TheSamba.com :: View topic - Has anyone tried heating interior via oil cooler?

Sun Dec 20, 2015 5:24 pm

As the title states. Has any one tried mounting an oil cooler inside their VW with a fan to heat the interior? I need some heat but I want to run a header. Even though I drive my beetle in summer only it would be nice to have some type of heat as it does get down around freezing temperatures throughout the summer where I live.

Sun Dec 20, 2015 5:34 pm

I did, it did not work well. The only time it worked is when it is hot enough that you did not need to use it.

Dan

Sun Dec 20, 2015 5:35 pm

I've done it and it works great.

Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:53 pm

Ive done it and it works great......but not as fast as the ex heat. I ducted it off the cooler tin through the std tube into the car.just through the rear pannel under the rear seat blowing forward.as I dont want heat in the heater channels to form condensation and rust .vw should of used a plastic insulated tube in the heater channels or insulated tube in the center thingy that has the shifter mounted on it and all the cables go through. or add a raidiator and weld up the finnage so antifroze could be pumped through and a heater core up front. or...but a tiodie!!!!! when it's below 30 degrees mine takes about 8 miles to start to feal any heat. my 356 will have heat off the exhaust, but not heater boxes . also if you use the oil cooler for heat you need the oe week spring in the cooler relief piston so the oil heats faster instead of always running the cold oil through the cooler. just like a hot water heater....hot water dosent need heating, so cool oil dosent need cooling. :wink:

Mon Dec 21, 2015 3:09 am

Done it on a couple of cars (Bajas), on is my dad's and the other his friends. Both were very pleased with the heat, and the best part is that they know longer had the fogging problem, since you are not pulling in moist outside air. However, I did not use an oil cooler for the heater, but rather air conditioner evaporators. They are far better then oil coolers for radiating the heat from the oil. However, they do have smaller fluid passages then an oil cooler, so I found ones that had cooper tubing, and I joined multiple passages together to allow for the needed flow. I also put a squirrel cage blower on the back to force the air over the heating unit.

So the passenger could get heat, a little channel was fabbed to force air to that side..

Also, you need to have a bypass valve, so that you can shut off the heat in the summer.

It was a bit of work, but they were both very happy. So even though there are a lot of neigh sayers out there, the proof is in the pudding.

Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:02 am

Takes too long to heat and too much work.

I had a 1600cc winter motor w/ the dual stock exhaust heaters, w/ thermostat + flaps installed. Toasty hot soon as you fire up the engine.

Then for spring/summer a 2.0L street motor for the purpose.

All requires of me is engine replacement. That is it.

Unless you like smelling the oil or potentially cooking the engine, by all means try it out.

Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:38 am

15-20 years ago, when there was still a fair amount of Beetles doing daily service around here, we did some interior heating units using the oil. We used them as an addition to the stock heating. Yes it is somewhat slow in producing heat compared to a gas heater or the heat coming from the heater boxes, but as menthioned, it aids tremendeusly in reduction of moist in the car because it recirculates the air. There was no smell of oil. That is a matter of using decent hook ups.
We also adjusted the air thermostat to the setting where the flaps were closed the longest to get a quicker warm up in winter time.
When we did this the defogging was significantly swifter eventhought the heating from the oil was minimal at start up. But the circulation and ever so slight drying of air in the cabin helps more than one would expect.

T

Mon Dec 21, 2015 12:30 pm

For a stock engine, it is a total waste of time. The only time that you want to consider it is when you are going big and you can no longer use the stock heater boxes. Bothe engine were over 2L, and this was before after market heater boxes(crap) were made. For myself, I made my own heater boxes. I thought that it would be SOO much easier. I was wrong, to make a good set of heater boxes is about the same amount of work. I do get heat quicker, but I have to deal with the moisture issue.

Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:35 pm

to deal with the moisture issue you might tru pulling cabin air to the heater boxes and back in to the cabin via squirrel cage or bilge ventilator fan.witch are also sold for defrost&heater boosters as well as break cooling fans and many other things. and be sure to blow the cool air through the boxes, dont suck the hot air from the heat exchangers.

Mon Dec 21, 2015 8:55 pm

That's an idea that has been around for awhile and actually does work well, if you seal everything really good. The main problem is finding a good place in the firewall to pull the air when running dual carbs and good quality squirrel cages that can push enough air without sounding like a hurricane in the car..

Mon Dec 21, 2015 9:18 pm

Remember the old adverts from Barney's Wagenworks about using the heat from your stock oil cooler to warm up the cabin?

