Military Diesel Heaters

[Tenor]

Has anyone ever used one of the old multi-fuel heaters for their bus, or had experience with them while in the service?  The ones I have seen are 24 volt.

[DavidInWilmNC]

Are you referring to the Stewart-Warner Southwind types?  If so, I have one, unused, that I bought about two years ago.  I have yet to put together a 'control panel' for it to start, stop, etc.  I'm going to try and get around to it at some point in the near future.  Another member here used one while working on the bus, but said that it smelled too much like diesel, even when exhausted properly.  I'm going to give mine a shot, though.  There's a model that looks almost identical to mine that heats water.  One of these might work nicely in a hydronic setup, as there would be no air to carry the smell into the bus.  If you're talking about something different, I have no clue as to how well they work.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll work better than the other member's units did.

David

[Tenor]

Hey David,
Yes, I am talking about the Stewart-Warner types and the "Perfect Heater" ones as well that just put out hot air.

[RJ]

Tenor -

Good Luck. . .

Five or six years ago on this and the other bus boards there were a couple of guys trying to get these military things to work. . .  Biggest challenge was trying to figure out the control circuits, since there are NO schematics available.

IIRC, they both ended up recycling these things for scrap and using more commonly available units.

FWIW & HTH. . .

[Ncbob]

Egads, my young friends (and I'm showing my age here)....S/W Southwind heaters were the scourge of the automobiles of the mid to late 30's...because the Imagineers in Detroit had not yet learned that automotive radiators (which contained Methanol for anti-freeze) might produce enough heat to make the passenger compartments comfortable enough in those terrible "Global Cooling" days.

Turn that Gasoline Southwind heater on and you might get one of two things....more heat than you needed...or a flame about 2 feet long which would, without question, burn the passenger side of the front seat into oblivion!

To think that the Government has found a way to re-sponsor an old technology goes beyond my comprehension. My, what is this world coming to?

FWIW, Military contracts are made to manufacture X number of units, with X number of manuals and X + X amount of replacement parts.  Beyond that the contract is OVER!  Unless you have a brother, sister or wife who might work in the Logistics area of the Department of Defense, sleeps with Hillary or is an intimate with Senator Craig...you don't have a Chinaman's chance of getting manuals, parts or anything else in regard to a Military surplus item.

Try and contact the manufacturer of that product for follow-up and you'll learn, as I did, that it ain't gonna happen.  So much for Military Surplus bargains!

Bob

[DavidInWilmNC]

Bob, I'm familiar with the ones you're talking about.  The one I have, and that I think Tenor is asking about runs on diesel, jet fuel(?), kerosene, and heating oil... kinda like those torpedo heaters used in construction.  There's no way I'd mess with one of the gasoline heaters... except maybe out in the yard for S&G.

Russ, I have the schematics for the control circuit and the heater itself.  It's taken about two years to find 'em online, although Stewart-Warner has always had a full repair manual with diagrams available (for $57 including shipping).  They did make sure that I wasn't on some sort of secret 'list' before they'd agree to sell me a manual; I never did buy one.  I also have the manual for one of the hydronic models, which is very similar to the hot air units.  I'd misplaced it when I cleaned out the bus back in early summer, but found it in my bedroom the other day.  It must have been bedtime reading material or something. 

The control circuit isn't really all that complex, but seems a bit odd more than any thing else.  Anyway, I'm going to try and get this thing working soon.  The one I have is 24 volts, 30,000 BTU's, fairly compact, and looks to have never been used (no soot in the combustion chamber).  I'll post the results once I put together the start-stop control and fire it up (out in the yard, of course!)

David

[DavidInWilmNC]

I meant to add that if anybody needs these diagrams / schematics, let me know.  I'll can email them to you.

