Crazy heating idea

[pwc]

I got to thinking about heat in the rear of the truck as I enjoy the total warmth my Suburban provides. I looked at the kit for the 110 and it's $2400

I wouldn't mind cooling, but just thinking super short term I was trying to figure out how I can make life for the dogs in the back of the truck better with some added heat. Then the thought occured: they have that subflooring for radiant floors. the floor with routes for the hoses already cut into it. You take the stuff and lay them down for your subfloor over joists and it makes perfect channels, allowing you to put radiant floors on a second story without having to pour concrete.

Why not doing some thing like that in the back of a 110? I'm already planning on laying down a piece of plywood over the whole back area (side of truck to side, rear up to the back seats) sitting on top of the wheel wells. So why not take that plywood and router out a channel. Get some of the tubing they use (I think I have some left over) then hook it up to the cooling system. To get fancy I'd use a solenoid of some type tapped into the line coming out of the main heater core (black box of mystery). Run that along the frame and then into the truck right by the wheel well some place. Run it around and then back to the return line with a one way valve in it. Flip a switch, rear is activated and heat flows through it.

To make it super simple, I can just put a manual switch in that sits maybe along the transmission hump on the passenger side. If something breaks I just splice the hoses together as a temp fix in the field.

Any drawbacks? Yes, my dogs are spoiled some and I'm sure yours would be jealous if they could read this forum.

 

[mountainpete]

Radiant floors could work... kind of a cool idea! Just don't forget that shut-off valve for the summer!

Another thing you might want to consider is a rear heater from a FJ-40. You can probably get a used one for less than $100. The one I had in my BJ-42 pumped out a good amount of heat!

 

[stevenmd]

Wait... did you ever find out how much it would be to add AC? If I could add AC to a 109, the the wife would let me get one for a DD.

 

[Dmarchand]

That's certainly out of the box. I've been eyeing the Eberspacher and other similar cabin heaters that run around $1200. Just haven't had the time to devote to it. But I do really want to augment my heating. The diesel just doesn't get warm enough even with the rad muff. I can't imagine how it is in a 110!

 

[Scott Brady]

Look into the Webasto air heaters. Very effective.

I would be concerned that any leak could either leave you stranded, or potentially hurt your dogs (glycol)

 

[fisher205]

Check heatercraft.com for some heaters. You can go to a junk yard and pull a heater out of any vehicle and make you own rear heater also. Just get the hoses to it. JC Whitney even has some small aux. heaters.

 

[Doin_It]

Another source is the type of heater they use in school buses or road graders. Or why not take a piece of plywood, then using a router grove out a continous looping track and lay some pex tubing in it, then cover that with a thiner sheet and youv'e got a heated floor.

 

[pwc]

Pete, I used to have an FJ-40 15 years ago and I remember it being pain to find that rear heater, but something like that or what the rest of you mention might be a good idea.

I've looked at Webasto and Esphar as well and really like the idea, but...
#1 They cost ore than I want to pay right now (maybe I'll think differently after a full winter)
#2 I'll be running biodiesel and that doesn't work in those heaters. Both manufacturers and users have told me "run away!! nonononono!!!"

Doin_it, that's exactly what I was trying to describe. Just router into plywood and use the really good 50 year tubing I have in my floor right now. then lay something thin over the top.

I'd be concerned about stuff leaking too, but as far as field serviceable, I'd make a T in the feed and return with a manual switch on it, before the solenoid switch. That way, if something in the floor busted, it's easy to bypass. I'd also tap into the existing lines in such a way as to make it easy to just run a loop and cut out the floor system. The last thing I'd want is some fanyc system to make my truck useless.

As for the unit you can buy.....I think it was at Rovers North. It was $2400 and sat in the rear panel on the driver's side. You then ran cooling and AC lines from the front of the truck. It ran up to a new set of vents (4 I think) that molded into the space between the door and the headliner along on the back. It looked real nice and would do a great job of cooling. But $2400 + install???
zoiks!

Wait a sec.....I have a second one of those black boxes from under the hood of the 110 (unlike the 90s). I could throw that in the back and just have it use recirculated air! Hook up some tubing? It's kinda big, but it might work.

 

[Icewalker]

How about the remote cab heaters they have available at Summit Racing? I had a feeling they were short money. Also have a feeling that JC Whitney had something that might do the trick as well.

Jeff

 

[Pskhaat]

...rear heater from a FJ-40...

That's exactly what I was thinking! Every US Cruiser I believe has a rear heater radiator, so you could also use one from the under-seat or -console from almost any Cruiser? Easy to pipe, hose and plumb too.

Here's a $OR picture of the LC60 heater core (and stock random piping/tubing):

 

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Years ago, in a previous life, I had an AWD Safari van...it had a nice rear heater that was self contained w/ the blower fan and heat exchanger too.

Might be more plentiful than Cruisers in some neighborhoods.