benjyhas
New Member
Just bought one of these with the LCD display. Seems to run great. Does anyone know If you can turn the LCD display off when it’s not in use? Mines in a classic car and sometimes doesn’t get driven for a couple weeks at a time
Chinese (5kw )air heater
- Thread starter pcatterall
- Start date
MarcJ
Well-Known Member
Take the fuse out or put a switch in the feed...
benjyhas
New Member
I had already considered this, but I was hoping there was a setting on the controller I hadn’t stumbled across yet
owen-cox
Well-Known Member
Sorry, lol
owen-cox
Well-Known Member
Why doesnt someone take up my offer of coming to my workshop with a variety of heaters and we can test them under conditions monitored by independent people so thatbthe results are worth something. I have run plenty of tests and I know what i know about these heaters by actual in the flesh tests. The problem is that everyone seems to think i have an axe to grind ( which I dont, in spite of the fact i sell another brand) i know our heaters will come off well in these tests because I know the results already after running my own tests. I have several chinese heaters on test. So please instead of berating everything I say after all my years of experience in these heaters either listen or prove me wrong ina practical demostration of your own. I have offered this on the chinese heaters page and as yet nobody has taken me up on it.
NormanS
Well-Known Member
As a seller of a competitor, in what way do you not have "an axe to grind"?
owen-cox
Well-Known Member
If i thought chinese heaters were a great value product maybe i would sell them instead or as well. I have been completely objective in all my reports so far. As i said, Bring a chinese heater along and we can prove it.
NormanS
Well-Known Member
Well, apparently the Chinese heaters are quite happy to burn kerosene, while you have stated that your models cannot. That makes your ones approximately twice as expensive to run. Sorry, but that would be a no-no for me.
owen-cox
Well-Known Member
Agreed but for me the hassle of having another fuel source way outweighs the cost so its a personal choice. Plus I sell enough chinese glow plugs to know how reliable they are. Ive not changed one planar one in all the time ive been selling them. So good luck and hope it works out for you long term.
pcatterall
Well-Known Member
The biggest concern of many would be users must be the longer term reliability, limited time bench testing is not going to dispel these concerns. (FWIIW I am a Chinese advocate!)
NormanS
Well-Known Member
I don't have a Chinese heater. Mine is a perfectly working Eberspacher. My interest is that should something happen to my Eber, would I replace it with a ridiculously expensive Eber, a moderately expensive Russian model, or a dirt cheap Chinese one? At the moment, I think my choice would be to buy two of the Chinese ones. That is the limit of my interest just now.
owen-cox
Well-Known Member
Thats one of the concerns yes. I used to sell VVKB, I stopped shortly afterwards because it was almost 50% fail rate. Another retailer was selling them tol and he had the same problem and stopped. I am sure in time they will improve but they are way off at the moment. With the shipping issues people have and damage on arrival then subsequent failure of glow plug or fuel pump which seem to be the favourites this month. I would be amazed if more than 60% work straight out of the box. Compare that with Autoterm Planar whose official figures for europe last year are 20 heaters with a manufacturing defect in 10,000 sold approx. There is still a fair way to go. I have spoken to lots of chinese suppliers as they contact me all the time. I havent found one that tests the heaters for CO or sets up the controls with the correct fuel air mixture. So none are correct. They test for an ( so far from what they tell me) 8 minutes maximum test time they run in the factory which is just about enough to get running properly and then shut down. Some have told me they dont test at all just assmeble and box. A guy who was saying hiw good they were compared to an Eberspacher put up a photo of the two next to each other and I couod see from a grainy photo there was a casting defect that, would have been discarded in any branded heater on the one he had. He confirmed it was true. Im not just saying they are bad because I sell ither equipment but I am saying they are no way a comparitive product with any branded heater. Do they heat up? Yes if you are one of the lucky ones, are they reliable? Some are and some aren’t. Are they safe? Some are and some aren’t,
My advice if you buy one is this. Run them before you fit it on a bench. When running on test check the overheat sensor works by blocking the heated air intake until it stops. Check the combustion chamber is gastight particularly around the glow plug and fuel pipe. And ALWAYS FIT A CO alarm.
