Heat Heat Glorious Heat!

LiveonJG · Post by **LiveonJG** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:33 pm

Minutes ago I installed the last piece of duct, tightened everything up, wired the control boxes open (the new control cables can wait till warmer weather), turned her over, waited a few minutes, put my hand over the vent, and for the first time, after two busses and a combined seven years of ownership, I felt heat! After coming out of an extended happy dance, I called my kids out to feel the warmth. Winter won't be nearly as cold this year!

-John

Post by **Amskeptic** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 9:00 pm

Quite the emoticon party going on up there.

Heat makes your car feel more loyal or sumpin. I do enjoy driving on a cold day when the car actually gets cozy enough that it is a shock when you get out to fuel up.

My heater makes the car comfortable down to 20-25*F
Colin

LiveonJG · Post by **LiveonJG** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 4:05 pm

Amskeptic wrote:Quite the emoticon party going on up there.
Colin

I'm quite partial to the chorus line effect.
-John

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 5:20 pm

This heat thing has got me all scared. I need my bus as a refuge from photographing in bad weather. The one thing I need when I return to the vehicle after a cold shoot is heat. Right NOW.

I've never driven a VW bus but I own one and plan to use it for solo photo work. If this thing's gonna work for me, I must have heat. My Asstro's heater is remarkable in this regard.

Am I pathetic or what?

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:31 pm

See if you can't get your hands on a BA6 on install it....CAREFULLY

those things will cook you out of the bus...they work nicely for instant heat. A Coleman sport cat does OK as well.

LiveonJG....nice work man, I got my heat working last summer and it has been great....nice and toasty going down the road.

chitwnvw · Post by **chitwnvw** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:33 pm

I just got my heat hooked up today. How hard should it be blowing out of the vent? At idle you can only feel a vague hint of heat wafting out of the vent, at 55 on the highway it's a bit better. The temp is pretty good, very warm, just don't know about the volume...

DjEep · Post by **DjEep** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:36 pm

Sure the little knob under the dash on the heater column is in the down position?

LiveonJG · Post by **LiveonJG** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:39 pm

glasseye wrote:This heat thing has got me all scared. I need my bus as a refuge from photographing in bad weather. The one thing I need when I return to the vehicle after a cold shoot is heat. Right NOW.

I've never driven a VW bus but I own one and plan to use it for solo photo work. If this thing's gonna work for me, I must have heat. My Asstro's heater is remarkable in this regard.

Am I pathetic or what?

Ok, for right now you might want to invest in a small catalytic heater, like Spiffy suggests. I don't trust the BN6. They're probably fine it's just the concept of burning gas under my floor that I can't handle.

For the long term, start with an assessment or your current heat and exhaust system. Don't be afraid, just figure it out. Start with your heat exchangers, they're the most expensive component. You've got a 74, that's good. It's been stored outside, that's not good. How do they look? All rusty or not so much? 72 to 74 heat exchangers are the best and they'll pair well to a new muffler, if you need one. Next up is insulating your duct work. I had a old rusted out BN6 auxiliary gas heater to remove, which I replaced with 4" insulated duct. I could go on and on...
Here's a good place to start: http://www.type2.com/. Go to Technical Articles, Library, and click "H" for heat. This article was particularly helpful: http://www.type2.com/library/heat/heat-soundproof.html

It's been a long haul for me, I've been working on this since January, a piece at a time. Granted summer didn't provide much incentive. Today was the first chance I've had to actually drive around and feel the heat. I had to open the fresh air vent and crack the window. Be careful what you wish for. I'm not complaining, though.

Just don't be intimidated, take it at your own pace, and you'll be fine. Ask all the questions you need to, that's part of why we're all here.

Good luck with the project.

-John

DurocShark · Post by **DurocShark** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 5:42 am

I don't have all the heat components on the Guac. It needs some work.

But I get some heat anyway and it generally keeps me comfortable.

EXCEPT!!!

When driving over Vail Pass last Sat night... 4*F. My feet were blocks of ice! Though my Nokian tires kicked butt in the heavy snow up there.

I know what bits I need (HE down tubes, collars or something to connect the HEs to the control boxes, hoses from the fan to the downtubes), I just need $$.

It's budgeted for next payday. I hopehopehopehope.

chitwnvw · Post by **chitwnvw** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 6:47 am

Is there an oval clamp for the more oval hose coming from the aux fan?

twinfalls · Post by **twinfalls** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:45 pm

I just worked on this.
1_Left lever down ( the one opening both control boxes ). I feel heat; One inch over the windshied dashboard ports.
2_ + Middle lever down ( to run the heater fan ). I feel heat; Four inches over the ports.

That was in Baujolais country France, 14°Celcius sunny and chilly at noon.
My favorite wine, in those conditions, a light Gamay grape 11.5% Côte du Rhône or Côte Chalonnaise.

Tell me about yours, I forgot vaccum cleaning all the ducts.

nakedfrog · Post by **nakedfrog** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 1:10 pm

If I have nothing leading from the heat exchangers to the ducts that runs along the middle of the underside of the bus, does that mean I'm shy two heat control boxes and ducts? Could I just use ducting since it's generally going to be cold out anyhow?

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:48 pm

John, thanks for all the advice. I've been to the Samba article and return here amazed. Good stuff.

Further research indicates I have an aux heater! I even found the knob that controls it on the dash.

Crawling under the bus to investigate heat exchangers and aux heaters will have to wait until the roof's complete on the shop. A wet concrete slab does not make for comfortable investigations. Won't be long, though. Then I can get it up on floor stands and see how things look.

Can't wait.

Peter

chitwnvw · Post by **chitwnvw** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:48 pm

twinfalls wrote:I just worked on this.
1_Left lever down ( the one opening both control boxes ). I feel heat; One inch over the windshied dashboard ports.
2_ + Middle lever down ( to run the heater fan ). I feel heat; Four inches over the ports.

Is this at idle? Or at what speed

nakedfrog wrote:If I have nothing leading from the heat exchangers to the ducts that runs along the middle of the underside of the bus, does that mean I'm shy two heat control boxes and ducts? Could I just use ducting since it's generally going to be cold out anyhow?

The control boxes are just that to control whether the heat moves to the cabin or is dumped under the bus. As long as you're ok with always on, you should be able to rig something up.

LiveonJG · Post by **LiveonJG** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 6:28 pm

ChiTwn, idle vs. under load makes little difference on mine. I've got both boxes open with a couple of zip ties. On the dash, left control directs air to either the dash for defrost(all the way down) or the vents under the dash and the one in the floor behind the front seats (all the way up). I can still feel heat in the location opposite of the setting, just not as strong. Middle control as twinfalls stated, activates the blower and pushes a lot more air through. His assessment of 1" and 4" are fairly accurate. I think my added insulation has extended this distance. Blue control all the way up to close your fresh air vent up front. If the fresh air vent flaps leak, this, I think, could acccount for the change in air volume you get as higher speed. It will also cool down the air coming out. Like I said, I haven't replaced my control cables yet so I don't know which knob will open and close the boxes.

Glasseye, be careful with that aux heater. Pull it out and test it outside and away from anything flammable. Mine was so rusted and nasty looking I didn't even want it near my bus. I've donated it to my old mechanic. He's a VW packrat. Besides it doesn't get that cold around here.
-John

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Heat Heat Glorious Heat!

Heat Heat Glorious Heat!