Heater fuel consumption

billyfish

billyfish

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I have installed a Planer air 2 D heater which works well BUT the paperwork says it uses 0.1 - 0.24 L ph...in my mind that is a litre every four hours but I have used about 30 liters in 16 hours and most of that was on a low setting. Am I missing something
 
You’re heater is unwell. Is it smoking a lot? I can’t see how a heater like that could possibly get through 30 litres in 16 hours without seriously over-fueling which would cause lots of smoke.
 
Your figure is twice the fuel consumption for a chinese 5kw running at full power.
Your pump must sound like a machine gun running at that speed.
Certainly something wrong .
 
Well that's what I thought, seems to run fine no leaks, not that hot , no smoke, its brand new, I'm only going off the fuel gauge full tank 100 lts started with just under half a tank nearly empty at the end , not very scientific will do again from full and top up again after just using the heater and not motoring any where. It was all a bit of a quest. Dont know where the gauge is full.
 
I wouldn't trust the gauge for this sort of accuracy. Especially if the tank isn't a constant cross-section. If it tapers towards the bottom (perhaps to fit the shape of the hull) then the bottom end of the gauge will travel much faster than the top unless a specially-calibrated sender was fitted, and they often aren't.

Pete
 
Boat fuel gauges are notoriously inaccurate! You could always take the heater's fuel pipe off the tank and dip it in to a jar containing a measured quantity of fuel - say 250ml. Then run the heater and see how long the fuel lasts. It should be at least an hour.
 
billyfish said:
I have installed a Planer air 2 D heater which works well BUT the paperwork says it uses 0.1 - 0.24 L ph...in my mind that is a litre every four hours but I have used about 30 liters in 16 hours and most of that was on a low setting. Am I missing something
Click to expand...
I have one in my shed & it is also on a low setting. Extremely high fuel use. Costs more to run than my calor gas radiant heater & produces less heat.
Very disappointed
 
pvb said:
Out of interest, how much fuel do you think it uses? At what sort of heat output?
Click to expand...
It has a 5 litre container &I turned the heat output down due to the high fuel use I have to top it up every 2-3 hours. It does not warm my workshop ( 10 ft * 22ft ) anywhere as near as well as my calor gas radiant heater. About 50% of the heat output at a very crude guess. No sign of fumes etc from the exhaust. I bought mine as a pre assembled unit. No leaks as i would see that on the floor.
 
The energy must be going somewhere if a litre is getting used every hour; that's ~15kWh, it doesn't just vanish. If it's being burnt perhaps the heat is going out the exhaust due to a clogged heat exchanger. Notwithstanding the lack of fumes incomplete combustion might mean it's evaporating and going out with the exhaust gases.
 
I'd trust neither fuel gauge nor manufacturer's claims, my experience of these heaters (an Eber D2 and a Mikuni MY30) is that they consume a lot more than a measly 1/4 litre/hr (if only). I'd be interested to see a real world, measured consumption test of the various heaters (PBO Gear Test?). If only the Chinese would manufacture a decent drip-fed diesel heater...
 
Chinese , 5 kw. Maunufacturers Claim 0.4l per hr.
Pump delivers 0.2ml per click. This guy makes an interesting case for working it out mathematically, but I agree they seem to use a fair amount of fuel.
 
5kw. American video, so i will assume the two gallon tank is likely to be the standard 10 litre.
It ran for 25 hrs on full power !
Result is 0.4 litres per hr .
 
Rappey said:
5kw. American video, so i will assume the two gallon tank is likely to be the standard 10 litre.
It ran for 25 hrs on full power !
Result is 0.4 litres per hr .
Click to expand...


Something fishy about that heater or the test.
2 US gallons is 7.57 litre. Energy density of diesel is 9.7kWh/litre so total energy available is 7.57 x 9.7 = 73.43kWh. Divide by 25 =2.94kW.
If that heater was running at full power giving out 5kW then it is 170% efficient.
Where can I buy one?
 
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