Mark,

Utah's not exactly warm in the winter either, so Im working towards 
arecirculating heat system right now...not a oil 
cooler 
based system, but a recirculating system.  I'm not worried about 
co poisoning, as i figure bernoulis principle acting on all my 
aftermarket ventilators (holes in the bus) seems to doa pretty good 
job of keeping the 
air fresh inside.  What I've decided to try is installing a blower 
from a full size Ford air conditioner in the spare tire well behind 
the bachk seat in my '71.  I cut a three inch hole in thmetal into 
the engine compartment, bought some 3" flexible aluminum hose 
($4.99), a 2" PVC 'Y' fitting, and a couple of cans of that expanding 
spray foam sealant, which I'm going to try to set on fire tonigth 
since the can says nothing about flame resistance (it's sticky stuff- -
 don't ever get it on your hands).  Anyhow, I plan on putting the 
blower in the well, running the hose through the hole and across the 
top of the engine compartment, and running stock 2" heater hose from 
the 'Y' to the heat exchangers.  My theory is that the air from the 
back of the bus wont be any colder than the air outside, and the 
increased flow of air will at least make me feel better.  It's 
taken a more little creative thought than a kit, but the blower was 
free, and it blows like a bugger. I'll keep y'all posted.

Any comments would be appreciated, by the way.

Shaun Dustin

> Date sent:      Tue, 17 Oct 1995 20:29:27 -0500
> Send reply to:  mjanello@umich.edu
> From:           Mark Janello <mjanello@umich.edu>
> To:             Multiple recipients of list <vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu>
> Subject:        Re: Heat: A New Approach?

> > 
> > 1)  Just freeze, don't expect air-cooled heat.
> > 
> > 2)  Keep your heater boxes in tip-top shape and all your
> > tubes together and the insulation around them secure and you
> > will get enough heat to do what VW originally claimed "keep
> > the chill off"
> > 
> > 3)  Add a gas-fired heater or keep the one you have.
> > 
> > 4)  For spot heat only, add one of the radiant/ceramic
> > heaters as long as your electrical system is up to it.
> > 
> Well, there is the possibility of using the stock heater
> boxes but adding some kind of recirculating system to "reuse"
> the interior air instead of constantly forcing in new air.  
> There are kits to do this (I've seen ads in the VW rags) and
> people have noticed that the fans used in these kits are
> available at much lower cost in marine stores (I think
> "in line bilge fan" rings a bell).  Bob Hoover has a 
> sermon on this topic; according to at least one correspondent
> of his from Norway, the system works.
> 
> I'm thinking about this for my '62, and would like comments
> from anyone else about what they think. . . . .
> 
> Mark
> '62 Kombi in cold cold cold Michigan
>