Diesel parking heaters

[Buckman]

Yes but what’s that got to do with it?

I am wondering why you would need a heater for the engine? Remember where I lived so no such requirement so answer is of interest to me.

 

[otherclive]

I am wondering why you would need a heater for the engine? Remember where I lived so no such requirement so answer is of interest to me.

It’s not for the engine it was an auxiliary cabin heater.

“All models featured ventless driver and front passenger windows, notched on their leading edge to provide draught-free ventilation,[5] no cost metallic paint, radial ply tires, full carpeting, clock, electric rear window demister, flow-through ventilation, undercoating, and a thermostatically controlled auxiliary heating system,[4] specifically, a gasoline-operated heater model BA4 by Eberspächer, fired by a spark plug, accessible from a hidden rear window deck plate.”

 

[Mandarin]

We had an Eber in a boat, quite noisy at start up but very effective and we always had a CO monitor in case of leakage.

With any such heater I would always make sure of a working co monitor in case of leaks.

 

[otherclive]

We had an Eber in a boat, quite noisy at start up but very effective and we always had a CO monitor in case of leakage.

With any such heater I would always make sure of a working co monitor in case of leaks.

We had a Propex in a Trigano pop top. It was gas/electric and that too was noisy, but the heat output was akin to a Typhoon on reheat. Very cosy.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Is it Mandarin saying “ very safe” or is that a part of the quote from the woodworkers Forum. At least the user of the heater had the sense to make an exhaust hole in the door. The price difference between one of the Chinese units and a leading mainstream established supplier such as Eberspächer can be up to eight times.

My comment was general but sparked by madarin's posting.

As for the sense of of the fitter to provide a hole for the exhaust, there's no metion of the combustion air intake. If that is not also provided for there is almost a s much risk from that as the exhaust.

Heaters which fails to start correctly can build up a highly flammable oil vapour fog inside the combustion chamber. If it not correctly vented it can start to make its way back out of the heater through the combustion air intake. If the air intake has not been correctly installed that vapour might enter the living space, and if its in a 'woodworkers cabin' that a major fire risk!

In terms of starting correctly its usuall for such heaters to go through a combustion tract purge cycle by running a combustion fan for several seconds before attempting to inject fuel and source of ignition.

 

[RogerL]

My comment was general but sparked by madarin's posting.

As for the sense of of the fitter to provide a hole for the exhaust, there's no metion of the combustion air intake. If that is not also provided for there is almost a s much risk from that as the exhaust.

Heaters which fails to start correctly can build up a highly flammable oil vapour fog inside the combustion chamber. If it not correctly vented it can start to make its way back out of the heater through the combustion air intake. If the air intake has not been correctly installed that vapour might enter the living space, and if its in a 'woodworkers cabin' that a major fire risk!

In terms of starting correctly its usuall for such heaters to go through a combustion tract purge cycle by running a combustion fan for several seconds before attempting to inject fuel and source of ignition.

The cheap Chinese diesel heaters that I checked out the installation instructions for have both intake and exhaust going in/out through the floor so are room-sealed - the kits include ducting to take the air filter on the end of the intake some considerable distance from the silencer on the end of the exhaust.

 

[ProfJohnL]

The cheap Chinese diesel heaters that I checked out the installation instructions for have both intake and exhaust going in/out through the floor so are room-sealed - the kits include ducting to take the air filter on the end of the intake some considerable distance from the silencer on the end of the exhaust.

Having had to deal with a customers DIY installation of a balanced flue gas product, where despite the instructions clearly giving diagrams of how it should have been installed, how the owner managed to leave both the air intake and exhaust disconnected from the flue terminal never ceased to amaze me. No wonder it didn't work!

 

[Notmyvan]

Many people with boats have these Chinese Diesel Heaters with good results.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I haven't actually inspected one of the Chinese diesel heaters, so I can't be specific, but in many other types of product where I have been involved there was a distinct difference between big name products manufactured in China, and copies made in China.

In general both groups of product will work, but where the big name products could be relied on to continue working for longer, and to maintain their safety features to protect the user, in the case of the copies, some important safety features were missed out or were of distinctly inferior quality or performance.

A company I worked for began to assemble a Japanese designed diesel heater from CKD kits for the European market. These went together well enough, but they were difficult to set the burner assembly up to achieve the EU standards of combustion. If a well regarded Japanese manufacture with decades of experience has difficulty in this area, I'd be very wary of grey imports from China where near copies only make sense if you can manufacture at a much lower cost, which means R&D and compliance testing, safety, reliability and quality are often disregarded and components and materials can also be of a far lower standard and thus less durable, or even illegal in some markets.

