Chinese Diesel air heater interchangeability etc

[Wing Mark]

So, it seems like I've bought a boat with a smokey chinese heater on it.
The heater looks a lot like this, but no documents found yet:
5KW 12V Air Diesel Heater 10L Tank For Vehicle Car Trucks Boat Bus Low Noise RV | eBay
I would like a quick fix, I'm thinking of buying a new heater and swapping just the heater body, can I be reasonably confident that the wiring will be the same, the pump with do the right cc's per pulse etc etc?
Or will I need to treat the pump, controller/thermostat and heater body as a set?

Am I right in thinking (hoping) the controller just says 'go' and the brains are in the heater body?
Or doe the thermostats also control the pump?
Anyone got wiring diagrams?

The heater on the boat is installed OK, with lagged exhaust, marine transom outlet etc. So easy to swap just the heater body?

I have a sub-plan to fix up the old heater, after a clean, to heat my shed/workshop, both as a 'test bed' and to keep the spiders warm in the shed....
It's possible the smoke is due to not being used, or maybe it just didn't like working on a slope with Force 7 blowing up its exhaust, but I feel the need to test it 'off site'.

 

[Bodach na mara]

Been there, didn't do that !
It's not just a matter of bolting in a new heater unit, the metering pump and controller need to be renewed as well, using the ones that the heater manufacturer specifies. The mounting will probably need changed, as will the exhaust and some of the ducting.

I bought a kit for a Planar heater from Autoterm, and other parts from P F Jones and Bowers. Google is your friend for details.

 

[PetiteFleur]

There is a couple of Facebook sites that have all the answers, including setting up, failure codes etc. I would buy another one if no joy in fixing it, make sure the controller and cable connections are the same. Should be interchangeable as long as it's been installed correctly.

 

[Daydream believer]

Why not buy the unit with all the parts within the body of the heater. I bought one for my workshop & all I needed to do was hook it to a battery & feed the exhaust outside. You could then strip all the existing gubbins out, take it home & play with that there & see what luck you get with your workshop heater.
The cost was circa £90 but I see that the price may have escalated in the last 18 months. The casing adds protection as well.heater sample. This is just a sample & one should explore the market for better deals

One thing I will say is that I was surprised at the fuel consumption & the drain on the battery. I have to have a battery charger hooked to the battery whilst the heater is running. I admit the battery is old but I do not think that is an issue. I would be inclined to put a voltage cutout in the system, so that you do not wake up in the morning to find flat batteries.

Fuel consumption may be less on a boat as it is a much smaller space than my workshop. However, I find that my calor gas radiant heater does a better job in the workshop than the Chinese heater. Cost is not much different.
Not overly impressed with the chinese one as you might gather & would not have one on my boat. But one gets what one pays for.

 

[Wing Mark]

Why not buy the unit with all the parts within the body of the heater. I bought one for my workshop & all I needed to do was hook it to a battery & feed the exhaust outside. You could then strip all the existing gubbins out, take it home & play with that there & see what luck you get with your workshop heater.
The cost was circa £90 but I see that the price may have escalated in the last 18 months. The casing adds protection as well.heater sample. This is just a sample & one should explore the market for better deals

One thing I will say is that I was surprised at the fuel consumption & the drain on the battery. I have to have a battery charger hooked to the battery whilst the heater is running. I admit the battery is old but I do not think that is an issue. I would be inclined to put a voltage cutout in the system, so that you do not wake up in the morning to find flat batteries.

Fuel consumption may be less on a boat as it is a much smaller space than my workshop. However, I find that my calor gas radiant heater does a better job in the workshop than the Chinese heater. Cost is not much different.
Not overly impressed with the chinese one as you might gather & would not have one on my boat. But one gets what one pays for.

The initial goal is to get heat in the boat, using the existing exhaust and warm air install, plumbing to the tank etc, which all appears good.
Swapping just the main unit would be a quick fix, I'll see how much effort is needed to swap the thermostat/control box, wiring and the pump at the same time.

