<VV> Heaters for Vairs

[Jim Burkhard]

Mike -

Coleman has a couple different models of those "run off little propane 
bottle" catalytic heaters.  The ones that will run for 7 hours (as you 
describe) have a heat outut of 3000 BTU/hr.  That may sound like a 
lot, but in a car that's moving down the road at 60 mph on a cold day, 
it isn't much, especially if you are trying to keep a frosty 
windshield clean.  I think you will find the heat output too low, 
unless you live somewhere fairly temperate.

Does anyone have heater outputs specs for for the Corvair (and/or VW) 
gasoline heaters? This will give you a reference to compare against. 
If not, maybe someone at least has the the fuel flow rate (in lbm/hr 
or g/s, or whatever) for the heater? If so, it's a simple matter to 
estimate the BTU/hr.  I'm pretty sure I have specs on varied 
commercial cabin heaters in my desk at work.  Some years ago, I worked 
on a project where we developed a gas fired heater to sit in the 
engine exhaust stream and on cold startups RAPIDLY heat the vehicle 
catalytic converter to its preferred operating temperature of 600-700 
deg C.  Good fun.

If you really want to come up with something slick, there are varied 
European companies that still make fuel-fired heaters for commercial 
trucks and passenger vehicles.  The problem is that most of them are 
intended to sit in a coolant loop, which we don't have.  And, many are 
also for diesels...  There were at least a few gasoline-fired air 
heaters, though.  Check out Espar, Webasto, and Volvo-Flygmotor...

Funny story:  On the way to the Lexington convention, my dad and I 
stopped our Corvair someplace (Big Boy / Denny's / etc.) for lunch. On 
the way out of the restaurant, walking to the car we were (gently) 
accosted by a bum pushing a bicycle.  In the windup to stick his hand 
out, he recounted a story about how he used to own a Corvair, but the 
heater didn't work well. His solution was to remove the passenger seat 
and bolt down a large residential kerosene heater in its place.

Jim "likes to burn stuff" Burkhard
CORSA
Rustchester, NY




Mike Jacobi wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I went through a lot of trouble getting my 63 Vair heater to work.  And after I went through all the grief of 
 >setting up new duct work, new blower and all of that, I got lots of 
exaust gas inside the car...more grief tracking
 >down the source and fixing it.
> 
> Now I note that Coleman makes a dandy little catalytic heater that runs for 7 hours off of a small propane bottle.  
 >Claims you can run it indoors safely, (though I would always leave a 
window open a little.  All for about $40.
> I'm fabricating a bracket for it in my 58 Volks Vert.  I think I will finally be able to cruise on those sunny winter days without having to constantly scrape the inside of the windshield.
> I bet it would have worked like a champ in my Monza too.
> 
> Live and learn
> 
> Mike J
> 63 Monza Vert (with working OEM heater)
> 58 Volks Vert, soon to be warm.