prawnabie
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| posted on 6/7/14 at 10:05 PM |
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Plumbing in a heater..
Hi Everyone...
The thermostat/top hose outlet is on the back of the engine on my MX5 build and I am currently planing to add a heater to the system. What is stopping
me taking a feed from the head before the thermostat, running it through the matrix and then feeding it back into top hose?
I should be getting warm water before the stat opens for demising purposes and the same water will be going through the radiator instead of getting
pumped straight back into the engine.
The top hose is 32mm and the heater hoses would be 15mm or 5/8s
Can any body see and problems with this?
Thanks
Shaun
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prawnabie
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| posted on 6/7/14 at 10:26 PM |
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Actually thinking about it, If I take water from before the stat and put it back into the top hose, I am effectivly bypassing the thermostat and the
engine will take longer to warm up. On the other hand if I bu the water back into the bottom hose, I am bypassing the radiator.
Is there another way of doing it?
With a ZETEC engine, westfield tap into the coolant line running from the bottom of the header tank to feed the heater, and then dump the water into
the stat housing. The zetec of course has and air bleed from both the rad and the stat housing into the header tank, mine only has the rad into the
tank.
Forgot to add the heater will flowing all the time.
Thanks
Shaun
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Dusty
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| posted on 6/7/14 at 10:45 PM |
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Head to top hose might not stay warm when the stat is open. Top hose is usually at marginally higher pressure than bottom hose which is the correct
place for the heater return. And yes it does bypass the rad which speeds warm-up but has little effect on engine cooling when the stat takes over,
unless you fit very large hoses to a large bore heater.
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prawnabie
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| posted on 6/7/14 at 10:52 PM |
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Thanks for that.
Ive just noticed there is a 8mm bypass in the head next to the stat that feeds the OEM oil cooler plate and the idle control valve and them goes to
the bottom hose.
Do you see any benefit from taking the feed from this - It is only 8mm though, can I use an adaptor to increase it to say 12mm after the take off?
Thanks
Shaun
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britishtrident
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| posted on 7/7/14 at 07:51 AM |
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The heater has to have a return pipe to the bottom hose or direct to the small bore inlet on thev water pump.
Also if you have a water valve controlled heater a by-pass from head (hot) side of the thermostat to the lower his/water pump inlet.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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JAG
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| posted on 7/7/14 at 11:54 AM |
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Where did Mazda connect their heater?
That's probably the best place for yours 
Justin
Who is this super hero? Sarge? ...No.
Rosemary, the telephone operator? ...No.
Penry, the mild-mannered janitor? ...Could be!
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prawnabie
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| posted on 7/7/14 at 12:44 PM |
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Hahaha nice one Justin!
The heater outlet was on the back of the engine, I have now done away with this as per the usual MX5 coolant reroute and changed the housing so it is
now the main coolant oulet to the rad.
I have the option basically of using a take off in a spacer to take water from before the stat, or use the 8mm thermostat bypass to feed the heater.
the heater will need 12mm hose so I will need to adapt the 8mm hose at some point is this is possible.
Thanks
Shaun
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britishtrident
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| posted on 7/7/14 at 01:08 PM |
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On the existing Zetec plumbing work he connection at the bottom of the header tank is an outlet. Ie. the flow direction is from the tank to pump.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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prawnabie
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| posted on 7/7/14 at 08:13 PM |
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Thanks for all the info!
i am having a spacer made to go in-between the stat/housing and the head and will fit a take-off into that to feed the heater.
I will then plumb the return into either the pipe going from the header tank to the bottom hose (as westfield do a pipe for this), or straight into
the bottom hose itself.
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