Anybody ever seen a heater like this?

OK, this is the heater that came in my '56. It says "Wards" on it, so I'm assuming it a universal from Montgomery Wards. Looks to be well-made and definitely rebuildable, but I'd like to put a 12v motor in it, 3-speed preferred.

Notice the squirrel cage inside the fan blades, and the square outlet on the back. Looks like the fan pushes air through the core to heat the cabin, and the squirrel cage pulls air though the center of the core and exits the square duct for a defroster connection? The round thing soldered on the core fins fits into the hub of the fan and separates the fan and the squirrel cage.

Kinda bizarre, but I think I'm gonna try to restore it just because of the "uniqueness" of it. Does anybody know if there's new cores available? (HAH!) Can this one likely be rebuilt? Know any good sources for 12v motors? Maybe Graingers? It'll have to be a close match, there's no room to spare.

 

Ron- I would think your local radiator shop would be helpful. I'll bet you can save it

 

That thing is wild! I'm a ventilation engineer and work with fans and coils every day but I've never seen or heard of a combo prop fan & centrifugal fan blade/wheel. Very cool.

I would think a radiator shop could make the core work.

Yes, I would start with Grainger on the motor. You might also search under Emerson or Dayton for a motor. If there's a manufacturers number on the old motor you can try searching with that also. For a 12 V motor you may end up looking at a parts book in NAPA.

Be careful with the blade/wheel as I'm sure you won't find a new one of those. It would not be impossible to build one but would take some time.

 

Thanks for the tips! So, does that look to you like the prop fan blows through the core for floor heat and the squirrel cage pulls through the center of the core for defroster, exiting out the square duct? I can't imagine the square duct is an intake. After taking it apart, I'm getting kinda excited to see it work again.

 

A friend of mine has the same unit in his Willys PU, the square duct goes up to his defroster ducts. Good luck!

 

I'd like to know how well it works, or if it's just a "placebo" heater. Also, any way to get a photo of what's connected to that square duct? I'd like to know what he used to get up to the defroster ducts.

 

Ron,

The radiator guy I use on all my old stuff is Jim at Gold Star Radiator on Broadway at about South 600 block. They're just south of General Hardware on the east side of Broadway. He's done some heater work for me and reworked my flathead radiator to fit my 351 Windsor engine. Good work and he's reasonable.

tommy b

 

Thanks Tom! Tore it the rest of the way apart, and it doesn't look good. The housing for the squirrel cage mounts to a plate, that's riveted to the motor itself. And, the motor's smoked. Only ID on it says "REX heavy duty DC motor, 6v 2250 rpm, EARCO, Chicago".

Where am I gonna find a motor like this with this plate attached? Or the complete assembly would be fine too. Anybody have any ideas?

 

"So, does that look to you like the prop fan blows through the core for floor heat and the squirrel cage pulls through the center of the core for defroster, exiting out the square duct?"

Yes, you can tell by the scroll on the blower wheel, then by looking at the prop fan blades.

"Where am I gonna find a motor like this with this plate attached?"

I don't think you will find this motor, however, all you need is a 12 v motor off another vehicle. Just look for a motor about the same size so you can make it fit. Also, check the shaft size. I don't think you need to worry about direction of rotation because you could switch the leads to reverse it. I wouldn't worry too much about matching the rpm. Junk yard or NAPA or Google.