The Heater Box

I decided that I would take on some simple projects that I could manage at home.

The first candidate was the heater box.  At first sight they can look fairly solid but condensation and leaking heater matrixes can lead to a lot of internal rot.

On first test the motor seemed fine and even the resistor used to provide two speeds was intact.  In reality the bearings on the motor are shot as the freeplay creates a vibration and the resistor is falling apart.

The heater box was soda blasted for £40, sounds steep but it takes time due to the compartments.  When the unit came back from the blaster there were many small holes in the bottom but it was still solid.  I used some tape on the inside and then filled with epoxy resin from the outside.  Once set I removed the tape.

I used a file to remove the excess resin and then built up with a fine layer of plastic padding.

Some of the nuts and bolts were hard to remove so soaking in WD40 and a little heat helped.  I was taught a trick when undoing a very difficuly nut.  Tighten a little then loosen a little and keep repeating until you get more and more movement.  Simple when you know the tricks.