Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2009 08:44:46 -0800
Reply-To: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Takes a darn long time for the heater to come up to speed
In-Reply-To: <73bad2170903070816r4f051227u402e983748f2f9f5@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Interesting! And were is the Subaru's temp gauge sender located in
relation to the 1.9l's? Is one is a better spot to more quickly "see"
the rise in engine temp?
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
Bend, OR
KG6RCR
On 3/7/2009 8:16 AM David Milo wrote:
> Aside from the length of the hoses, the other subtle difference is
> that the Subaru system mixes air to control the temperature in the
> mixing / distribution box, whereas the Vanagon was designed to use a
> manually controlled coolant modulating valve (yes, even in the rear)
> controlling flow through the heater core to control temperature. In
> the Vanagon, you can almost (but not quite) completely shut off flow
> through the heater cores.
>
> In the Subaru, the coolant flow through the heater core is constant,
> and is actually the coolant circuit that modulates the thermostat
> (located on the bottom of the engine, return hose from the radiator).
> As others have pointed out, it is much better protected from the elements.
>
> Dave
>
> On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 10:16 AM, Rocket J Squirrel
> <camping.elliott@gmail.com <mailto:camping.elliott@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> I reckon there are two things that I need to observe: 1. the time it
> takes for the temp gauge to start moving from the cold pin (Mrs
> Elliott's Subaru comes up a lot sooner), and 2. how soon before one
> starts to feel tendrils of warmed air come creeping out of the vents.
> Again, it's much quicker in the other car. If these are significantly
> longer time than others, like Jake, observed then something there's
> something fishy going on. Given that the thermostat is such a pain to
> get to on the 1.9l engine, I'll want to be fairly sure that
> replacing it
> is a worthwhile project.
>
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
>
> On 3/6/2009 9:47 PM Jake de Villiers wrote:
>
> On account of this thread I paid attention this morning on the
> way to work
> in the grey van. It took about a mile at ~30 degrees F. to feel a
> difference, about 3 for it to be warmish.
>
> I've noticed that the rear heater gets warm a lot quicker on
> both vans.
>
> On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 5:35 PM, alfred bagdan <abagdan@shaw.ca
> <mailto:abagdan@shaw.ca>> wrote:
>
>
> If you have the rear heater valve open, most of the hot
> coolant goes
> through
> the rear heater. Try closing the rear heater and see what
> happens. Also
> replace your thermostat in case it is stuck open. If the
> temperature gauge
> does not go up to the halfway point in cold weather, you
> will probably have
> to replace the thermostat to get some decent heat. Its a
> bitch of a job,
> but doable. When I replaced the hoses last summer I also
> put pipe
> insulation on the hot lines and also replaced the
> thermostat and the water
> pump. What a difference that made. I live in Edmonton,
> Canada, and I
> drove the van once this winter when it was -30C ( ~ -20F )
> and it was warm
> as toast inside, and didn't take long to warm up.
>
> Alfred
> 85 Westy
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark Tuovinen" <mst@AK.NET <mailto:mst@AK.NET>>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> <mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>>
> Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 2:49 PM
> Subject: Re: Takes a darn long time for the heater to come
> up to speed
>
>
> You just send her up here to drive my Syncro on a
> cold(subzero) morning,
>
> she will appreciate your van much more afterward. My
> kids ride to school
> with a blanket over them for warmth and they are
> wearing winter coats,
> hats, mittens, and boots at the same time. Vanagons
> have a rather large
> area to warm up and the front core is a long way from
> the heat source.
> Though it won't cure your problem you could put pipe
> insulation on your
> front heater hoses under the van. This will reduce
> the heat loss that
> occurs before the hot coolant gets to the core.
> Another and more
> difficult issue to deal with is that the front heater
> only draws air from
> outside, it does not recirculate cabin air. Thus
> while your heater core
> is trying to warm the air, the air is trying to cool
> the core. Not an
> issue in moderate climates but those in extreme cold
> areas suffer because
> of it.
>
> Mark in AK
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM
> <mailto:camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>>
> Date: Thursday, March 5, 2009 4:35 pm
> Subject: Takes a darn long time for the heater to come
> up to speed
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> <mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>
> My wife's Subaru Outback's heater is ready to put out
> some serious therms
>
> in about 3 minutes of drive time. The temp gauge
> comes up quickly,
> whereas the temp gauge in ol' Mellow Yellow needs
> another 5-8 minutes of
> driving in freezing temps to really start to creep
> upwards and for the
> heater to start doing anything interesting.
>
> I'd like to think that the difference is due to
> the awesome efficiency of
> the WBX engine . . . I'd like to think that, but
> something tells me that
> a 2006 Subaru engine is a tad more efficient. So,
> does anyone have any
> idea why the 1.9L engine is so sluggish compared
> with the Outback's
> engine when it comes to making hot water available
> to the heater core?
> Mrs Squirrel gripes about how long it takes to get
> warm air to come out
> the heater and I'd like to have some
> highly-technical answer to respond
> with. You know, baffle them with BS?
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San
> Juan Capistrano
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Jake
>
> 1984 Vanagon GL
> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
>
> Crescent Beach, BC
>
> www.crescentbeachguitar.com <http://www.crescentbeachguitar.com>
> http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27
>
>
>
|