Heating finally sorted

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Huyrob

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I have had my 1971 lhd Westy for 2 years and have recently sorted my heating out. Last year I had a recon engine from the VW engine company fitted ( very pleased) I also bought some of the better quality heat exchangers and having filled in the numerous holes that these come with ( with JD weld ) I fitted these. I knew that the cables were not attached and left it at that. After driving through France last December ...freezing I knew it was time.
I have read all sorts of articles many contradicting each other as to the efficiency of the original system. Having never been in a T2 with a properly working system I was not sure what to expect.
Having picked up a cracking pair of old but very substantial ramps I was happy to go underneath.I pulled the old cables out ( one was bit difficult) I couldn't get the new ones to pass through the ducting so simpli followed the duct route, attached the cables to the flapper lever and when adjusted simply used cable ties along the route to secure. I would have preferred to use the duct but the result was neat safe and worked well.
I then got to work on the piping. The central round pipe was encased in the original insulated cover ( asbestos ? ) I removed this and could see that at each end there were some pretty big holes I decided to cut the pipe out ( it's about 4 feet long) I replaced this with a length of 60 mm ( int dia ) Propex pipe cost about £18. This propex pipe is 65 mm ext dia so fits very snuggly in to the existing pipe. Before fixing back in place I insulated this with 50 mm width pipe insulation tape from Screwfix 7.5 m roll under £4. Having encased the propex in this overlapping so it had a double thickness I then covered this with aluminium tape fro Screwfix .about £7 for about 20m. The existing insulated cover was then used, secured with cable ties and then the whole thing was secured in place with ties ( very easy as there is a substantial pipe running above to secure to.
I then insulated all of the remaining pipes including the two "Y " pipes and the strange flattened section with the 50 mm silver screwfix tape. This was a slow but easy process working along an sticking it in place with the aluminium tape.
Finally I took out the kick boards, bought a heating cylinder insulating jacket ( yes ..Screwfix £11 ) I cut this in to strips about 10 inches wide and basically insulated the whole of the front area. This jacket is ideal as it has a good plastic cover which will keep the fibreglass dry. It is necessary to seal the cut open ends but the aluminium tape makes this easy.
Finally today got the van off the ramps after less than 5 min warm up the heat coming out of the demister and, when the redirection lever was lifted out of the vents either side of the totem was AMAZING! Today was only 6 degrees but the cab got uncomfortably hot.
I know this subject has been raised before but I can now say unequivocally that the original system plus insulation works brilliantly.
 
Nice write up. Is the propex pipe you mention the cardboard flexible type? If so are you concerned about the durability of your centre pipe being under the floor?
I could do with more / newer insulation on the Y piece at the rear as I still have the OG popper lagging which is probably past its best now!
Finally any pics of the work you did? [emoji3]
 
Hi Mike
Thanks. Yes it is a sort of plasticised brown board material with wire strengthening.
I haven't any concerns about durability, the tube itself is pretty robust and mummified in the insulated foil taped which in turn is covered by the foil tape is very protective. In addition I covered all of this with the original cover which looked bad but was surprisingly in good condition.
My Y section had the original lagging but the foil wrap made a great job. I didn't bother putting the lagging back but , with hindsight may do so and will take a few photos.
Just in the process of fixing a towbar I have had made so Flossies rear end is on the ramps so can't take photos at present
 
That is absolutely brilliant. A previous owner of my van removed all the old heating bits. I now have no heat exchangers and no ducting. The previous owner put a Propex heater under the passenger foot well, which is OK, but obviously costs me gas and won't stay lit above 40mph.
 
I actually expected most of the old pipe work to be shot, had it been so I was planning on running the propex all of the way from the "accordion" bit , joining in to a "Y" junction and then cutting a hole to get into the pipe that goes up in to the totem. This would have been relatively easy , just a bit slow making the hole cut at the end.You could do this but would need the exchangers and accordions. If you decide to don't go for the cheap exchangers. The more expensive ones are pretty heavy gauge but lots of holes to fill which is a must if you want the system to function as it was intended.
 
fallingoffalot said:
That is absolutely brilliant. A previous owner of my van removed all the old heating bits. I now have no heat exchangers and no ducting. The previous owner put a Propex heater under the passenger foot well, which is OK, but obviously costs me gas and won't stay lit above 40mph.

Mine works at 108mph. :lol:
 
I'll have to wait to get my new wheels on to do 108mph! .......OMG 108mph, how?
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I know this subject has been raised before but I can now say unequivocally that the original system plus insulation works brilliantly.
[/quote]

Completely agree, all my buses have had the original heating systems and they have all worked very well, the only caveat being it’s got to run decent quality heat exchangers.
 
We always have people say that the heating on a VW camper is crap but we usually find its because elements are missing or lost and as soon as you have a hole or gap in the system anywhere then it wont work effectively. We've always run heating in our buses over the years and in the sunroof deluxe that has a central belly pan fitted we have to turn the heating down.

We carry out a lot of heating remedial work in our workshop
 

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