Diesel heater problem.

[Rappey]

The chinese diesel heater is dripping diesel out of the exhaust. It has less than 10 hrs on it.
The glowplug is working based on the 9 amps the heater consumes when starting and no error codes come up.
It's flooding itself but is just not firing up now.
Occasionally there is smoke when going through the starting process. Assuming that to be from the glowplug.
On opening the heater up the combustion chamber had a puddle of fuel in it.

 

[fredrussell]

Any fault code(s)?
What happens when you empty fuel out of combustion chamber and try to re-start it?
The general advice on these heaters is to replace with a new one and keep old one for spares.

Are you a member of the Facebook Chinaspacher group? Masses of useful info on there.

 

[peteK]

You have flooded it trying to start it, check voltage at heater when trying to start.

 

[Rappey]

There are no fault codes. It goes through the proper cycle that you would expect when starting, other than its not actually igniting.

Not got facebook so not sure I could read on there?

The voltage on the display is 11.7 when glowplug is on.
My own one has run fine with lesser voltage.

I didn't want to confuse the issue but a second one was bought and that is doing the same. Having two with the same fault?

The instalation is very good using better fittings than what are supplied, and the pump has got the correct angle. Everything is within parameters of location, lengths etc

 

[peteK]

The supplied wire to the battery is a bit thin on these diesel heaters,upgrade the wire 11.7 volts is borderline for starting,try it with engine running.

 

[fredrussell]

I didn't want to confuse the issue but a second one was bought and that is doing the same. Having two with the same fault?

Highly unlikely- it sounds like the voltage too low to me. Any way you can get voltage up? Just to eliminate that as a possible cause of fault?

 

[Rappey]

We put the thing back together and set it up in the garage and it worked fine ??? Was very smokey to start with but that was probably excess fuel left inside and from priming.
It ran up to an indicated 214c on the display.
On the display it actually dropped to 11v at one point running from an old battery and a charger. The voltage at battery was 12. 7v
It ran on a different fuel pump and display ?

 

[fredrussell]

On the display it actually dropped to 11v at one point running from an old battery and a charger. The voltage at battery was 12. 7v

Is the battery dropping from 12.7v to under 12v when glow plug is powered? If so your battery may well be a duffer.

 

[Rappey]

The battery we used is goosed but with battery charger on it can maintain 12.7 at worst.
It's the heater display that says it went as low as 11v while battery was still at 12.7
The boat the heater was playing up on had 13.11v

 

[mrangry]

What is the position of the fuel tank in relation to the heater?

 

[peteK]

Eberspacher recommend minimum of 11.8v on there heaters.

 

[Rappey]

What is the position of the fuel tank in relation to the heater?

The fuel tank is under the cockpit floor and the heater is virtually along side in a locker .The heater is probably 200mm at most higher than the top of the tank with the pump low down and a short run of pipe
The heater is using the fuel supply that was originally fitted for the mod when it had an eber heater as this is an ex armed forces boat.

 

[awol]

Probably not the answer but my Eber had similar symptoms after the yacht was pooped and the exhaust was filled with water.

 

[Rappey]

Probably not the answer but my Eber had similar symptoms after the yacht was pooped and the exhaust was filled with water.

This is something we thought of this evening and will check that out tomorrow , more so since you have said it caused a similar problem for you..

 

[peteK]

You did fit the Chinese pump and not used the eber pump?

 

[stevie69p]

The battery we used is goosed but with battery charger on it can maintain 12.7 at worst.
It's the heater display that says it went as low as 11v while battery was still at 12.7
The boat the heater was playing up on had 13.11v

I think you've answered your own question there. You're getting a voltage drop of 1.7v between the battery and the heater, so either the wires are too thin (they are, as standard!) or you've got a connection issue and high resistance. Upgrade the wiring to as close to the heater as possible and connect direct to a known good battery (5mm or 6mm squared wiring is ideal). I the glow plug doesn't get hot enough, they struggle to start. Keep wiring as short as possible.

 

[Rappey]

You did fit the Chinese pump and not used the eber pump?

Yes! Currently im placing my bets on water in the exhaust as the low voltage at the controler is higher than others ive come across yet they still run ok and the glowplug is around 9.5v as labaled on the packet.

 

[smithy]

Is it 2or 5kw? The 2kw are very fussy with exhaust length and bends.

 

[stuey_two]

I think you've answered your own question there. You're getting a voltage drop of 1.7v between the battery and the heater, so either the wires are too thin (they are, as standard!) or you've got a connection issue and high resistance. Upgrade the wiring to as close to the heater as possible and connect direct to a known good battery (5mm or 6mm squared wiring is ideal). I the glow plug doesn't get hot enough, they struggle to start. Keep wiring as short as possible.

I second the stevie69p opinion - if the heater reports 11v when the battery is at 12.7, you clearly have a wiring problem which needs testing before looking for further possible causes. The glow plug may well be rated 9v but it needs a lot of current and your wiring problem will restrict the current to the plug.

 

[Rappey]

Have you ever looked at the voltage display v the actual voltage fed to the heater.
The ones I see always show a lot less on the display when starting v what is available.
If the exhaust is totally clear on the boat and the problem returns after a good garage run then the wiring will be the next thing to look at.
Myself and a friend both installed chinese 3 years ago and other than me needing a new glow plug after 300 hrs they have both been faultless and have the stock wiring, that's the only reason I'm not so sure about the wiring and voltages being such a problem as it's suggested they can run as low as 10.5v
It will be an interesting experiment with a given supply voltage to see if the display voltage increases with bigger wiring.
They have a low voltage warning but I've never seen that error displayed yet.