Skip to main content
Gerry | Vanagon
Checking account...
← vanagon.com home · Continue the discussion in the forum
Subject:Re: 12volt electric heaters
Date:Wed, 8 Feb 95 10:22:56 -0700

>From: L.S.Griffiths@physics.salford.ac.uk
     Coz, 44 BHP (that's what my vans got) equals about 32810 Watts!! 
     that's what the engine pumps out. Now most of that drives the wheels, 
     some drives the engine itself and the rest gets pumped out as heat - 

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.  :-)

...Dave Phillips  '69 bus     |  Internet:  phillips@aries.tucson.saic.com
     ... and now  '91 Previa  
                  ^^^^^^^^^^ ...Can I still play in your sandbox despite
				committing VW treason?