The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Deluxe Heater...Well its more of a cooler.........

I have a Deluxe fresh air heater in my 49 gmc. I went all through the heater, it has a new heater core made by a local shop, a new blower motor. I don't have a ranco (original) heater valve, but I did put in a universal valve (which is in the open position)

I have a 350 engine, the heat gauge goes up to 180 when the engine is warmed up, but I am getting no heat out of the heater, not a lot of air flow, and virtually no air flow out of the defrost vents.

Do these heaters usually do a good job? We had several AD trucks when I was a kid, and none of them were overly warm, but they all had some other kind of heater in them. This one is just not making warm air. I figured with a 12v blower motor, a new core, a new radiator, and a new motor, it should be comfy. It's not.

freshly assembled maybe it has an airlock in it, feel the 2 hoses near the firewall and see if both get hot - disconnect one of the hoses and get a flow thru it - try switching the 2 hoses so the flow is reversed .... might also have a defective valve [new even] restricting it, replace with a piece of copper tube until you sort things out .... the fan should push plenty of air, maybe you have the rotation backwards?

Bill

Don't know what the weather has been like in Kansas this winter, but I've been driving
my '50, 216 around all winter here in northern Illinois and I've gotta turn my Deluxe
heater off most of the time because it gets to hot, especially if the sun is shining.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/141790251
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/141790252

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

If you are getting water flow then you should be getting heated out of the cab.

I spent a good amount of time looking under the hood at the heater hoses and such. I finally figured out that I had not plumbed the hoses correctly, they were both coming out of the block or manifold. Switched one to the water pump and that helped. It still isn't what I would call hot, but it does blow warm air. I may take the shut off valved out of the lines and see if that helps with water circulation. I do also have a flex fan that is moving a lot of air, but no fan shroud, so I kinda figured it would be an even compensation. I will probably check for sure to see what thermostat is installed. My radiator is a new "desert cooler" but I thought for a 350 i had better give it every chance to stay cool.