Change the exhaust pipe for one that wont rust away in 5 minutes, change the silencer for one that is gastight, throw the fuel pipe in the bin plus all the clips. Get a spare decent glowplug in stock for when it fails. Then you may have one that is half way reliable at least.
superheat6k
Well-Known Member
I have tried a blocked inlet test on my boat, but can't find out what internal temperature the overheat should trip off at. I took it to 210oC and I am sure I read somewhere 225oC is the maximum, but I don't want to wreck the thing just trying a test for the sake of it - but yes if it does overheat I want it to stop.
Do you know what temperature they should go off at, although I am not sure all controllers display the internal temperature ?
I also note that there are subtle differences in similar looking controllers - mine turns off fully after the heater completes its off cycle, but one I just helped a friend fit to his camper stays lit up on the display all the time, plus the keys are in a different position (swapped left for right), and his is less intuitive to use.
I won't be using mine unless up and awake and onboard, but this may change as I become more confident. I will also come back to the forum with any issues that arise. I am running of kerosene, as I did my Eber D4 on my last boat because even Espar (US Eberspacher) suggest this.
PaulRainbow
Well-Known Member
Sorry, i don't follow your logic here. Surely you cover the inlet and wait for it to shut down, if it doesn't, it catches fire. If it catches fire you wouldn't have wanted it on the boat, so no loss. If it shuts down you know it won't overheat and set fire to the boat.
owen-cox
Well-Known Member
Definitely as Paul says. They usually shut down at 250C. At least Planar do anyway.
superheat6k
Well-Known Member
If it does not shut down it is because the thermostatic device that protects the unit in the event of an overheat is not working properly - this is the purpose of a non destructive test, to determine function of a critical safety device - not to wreck the entire equipment.
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This is a very useful thread. Please do not let personal disagreements get in the way of the technical discussions.
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PaulRainbow
Well-Known Member
How do you work that out ?
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matthewriches
Well-Known Member
Owen, we never did catch up but I have a chinasplasher 5kw heater that I purchased just over a year ago for “test purposes” with a melted top where after suffocation of the room air inlet, the top started melting very badly as it didn’t shutdown. This was the one Paul might remember me telling him about. I still have it somewhere in the yard so will have to dig it out.
I cannot and couldn’t ever recommend, advocate or advise fitment of anything of these Chinese & similar heaters, certainly on a commercial level, as I simply don’t believe that they hold genuine credentials. Obviously I’m a year or so out of date because I’ve not looked at them again since ruining one.
Now saying the above, there are 1000’s of people in Facebook groups that have variants of these Chinese heaters and who have reported good and bad so I guess it’s a case of pay your money and take your choice. Luckily I don’t have any boat neighbors now as on my own private mooring but if I knew that I was in a marina parked next to a boat with potentially dangerous equipment running onboard, I’d demand to be moved immediately!
I cannot and couldn’t ever recommend, advocate or advise fitment of anything of these Chinese & similar heaters, certainly on a commercial level, as I simply don’t believe that they hold genuine credentials. Obviously I’m a year or so out of date because I’ve not looked at them again since ruining one.
Now saying the above, there are 1000’s of people in Facebook groups that have variants of these Chinese heaters and who have reported good and bad so I guess it’s a case of pay your money and take your choice. Luckily I don’t have any boat neighbors now as on my own private mooring but if I knew that I was in a marina parked next to a boat with potentially dangerous equipment running onboard, I’d demand to be moved immediately!
superheat6k
Well-Known Member
May I thank the Mods for deleting my unhelpful thread responses and may I apologise to any forumite who may have read these and who might have taken any offence. I have also deleted unhelpful text in an earlier response, but I am unable to delete my text embedded in another's post.
May I thank Owen Cox for his advice of the Planar cut out temperature of 250oC. I am not sure I would test with the unit installed to that temperature. I am thinking about a separate external thermal cut out to the fuel pump supply.
To anyone buying one if these heaters then a bench test with the main vent air inlet covered to test the overheat cut out works may be something to think about doing. I would have a bucket of water nearby in case it doesn't.
May I thank Owen Cox for his advice of the Planar cut out temperature of 250oC. I am not sure I would test with the unit installed to that temperature. I am thinking about a separate external thermal cut out to the fuel pump supply.
To anyone buying one if these heaters then a bench test with the main vent air inlet covered to test the overheat cut out works may be something to think about doing. I would have a bucket of water nearby in case it doesn't.