Re: Gasoline Heater for my 1940

Posted by DavidPackard On 2017/12/4 19:08:37

I can confirm the comment about gas heaters installed in VWs. I have seen such installed in Type 1's (Bug), Type 181 (Thing), and Type 2's (Bus). I owned a Type 1 with a Southwind and that heater would drive you out of the car. In the Type 1 the heater was mounted in the trunk . . . essentially in the passenger's lap, while the Bus mounted the heater in the driver's side of the engine compartment.

With respect to the question about a heater not producing heat. There are only 4 items to consider:
1. Insufficient fuel resulting in no combustion
2. Inadequate spark resulting in no combustion
3. Thermostat inoperative resulting in the heater remaining in the off state
4. Some type of safety device inhibiting operation

Trouble shooting is similar to the car's engine. There are a few YouTube videos of heaters being repaired. Search for the one where Ed China is fixing a broken heater in a 'Thing'. He covers the basics of trouble shooting . . . in that case both a broken fuel pump and a broken thermostat were found.

I would remove the heater from the car and conduct the testing outside with a fuel reservoir of limited capacity. In good working order these heaters are safe enough, however if the heater is broken I would treat it with respect.