Heater valve

[gav]

Hi all

Having now abandoned my electric water pump in favour of the original set up (with thermostat) I am delighted to report that I now have a working heater again - hurrah.

However, I now need to regulate the heater temperature and although the heater valve works (my third now) the control really isn't very good.
I want to abandon this too ( I can always refit it later if I need to) in favour of an in line control - so the question is -if I take out the heater control from the block, what straight fitting can I use in its place without having to do anything to the head casting? I presume it is a BSP taper fitting.

Any ideas what would fit please ( in an ideal world, I would like it to be around 19 mm).
thanks
Gavin

[fatboyoz]

Gavin,
You could always pull the innards of the heater valve out, leave it insitu, and put in an inline valve further downstream.
Regards,
Colin.

Hi all

Having now abandoned my electric water pump in favour of the original set up (with thermostat) I am delighted to report that I now have a working heater again - hurrah.

However, I now need to regulate the heater temperature and although the heater valve works (my third now) the control really isn't very good.
I want to abandon this too ( I can always refit it later if I need to) in favour of an in line control - so the question is -if I take out the heater control from the block, what straight fitting can I use in its place without having to do anything to the head casting? I presume it is a BSP taper fitting.

Any ideas what would fit please ( in an ideal world, I would like it to be around 19 mm).
thanks
Gavin

[gav]

......or better still, leave it open in place and move the cable

I love this site - thanks Colin

[billwill]

It's 3/8 BSP one of the most common UK plumbing threads. (or half inch BSP, if the hole has been enlarged in the past like mine was). So you can easily pop into a plumbers & buy a couple of simple samples to try in your head.



See:
lotus-elan-f19/getting-ogu-roadworthy-again-t26101-90.html#p176702

[elanner]

Well, this is low on my to-do list, but since the topic has come up - has anybody figured out how to make the standard heater valve shut off fully using the knob on the dashboard? With mine the operating wire can push the control arm on the valve along its cam until the very last part, where it has to pop over the little bump at the far end (gee, how else to describe it?).

The heater control wire that I got from Sue Miller has a pretty solid metal outer cover, but it merely bends when faced with the last smidgen of the cam.

Despite the cam, the heater valve only seems to have two states, fully on or fully off. So I can turn the heater on when driving, but have to get the bonnet up to shut it off.

Perhaps grind the little bump off, or apply an appropriate lubricant (graphite)?

Nick

[Keith Scarfe]

Nick see this thread:http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-twincam-f39/heater-control-cable-wont-push-the-control-valve-shut-t25058.html
What I have now found however is like you say it is either fully open or closed. But at least these two states are now controllable by the cable. Now that I have a freely working cable, as soon as I open it a little, the pressure of the water on the valve just pushes it fully open. I now have to work out a way to increase the friction in the cable so it holds where you want it to.

[elanner]

Keith,

Oh yes - thanks for the pointer.

Now that the topic has come up I'll take a look at mine this weekend. It's quickly turning into heater weather......

Nick

[prezoom]

I had the same problem with the control wire not being stiff enough to fully shut off the heater control valve, without opening the hood/bonnet and manually forcing the valve closed. This was a result of my replacing the original wire with a section of wire I sourced from an after market choke control cable. Read, made in China. The replacement wire was much softer than the original wire and bent just before closing the valve completely. I wound up buying some music wire of the same diameter as the original, unsoldering the too soft wire from the knob shaft and soldering in the new stiffer wire. The much stiffer wire solved the problem. To get the original wire out of the shaft, I wound up cutting into the shaft at the crimp, being careful not to cut the original wire and drilling the hole a bit deeper then soft soldering in the new wire. Because of the stiffness of the music wire, I had to make sure the outer sheath was nearly straight when inserting the new wire.

Rob Walker
26-4889

[fatboyoz]

Gav,
That's what I wish I had said!!
Cheers,
Colin.

......or better still, leave it open in place and move the cable

I love this site - thanks Colin

[fatboyoz]

Nick,
I filed the bump down a little so that the valve closes more easily. As far as full on or full off is concerned, I have found that less is more when cracking open the valve to introduce heat. Rather than pulling the knob out 1/2 inch, or more, just squeeze it open a little and wait for the heat to come. From there, just another squeeze, either way, to adjust.
Of course, as soon as you increase rev's, or start to climb a hill and the water temp' increases, the heater output follows. For me? I grin and bear it. If my wife is in the Elan, I am forever fiddling with the heat controls.
Cheers,
Colin.

Well, this is low on my to-do list, but since the topic has come up - has anybody figured out how to make the standard heater valve shut off fully using the knob on the dashboard? With mine the operating wire can push the control arm on the valve along its cam until the very last part, where it has to pop over the little bump at the far end (gee, how else to describe it?).

The heater control wire that I got from Sue Miller has a pretty solid metal outer cover, but it merely bends when faced with the last smidgen of the cam.

Despite the cam, the heater valve only seems to have two states, fully on or fully off. So I can turn the heater on when driving, but have to get the bonnet up to shut it off.

Perhaps grind the little bump off, or apply an appropriate lubricant (graphite)?

Nick

[fatboyoz]

Keith,
I am in Italy at the moment, so cannot test what I am about to say. I believe, that you can lock both the choke and heater cables in any position by twisting the knob clockwise.
Ciao,
Colin.

Nick see this thread:http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-twincam-f39/heater-control-cable-wont-push-the-control-valve-shut-t25058.html
What I have now found however is like you say it is either fully open or closed. But at least these two states are now controllable by the cable. Now that I have a freely working cable, as soon as I open it a little, the pressure of the water on the valve just pushes it fully open. I now have to work out a way to increase the friction in the cable so it holds where you want it to.

[RichardHawkins]

Gavin,

The thread in my cylinder head appears to be 3/8 NPT, that is 18 tpi. At the time our cars were being built the UK motor industry was mainly using American thread systems. The two systems NPT and BSP are similar, such that one can be confused, and they are close enough to screw together. 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch are effectively the same whereas 3/8 are 18 tpi for NPT and 19 tpi for BSP.

Why did you reject an electric water pump? I intended to use one.

Richard Hawkins

[gav]

Hi Richard

I liked my electric water pump - with the controller it was very reliable but I wanted my heater back. The pump sensor was located through the thermostat housing and the instructions were very clear that the thermostat needed to be removed.

I was going to fit an additional electric pump just for the heating circuit but decided to revert to the original design - I didn't want too many gadgets and the car was becoming an electrical nightmare with additional circuits all over the place.

I still have the pump in the cooling circuit and will fit an on off switch rather than the contoller so that I can cool the engine after a hot run but I need to find a way of stopping it once the thermostat closes. Havent though that through yet.

I may revert to it later but am planning to revel in a heated cabin before I do !

Gavin