ZAFJB t1_j29pvy9 wrote on December 30, 2022 at 5:45 PM

Reply to comment by tomalator in eli5 How can these disel+electric heaters used indoors. I don't get it since it is literally burning fuel what happens to the fumes indoors? by madFromV

> The same thing happens to heat a gas car, it's just using waste heat from the engine.

Most cars do not use exhaust heat to heat the cabin. They use a water to air heat exchanger that extracts heat from the water cooling system. So, combustion heats water >> water heats air.

tomalator t1_j29r3m1 wrote on December 30, 2022 at 5:53 PM

Yeah, that's because the engine can't handle that kind of heat. It's still the same principle of removing heat from combusted fuel. If there were no radiators in a car, the heat would stay in the exhaust and engine.

The point is combustion produces heat, and we can remove that heat without touching the fumes. It doesn't become exhaust until.we want to get rid of it