David

[superiormotors]

I have used the Stewart Warner Southwind hot air heater for the past two winters to heat my bus while I work on it. It runs all day Saturdays and Sundays all winter. The only problem I had was have to clean the vaporizer so it would burn effciently. Parts were no problem to get, called Stewart Warner up got the parts had to replace the vaporizer once. Cost $30 plus shipping. Manuals are easy to find just like under military. Schematics are right on the heater (I have 3 of them 2 hot air 1 hot water all have schematics on them) The hot air models have 2 heat ranges 30,000 btu and 60,000 btu.  The only odor I get is on shut down and that is out the exhuast doesn,t get into the bus. (heater is outside I pipe the heat in)

[DavidInWilmNC]

Superior,
That sounds encouraging.  I bought mine without the control panel or the cable with it's odd connector configuration.  A terminal strip will take care of that, though.  Mine has two heat ranges - 30,000 and 5,000 (I believe) BTU's.  How often do you have to clean the vaporizer?  You don't happen to have a spare cable or control laying around, do you?  As I didn't have the control, I had nothing to go on in terms of diagrams.  Another busnut here sent me pics of the diagrams, which has helped.  Finding the actual full schematic for the unit, the pump circuit, controls, and some optional fuel tank selector switching (which won't apply to me) has helped a lot.  It'll be a couple of weeks, most likely, 'til I get to work on this, as I'll be out of town the next two weekends.  I'm having trouble finding a small 24 volt fuel pump, but a 12 volt should work with a relay to switch it. 

Once I've gotten the thing running, and am satisfied with it, I'll set up a couple more relays to allow a thermostat to control it.  The only drawback to it now, assuming it works out well, is that it's manually controlled.  If you want to part with the hot water unit, let me know! 

David

[superiormotors]

David I would be interested in selling the hot water one. The model number is CP-3050 24volt. Weight is 22 lbs., multi-fuel, pumps 80-90 gals per hr, manual switch or t-stat, 30,000btu. All these specs. are out of the manual. I bought this new to make a system similar to an Aquahot but have changed my mind. Have all the parts and mounts and manuals. If interested contact me off board.
Dave 

[Tenor]

Maybe I wasn't so crazy after all!  Superior, what conditions are you working in and would you consider using one of the hot air models as a furnace in your completed coach?  These seem fairly inexpensive and available on the e-place and some of them are new.

Glenn

[Tenor]

Dave,
You have me thinking of new ideas.  This has probably been discussed elsewhere, but if you use on of the hot water models, would you plumb into the coach coolant and use auxillary auto heater cores and blowers?  My bus heat works, but I am considering removing it in favor of smaller heater cores with 24 volt blower motors.  If this is similar to your plan, and if David is not interested in your system, I might be.  Please drop me an e-mail.  glenn@threemenandatenor.com

Glenn

[captain ron]

Glen, are you going 24 volt inverter?

[DavidInWilmNC]

After two days of putting together the control box, connecting everything, and finally locating my 12 volt fuel pump (controlled with a 24 volt relay), I was ready to test out the heater.  With much nervousness, I connected it to to the battery and to a container with diesel.  I stood back and fired it up.  It's a bit noisy, but not too bad.  There wasn't much smoke, but there was a lot of heat!  The heat exchanger gets so hot it glows red.  Is it normal for heat exchangers to glow red?  I'm thinking to attach it to some insulated metal duct and connect it to my bus' supply duct work.  The exhaust is 1½" pipe.  I'd like extend this with stainless and wrap this with copper water tubing.  With a circulater pump to my electric water heater, I'd likely have most of my hot water needs taken care of.  Anyway, next on the list will be to connect it to the duct work and try it out.  It makes me a bit nervous, so I'm thinking of building a metal box to enclose the entire heater and put a high temp switch in the box to cut off fuel and run the fan if the ambient air in the box gets too hot.  Next will be some way to connect a thermostat to this.

David

[TomNPat]

David and Dave,

Interested in information on these heaters.  Have one with only a pronged plug, no real way of knowing what to connect to it.

Would appreciate getting/buying information which would make this unit operable.

Please email me.

TomNPat