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van has no heat

Hi,

I have a 75 Westfalia with no heat. I guess the problems began with the previous owners, who apparently only used the van in the summer. THey had the original-style muffler and heat exchangers replaced with two new mufflers of a completely different type. As they left it, the heat blower fan in the engine compartment just blew air out the bottom of the van (good job guys:( ). Anyway, not wanting to replace the shiny new mufflers just yet, I figured that since I've got a gas heater, I guess I could do without the crappy heat exchangers entirely. Besides, I'm told they're totally inadequate to actually heat the cabin. So, I bought some flexible metal pipe, and routed it to connect the blower to the gas heater (just back from the control flaps). Now, when the blower is on, air actually moves into the cabin, woohoo, I accomplished something! Still, when I have the blower on and the gas heater turned up, the air doesn't warm up at all.

Can someone please recommend how I go about troubleshooting the gas heater itself. Is there anything that can really be fixed, or am I wasting my time?

Now here's a possible alternative, I've just found what looks to be a brand new Espar BA6 gas heater on an old 72 vanagon. If fixing my existing heater is not feasible, I'm wondering if I can retro-fit the BA6 in its place. Any thoughts?

Thanks, Robin

Reply to
robinjamesmartin
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You didn't give any info about the existing gas heater- model, where it's located. The BA6 was stock in Bay Buses and is a great find.

There is BN2/BN4 info on my web site. There is a wealth of info on:

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Click on Library and then on the heat section.

Also complete manuals here for view/download:

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Speedy Jim

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Reply to
Speedy Jim

The existing one is, I think, the original factory one. I don't know the model number, but I'll check it this evening. Anyway, It's located under the van, covered by a large piece of sheet metal - looks like the manual you pointed me to is the right one for me.

Now I'm a bit confused though, the "BA6" that I've found on another van is a stand-alone unit in the engine compartment. It doesn't look anything like my setup, it's a tubular thing, resembling a turbine - maybe 15cm diameter by 50cm long. Is this just the difference between a factory-installed BA6 and a modernised stand-alone job?

Robin

Reply to
robinjamesmartin

The under-carriage heater was the stock heater accessory starting in '74 and it is a BA-6 Eberspacher.

Get thee a Haynes manual for '72 thru '79, ISBN 0 85696 614 2. There is an excellent chapter on the heater, including a nice diagram of the blower(s) and hose routing.

I would have every reason to believe that the existing heater is salvageable.

Speedy Jim

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Reply to
Speedy Jim

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