Removing Passenger-/Floor-heater

[Havock]

Probably many of you have already done this process. But I couldn't find a proper explanation on how to approach this.

I want to remove the heating in the back since its bulky and wont be seeing any winter soon.

My main concern is to move it out of the way so I can proceed with other parts of the conversion, yet its being held in its place with electrical wireing that I wont dare to touch without consulting you guys.

This is the situation:


Can I just cut these wires? I prefer to remove them completely but have no idea in which way that will affect the electrical system. Does some of you have any pointer in the right direction? Assuming its powersupply and the single-wire is on/off?

Idealy I'd also like to remove the hoses for the liquid that runs through it. I checked the engine but there are too many hoses for me to confidently screw around with this. Not my first prio, but since I'm at it just as well get some additional intel.

Any help is much much appreciated!

Kind regards,

[Jacob]

On your wiring you should be fine to cut the wires and cap them (separately) I would trace them down and remove them from your wiring panel no chance of an issue later.

The heaters should have valves to isolate them from the rest of your cooling system. I'm guessing your bus is FE... if so the hoses will be coming through on the driver side probably right in front of the drivers heat. It will be easier to tell what's going on if you remove the panels around the driver heat exchanger

[family wagon]

I like to cut the conductors individually at slightly different lengths, but that's just personal preference to keep the cut ends away from one another. As Jacob suggested, cap them with a wire nut or appropriate tape.

The heater hose is typically 1" inside diameter. For a time after removing some of my heaters I re-joined the hose with barbed steel couplers I found in the irrigation section at the Big Blue Home Center. They're used for the black "poly" type of irrigation pipe. Plastic fittings are also available, but I wouldn't use them here because failure would turn into a big problem quickly.

IIRC the hose is about the same size as the outside of 3/4" copper pipe fittings. You could buy a U-bend or make one from copper pipe pieces.

When you pull the hoses some antifreeze will spill out. You'll probably do fine if you loosen both hoses from the heater, have your splice part ready to go, have a pan to catch most of the spill, and just work quickly.

[Jacob]

Family wagon has a good point You can also clamp the hoses with vise grips, a c-clamp or anything else you maybe have at the end of the connections to avoid excessive antifreeze spilling. I would still try to find the valves that isolate the heaters from the rest of your cooling system. At least you can't dump your radiator out on the buss floor! They are probably the only valves on the 1" hose in your engine bay.... that's how mine was set up anyway.

[BlackJohn]

Cutting the wires is fine if you make the ends safe. You may want 12Vdc back there at some point so up to you to decide. They come from the control panel area that has the fan switches for the heaters. They are dead as long as those switches are off.

John

[CaptSquid]

I'd replace those heaters with MYSON Contractor Series Low Contemporary Profile 36-1/4 in. Hot Water Radiator-CV21-900 - The Home Depot

[MrFoundation]

Funny, was just thinking about this myself. Thank you for the advice. Will let you know how I fare.

[jschumer]

Originally Posted by CaptSquid

I'd replace those heaters with MYSON Contractor Series Low Contemporary Profile 36-1/4 in. Hot Water Radiator-CV21-900 - The Home Depot

Does this work with the coolant, then??

[CaptSquid]

Sure does. Doesn't take up much of the floor space, as do the factory heaters.

[weboughtabus]

Originally Posted by CaptSquid

Sure does. Doesn't take up much of the floor space, as do the factory heaters.

Out of curiosity, did you install per the manufacturer's instructions? In order to do so the top of these rads is about 11" off the ground, since the rad itself is about 7" and requires 4" clearance off the ground. If not, what flooring are you using and have you experienced any issues, like warping or cupping?