Do you hear the pump clicking?

Robert
1982 Westfalia

--- On Sun, 8/10/08, Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MTS.NET> wrote:

> From: Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MTS.NET>
> Subject: Re: Gas Heater & Thanks Robert Keezer!!
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Date: Sunday, August 10, 2008, 8:16 PM
> 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