is found at the very front of the vehicle, is rectangular in shape and is constructed with a tank on each end to hold
. Between the tanks are some very small tubes that the coolant uses to flow from one tank to the other. The tubes are surrounded by aluminum fins; these fins help extract heat from the coolant by maximizing the surface area. When the car moves forward, air is rushed over these fins, which is the final step in the heat exchange process. Once the coolant has been through the radiator, it will be significantly cooler and is ready to be pushed through the engine block again for cooling purposes.
How a Heater Core System Works
Heater cores are a type of radiator. Hot coolant runs through it, causing the core to heat up. A fan is attached to the heater core; when you turn the on the heater, the fan blows air across it. By moving the air over the surface of the heater core, two things are accomplished; the first is that the hot coolant is cooled down due to the heat exchange happening between the hot coolant, the aluminum radiator core and the cool air. The second thing accomplished is the heating of the vehicles cabin; rather than circulating the air outside the cabin, the air is circulated from under the dash and then pushed through the vents into the cabin by a blower fan. This is a very efficient way to keep your engine cool and your cabin warm.
On the dashboard of your vehicle, there is a heater fan switch. The heater knob is attached to the heater cable, which is a mechanical mechanism for changing the speed heater motor, which runs the heater fan. Increasing the fan speed pushes more air into the cabin, causing the coolant to cool faster.
There are several ways to control the temperature of the air coming out of the heater, but the most common method is using a
thermostat and a
heater valve. A heater valve is used to change the
amount of coolant flowing through the heater core. The longer the coolant is in the heater, the
cooler the air will be coming out of the heater. The less time coolant spends in the core, the hotter the core gets and thus the heater outputs hotter air. This also means that the heater valve must adjust with changes to the fan speed to maintain a constant temperature. When the heater valve is not letting very much coolant run through the heater core, a drain hose is used to flow excess coolant into a reservoir for later use.
Common Heater Core Components
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