Chinese (5kw )air heater

I am interested in one of these because I have a 3kW Eber that oes not work well. But I am wary for two reasons:- safety and Customs charges.

The installation of a heater on a boat differs from on a vehicle. The exhaust arrangement has to be without any suspicion of a leak or re-circulation to avoid getting carbon monoxide into the vessel, and the intake for combustion air must be carefully designed for the same reason.

Regarding Customs charges, I note that the seller in the link in post #14 states in his advert that

"4.International buyers please note:
a. Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are buyer’s responsibility. We will try our best to reduce the risk of the custom duties."

I like that last sentence, however it does suggest that an attempt will be made to evade duty by the seller, and that there is a risk of you getting caught and required to pay up.
 
Colvic Watson said:
Thanks. How does Kerosene differ to heating oil or is it the same thing?
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35 second heating oil is also known (quite well by most of us I assume) as red diesel
28 second heating oil is kerosene, and was formerly referred to as paraffin.

The 'second' refers to Redwood seconds, a method of measuring oil viscosity.
 
Colvic Watson said:
Thanks. How does Kerosene differ to heating oil or is it the same thing?
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Heating oil comes in two kinds, one is Kero, the other is red diesel. There is a difference and I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to explain the differences.

See, I told you so.:D
 
Bodach na mara said:
I like that last sentence, however it does suggest that an attempt will be made to evade duty by the seller, and that there is a risk of you getting caught and required to pay up.
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£187 + 20% VAT comes out to £225 - say £235 including handling charges.

I thought Eberspachers were significantly more than that.
 
This thread highlights a current version of what used to be called the yellow peril.
One of my in laws is paid by the Chinese to go through shops and innovations type catalogues and buy samples of anything new or innovative not made in China . These are sent to China and some time later new versions arrive in Western markets. Personally I think this in law is a traitor and I don’t speak to her.
It is no surprise that the EU is fining the uk for not charging vat on Chinese imports. HMRC simply does not force foreigners to play on a level with uk made goods. They will catch up with and toast any uk firm not paying vat but don’t get round to these imports. It not just the Chinese either - the stainless exhaust elbow I got from the US came in free of charges.
 
Company here in the UK would purchase an electronic item they knew they had market for and sent or took it out to China.
The item would be pulled to pieces and a clone designed to externally match as close as possible.
Internally it would made as cheaply as possible in order to skim as close as possible to any rules or regs that would apply in UK.
The units would be re-imported as something else entirely and the boxes and packaging also printed out there would be bought in seperately and items boxed in UK for sale.
The failure rate was impressive but the profit ensured in the case of the more difficult customer you just sent new one and sold the faulty one on Ebay. :)
Suspect many forumites will have an item from this source as much tat was supplied to a very well known high street hobby retailer.
 
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oldgit said:
Company here in the UK would purchase an electronic item they knew they had market for and sent or took it out to China.
The item would be pulled to pieces and a clone designed to externally match as close as possible.
Internally it would made as cheaply as possible in order to skim as close as possible to any rules or regs that would apply in UK.
The units would be re-imported as something else entirely and the boxes and packaging also printed out there would be bought in seperately and items boxed in UK for sale.
The failure rate was impressive but the profit ensured in the case of the more difficult customer you just sent new one and sold the faulty one on Ebay. :)
Suspect many forumites will have an item from this source as much tat was supplied to a very well known high street hobby retailer.
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Er.....................yeah its called neoliberalism. Whats your point?
 
guardian said:
Er.....................yeah its called neoliberalism. Whats your point?
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Careful what you wish for......You just might get it :)


Breaking NEWsFlash :sleeping:....
Chinese eber knock off working for entire weekend ...and NO FIRE !!!!

..back to flags/anchors/Colregs and MoBo wash....suppose.
 
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BlueChip said:
I think I'm going to order this one for my shed and to keep as a boat spare.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-5000...NAR-for-trucks-boats-bus-Car-NEW/292334512563
Has a digital display and wireless remote control
£183 - I paid more than that for a replacement fuel pump for my Webasto a few years ago.
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Well my heater arrived today, no additional charges to pay, 12 days from order to delivery!
First impressions are good, it is very well packed and seems to have everything required for installation down to the last screw, nut and bolt required.
They have even supplied a plastic fuel tank which will be handy for the shed.
As others have said the manual is in Chinese, but I don't think that's a problem as there are plenty of schematics and its pretty self explanatory. If I run into problems I'll ask Mr Woo down the local takeaway to translate.
I'll report back later in the week when I've got it running.
 
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So far so good.
I've had the heater running for 12 hours. It's pumping very welcome hot air out and to all intents and purposes behaves the same as the 5KW Webasto on my boat. When my battery volts ran down the heater shutdown properly, startup and shutdown sequences seem normal.

The digital display is pretty well self explanatory showing volts, air temperature, heater temperature and presumably the status of the pump, fan and air supply. Heater temperature is set by changing the frequency of the dosing pump, I'm not sure if there is a thermostat in the controller or not yet.

I took the lid off and it looks well built inside.

I don't know what the antenna symbol in the display represents the heater was advertised as coming with a simple remote control (like a garage door fob), but it didn't and the vendor tells me they don't supply one. As the description on eBay included a remote control this is annoying, but for my purposes not important.
It does seem though that the capability may be present, so when I get the manual translated it may be clearer.

I managed to get into a menu where a 4 digit number can be programmed, maybe this is the control code, it doesn't seem to have any other purpose.

For what I paid for the heater, this has got to be a bargain.
 
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Very interesting thread, I assume there is no exhaust outlet suitable for a boat , nor a silencer, both may be important. Does anyone know the electrical consumption on startup and running, looking forward to as much information as possible.
 
Chum announced recently he had bought a warm air heater for his little fishing boat, bit of a suprise as the installation of even a used Web/Eber would double the value of his boat and simply beyond his budget.
He has of course bought one of the £200.00 Chinese versions, installed it without drama and is mightly pleased with a luxury he never thought he could afford.
Came with everything needed to do the job except a exhaust fitting which he also purchased from Ebay.
 
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