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Warming up your car in winter is an idle notion

Durangoans love their puffy coats as the temperature drops.

What are Colorado’s laws on warming up a car/truck and how long is long enough? Many people in my neighborhood start their car and leave it running each morning for a good 10 minutes. Not only does it make breathing difficult, but the vehicle could be stolen in a heartbeat. So, could you please address this issue now that winter is upon us? – Not into the smell of diesel or gas fumes

Action Line has this vague memory of answering a similar query a while back.

But if Action Line can’t recall a previous column, why should anyone else?

So let’s do an “exhaustive” review of the rules for warming up your car.

To put it succinctly, you don’t need to, and you shouldn’t.

That might cause people to fume. Detractors might suggest Action Line stuff it up a tailpipe.

But idling one’s car causes needless pollution, wastes money and damages your engine.

There’s an interesting term for warming up a vehicle in the morning: “puffing.”

That’s a bit cute for Action Line. Instead of calling it “puffing,” we should call it “spewing.” But that’s just linguistic puffery.

The state of Colorado has long-standing anti-puffing law, statute 42-4-1206. Law enforcement statewide can ticket anyone who leaves a vehicle running unattended. The fine is $15 to $100.

Other Colorado towns have even stricter laws. Then there’s Salt Lake City, where habitual puffing can result in a $410 levy.

That’s the stick portion of anti-puffing groups’ carrot-and-stick approach.

Carrots are better than sticks, so let’s look at the benefits of not idling:

You’ll help your neighbors breath easy. One minute of idling produces more carbon monoxide than the smoke from three packs of cigarettes, according to Engines Off, a collaboration of Colorado governments and health agencies.

You’ll save money. Just one hour of idling can burn a gallon of gas, the group points out. Each year, the average driver ends up wasting one to two tanks of gas just by idling.

Take it from the state-licensed emissions testing firm Envirotest Corp.

“Every two minutes your car idles you lose the same amount of fuel needed to drive about one mile. In fact, 10 seconds of idling can use more fuel than turning off the engine and restarting it.”

You’ll help your car last longer. Testing by the Ford Motor Company showed “frequent restarting has little impact on components that include the battery and starter motor.”

The company recommends vehicles warm up for no more than 30 seconds on cold days, adding that idling does nothing for bearings, tires and transmission, which are “warmed up” only by driving.

Puffing results in nasty residues on spark plugs, which lowers your overall mileage by 5 percent, according to Engines Off.

Moreover, because of incomplete combustion, water condensation in the exhaust system reduces that system’s lifespan. Catalytic converters are really expensive.

Your car won’t get ripped off. Nothing screams “Steal Me!” more than an idling, unoccupied car. Why risk it? And yes, it happens here.

Durangoans should not sit idly by. We can start an anti-puffing campaign of our own, something like “Enough with the Puff.”

Sadly, many would see “Enough with the Puff” as a blatant attack on those bulgy quilted winter coats you see everywhere.

What’s with puffer coats, anyway? Must everyone in Durango look like the Michelin Tire Man?

Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if you smoke a cigarette and wear a quilted down coat while warming your car, thereby being a puffy puffing puffer.



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