Heater upgrade

So, having become completely fed up with the pizz poor heater on Compo, I thought I'd have a go at the bilge blower idea. Just to test the effectiveness of the 3 inch bilge blower, I disconnected the flexible pipe from the original heater fan and connected it to the bilge blower and wired it it to the battery. What a disappointment, hardly any difference in the amount of air coming through the vents. If the original produced an air flow compared to a knats fart, the bilge blower produced a fart of an house fly. Before you ask, I did have the pipe on the right end. There was a very slight improvement in the amount of air coming through the passenger vent but no difference on the driver side. I've read on here that this is supposed to make a really good improvement so where do you think my problem is? I'm just glad I didn't go to the effort of fitting the new blower in properly before the test.

Col

Is your heater Matrix clean?

Blackburn said:

Is your heater Matrix clean?

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Dunno, it looks like a right pig to remove, everything is rusted. There's no reason why it should be blocked, Compo spent much of its life in a garage and only doing a couple of hundred miles a year. Never used on a farm or off road to any extent. I suppose I need to bite the bullet though and get it off to inspect.

Col

It’s the inside that blocks with chit in the water not necessarily the air passage.

You could try flushing it directly at the intake/outtake pipes.

Red-neck repair time? Jet wash the lot? If the matrix survives it will work, if not well it was bust anyway.

take the heater valve off - that controls the water flow to the matrix - the internal diameter of it is tiny and it gets blocked. took me ages to unclog mine but when I did the cab was really cosy despite the number of places cold air can creep in from outside.

there is also a way of joining two matrixes together to get double the heat

Typically most of the bilge bowers you see advertised on ebay are axial fans, good at moving large volumes of air assuming there is no restriction in the way like a heater matrix. I tried a cheap 4" one and put it back in its box. I now have two centrifugal bilge blowers which are far more suited to the application, you look virtually any modern car heater fan and it will be a centrifugal type. Both these are plumbed in series with a pickup at the front, significant improvement on the standard setup.

It the engine getting hot??
I have a very good flow of air through my heater rad...after about 3 miles I am getting good heat...after 4 the engine is fully upto temp and the heater outlets are toasty.

So as stated and if your sure your stat is doing its job and getting the engine hot...all the heater needs is a good airflow...my airflow come up a pipe that runs from behind the rad panal....the faster I go the more air flows.

Nick.

found this if you really want to go to town

http://www.conehead.org/Projects/LandRover/Engineering/Heater/Heater Upgrade Work Diary.pdf

The water hose to the matrix gets nice and hot, the hose exiting is cooler but still warm so heat isn't so much of a problem, it's the lack of air pushing the warmth into the cab that I lack. It may well be that when I manage to get the air moving more efficiently, I might find the heat lacking. I like Bobsticle's idea of removing the pipes and flushing the matrix through, I'lll give that a go before I start snapping the bolts off the heater cover.

CK, when you say you have two centrifugal fans plumbed in series, do you mean one fan is pushing air to the next one? Also, where did you get them?

Col

When I want to improve my heat I press the electric heated seat button........... Just saying

Modern centrifugal fans are much better, my ex-mil flat heater has an axial fan (I'm being too kind, it looks more like a toy propellor) and draws loads of current to do very little. My rear heater is an ex-taxi one with the centrifugal fan and its way better for the same current draw.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LONDON-t...686881?hash=item33dfa863e1:g:vYcAAOSwvGlaW0~n

Both mine came from ebay, I brought the black one first, its made by Volvo Penta and the quality is obvious. I thought if one is good then two must be better, the second grey one was similar to all the generic ones you see on ebay like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Seaflo-in-...itm=322930682984&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1

Both fans claim similar flow rates but the Volvo one is more powerful than the grey one and while having two in series gives a useful increase in flow I dont think you can just add the flows together and expect that as your output.

One other thing, I dont have a standard Series 3 lower dash / heater box, I made my own which allows a lot more air to flow, it has seven large outlets five of which can be throttled plus another two smaller outlets for side window demist.

Both units had the same type of flange fitting so I guess its some kind of marine standard. I had to make an adapter to allow the fan to directly mount to the heater unit then I just coupled it all up with flexible ducting and ran the inlet pipe to the front for a fresh air supply.

Wow, that looks elaborate. Bet it works nicely though.

Where does one get 3inch ducting from to go from the van to the heater matrix? I don't really want to buy it via the part number if I can help it, I'd rather go to a local shop.

All you need is a section of ducting down to the rad grill...job done....no fancy blowers req.

Crikey, that's way more advanced than what I was imagining. Do the two fan motors create a lot of noise? The only good thing I can say about the original fan motor is that it is very quiet. I was thinking about re-ducting the air supply to the front rather than the side. CK, does your motor set up still retain the two speed option or is it simply on or off.


Col

Col do try the intake at the front...had it on mine like that for years...you wont be disappointed...dont need the blower most of the time but I still have to use when req.

I'l give it a go later today.

Col

Rubins4 said:

Where does one get 3inch ducting from

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Try here https://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/Prod...VT77tCh0gSQwtEAQYAiABEgKDG_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Colthebrummie said:

Do the two fan motors create a lot of noise?

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The fans make no more noise than the original although I did have a problem with the smaller bore ducting howling. The larger bore ducting is vacuum cleaner hose and has smooth corrugations, the smaller bore stuff is electrical conduit which has square edge corrugations. Originally I brought some black stuff to match and the noise it produced due to the airflow was deafening, the grey stuff is better but still howls if I close of all the other outlets.

It retains the two speed fan, I just used a large power resistor and bolted it to the underside of the wing for the slow speed. Flat out I think each fan draws about 6 amps so I added a pair of relays as you could feel the switch warming up.

Need ast least 2mt maybe more....I will measure mine later on....in my job I pick this stuff up on my travels.

I drive a waste compactor truck going into factory's ect...surprising what I find.

Awful what I see getting binned....this idea is for a S3...maybe usable for a 2 -2a I dont know.

Need to trim a bit of metal from the front panal at the side of the rad.