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Mini Heater
ghvh - 6/11/03 at 10:43 AM

Has any one fitted a mini heater?
It looks to me as if it would fit centraly, half way through the scuttle leaving the ducts facing in to the car and the radiator and fan under the bonet.
Does any one know if there is any sva problem with this?


craig1410 - 6/11/03 at 01:19 PM

I'm not sure but I'd guess that blowing air from the engine bay into the cockpit (even an open top cockpit) wouldn't be a good idea. If you could duct the intake so that it draws air in from the scuttle or bonnet and then ensure that the engine bay and cockpit are sealed from each other then it should be okay. I'm still waiting on my SVA manual arriving so I can't be certain...

Cheers,
Craig.


timf - 6/11/03 at 02:34 PM

wasn't the mini heater setup the way hicost had it.

resulting in

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=7431


blueshift - 6/11/03 at 09:42 PM

as far as I know most cars take air from the engine bay to blow into the cockpit / cabin. quite normal.


JoelP - 6/11/03 at 11:53 PM

often the heater blower is behind the bulkhead, sucking from the bottom of the windscreen, so its not really from the engine bay itself. On the sierra it was quite well seperated by the rubber stuff.


Peteff - 7/11/03 at 10:39 AM

Early Mini heaters recirculated the air in the car, later ones had a plastic pipe under the wing which ducted air from the front grill before the engine. If you could duct air from behind the radiator you would be halfway to solving the problem.

yours, Pete.


stephen_gusterson - 7/11/03 at 10:45 AM

mini heaters were mounted in minis the same way hicost did.

If the hose blows off, as it did for James, then its gonna dump on you. But so will any heater thats mounted in the car by your feet.

Use good tight clips, new hose, and mount deflector plates so that water cant blast your feet should a problem arise.

I have a mini heater, and to mount 'thro scuttle' would be nuts. the water bit is right at the front by the dash, so thats no help, and the fan bit would be in the bonnet, drawing in fumes.

The heater is compact, but a little 'deep' behind dash. I tilted mine a little to reduce the depth.

Look at a sierra heater and a mini one looks a much better proposition!


atb

steve


andyps - 7/11/03 at 02:12 PM

Steve is right about the piping - many cars have hoses carrying hot water inside the car - just take a look at where the hoses go from your engine and they will almost certainly pass through the bulkhead. This is certainly the case on my Rover 800 - there is always the possibility of what happened to hicost in most cars. It just depends how close the pipes are to your body as to the damage which could be caused.

The good thing in a mini is that if the hoses need replacing at least you can get at both ends of them easily!


Ben_Copeland - 7/11/03 at 09:56 PM

I used to have a mini heater in, but decided to remove it after Hicost's accident. Also i didn't like the look of it.


Description
Description


stephen_gusterson - 7/11/03 at 11:45 PM

depends how you mount it. mines hidden behind a nice walnut dash and the legent plate looks good over that, rather than floating in mid air ala mini

atb

steve


Ben_Copeland - 8/11/03 at 12:31 AM

Didn't like the look of it... whatever i did with it. My opinion.

You like it, thats your opinion.

Plus its unnecessary weight in my car


paulbeyer - 8/11/03 at 08:16 PM

I was in the car with Hicost when he boiled his feet and that decided it for me. My neighbour runs his own business supplying motorbike clothing and safety gear and he sells 12v heated clothing. I posted on here a while back and got zero interest. Oh well.....


Ben_Copeland - 8/11/03 at 08:34 PM

Think most people would sooner just wrap up warm, cheaply.

Think the main reason why people have heaters is to demist their windscreens!


paulbeyer - 11/11/03 at 08:54 AM

You could drape your 12v powered undercrackers over the screen.

Not sure if it would get passed the SVA Gestapo though.


James - 26/11/03 at 05:13 PM

quote:
Originally posted by paulbeyer
You could drape your 12v powered undercrackers over the screen.

Not sure if it would get passed the SVA Gestapo though.


Lol!

I actually read "undercrackers" as meaning his plums the first time I read it!

James


Ben_Copeland - 26/11/03 at 05:35 PM

Right.........

*Must remember not to go near James at the next meet*