Defrosting - experiment

And so it continues. I think, when it comes right down to it, I don't want to do paint prep. Sanding sucks. I see why most people pay others to do this when they can. Ugh. So, I'm dodging it for another day and clowning on Hapy instead. Today, I hacked together something as an air intake for the defroster/heater. This was only an experiment, and a way to kill some time in the Summer sun.

Winter is Wet, Summer is Hot
With some nice weather settling in, I am finding pleasure in doing little things that do not involve getting super dusty from sanding. Or worse, getting super sweaty and then having sand-dust settle onto that sweat. So, instead, I did a semi-worthless effort on the heater/defroster. One of my ongoing concerns for this heater is that when I hit a puddle, the wet will hit the heater air intake and my windscreen will instantly fog up. I figured I could slap something together as an experiment to reduce that risk. So, off to the headed-to-the-dump pile I go.

Dumpster Diving, the Home Game

vent-hole end

The tipping fee at the dump seems to climb every year. They get you for, like $25US just to drive in, so we will usually queue a load and make a run to the dump once a year. This year, that pile includes an array of rusted car parts (big surprise) and a carpet cleaner that fell apart. That carpet cleaner provided me a couple of 1-1/4 inch diameter hoses to use as an air intake. I rinsed them out with the garden hose and let them dry in the sun while I figured out how to connect the hoses between the heater intake and some part of the bus.

Back to the pile. I found some 1-1/4 inch PVC pipe. This pipe fit perfectly inside the hoses, so I had the makings of hose bib's. I cut 4 3-inch lengths, and put the rest back in the dump pile. Why 4? Because I will use the hoses in parallel. Why? Because the air intake side of the Vanagon rear seat heater is designed such that one of the coolant lines runs straight across the intake. Back when I had this unit on the luxury battery tray I had added a flange to attach a 4" dryer vent hose, but I didn't have any dryer vent hose in the dump pile and I wanted to do this experiment with free stuff.

Last, I picked up the original bottom plate for the defroster heat register that I discarded in my last post about this defrost saga. I figured I could cut something up to go against the air intake out of that tin.

Hack, but Free

free supplies

The bus air system originally has a floor vent between the front seats that routes air back to the main cabin. There is a cable-controlled flap that Y's off of the main air pipe into a corregated hose. On Hapy, that hose was falling apart when I bought him, and the cable-controlled flap was rusted shut. So, I removed the hose, tapes off the openings at either end with that fancy metal HVAC tape and didn't think about it again. Until now. I thought I would try to source cabin air from that vent. The vent hole, however, is smaller than the combined 1-1/4 inch bibs. So, I cut a pair PVC pipes on an angle and super-glued the angled sides together so the narrowed end could fit into that vent hole.

On the other end, I cut up the discarded HVAC tin into a 4 inch circle with 2 1-1/4 inch holes in it that aligned with a gap between the coolant line and the edge of the flange. In an effort to just get it together, I attached the PVC pipes with glue and that metal HVAC tape. I do not expect this to last terribly long, but this was just to see if the idea was viable. Besides, this whole experiment was to get me out of sanding... No, that doesn't make sense, but don't throw logic at me. I am justifying why I'm not sanding. Anyway, I slid the hoses over the respective bibs, and now we have a means of testing whether we can motor through a puddle in cold weather and avoid fogging the windshield.

Next Time

inlet side hack

Truth-be-told, I will probably be getting some dryer venting for the house anyway, so I'll just buy a meter more than I need for the house. There is a hole in the driver-side belly pan around which I can attach a flange. I should be able to fit a hose, albeit wedged up and folded by the coolant line, onto the flange on the heater, and connect that to the flange I add to the belly pan. Regardless, this was a fun experiment, and kept my hands and brain busy on an otherwise lazy summer Saturday during the CoVid-19 safer-at-home period.

Thanks for following along. I might do something more constructive next time I avoid sanding. Or, I'll actually do the sanding and my next post will be about an old trip or the threat to humanity currently occupying the white house or maybe (shock!) I'll actually post about sanding. Nah, that would not be interesting reading. Stay safe, stay physically distant and please consider that you wear a mask to protect others regardless of their politics. Or yours.