Bus heater core removed how to bypass

[Scott & Heather]

My bus heater core (main one) is removed but drivers heat is still hooked up. Can I just run a radiator hose from one heater core pipe to the other in the condenser bay? Or should I block each one off with a copper cap soldered on? What's best practice?


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[gumpy]

I would cap them. The driver's heat comes from the same lines. If you have too little restriction (i.e. tied together) you might no get enough flow through the driver system.

[Scott & Heather]

I did notice in my research is that the lines were teed off from the main heater core lines so before I actually open the gate valves to allow the drivers seat to work I wanted to make sure I don't with the heater core lines open so I will cap Them thank you so much


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[jav9956]

I capped them. What I figured was the best way to keep flow going just as intended.

[Geoff]

What is the difference between shutting off the heater lines off and capping them?  Nothing.  Since I have the finest bus made, a GMC RTS, I took the heater and air conditioning air handler out, saved the heater core, and use the heating system radiator (heater core) and made it into an auxiliary cooling radiator for the engine.  I kept the driver's heat and plumbed it into a Webasto heater to 1) pre-heat the engine, and 2) use as an interior heater (very nice).

--Geoff

[eagle19952]

do Webasto's come with noise canceling headphones...

[jav9956]

What is the difference between shutting off the heater lines off and capping them?  Nothing.

If you simply shut them off you cannot use the drivers heat, which I believe was the main goal that Scott is trying to achieve.

[Scott & Heather]

^bingo


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[buswarrior]

Capping is correct.

A bypass loop would introduce an opportunity to overheat the engine, as there will be no way to cool that hot coolant before it returned to the engine.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Scott & Heather]

Ok. Thanks. So now after three plumbing stops, I haven't found caps the right size to do this? What's your secret Bjorn?


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[jav9956]

This was about 6 months ago already (scary to realize). You may already know this so forgive me if I am not telling you anything new. When measuring a pipe the measure is from the inside diameter... so a 1 1/4" pipe is the inside diameter and the outside is likely 1.625" or something thereabouts. The easiest thing to do, I think, is to make sure to measure the inside and outside diameter, then extrapolate the wall thickness and make a note of that. I like numbers so I take all the numbers and my measuring tape to the hardware store and measure out what I need and that generally works well. Sometimes I just look for a pipe with the exact measurements of mine so I have a "replica" in my hand at the store. From there I just see what fits on it  .

I think is was a 1 3/4" copper cap that I ended up using but I just don't remember, it did fit snug.

Anyhow, I think a lot of people get confused between measuring tube (size measured from OD) and measuring pipe (size measured from ID) because we huMANs like to make things confusing!

I hope that helps.

[gumpy]

Should be 1 1/2".

Maybe you've seen this, but here's a page I did on repairing one of the valves on mine. Maybe there's something in there to help you...

http://www.gumpydog.com/Bus/MC9_WIP/HVAC/Coach_HVAC/Coach_Heating/Repairing_Coach_Heat_Gate_Valve/repairing_coach_heat_gate_valve.htm

[eagle19952]

Find a company that does commercial installation of piped air compressor piping. When placed in concrete the tubing is proprietary, similar to commercial refrigeration copper.

One or the other should have what you need. you have "hard" copper.

[Scott & Heather]

Thank you bunches. Today I reconnected the drivers heat so all I need to do is cap the lines in the bay, add coolant and I should have heat Bjorn, you were super helpful, thanks again....ill check
Out Craig's link....


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[jav9956]

If your evaporator is good a guy was contacting me trying to buy one, also needs a compressor.

Don't know what you plan on doing with your evaporator but if you are interested in selling you might be able to make a couple bucks to put into the conversion  . Let me know and I can give you his contact info.