Date:         9 Feb 95 11:22
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         L.S.Griffiths@physics.salford.ac.uk
Subject:      Re[2]: 12volt electric heaters

     Dave Phillips writes:
     
     >The 44 BHP is mechanical energy.  The difference between that and the 
     >chemical energy content of the gasoline put into the carburetor is 
     >what the engine generates as heat, which is most of the energy in the 
     >gasoline.  I don't remember the exact figures for the efficiency of 
     >an internal combustion engine off the top of my head, but it's 
     >somewhere around 25%.  We gotta capture that other 75% somehow, guys, 
     >and dump it into the cab and we'll be warm as toast.  :-)
     
     I was taking to a friend last night (who did Mechanical Engineering) 
     and he confirmed that the internal combustion engine is about 40% 
     efficient on a good day which gives us about 70 HP lost in heat etc. 
     that's about 50,000 watts, wow.
     
     Lee
     
     '64 Samba
     l.s.griffiths@physics.salford.ac.uk
     http://146.87.136.48