Hot water heater query
 

Hi, some advice needed here please.
I am in the process of fitting a hot water heater to my 1930 Tudor. I have all the bits and pieces, the last of which was the hook up kit that the vendors sell. It's advertised as having a scoop to help the flow of water to the heater. However whereas the heater itself, hoses fittings etc are all nominally half inch ID, the scoop is more like 10mm ID. Now this would seem to be restricting the flow of water and thus reduce the available from the heater. I could easily make a scoop of half inch ID by using the larger tapping of the new pipe, but do the makers know what they are doing? Should I keep the scoop as it is or enlarge it .
All comments/advice gratefully received.
Cheers

Re: Hot water heater query
 

My S/W Town Sedan was fitted with a heater when I bought it. The car came from the Chicago area, so they needed heat.

My previous owner seemed to know what he was doing. He installed a small 12 volt electric pump in one heater hose to improve circulation through the heater core. He also had a thermostat on the radiator side of the hot water heater outlet.

When the fan and the pump were switched on (they shared a common switch) that heater would put out a lot of hot air. It was nice.

I am assuming that this configuration was arrived at by trial and error, where he first tried to use only what the vendors offered and did not like the amount of heat that came out of it.

Having the thermostat in the upper hose puts some back-pressure on water going out of the engine and to the heater. That helps. But I think my previous owner decided he needed more.

I hope this helps.

Re: Hot water heater query
 

For several years (college) I ran my heater without any scoop, just a home rigged tap on the rubber radiator hose. It seemed to work okay as long as I had a thermostat above it. Like Jim said, the back pressure from the stat seemed to help. Also, it really made a difference whether I used a 160 or 185 degree stat. I'm currently using the tap in the thermostat housing sold by Vintage Precision, which looks to me like it would provide plenty of back pressure. That works fine with the 160 stat that came with it, but the car is no longer my daily driver in the dead of winter. It's kind of nice to be able to put that over-zealous Model A water pump to some good use, other than pushing coolant out the overflow.

Another suggestion: I installed the switch controlling the heater fan in the kick panel on my wife's side of the car--HIGHLY recommended! I never bothered to rig up a remote cable to control a flow diverter valve to fine tune the coolant flow (and temperature) thru the heater core. I did construct an elegant diode array and multiposition switch in a failed attempt to make the blower motor multi-speed. I did install a shutoff in the heater hose under the hood, for use in summer time. But in cool weather, it's one-temperature, one fan speed, either OFF or blasting ON--under my wife's control. Works for us!

Re: Hot water heater query
 

Whatever you do, keep in mind that the floor boards have to be removed every once in a while. No need to make it a lot harder. I’m in Mich and the manifold heater is all I need.

Re: Hot water heater query
 

Manifold heaters work great. Just make sure you don't have any gasket leaks or you'll get some carbon monoxide.

Re: Hot water heater query
 

That's why they were banned here decades ago. Not that we need a heater often anyway.

Re: Hot water heater query
 

Hi all,
Thanks for all your inputs. I decided to modify the hot water pickup as I think that if there is too much hot water and therefore heat, I can simply regulate the flow by a valve that I was going to fit anyway. If anyone's interested, the photo shows the pickup that came with the kit, the small copper pipe is it! ( the O ring is just to support it) the other bit is with my mod installed in the top hose adaptor showing the half inch ID bore. To me it's a no brainier, but we will see.
I hope to report the results when it's all fitted but what with one thing and another that may be a few weeks away yet.
Cheers

Re: Hot water heater query
 

Hi,
So I have installed it all and I am happy to report that all is well. There is a fair amount of heat so I am very happy. I can regulate the heat by turning the water tap between on and off, so I can now go for a drive in cold weather - result.
Cheers all