I am attempting to install a KATS coolant heater in my 2010 FIT. Some technical help is needed.

Kats 13150 1500 Watt Aluminum Circulating Tank Heater, 2 pounds, 15 x 9, 5 x 8, 5 inches, Frost Plug Heaters Simple installation directly into engi

In cold places (like Canada) during the winter, this heater is plugged into a wall outlet. It circulates and warms the coolant thru the water jacket. The goal is to keep the engine slightly warm for easier start, and the warm coolant gives you instant heat.
For this heater to work, it will need to be tapped into cooling system. I am thinking to pull the coolant from the lower rad hose, and feed it back into the engine somewhere near the top. Does anyone have a diagram of the cooling system to help determine the best point to tap in? May be a suggestion where may be a good place? Has anyone done this before?
I heard that some modern day engines has a valve that shuts off the coolant to the engine when it is cold to help the engine to get up to normal operating temperature faster. Is this true for the FIT? Is there a point of tapping that I can bypass this valve so the coolant can be circulated thru the engine? Thank you for your help.

 

Looks like it was made to be installed in the radiator hoses by the instructions on the site.

Yes all vehicles have a thermostat that keeps coolant in the block and prevents circulation until the engine coolant reaches operating temperatures to promote quicker warm up.

This unit MAY not make the coolant hot enough to circulate due to it's operating temperatures being too low. The stock Fit thermostat has a 190 opening temp and this only goes up to 175.

 

There are several solutions to what you are trying to accomplish:

1. Engine block heater
2 Heater hose inline heater
3. Lower radiator hose heater
4. Heating pad usually mounted to the bottom of the oil pan)
5. Engine oil dipstick heater


I listed them above in preference order.

Yes there is a "valve" (called a thermostat) to prevent warmed coolant from flowing to and from the radiator. This is a good thing as you do not want warmed coolant to flow to the radiator from the engine when plugged in just to be cooled off again. So do not worry about the thermostat (valve).

The first three accomplish circulation by the fact that hot air, or in this case coolant, rises and cold coolant falls. So coolant naturally flows or circulates around the engine on it's own. In the case of item 2 and 3 it helps flow to mount the heaters as low as practical. Although they will work in varying degrees mounted just about anywhere.

Your best choice is item 1 which is an engine block heater. It is installed in the side of the engine block by removing one of the freeze plugs. With this type all of heater the heat is applied directly to the engine and the coolant circulates naturally around and in between the cylinders. This does the best job and uses the least amount of electricity. Most car manufacturers offer one as an option in northern states and some central provinces and the three northern territories.

The second best choice and easiest to install is the one you are looking at. It goes in series with one of the heater hoses. Since coolant flows all of the time through the heater and back to the engine, there is no obstruction to flow and you will get heated coolant back through the engine by installing it. A little heat will be lost by taking this route but it will not be much because the heater fan is not running to get the heat exchanged in to the cabin.

The third one goes in the lower radiator hose and simply heats that coolant which rises up into the engine. Some of the heated coolant also rides up into the radiator and is lost but that can not be helped with this design.

I haven't ever seen any heater on a Honda but I also have never used a Honda up north. I do have a block heater on my Colorado, Blazer, and also on my John Deere Diesel tractor that I use for plowing snow in the winter time. When I worked in YKT and Alaska we always plugged in our long term parked vehicles when the temps went below 0 degrees F (-18C). I did see -53 F one night in Whitehorse. We do plug in parked diesels here during the winter months. They do not like starting much below freezing.

The fourth item is a heating pad. This is a silicone heating pad that is glued on the bottom of the engine. These are usually mounted on the oil pan. These use to be available at Walmart but I haven't bought one there lately. I have one on my airplane engine. It takes about 2 hours to bring the entire engine up to about 80 degrees F. I call my airport phone and dial a code to turn on he heater before I leave for the airport in the winter. Search "oil pan heater" on ebay and you will see silicone pads there from 75 to about 250 watt. I use a 150 watt one on my 360 cubic inch (5.9 liter) airplane engine.

The last item is a heated dipstick. These work, but not well. We primarily use them as a temporary measure on air cooled aircraft engines.

A couple of thoughts. All you say is you are in Canada. That is a big country. It is like me saying USA in my profile. That could be anywhere from Alaska to the US Virgin Islands. Depending on where you are you may not need one of these. Also a Honda Fit is a very small engine. It does not take much to crank it over when cold with it's 5w20 or 0w20 oil.

