What year is this for?  I have an 85 which recently stopped blowing
hot air but still blows cool air.  It doesn't cycle on and off though
- it's either on or off (though with a thermostat).

Thanks
Jeff

On 9-Aug-08, at 2:49 PM, J Stewart wrote:

> It may sound strange getting excited about getting a gas heater
> working in August, but I am! I have tried half heartedly to get
> this thing working for about a year, not really a priority, since
> being a former air cooled bus owner, I've found the heat in the
> Vanagon to be more than adequate. But since the thing is there, I
> wanted it to work. Anyway, looking through the archives, Bentley,
> etc. I had seen mention of two fuses, a 16 and 30 amp. I saw two
> separate fuses just to the right of the main fuse block and thought
> those were the ones, neither one was blown so I assumed that wasn't
> it. Today, however, with Robert Keezers help, I found two MORE
> fuses, but located under the steering column cover. Neither one of
> those was blown either, but the 30 amp was LOADED with corrosion.
> Took it out and tried to clean it off, but it disintegrated.
> Cleaned the fuse block connections and popped in a new fuse and it
> the heater came on-or so I thought. The fan kicked on, but it was
> just blowing co
> ol air, so I turned it off. Let it sit for a while, then turned it
> on again, same thing except this time after about a minute, I heard
> the furnace kick on, sounded kind of like a gas furnace in a house
> kicking on. Saw a puff of smoke come out from underneath the van
> and dropped down to have a look-and was eye to eye with a small
> brown mouse!!! I'm guessing he had been making a home in the
> exhaust pipe of the heater, and the puff of smoke was his nest
> burning up. The mouse took off, and the heater continued to run,
> cycling on and off (it is in the mid 80's today) So now I have a
> functioning gas heater. I guess I misunderstood its function,
> though. I was thought it could be used while camping, but according
> to the owners manual, that's not the case. I know years ago I was
> at a winter camp out and a guy was parked next to me with an air
> cooled Westy with the gas heater, and it ran all night. I know
> because there were no hook ups, and I was freezing my a** off all
> night while listening
>  to the hum of that heater. Oh well, at least its nice to have it
> working again.     Jeff