Heater

[Flipside]

My heater blower is not working on my 01 SAN. There are 2 vents down below in the cockpit where the hot air is supposed to come out of - one is a retractable tube, and another is a fixed vent closer to the starboard side. When I turn the heater switch on, you can hear all speeds working, but the force of air in the retractable tube is nonexistent, and the force from the other vent is very, very low even at the highest fan speed. You can feel heat coming out of the vent, but not out of the retractable tube.

Any suggestions? I have not tried to remove the panel to take a look.

[DanielC]

Your boat is old enough that some of the heater air duct could have come disconnected, or have holes in it.
Sometimes you just have to remove panels, and take a look, and see what is going on.
On some open bow boats, you can get very limited access by removing the starboard side cushion, and reaching aft, but that usually means you have to remove a panel in front of the heater.

Sometimes using a long thin electrical probe when you are trying to find the old screw holes when you are putting everything back together helps.

[Flipside]

Thanks Dan. Any pointers on removing the panel under the dash? Is it easy to do? I'll take a look at it later but before I do, I figured if I was looking for 2, 3 or 4 screws would be good to know. Or if I would curse my Saturday afternoon trying to access it would be good to know too!

[DanielC]

Typically there are four screws. Get a good (not worn out) Phillips screwdriver, and do not let it slip when you first start to back out the screw. I recommend you do the first several turns by hand, and not with a power driver. If the head on the screws get messed up, you will turn an easy in to a difficult one, possibly trying to find long stainless steel new screws. If you end up needing new screws, Parkrose Hardware.

[Flipside]

Yep, removed the four screws and found a kink and hole in the hose. Thanks Daniel.

On another note, how do you drain the heater core? It's a b_tch to get at! I see 2 red hoses and traced it back to the engine block. Should I disconnect one from the block and attach my shop vac to suck water out?

[DanielC]

I disconnect both hoses from the engine. I then blow in to one, and let the water run out of the other one. At first, I just blow with my mouth, and after most of the water is out, I will use compressed air, and an air nozzle to remove the remaining water. If you can blow into either hose, and do not hear any gurgling, the core is drained.

A shop-vac sucking on one hose might work also.

I have used a shop-vac to suck water from the out ports on the ballast tanks, and completely drained ballast tanks.

[Northof49]

I have replaced the water in the heater core with pink antifreeze during the winter rather than trying to blow out the water. I disconnect both red hoses from the engine, and fill one with AF and then blow until pink comes out of the other one. In this way you do not have to worry about any water that may still be in the core. I am a lot farther north than you and have had no problems with this method in the past.