Also when cold, battery efficiency goes way down. Many people in very cold climates install a battery heater. It is nothing more the than a small heating pad and a thin foam insulating blanket.

Good luck on your quest. Check you local Honda dealer to see if they offer an engine block heater.

 

Have not thought of plugging my Fit in but then never had a block heater installed. I am sure my dealer would have one.

Here in Southern Ontario in 4 years of Fitting have not found need for one.

 

Here's a pdf diagram of the cooling system from the 09 shop manual. There's nothing better showing direction of the coolant flow, but most can be inferred (although the location of the thermostat has me pondering the intricacies of modern Japanese cooling theory).

My ad-blocking software doesn't like your link (and I can't be arsed to turn it off) so I don't know the details for the heater you're thinking about.

Tying in to the radiator hoses doesn't seem like a good solution; you're just going to heat the radiator if the thermostat is closed. Thermostat "valves" aren't a modern day solution, all cars going back to at least the 40s have this. Probably earlier.

Depending on the heater function, tying in to the heater-core hoses should give you good circulation through the block, head, and heater-core. I'd worry about restricting the flow and reducing the effectiveness of the cabin heater.

Honda makes a block heater for the Fit. I'd be looking at that before some aftermarket gizmo (did I just say "gizmo"?).

edit: n9cv said it better than I did (but I did post a link to the Honda block heater!)

edit edit. Here's the (us). Here are http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81OZdYB+EJS.pdf. This also draws the most power you can get from a standard 110V 15Amp service outlet without popping circuit breakers. It recommends going from the engine's drain plug (there is one on the back of the block facing the passenger cabin that Honda uses for their block heater). You would need to run hose from this to the tank heater mounted somewhere vertically (that's not going to be easy), and then tie in to return hoses (probably heater core). Running hoses from the back of the engine near the exaust and catalytic converter is risky. With the effort to mount and connect this you're much better off using the Honda block heater. I think this device is more suited to a semi's diesel than a Honda 4 banger.

The Honda heater's wattage isn't specified, but it's appropriate for the application (same part also goes into Honda's V6s so I think it'd do a good job). For comparison, here are the Honda installation instructions for their heater...

 

coolant flows from waterpump to block, to cylinder head, to top radiator hose, down through the radiator, out the lower hose, and back into the water pump.

OP, my Fit started just fine in -20 degree F weather. it took maybe 2 extra turnovers RUH RUH



BLOCK HEATER is best bet. Honda will warranty it. They might not warranty any damage from a third party coolant prewarmer.


If you decide to use it, just be sure to install it on the LOWER hose.

I cannot view your heater, its asking me to turno off my adblock, which wont happen

 

Thank you very much for the information and advice, you guys are great.
This sounds a lot more work than I originally thought. My car already has an engine block heater. The car starts with no problem, I was looking for a different way to get interior heat faster in the really cold days. Funny cold weather never bothered me much when I was younger. Well, guess I shall go watch some TV instead of working on the car today.

 

Actually after seeing what Steve 244 posted. The Honda optional engine block heater just screws in. This looks like a simple (less that one hour) installation.

On the original posting I also noted that heater was 1500 watts but did not mention it. That is way too much for a small Fit engine but these heaters usually shut off when the engine is up to temperature. My biggest concern would be running a 12 gauge extension out there to support that kind of current.

If you need engine pre-heat, go with the Honda Optional one.

 

If you want to warm up the interior... why not get a remote starter?

 

The purpose of a block heater is first to warm OIL then to warm COOLANT

Obviously it will warm the coolant first because of its install method (installing onto exterior directly touching coolant)

But honda did it mostly to make sure the oil is warm and wont blow the oil filter apart with cold thick oil


A benefit of using the Honda OEM heater is that since its attached directly to the block, the metal immediately surrounding it will warm, and will speed up the entire warming process.

I say this, as most aftermarket kits are only via radiator hose adapters/cuts, and they will take much longer!!

 

Why when I was a kid in Stratford, I had to walk to school in snow higher than me. So cold the snow squealed under your feet and the snot froze in your nose.

Not sure what this has to do with the topic but I thought I'd include it. Dad had an interior plug-in air heater from Canadian Tire that never seemed to make a difference in his 69 Chevy. Then we heated the garage and that worked fine, but the cars rusted through in one season.

Haven't seen snow for a couple years. But I remember...

 

Hahahaha, you are smart and moved. We still living your childhood memory every winter. Yup, has those Canadiantire heaters too. It is not very warm, but works to keep the frost off the windows if you have it on long enough.