be just fine. You'll benefit more by having it tuned, as well as having the cooling fans cycle on at a lower temp and/or with more frequency.

 

[scap99]

Actually if you get more than about a 15 degree temp split in heating mode you're just causing stratification.
I sat through an ASHRAE seminar that went over this and I didn't believe it until I tried it in my last truck. At 20 degrees out and driving down the highway, I had my heater and a/c running, but I had the mix temp set more cold than hot and was very very toasty. Discharge air temp was kept around 70 and that was plenty.

Another key is increase your HVAC fan speed in heating mode with the lower discharge temps.