 

[Wing Mark]

There is a couple of Facebook sites that have all the answers, including setting up, failure codes etc. I would buy another one if no joy in fixing it, make sure the controller and cable connections are the same. Should be interchangeable as long as it's been installed correctly.

Thank you!

 

[markspark7]

The initial goal is to get heat in the boat, using the existing exhaust and warm air install, plumbing to the tank etc, which all appears good.
Swapping just the main unit would be a quick fix, I'll see how much effort is needed to swap the thermostat/control box, wiring and the pump at the same time.

The heater and the controller must be a matching pair as the heater as a small circuit board matched to the controller.
I've installed a few of these over the last 12 months and mostly been ok.
the CHinese heater forum is a great source for information and parts.

 

[Elessar]

So, it seems like I've bought a boat with a smokey chinese heater on it.
The heater looks a lot like this, but no documents found yet:
5KW 12V Air Diesel Heater 10L Tank For Vehicle Car Trucks Boat Bus Low Noise RV | eBay
I would like a quick fix, I'm thinking of buying a new heater and swapping just the heater body, can I be reasonably confident that the wiring will be the same, the pump with do the right cc's per pulse etc etc?
Or will I need to treat the pump, controller/thermostat and heater body as a set?

Am I right in thinking (hoping) the controller just says 'go' and the brains are in the heater body?
Or doe the thermostats also control the pump?
Anyone got wiring diagrams?

The heater on the boat is installed OK, with lagged exhaust, marine transom outlet etc. So easy to swap just the heater body?

I have a sub-plan to fix up the old heater, after a clean, to heat my shed/workshop, both as a 'test bed' and to keep the spiders warm in the shed....
It's possible the smoke is due to not being used, or maybe it just didn't like working on a slope with Force 7 blowing up its exhaust, but I feel the need to test it 'off site'.

When mine got Smokey I just replaced the glow plug with a genuine webasto one. Fitted and worked perfectly.

 

[Wing Mark]

When mine got Smokey I just replaced the glow plug with a genuine webasto one. Fitted and worked perfectly.

good to know.
I'll need to remove it from the boat to work on it, so I might as well test it in the back yard.

 

[fredrussell]

…One thing I will say is that I was surprised at the fuel consumption & the drain on the battery. I have to have a battery charger hooked to the battery whilst the heater is running. I admit the battery is old but I do not think that is an issue…

Sounds to me like your battery is a duffer. My cheapo Chinese 5kw will run all night for very little battery drain, but it’s usually just ticking over set by pump rate (and not by thermostat). There’s plenty of figures on the eBay ads re fuel consumption so should be easy to check yours is working correctly.

 

[Daydream believer]

Sounds to me like your battery is a duffer. My cheapo Chinese 5kw will run all night for very little battery drain, but it’s usually just ticking over set by pump rate (and not by thermostat). There’s plenty of figures on the eBay ads re fuel consumption so should be easy to check yours is working correctly.

I have tried different batteries. Plus, I have pump rate at just above mid range( forget figure) as it is in a work shop & low rate would be ineffective. Obviously a boat could be at lowest setting.

 

[Wing Mark]

Why not buy the unit with all the parts within the body of the heater. I bought one for my workshop & all I needed to do was hook it to a battery & feed the exhaust outside. You could then strip all the existing gubbins out, take it home & play with that there & see what luck you get with your workshop heater.
The cost was circa £90 but I see that the price may have escalated in the last 18 months. The casing adds protection as well.heater sample. This is just a sample & one should explore the market for better deals

One thing I will say is that I was surprised at the fuel consumption & the drain on the battery. I have to have a battery charger hooked to the battery whilst the heater is running. I admit the battery is old but I do not think that is an issue. I would be inclined to put a voltage cutout in the system, so that you do not wake up in the morning to find flat batteries.

Fuel consumption may be less on a boat as it is a much smaller space than my workshop. However, I find that my calor gas radiant heater does a better job in the workshop than the Chinese heater. Cost is not much different.
Not overly impressed with the chinese one as you might gather & would not have one on my boat. But one gets what one pays for.

