Hot Water Heater bad core?

[Dan39Deluxe]

Hey guys,
The Hot Water Heater that came in my 39 leaks water out of the core, I bought another one on ebay and that also leaks water out of the core.
Is this very common with these having cracked cores? Would I expect a third one to also be cracked if I buy another one?


thanks

 

[TJ]

The problem is you are buying used cores. Look around for a new one.

 

[flatford8]

They’re 80 yrs old. You need to find an old time radiator repair shop to either repair them or find a way to adapt a newer core into one of those heaters………Mark

 

[hotrodart]

Any decent radiator shop should be able to put a new core between your old heater core ends. Had mine done about 30 years ago......was a bit pricey but they did a good job.

 

[Dan39Deluxe]

These look really hard/expensive to repair, they are soldered together around the whole core.

My dad is thinking about building his own core for it with copper brake line coiled back and forth.


Good idea?

 

[flatford8]

I’d get a price from a shop first…… but it’s you car, your choice…… Mark

 

[V8COOPMAN]

These look really hard/expensive to repair, they are soldered together around the whole core.

My dad is thinking about building his own core for it with copper brake line coiled back and forth.


Good idea?

I think you'll find that the copper tubing is mostly a vessel to get the hot water in the vicinity of the heater's fan. It's the very thin fin material which is normally attached to the coils that carries the heat away from the coils and dissipates that heat into the air stream of the fan. You'll also usually find that the tubing in heaters/radiators is of a very thin wall so as to dissipate heat at a quicker rate to the finned media. DD
.

 

[joe 1950]

A good radiator shop can handle a simple core exchange but you need to shop around the shop here in town does plenty of them but they’ve been here 50 plus years bring the old one with you

 

[Bob C]

Is it a factory or after market heater? Maybe post a picture of the core.

 

[fordor41]

check out Hemmings. there's usually a bunch of shops that can recore your core.

 

[J Franklin]

Cores somtimes can be repaired by a radiator shop if it isn't rotted out..

 

[oldskool]

i had mine recored by cap a radiator in farmingdale ny there an old fashion shop,not cheap expect to pay $200 but well worth it, you can send your core to them