Warming Up Your Car Inside Your Garage This Winter

Winter can get extremely cold, and the thought of stepping outside on those frosty mornings is enough to make you shiver.  Hence, it’s common to find most drivers warming up their cars in the garage before hitting the road. Many people believe this wintertime practice helps improve engine performance before driving. As the winter season approaches, many car owners in Westchester, Brewster, and surrounding areas may be tempted to warm up their cars inside their garages to avoid the chilly weather.

However, it’s reported that warming up your car in winter before driving could end up damaging your engine. And when it’s done in the garage, it exposes you to carbon monoxide poisoning. A professional garage door installation in Westchester can help provide adequate ventilation and insulation to prevent CO buildup and ensure a safe and secure garage. In this article, we’ll help you know if you should warm up your car in the garage this winter and the safest way to do it:

Is it Safe to Warm Up a Car in the Garage?

Warming up your car inside your garage isn’t safe because it exposes you to carbon monoxide poisoning. In fact, according to research by the U.S. Department of Energy, an idling car releases about 30 million tons of carbon monoxide into the air on average each year. You shouldn’t warm up your car in the garage even with the garage door fully open. This is especially hazardous if your garage is attached to your home since the carbon monoxide can easily get into your house, affecting your family.

The worst part is that Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, so you and your family won’t smell it, so you’ll only feel the effects. Exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide can lead to serious illness or even death.  So, if you need to warm up your vehicle in winter, it’s always best to do it outside and ensure the garage door is closed. If you have concerns about the safety of your garage, consider contacting a professional garage door Westchester service for an inspection and recommendations on how to improve the ventilation and insulation of your garage.

How Long Can You Warm Car in the Garage?

In the bitter cold weather during winter, cars with carbureted car engines may need a few minutes of warming up to heat the frozen oil for better circulation and lubrication of the engine to ensure smooth operation. However, as earlier mentioned, Warming Up Car in Garage for too long isn’t safe and could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. So, for how long should you warm your car up inside your garage in winter?

Well, you should let your car engine idle in the garage no more than 30 seconds or the time it takes to fasten the safety belt before driving away. That’s enough time for the lubricating oil to heat up and circulate the various moving parts of the engine without carbon monoxide accumulating to dangerous levels. High-quality oil and condition can help protect your engine during cold weather conditions and significantly reduce warm-up time.

How can I Heat My Car in the Garage?

If you must heat your car in the garage, you should find a way to ensure the gas fumes don’t reach lethal levels in your home. And one of the best and safest ways to do this is to install carbon monoxide detectors on virtually every corner of your house. The detectors will help you monitor the levels of carbon monoxide inside your house from the garage, protecting yourself and your family.

In case you start experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning such as tiredness, dizziness, nausea, and headaches and the detectors haven’t activated, it’s always recommended to contact the local fire department to have your home inspected.

Another safe way to heat your car in the garage without causing a health hazard is to keep it warm overnight using a block heater or an interior car warmer. You can set the block heater to start heating your car’s engine one or two hours before driving out. This will help your car warm up faster and keep the lubricating oil warm for a smooth engine startup in the winter. Apart from that, you can try insulating your garage to prevent cold air from getting inside, so your car can stay warmer when in the garage.

Is it Bad to Warm Up Your Car?

It might be important to warm up your car in the winter if it has a carbureted engine. That’s because carbureted cars require the correct mix of air and fuel delivered to the engine to startup, which is nearly impossible to achieve in cold weather. And without the right ratio, it could cause your car engine to sputter and stall.

Unlike the old carbureted car engines, modern cars use fuel injectors with sensors that automatically detect cold weather to ensure the correct air-fuel mix is delivered to the engine. That eliminates the need to warm up your car in the winter. That also means that warming up your car ends up wasting fuel. Over time, it could also damage different components of your car engine, such as cylinders, spark plugs, head gaskets, and exhaust systems. 

Besides wasting fuel and hurting the engine, warming up your car causes environmental damage. This is mainly because your car’s exhaust system releases harmful emissions that contribute to air pollution. The pollutants from your car’s exhaust system are linked to health issues such as asthma, allergies, cancer, and heart and lung disease.

Conclusion

As you’ve seen, there are many reasons why you shouldn’t warm up your car inside your garage this winter. Not only does warming up car in the Garage damage the engine, but it’s also a waste of fuel and increases air pollution. And when done inside the garage, it exposes you and your family to carbon monoxide poisoning. Instead, driving your car easily without hard acceleration is the best and fastest way to warm up your car in winter. It also ensures minimal wear and tear to your engine and reduces exhaust emissions that pollute the air.

With cold weather quickly approaching, you should start preparing your garage to ensure your car stays warm throughout the night so you don’t have to warm it up in the morning. At OnTrack Garage Doors, we offer top-of-the-line insulated garage doors and maintenance services in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, and Dutchess Counties. 

Contact us today at 914.690.7875 whether you are looking for a new garage door or a repair on an existing garage door, and we’ll help ensure your car stays warm inside the garage this winter.