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Fitting a Kuranda fan heater


blackrose

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I've got one of these fan heaters that I want to fit. 

 

Excuse my poor sketch and ignore my crossed out notes, but is that the correct way to plumb it in? I assume I would need the heat exchanger and pump or is there a simpler way to do it?

 

The idea is that the heater could be fed either from the engine or the Webasto.

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Edited by blackrose
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Your sketch is OK, except that there are an awful lot of possible water flows, not all of which achieve what you want.  For instance, if you run the pump for  engine heat to the fan heater the water will probably mainly circulate between the heat exchanger  and the calorifier as that will likely be the lowest resistance circuit. It might speed up heating the calorifier though!   You will need one or more flap type NRV somewhere to stop this.  I can't definitively see where, because it depends on which way the pump pushes.   If the pump pushes toward the fan heater it can go between the T and the calorifier but something odd will probably happen if you have both engine pump and webbasto pump running.

 

Balancing the fan heater and the calorifier on webasto, so you get heat to both will be difficult I fear.   A 'T' valve so you can have one or other might be OK or an external sensor mechanical cylinder stat on the calorifier inlet with the sensor under the cauliflower insulation could also do it, if you can get one.

 

N

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1095387568_WaterSystem.png.72db923bec7d2c4528a12c5a84928593.png

 

Connect in as though it is a normal radiator. If you want to add a heat exchanger then see lower left of diagram. To avoid double pass of water through cali when running engine heat then use webasto which has an output for running a fan (when in an automotive installation) to drive the valve open when it is operating at >40 deg. Others will say using cali feed will over cool the engine. Careful setting of the system prevents this, I.e. turn flow rate down on radiator side.

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Thanks. I think I'll just connect the fan heater to the Webasto circuit and keep it simple. Am I ok to connect it as in my diagram without heat exchanger or pump? Will water flow through the heater based on the engine's water pump?

Edited by blackrose
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21 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Thanks. I think I'll just connect the fan heater to the Webasto circuit and keep it simple. Am I ok to connect it as in my diagram without heat exchanger or pump?

Yes, but be mindful that with the fan on these radiate a lot of heat so you might be disappointed as it could blow cold quite quick unless it has all flow from the Webasto. You will just have to try. May be worth a temp setup to try first.

24 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 Will water flow through the heater based on the engine's water pump?

Not sure what you mean by the question.

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31 minutes ago, Cas446 said:

 

Not sure what you mean by the question.

Sorry, I'm confusing myself. I meant if I just have the heater plumbed into the Webasto circuit (and don't plumb it into the engine circuit) will it need an additional pump or will the Webasto pump be adequate?

 

Does it matter where the heater is T-d into the Webasto flow & return? I guess it's going to take the same amount of heat from the system wherever it's plumbed in?

 

Edited by blackrose
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The webasto pump will be fine. Install a valve on at least one side of the Kuranda and use them to balance the system as per normal radiators. Once installed you will have to adjust the installed radiators to get everything to heat up in a balanced way. However if you want to use the Kuranda for 'fast' or 'localised' heat then you may want to install a quarter turn valve so that you can fully open it and effectively short circuit the other radiators so it receives all the heat for a while.

And it doesn't matter where you install it, but for best performance install across the main  22mm flow and returns, best to avoid teeing into a take off at smaller diameter.

Edited by Cas446
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11 hours ago, blackrose said:

Thanks. So you mean fit the Kuranda with a TRV?

 

No I think he means just a gate valve. Radiators in CH systems have a valve at each end. One might be either a TRV or just an on/off control. At the other end, under a plastic cover, is what is commonly known as a lockshield valve. The purpose of these is to adjust the “resistance” of each radiator so that they all receive an equal share of the water. Otherwise known as balancing the circuit. Without it, radiators closest to he heating source would be hottest and those at the far end of the system might only be warm.

 

So the point is that if you add another radiator (or in this case, fanned radiator) you need something to restrict the flow so that it isn’t greedy. Best to use some sort of gate valve which you can set to be partially open to balance the flow.

 

That said, if the Kuranda device is installed at the far end of the circuit (furthest away from the heat source) it probably won’t be necessary. 

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