Heater Removal & Electrical Question

[Uptoknowgood]

Hey everyone! I am a newbie to the world of skoolies! I am convertin a '98 Bluebird to a camper/home. I am feeling a lot of heat from the HurriHot and want to remove it safely & correctly. Do we just need to clamp the hoses or is there some other way to remove the hoses completely?

The air conditioning switch is also smoking and about to burn up....any suggestions or help about the wiring is much appreciated!

Also - we are having a lot of issues with our starter & battery. The bluebird body is on a 98 GMC savanna 3500 van chasse. Anyone have lots of issues with this?

[leadsled01]

My bus has a valve along the frame to stop the hot engine coolant from cycling through the heater.

[slaughridge85]

yeah, there should be a couple of what look like a garden hose valves under the hood. On mine, they are on the passenger side of the engine. you can shut them off to stop the heat, but If you're only removing the rear heater like I did you will have to get a u-bend and connect the inlet hose going to the heater to the outlet hose from the heater. It's basically just a big coolant loop. If you just cap the hoses off the coolant can't return to the engine and you will run into problems. I would, however reccomend shutting both valves before you unhook your hoses from the heater to minimize the loss of coolant, and make sure you have a bucket ready to catch what comes out of the hoses if you shorten them.

[Uptoknowgood]

Thank you both so much!

[cadillackid]

there are 3 heater valves on most busses.. the 2 under the hood will shut off heat to the entire bus...

the on near the floor on the driver compartment will turn off the heat to the Left side of the bus but leaves the right-and side still active..

some people like the ability to turn the heat on and off at will so they leave the hood valves turned on and just turn on and off the left side so you have some control..

also you may need to work the valves open and closed a couple times so they dont leak.. similar to your garden hose faucet if it leaks..

if the A/C switch is smoking its likely either tha fan motor is dirty and pulling way more current than it should or the switch is bad.. im assuming this is the fan speed control switch for the interior fan thats smoking?

-Christopher

[Uptoknowgood]

@cadillackid

Thanks Christopher - I am pretty sure the switch is bad. Yes it is the fan control switch...do you know anything about replacing a switch like that?

[cadillackid]

what kind of air conditioner is it? most of them will have some name on the indoor portion of it...

take a picture of the A/C controls if you can.. most of them are pretty standard and we can find you one that would work..

-Christopher

[Uptoknowgood]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

what kind of air conditioner is it? most of them will have some name on the indoor portion of it...

take a picture of the A/C controls if you can.. most of them are pretty standard and we can find you one that would work..

-Christopher

Hi Christopher,

It is a Carrier AC that is mounted from the ceiling in the back of the bus. It is about 4 ft by 2 ft and runs from the alternator. I haven't figured out how to post photos from my phone yet, but the switch has 4 wires connected and 4 fan settings - 0, 1, 2, 3. It rotates clockwise to switch between settings.

ThanK you!

-Haley

[CaptSquid]

Originally Posted by slaughridge85

yeah, there should be a couple of what look like a garden hose valves under the hood.

What's a hood?

[dan-fox]

Originally Posted by CaptSquid

What's a hood?

It's that large square door on the backside, where you change the bus' diaper.