VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 1933 Heater

Happy Thanksgiving, folks!

Would any one care to instruct me on the "correct" routing for the long heater hose on the passenger side? It runs from the lower, two-piece radiator hose, up to the firewall.

What was there was pretty clearly too short - it just kinda ran directly from one location to the other, no 'routing' at all.

This doesn't appear in my '33 Shop Manual, as the heater is an accessory.

My Story - I decided yesterday to get this working. One side of the heater is connected to the above hose. The other hose comes from a shut-off valve on top of the head, toward the rear, that has been closed off since the Roosevelt Adminstration, or so, and it didn't want to open. Imagine that. (no problem undertanding the routing of this hose.) When I lived in Florida, this was a pretty low priority. But here in northern Ohio, we are having today what they call an "Alberta Clipper." In Florida, they called this Tropical Storm Force Winds - (but it never included the snow component there).

So, I thought it might be time to put a thermostat back in the old girl, so she could run at an operating temperature above "luke warm."

This led to pulling off that stuck valve, and checking out the heater. I'm all done and ready to reassemble, but not sure how to run that hose. Somebody dinged me at a Meet years ago about it being routed wrong, but I never worried about it until today...

Chevy,
On the 35 Std. I'm working on, the valve assembly at the rear of the engine (near firewall) I routed a hose to the bottom line of the heater and the top line of the heater goes back up to a line connecting in at the water pump. I believe thats the way it is. It's not in my garage at the moment or i would go out and double check it. My reasoning is as follows for routing it this way. The flow diagrams in the literature I have shows the flow around the cylinders to go from the front to the back of the engine picking up heat along the way. Along several places it also goes through the head. Anyway, where the shutoff valve is for the heater you'll pick it up here and take it to the bottom of the heater. If you went in the top I think you could have an air lock ( the water would trickle down through the heater and not push the air out) and a portion of your heater would only have air and not the hot water you desire to extract the heat from. You're not going to get much heat from the air. From the top of the heater run your hose back up to the front of the engine and tie it in to complete the circulation cycle. We run the old car the other night in a Christmas parade and those in the car said it was comfortable and the outside temperature was around 32 degrees and windy. This was our first real test and it seamed to be doing good with this setup. If this is routed wrong I hope someone else with come forward and correct me. Other comments? Good luck with your setup Chevy Guru............Bill

Chevy,
I'm not sure if your heater setup is the same as what is on this 35. The heater on this car was an add on. I should have mentioned that in my other note. Is your heater original factory equipment or an add on? Does the inlet and outlet to the heater come in at the top and bottom? If the connections are top and bottom I would use the bottom connection as the inlet to avoid the air lock as I mentioned in my other note. Good luck.......Bill

The 1935 was the first year to have a place for a fitting on the water pump.1934 and prior are completely different.

Ray must be on vaction-I know he can answer this.

Thanks, Gents.

Yes, I agree on the top and bottom placement. Mine is a "Genuine Chevrolet Hot Water Heater" (per the little plaque on the top). It certainly appears to be period-correct.

Sounds like the '35 is essentially the same set-up, except instead of returning into the water pump outlet, mine simply returns to a "T" fitting into the bottom radiator hose.

I was concerned mostly about that long return line, from the heater to the bottom radiator hose. It seems to just hang there, no brackets anywhere.

I talked today to Bobbie Denison, who has an unrestored '33, and his is also like this. I think the only fault with how mine was, is that that hose was just cut too short.

I'm happy now. I'll put it together.

Ray probably ate too much turkey...

Ya, the "T" fitting in the lower radiator hose is the same installation as for the 1931 and 1932 accessory Chevrolet heater as well.

OK, JYD - do they employ any kind of hanger or bracket for that return heater hose anywhere on a 31 or 32, or does it just hang there? Maybe it lays down in the side engine pan, until it gets back near the firewall?

Thanks!

According to the Chevrolet Service News the hose just kinda sorta "hangs" there. :( :( :(

Got heat.

Is the 33 heater the same as my 31??

Don,
There is no bracket the hose goes directly from the fitting on the upper, lower hose (closest to the pump to the top outlet on the heater. As JYD stated it just hangs there.

One more time!!! Will a Genuine Chevrolet Hot Water Heater that is a correct accessory item for 1931, be the correct application for a 33 Master closed car????

Hoppy -

I don't know the answer to that. Chevygene was kind enough to email me some 1933 Service News copies that illustrated 3 different heaters, one of which matches mine.

I don't know what was out there in 1931. But I'll bet Chipper and Junkyard Dog know...

Hoppy -

Sent you an email, forwarding the info that Gene sent me. The 'Instructions' are from 1931, so it's gotta be about the same animal.

Hoppy- I sent you the picture of the three 1933 heaters.

Now I see Don sent them also

The same heater that was introduced in 1931 and used in 1932, was also carried over into the 1933 model year. Also, in 1933 two other accessory heaters were used as well.

The accessory book for 1933 shows the "behive" heater and is the only one listed.

Thanks for all your replies. I now know that I will need to get a copy of the accessory book for 1933 but in the mean time, Ray, is the "beehive heater" the one that was correct for 1931?

Yes, that is correct.

Thank You!

It is clear that early only the beehive style introduced for the '31 models was available for early '33 models. But with the publication of the three heaters (one the beehive style) in the October '33 Service News it suggests that late '33 models might have the newer style heaters installed. Until we find a service or parts communication or book that gives a date for the introduction then we will not know exactly when [between Feb. '33 and Oct. '33] they were available.

I feel that if an early '33-say an Eagle, has one of the later '33 heaters it could be considered correct.Without knowing the actual delivery date when the car was new there is no way of knowing when the car was sold.The car could have lingered in dealer stock from Feb delivery from factory time and actually been sold (delivered to customer) in October.The heater could have been installed by the dealer at that time.The same could be true for an early 1931.
Dealers has tough times back during the depression and some cars could have remained in their inventory for six or seven months.

I remember when we had new cars left over, the new model would come out in October and the previous year model were still in stock in April and May.When I began my working life at the dealer in June of 1950 there was a new 1949 truck sitting on the lot.Was finally sold in Sept. of 1950.

Its even worse today.The local Chevrolet dealer has certain 2005 models on the lot as well as some 2004 trucks.

It was also common for the owner to take delivery of the car in warm weather and come back later after the cold weather arrived to have the heater installed,

The two 1933 heaters that arrived in fall were continued thru 1934.They are pictured and described in the 1934 accessory book.The square one was also carried over into 1935 I believe.

Absolutely! And, another thing to consider as well would be the fact that the early 1933 Chevrolet Accessory Catalog was probably printed in late 1932. Therefore, that catalog would only show the 1931-32 heater for the 1933 accessory line since the other two accessory heaters did not arrive on the scene until later in 1933.