Most (I think) air cooled Vanagons had auxiliary, gasoline powered heaters installed. In any event, if you live where winter occurs, you want one. This is something important to verify is operational when buying a Vanagon. It has its own electric fan (one speed) and connects into the normal heat circuit so there is defrost. (But compare the size of the defroster vents to the area of the windshield.) It's been a few years now since my '81's been out of town, but one ski trip I remember I think I pretty much was never able to do without the auxiliary heater. Vanagons have lots of windows and effectively uninsulated metal surface area and you sit really in front and your feet ... Theory has it this heater can be run without the engine running, but I've never tried it because it uses lots of electrical power. Without the aux heater working, engine heat is available via engine cooling fan with fan speed varying with engine speed. I don't think any Vanagons came without that. It's only ever effective on warm days or possibly if you could drive at engine rpm redline. |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.