another day, another project
Jun. 13th, 2020 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eorToday's big project was replacing the heater under the rear seat of the van. This heater is located under the rear seat and provides engine heat into the passenger compartment when the van is travelling. A lot of people remove the rear heaters for additional storage space and reduced hassle, but the front heater is nearly useless in truly cold weather (rear engine vehicle and long hoses run outside to get to the front heater). So I want to keep it at least for now. I don't plan on driving the van when it's cold, but so many days the rear heater in the old van felt like a godsend, I just can't bring myself to remove it.
A few weekends ago I had started to replace the heat exchanger (the previous owner had a new spare, which is never a good sign). I checked, the old heat exchanger was leaking. But while replacing that I notice the plastic parts where the electrics connected to the blower motor were melted. Significantly melted. It looks like the resistor got hot enough to melt anything plastic around it. A very bad thing (tm). There are new resistors available, but there was nowhere left to mount a new resistor, so I had to find a used heater and wait for that to arrive from Canada.
Things on a vehicle this old never go easily. The heater being replaced had a sticker that read "Manufactured in Western Germany". Yes, it was manufactured back when there were two countries named Germany. The replacement wasn't any newer, just not melted. The plastic parts are so brittle they break if you breath on them wrong. The new heater's mounts were rusted so I had to swap mounts, then swap the electrical connector (my old one was black with carbon instead of white). Got it all assembled, but there are some hairline cracks in the plastic. I think next time I need to work on it, I will remove it and opt for the storage space.
Other than that, I didn't get much done at all today. Derien finished transplanting lilac sprouts and cleaning out a flower bed which is within the garden fence. Plus she continued from where I left off on the lawn. I started to look into how to mount the gray water tank on the van. It requires drilling holes, so I'm going very slow on the process. I want everything lined up just right.
Tonight the plan is to burn more brush. We've still got a significant pile down by the burn area and it will be good to get that cleaned out before we take any more down.
A few weekends ago I had started to replace the heat exchanger (the previous owner had a new spare, which is never a good sign). I checked, the old heat exchanger was leaking. But while replacing that I notice the plastic parts where the electrics connected to the blower motor were melted. Significantly melted. It looks like the resistor got hot enough to melt anything plastic around it. A very bad thing (tm). There are new resistors available, but there was nowhere left to mount a new resistor, so I had to find a used heater and wait for that to arrive from Canada.
Things on a vehicle this old never go easily. The heater being replaced had a sticker that read "Manufactured in Western Germany". Yes, it was manufactured back when there were two countries named Germany. The replacement wasn't any newer, just not melted. The plastic parts are so brittle they break if you breath on them wrong. The new heater's mounts were rusted so I had to swap mounts, then swap the electrical connector (my old one was black with carbon instead of white). Got it all assembled, but there are some hairline cracks in the plastic. I think next time I need to work on it, I will remove it and opt for the storage space.
Other than that, I didn't get much done at all today. Derien finished transplanting lilac sprouts and cleaning out a flower bed which is within the garden fence. Plus she continued from where I left off on the lawn. I started to look into how to mount the gray water tank on the van. It requires drilling holes, so I'm going very slow on the process. I want everything lined up just right.
Tonight the plan is to burn more brush. We've still got a significant pile down by the burn area and it will be good to get that cleaned out before we take any more down.
