VW bus and the northern winters.... Someone asked about heat in VW vans. Well, I live in Manitoba and I'll tell you that it takes a hardy soul wearing a parka and warm boots to drive about in the aircooled VW. The auxiliary gas heaters suck way more fuel than you thought imaginable for their task, with insignificant results when it gets really cold. We tried everything with our 73 bus. We put an insulated bra on the front, and sealed off the front interior with see-through vinyl and piped the gas-heater heat to the front. Still nearly unbearable so we just resigned it to blocks for the winter. Now, I just bought a 83 Vanagon Westy, watercooled, and I am hoping for the best this winter! There seems to be heat there but we'll see when it gets really cold out there. Observations: the fins inside the old aircooled VW heat exchangers can become corroded or otherwise blocked. You'll get much better heat if these are serviced. The air-cooled vans start quite reliably despite the cold, and plow through snow rather well because of their excellent clearance. Also, as far as I know, there is no way to install a block heater, even in the Vanagon water-cooled models as there are no frost plugs. Block heaters are something you southern folks won't know anything about, but they are high wattage 120volt plug-in heaters which warm your engine blocks and are required if you want to be able to start your vehicle once it drops below -20 degrees C overnight ... my diesel Jetta likes to be plugged in once the mercury falls just a few degrees below freezing) as there are no frost plugs. I am looking into installing a circulating heater into the coolant system. Any advice. Ch-ch-ch-ch-cheers. -- B Hydesmith/83 Westfalia/Winnipeg/MB/Canada/hsc@mac.com _____________________________________________ |
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