<VV> Cabin Heater - Water?

[Les Honke]

To heat the water from the engine cooling air would take a long time.

How about a heat pipe arrangement with one heat exchanger in the cooling 
air stream and one in the defroster duct?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pipe

Or if you're just concerned about exhaust gases and other engine smells 
in the heating air, you could rig a VW-Beetle-style heater where air is 
taken off the cooling fan before it blows across the engine, and 
directed to a shroud around the exhaust manifold. Small aircraft heaters 
work the same way.

Les


> _wblanning at comcast.net_  (mailto:wblanning at comcast.net)   writes:
>
> I've  often wondered about building an indirect heat system to replace the
> existing  system that uses engine cooling air to heat a water/antifreeze
> solution.   The idea would be to blow the engine cooling air across a heat
> exchanger  (such as a large heater core) containing the water, then run the hot
> water to  a heater box under the dash or in the trunk.  The first heat
> exchanger  could possibly be mounted in the rear and could perhaps use a single
> speed fan  to move the air across it.  An electric pump would be needed to
> circulate the water to the cabin heater core, where another fan would be
> needed to blow heated air into the cabin.  There would have to be an  expansion
> tank somewhere in the system too.  However all this stuff would  probably
> take up more room than available without making body mods.  A  higher
> capacity charging system might also be needed to run the water pump and  extra fan.