Cold out there! I am starting to think about cab heat. Ideas?

[jimgerken]

As the temps drop, I start to think about fully enclosing the Gator 825 and adding some heat to the cabin. There seem to be a few different ways to go about this, some have been mentioned already and others have occured to me as I look it over. I thought I would start a thread to help gather the ideas, get your thoughts, then continue to use it to document my own solution(s), for others to follow or get ideas from.

Here is what I have so far:

1. The Gator has plenty of heat in the cooling system, and it is free waste heat, so that seems to be the most logical starting point.
A. Tapping into the coolant lines, adding a heater core and fan assembly, such as the Prosum unit or Kolpin http://www.utvpartsandaccessories.com/universal_utv_cab_heaters.htm#John Deere or others, makes this possible, although those take up a fair amount of space.
B. Ducting heat from the radiator may be possible too, eliminating the liquid re-plumbing of the above solution. The radiator is in front, close by, has a fan already, and is big. Some ducting added around it and then tubes to bring the heated air thru the front "firewall" seems possible. It may require removing the storage tray for winter (no big deal, can't get to it anyway with the windshield in place).

2. Someone metioned the part numbers to remote the oil filter for easier maintenance. Once you have tapped into the oil flow, it could be fairly easy to use longer lines (well protected of course), routed to an oil cooler inside the cabin. The oil will heat up a bit quicker than the coolant, and should get somewhat hotter than the coolant too, so a smaller oil cooler would suffice. This seems messy when summer comes, but maybe there could be an alternate mounting point for the oil cooler somewhere outside the cabin that we could move the cooler to (without changing the oil lines) when the summer heat comes.

3. Is there any heat coming off the CVT at all? It is already ducted, force fed with its own fan. Could a person add tubing to the CVT cooler outlet and route that to the cabin? Is it warm enough?

4. I suggested to someone that the electrical heated seats may be enough in moderate weather. We do have plenty of electrical power for this. Sources for these heated seat covers that would fit the Gator bucket seats?

5. ??? Your ideas here ???

Thanks!

[Dane]

We're thinking the same thing. It happens I'm playing around with heat for my 550 which has the air cooled Briggs engine.

I would go with 1B if it were me. Aircraft do it all the time. A box, show below, is used to control the airflow. To avoid restricting the cooling airflow the box has one inlet for the hot air and two outlets. One sends the heated air to the cabin while the other just dumps it. There is a swinging door controlled by a push/pull cable that allows you to control the heat to the cabin. When you call for heat the air is sent to the cabin. In the summer the hot air just flows through the diverter box without restriction.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/graphics/08-04957.jpg

[ratrod]

Jimgerken what part of the state are you in?

Back in January when I got my gator I ran it all winter plowing with no windshield. This winter I have the OPS windshield with the wiper, and you can notice a big difference, just blocking the wind helps a lot. But the lack of a rear window creates a vortex in the operators seat and you are soon covered in dust or snow. Part of me wants a full cab, but I really don't want the hassle of doors.

[Dane]

I have the JD windshield and made (http://www.johndeeregatorforum.com/forum/showthread.php?12720-Enclosure-Build) a rear one out of Lexan and adding the rear panel made a very noticeable difference. Then I added 1/4 door panels on the sides which made another step-up in protection while still not having to mess with doors.

[osiris]

for the heated seats u can order the universal kits that u take the cover off the seat install the heating pads and put the seat cover back on so it still looks factory all thats added that u can see is the switch

[J Grace]

for the heated seats u can order the universal kits that u take the cover off the seat install the heating pads and put the seat cover back on so it still looks factory all thats added that u can see is the switch

This what I did and mounted the switches (one for each seat) on
the center console. The switches are lite to show is it activated.
Looks like factory install.
Good way to toast your buns!

JGrace

[jimgerken]

I am in SE MN, near Rochester.
Thanks for the ideas guys!
I spent some more time looking at it this weekend. Along the plan of 1B above, I noticed one thing: If the storage tray (under the hood) is removed, it appears that there would be some airflow from the radiator area to the cabin. And since you can't access that storage with the windshield on there, no big loss leaving the tray at home. I have no enclosure at all yet, so can't say if the heat which might come from this source is even noticable. To increase its effectiveness, a person could duct the lower area where the heat from the radiator usually exits the vehicle, apparently downward and backward. And I suppose another fan somewhere could help too.
Dane above says "planes do it all the time" which reminds me that often the heat in small aircraft is derived from heat exhchanger (extra tin housing) around the exhaust, like a volkswagon beetle (old style one). So that is another method we could use. I will look at accesability to hot exhaust tubing the next chance I get.
And thanks for the experience with the heated seats, good ideas there. I like the universal kit that goes under the seat cover idea. Can you provide a link to a product like that?

[Dane]

Even without an enclosure I'm sure you would notice and appreciate whatever heat you can get to the passenger area. If you remove the storage bin you've got straight access to run a pretty large duct from the radiator (a King Kong sized heater core). Much of the heat would escape but you could still create a decent bubble in the operator area. I drive my toy car, a convertible, all winter long and mostly with the top down. It's surprising how much the heater can help.

[jimgerken]

OK, I ran without the storage tray this weekend and no heat comes thru from the radiator, even when the fan kicks on. So some ducting would be required. This still seems to be the easiest way to do it. will keep you posted.

[jimgerken]

I found these heated seat covers...
http://www.amazon.com/Wagan-IN9738-5-12-Volt-Heated-Cushion/dp/B0041RV1D8/ref=pd_sim_sbs_auto_32
I have no experience with them (yet), but thought I'd throw it out here to keep track of the link and offer it to you as an option.

[jimgerken]

A good friend who has a tracked and cabbed Rhino has been doing heater research too, and came across this unit...
http://www.amazon.com/Flex-a-lite-640-Mojave-Heater/dp/B000CNJBPU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_auto_2
It has a nice slim shape at only five inches wide. I am going to mock up a cardboard version of it this weekend and try to shoe-horn it under the Gator dash somehow. It looks adequate at 12000 btu and 14 cfm, so I hope I can make it fit somewhere.
That's the report so far...

[osiris]

my heater is mounted above the center concil its 4" tall 10"wide and about 8"deep but if i didnt have a heater mounted there i could fit a 2 gun standup holder there but oh well

[Skillet23]

http://www.utvpartsandaccessories.com/universal_utv_cab_heaters.htm#John%20Deere

Just found it while blundering around the net....

David in TX

[jimgerken]

http://www.utvpartsandaccessories.com/universal_utv_cab_heaters.htm#John%20Deere

Just found it while blundering around the net....

David in TX

Yup, thanks for the link, I saw those but it is about 2 inches wider than the center console area, so it would hang over into either the passenger foot area, the driver foot area, or some of both. I am not really crazy about loosing any foot room.