Çorum Kaloriferi (the Çorum Heater)
In Türkiye, the colloquial name for an auxiliary car heater is the Çorum kaloriferi (“Çorum heater”). This locally produced add-on heater, connected in parallel to the car’s own heating circuit, was the closest friend of drivers in cold provinces on winter mornings, especially in the 1990s and 2000s.
What Is It and How Does It Work?
The Çorum heater is an additional heater connected to the circuit through which the engine’s coolant flows. Once the engine runs, this heater produces higher heat than the car’s standard heater and warms up the cabin quickly (arabam.com). Because it prevents window fogging and enables safe driving with a cold engine, it is counted among “the equipment necessary for safe driving.”
Why Was It So Loved?
Its advantages, as highlighted in driver guides and car forums:
- It heats more — markedly stronger compared to the original heater
- Affordable — as a domestic product it is cheaper than original parts and systems (araba.com)
- Easy to find — its craftsmen, spare parts and repair are available everywhere
On the minus side: engine load, the need to intervene in the cooling system, and the fact that modern vehicles’ increasingly capable standard equipment has reduced its importance.
A Cultural Phenomenon
The Çorum heater is not just a device; it is part of the shared memory of Turkish car culture. It has an Ekşi Sözlük thread, and jokes like “is the Çorum heater optional on this one, master?” still circulate under Toros and Şahin videos. Almost no Anatolian driver of that generation steered with gloves on behind icy windows — this device was that generation’s miraculous fix.
Its name has become synonymous with Çorum through the device’s association with local workshop production; however, no reliable source exists for a definite founding/production story behind the name. This page is therefore limited to the device’s present-day definition and its cultural meaning.
Today
Although its former popularity has declined with the development of air conditioning and standard heating systems in modern cars, installation and repair continue among old-car enthusiasts, fleet owners in cold regions and classic car lovers.