Aircooled VW South Africa

Danged chilly in the crewy without the heater. Got to see if I can get the heating system sorted which was disconnected by the previous owner. Why? Why do they do that?

Were the heater boxes perhaps removed? You will have to go over the system front to back to make sure everything is well sealed and insulated as it should be as when it left the factory. Make sure you have the good quality original type heater boxes; those cheap tin ones are not good.

My heater works in my bus and it gets pretty warm but I still get a slight smell of fumes when i switch it on, I think putting in the booster fan in the engine bay was not a good idea. Yours won't have the booster fan as like the later bay setup. Can't comment more on how the earlier heater systems work.

Hi Richard

The main reason is that when they get old, type1 heaters inevitably start pumping exhaust fumes into the car. Mmmmmmm ... nice and warm ... getting drowsy ... zzzzzzzz ... BANG!!!

If your heater boxes are in perfect condition AND there is no wear at the crappy joint between the heater boxes and the silencer, AND your exhaust is perfectly sealed so there is NO recirculation of exhaust gas with cooling air, AND you have the correct bus tailpipe exiting at the side of the bus and not directly behind the bus, then you might be able to trust your heater not to kill you.

OK.... so I will fit a generator onto the loadbed and run an extension chord into the cab where I will plug in a bar heater then. I'm a huge VaWee fan but the "drowsy ...... xxxxxx ...... BANG" thing just doesn't go down well with my early morning tea and marmalade toast!

Hahaha. I just dress well when driving in winter!

Of course, that's the lazy way to do it. There are lots of people using the heaters in their ACVWs in safety-obsessed USA without apparent harm. ACVW heaters work well (especially in SA's "warm" winters), so long as you make an effort to ensure no exhaust gas in the heated air.

Jokes aside Fig, I will sort the heating out in line with the the rest of the 'back to stock' things that still need to be done.

Stütz wrote:Danged chilly in the crewy without the heater. .............?

As you have a crew bus, with ampal space, A nice Marble Fire Place with Gold candle sticks would be nice.....
.....Jug of Hot Chocolate on the side with soft slippers.............................
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Ahhh ... the hot chocolate sounds dandy for sure~

Isnt there a 12V electric heater available somewhere for just this situation?

There is another option that they seem to use in the UK. It's a unit made by Propex. It works with both gas and electric.

http://www.propexheatsource.co.uk/HS2000E.php