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Date:         Sat, 16 Nov 2002 09:14:49 -0500
Reply-To:     Isaac Taylor <itaylor@ATTBI.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Isaac Taylor <itaylor@ATTBI.COM>
Subject:      Re: Winters in the van...
Comments: cc: Edward Maglott <emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> I thought about this powered exhaust possibility. I am thinking a little > plastic fan would melt in the exhaust stream depending on the amount of > heat that is input.

If you're venting enough heat to melt a purpose-built cooling fan (it's *hot* inside your computer, remember) then your design does not adequately transfer the available heat to the air inside your van. By the time the exhaust leaves the van, it should have done its work already -- the issue is venting harmful gases.

> Are you saying to still use the stove as the burner and run this ducting > all the way to the engine compartment?

Nope. I'm saying install a heater in the engine bay -- it'll double as a block heater -- and pump the heat through a sealed duct system which runs under the bed or in the cabin floor, but that is airtight, relative to the cabin.

This avoids the problem of that any heat source inside the van which requires exhaust for safety must, in practice, actually draw new cold air *into* the van from somewhere. This is a inherent problem with using the stove as a heater.

If your heat souce, stove or otherwise, generates harmful gases, then the most efficient system is to decouple the air intake and exhaust from the the cabin environment -- but run the ducting through the cabin for radiant heating. This conserves the heating work that's being done by your bodies, and allows incremental heating without drawing new cold air into the van.

Of course, if there exists such thing as a small electric space heater which does not generate any harmful gases, then you can just run that in the cabin and avoid all this complex ducting. The only downsides there are fire hazard, and presumably, electrical load.

-Isaac in Cambridge


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