There are many Chinese copy products where to hoodwink the buying public, they mark the appliance with fictitious safety and approval markings. So be aware.

 

[RogerL]

I haven't actually inspected one of the Chinese diesel heaters, so I can't be specific, but in many other types of product where I have been involved there was a distinct difference between big name products manufactured in China, and copies made in China.

In general both groups of product will work, but where the big name products could be relied on to continue working for longer, and to maintain their safety features to protect the user, in the case of the copies, some important safety features were missed out or were of distinctly inferior quality or performance.

A company I worked for began to assemble a Japanese designed diesel heater from CKD kits for the European market. These went together well enough, but they were difficult to set the burner assembly up to achieve the EU standards of combustion. If a well regarded Japanese manufacture with decades of experience has difficulty in this area, I'd be very wary of grey imports from China where near copies only make sense if you can manufacture at a much lower cost, which means R&D and compliance testing, safety, reliability and quality are often disregarded and components and materials can also be of a far lower standard and thus less durable, or even illegal in some markets.

There are many Chinese copy products where to hoodwink the buying public, they mark the appliance with fictitious safety and approval markings. So be aware.

Given that so many big brand products are made in China, it's difficult, if not impossible, for most consumers to tell the difference between different product standards

 

[ProfJohnL]

Given that so many big brand products are made in China, it's difficult, if not impossible, for most consumers to tell the difference between different product standards

Sadly there are so many different "standards" and not all approvals are required in all markets, so there could be some approvals on some products which have meaning or authority in other countries but not where you are buying the product. With such divers markings its all too easy for unscrupulous manufacturers to make either false claims of approvalsa, or to even make up non -existent approval bodies to try to incentivise unwarey purchases.

Generally if a big name brand sells a product that is made in China, there is a better chance the product will be compliant with the companies in house quality and claimed approvals.

I love the number of sellers that claim they are " award winning"! In one case the award was for poor customer service!

 

[chatter]

I had a chinese heater fitted several years ago to my rv, yes the fitting instructions in parts were a bit vague, but the guy that sees to my rv fitted mine, fuel tank and pump in rear locker/garage area with the unit in a locker near the kitchen. The only thing he found was that he replaced the exhaust and the air intake for longer pipes than the pipes included with the unit. It does cycle before it goes to ignition and warms the rv up nicely, i have both blowair heat tubes installed under the kitchen unit one facing to the front and the other to the rear of the van. It works well and is checked by the same guy that fitted it when i take the rv down for its usual hab etc checkover before mot

 

[ProfJohnL]

I wasn't looking for them, but I coincidentally cam across this YouTube video about some problems one Canadian has had with one of these heaters. To be fair his reasons for obtaining one was to burn waste oil products to produce some heating for his workshop, and whilst some of his problems may be down to the types of oil he was trying, several of his experiences could occur even with just using regular diesel fuel. Especially the carbon build up, and the possibility of exhaust fires. (See 22:00 minutes)

All these types of diesel heaters do require periodic servicing so prevent some of the issues this guy has experienced.

Being Canadian, the temperatures he refers to a re Celsius not Fahrenheit.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBOXDkRPu8E

 

[RogerL]

Some years ago, during a time of big increases in oil costs, I was chatting to the owner of my local indy workshop and suggested that they got plenty of used oil to keep the workshop warm - his reply was that modern oil for cars isn't very suitable for oil burning heaters and causes more problems than it's worth.

 

[Bluetonic]

I have the modern equivalent fitted to my VW Touareg, an Eberspacher diesel heater with timer and remote control - still noisy though!

I had an Eberspacher diesel heater fitted to my 1967 VW Split Screen camper back in the early 90's. Also had the timer and thermostat fitted.
It was so nice as I was working shifts at that point and it was my daily driver. Old aircooled VW's not known for their great heating but mine was wonderful, warm and already defrosted by the time I had togo to work or go home, and fantastic after a day's surfing in cold weather .
Ah, happy days

 

[otherclive]

I had an Eberspacher diesel heater fitted to my 1967 VW Split Screen camper back in the early 90's. Also had the timer and thermostat fitted.
It was so nice as I was working shifts at that point and it was my daily driver. Old aircooled VW's not known for their great heating but mine was wonderful, warm and already defrosted by the time I had togo to work or go home, and fantastic after a day's surfing in cold weather .
Ah, happy days

Had the same in VW 411 estate but petrol. Upset neighbours a bit on early morning starts.