Tue Dec 22, 2015 1:15 am

neil68 wrote: Remember the old adverts from Barney's Wagenworks about using the heat from your stock oil cooler to warm up the cabin?
Exactly. I found that too a couple of times. I found out that the trick was to recirculate in only one side of the car, so the other side brought fresh air in all the time. Makes for significantly quicker defrosting and better heat.

T

Tue Dec 22, 2015 8:41 am

I suppose you could use a non dogystyle shroud and a dogy style cooler and make a box to feed air to from the cabin then back to the cabin..via electrick fan. I just use the std fan , but when the wind is right you dop get some exhaust, but not offten.

Tue Dec 22, 2015 11:30 am

I wonder how warm the air is coming out of the forward facing duct from the doghouse cooler in the winter? Would it be worth puting a diverter flap on it and directing it into the interior after the motor warms up?

Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:10 pm

I went the cabin air recirculation route, as well. I'm not sure it was less work than fabricating an interior oil cooler/heater, but this is how I did it in case you're looking for ideas:

First, I cut two, 3" holes in the lower corners of the firewall, over which I placed two fresh air intakes on the interior side:

Second, I bought a couple of 3" in-line, 12v electric blowers (Attwood Turbo-3000, I think) and fabricated a carbon fiber intake runner and nozzle:

Fully assembled, it goes together like this:

Then, the intake runners were positioned over the inlet holes and mounted to a purpose-built, carbon fiber firewall (please excuse the nasty looking decklid, it's a work in progress):

And, here is the end result. The blower motors were painted with black VHT wrinkle-coat, to match the rest of the engine:

I had to fabricate some counter-weighted flaps (sort of like what semi tractors use on the ends of their exhaust pipes to keep the rain out), to function as one-way check valves. I discovered that at highway speeds with the windows rolled down, a negative pressure zone is created inside the vehicle, which tries to pull super-heated air from the heat exchangers back up through the recirculation system and into the cabin. It was hot enough that it melted the plastic in one of the blowers.

The Pros: This system puts out more heat than two mice going at it in a wool sock! I used to keep a survival/emergency kit under the driver's seat that had a candle inside it (a vestige from when my machine and I lived in Alaska). With the heater on full bast (40-45 degrees F ambient temp), it got hot enough to melt the candle and turned the entire survival kit into a block of wax. And since fresh air is drawn in from the cabin rather than the engine bay, there is no danger of harmful or malodorous gases from the engine being sucked in. And, as you can see, there is no interference with dual carbs.

The Cons: The blowers are a tad noisier than I'd like, but not unbearably so. Turn two hair dryers on in the bathroom and then close the door and stand just outside, that's more or less the sound I'm talking about. I'm currently looking for a squirrel-cage type to see if I can't make them run dead-silent, though. Also, the heat-exchangers will have to be modified internally at some point. Without constant airflow from the fan shroud, the cast aluminum fins will get hot enough to melt. So far, they seem to be holding up well, but I intend to split them open next spring and, if needed, to weld in some steel fins to replace the aluminum.

Wed Dec 23, 2015 1:11 pm

That is one very well thought out and great looking setup :D .

Wed Dec 23, 2015 1:50 pm

Tired the Oil heater on my 1600 T-1 had a blower, waste of time and found it to be dangerous. Has too many connections and long hoses, blew a hose and in a matter of seconds a real mess in and out of the car. The good thing is once you blow a hose you know about It !! For a T-4 it is toally useless because the engine runs so cool, the heater will act like an external cooler and the engine will never heat up.

later went to a much simpler solution and it not for every one. Electric heat. If your car is air leak free, it does not take much to get it comfortable. I took a cheap “jeep rear seat heater” put the battery into a refrigerator veggie drawer and bolted the heater to the draw. Even in sub freezing temps it gets comfortable. Meaning yes you have to wear a coat, but no gloves. That is at the lowest setting, which will run for several hours. For a non daily driver it is perfect, then you can up the heat, because you will not be running it long.

I charge it when the car is not in use, grab it an place it on the passengers seat floor and off I go.

Wed Dec 23, 2015 2:35 pm

Where did you find the Jeep rear seat heater?

Dan

Wed Dec 23, 2015 2:49 pm

Multi69s wrote: That is one very well thought out and great looking setup :D .

Thanks, man.

Wed Dec 23, 2015 5:01 pm

Floating VW, nice job. That's a really sharp interior.