In what way were you surprised by the fuel consumption?
Diesel is about 10kWh per litre calorific value, so half a litre per hour would be about 5kW input, I guess a fair bit goes out the exhaust as wasted heat?
I son't think I'll be running it more than an hour or two at a time.
People are vague about the DC current, but the fan must be pulling something like 3A, running continuously overnight will certainly be noticed by the battery.

The fuel cost will be remarkably similar to electricity at between 15 and 20 pence for a kWh? Assuming road diesel.

 

[cherod]

i have read / heard that they need to have a good hot ( full ) run regularly to prevent or clear the sooty issue ( dont know if that is relevant but maybe worth a try )

 

[Daydream believer]

i have read / heard that they need to have a good hot ( full ) run regularly to prevent or clear the sooty issue ( dont know if that is relevant but maybe worth a try )

They run at a high speed at the start & at shut down so one would assume that should do the trick. The Chinglish instructions give no further advice to the contrary

 

[Rhylsailer99]

So, it seems like I've bought a boat with a smokey chinese heater on it.
The heater looks a lot like this, but no documents found yet:
5KW 12V Air Diesel Heater 10L Tank For Vehicle Car Trucks Boat Bus Low Noise RV | eBay
I would like a quick fix, I'm thinking of buying a new heater and swapping just the heater body, can I be reasonably confident that the wiring will be the same, the pump with do the right cc's per pulse etc etc?
Or will I need to treat the pump, controller/thermostat and heater body as a set?

Am I right in thinking (hoping) the controller just says 'go' and the brains are in the heater body?
Or doe the thermostats also control the pump?
Anyone got wiring diagrams?

The heater on the boat is installed OK, with lagged exhaust, marine transom outlet etc. So easy to swap just the heater body?

I have a sub-plan to fix up the old heater, after a clean, to heat my shed/workshop, both as a 'test bed' and to keep the spiders warm in the shed....
It's possible the smoke is due to not being used, or maybe it just didn't like working on a slope with Force 7 blowing up its exhaust, but I feel the need to test it 'off site'.

Pour half parrafin inside the tank and that stopped mine smoking

 

[oldgit]

use the heater ?

 

[PetiteFleur]

There are lots of U Tube videos on these chinese heaters, I have one and have had few issues as long as it is installed correctly. Don't fiddle with the factory set settings and you should be ok. It takes about 9amps on startup for a few minutes then only a small draw whilst running. Mine was an early one and had to replace the controller and motherboard as the originals were not available - not expensive, about £35 from memory.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

I have tried different batteries. Plus, I have pump rate at just above mid range( forget figure) as it is in a work shop & low rate would be ineffective. Obviously a boat could be at lowest setting.

I'm sure I've read somewhere on these forums (fora?) that it's better to install a lower output heater and run it at the higher end of its output range, so as to ensure that it always burns cleanly and does not 'coke up'.

 

[Wing Mark]

I'm sure I've read somewhere on these forums (fora?) that it's better to install a lower output heater and run it at the higher end of its output range, so as to ensure that it always burns cleanly and does not 'coke up'.

Personally, I don't envisage sitting around for long evenings with the heating ticking over and the cabin closed up.
More likely to be putting the heater on full chat and leaving the washboards out to warm and dry the boat, as you'd do if your car steams up due to being full of wet people. That or running it on high for a relatively short while to warm the boat.

I see it as more like heating a Morris Minor than heating a house. Maybe a convertible at that!

I am not sure what the notional power of a typical car heater is, but mine chucks out a lot more, hotter, air than a 2kW fan heater, and I wouldn't want it to do any less at times.

AIUI these things should not be all that prone to coking up when run on low power, because the internal bits run at a similar temperature, the 'cabin' airflow is reduced more than the temperature of the heat exchanger?

But I don't disagree, someone who wants to keep a small cabin warm for long periods using say 1kW might be well advised to go for a small heater or even a 'wet' system. I was chatting to some people on the pontoon today who have been well pleased with a Hydronic Eber which heats the calorifier, some matrices and a radiator in their ~36ft boat. I have 3 outlets so I don't think the 2kW model will be a good choice.