The crucial role in the externally heated air valve engine is played by its heat exchangers which work in a closed cycle. These are: a heater and a cooler and they are subject to a numerical analysis in the paper. Both of them are equipped with fixed volumes that are separate settling chambers causing that heat exchangers behave as almost stationary recuperators and analysis of the stationary behaviour is the main goal of the paper. Power and efficiency of the engine must be not lower than their averaged values for the same engine working in unsteady conditions. The results of calculations confirm such a statement. The pressure drop in the exchanger is another natural phenomenon presented. It has been overcome by use of additional blowers and the use of them is an additional focus of the presented analysis. A separation of settling chambers and additional blowers is a novelty in the paper. There is also a pre-heater applied in the engine which does not differ from well-known heat exchangers met in energy generation devices. The main objective of the paper is to find the behaviour of the engine model under stationary conditions of the heat exchangers and compare it with the non-stationary ones. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.