Ditto what Tom says - the vanagon airbox has no recirculation capabilities.  I had the heater box
out and tried to think of something to overcome this with no success.  In the frozen north it
becomes a problem in winter because fresh cold air gets rammed in through the front of the car to a
volume where the heater core can't warm it fast enough.  Therefore you have to practically close off
all the vents and the leakage air past the vents then gets heated sufficiently if all is working
well.  The rear heater is of course recirculation only and with that running the van stays warm
enough.
-Hans

----- Original Message -----
From: "Warren Chapman" <vwsyncroguy@YAHOO.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 1:06 PM
Subject: Cold air always

> I live in CA where it rarely gets really cold but.........
>
> I always get cool or cold air coming through my heater duct...even when I
> have everthing in the "off" position.   Normally not a problem but Not what
> I usually want during winter. whenever I do want heat....it seems my heater
> has to "overcome" the cool air to deliver any heat..
>
> Seems that the heater box should have a "flap" that closes off the fresh
> air vent.... ??  But I have two vans and both seem to get the cool air
> flow....regardless of the position of the dash controls.
>
> Are my fresh air controls defective?  On both vans....or is this more "VW
> engineering"....I don't understand.
>
> Warren
>