Date:         Mon, 21 Nov 1994 23:32:16 -0700 (MST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Stuart Hutton <hutton@poly.oscs.montana.edu>
Subject:      Re: stove=heater=safe? + update

Hello vanagon gang and those still camping in the cold,
Here's a little update on the method of heating slightly from the fridge ...
(If you normally eat grits, probably it won't be so important)
It seems that the fan from kmart runs a bit fast and takes all the heat
away from the exhaust vent in about 15 sec.  It then takes about 45 sec
for the vent to heat up again.  After investigating various oscillator
circuits, the simple solution to this problem presented itself.  If you
place a variable pot in the circuit (about 0-100 ohms or so) then you 
will be able to slow the fan down to the point where it does remove most,
but not all of the heat.  The idea is to not blow cold air over sleeping
people.  The only problem is that the pot needs to be able to withstand a
bit of heat since it will heat slightly.  I am testing now and will let
you know the best ohmage for this night (which is fairly cold --- about 15
degrees or so, it seems).
After cleaning the fridge's combustion chamber, it now runs all night, so
I will actually be able to let you know for sure that it works well.
Stuart Hutton