Chinese diesel heater - credit where credit's due

Mike Harding · Guru

Chinese diesel heater - credit where credit's due

Ivan 01 · Guru

I had a similar unit in my van and found it to be of great quality for its price.
I bought mine before the market was flooded with the cheaper units but they all appear to be of similar quality.

I think from memory I PAID ABOUT $300 for the kit including the tank and the digital controller which was new at that time,

The one thing I found that it was important to run it flat out every so often to keep the injector clean.

My tank was on the front of the van and when filling the ute I would fill the tank if needed. I also carried 10 litres in a designated Gerry.

They are the best thing since sliced bread for those in a van in the southern states during winter,

Radar · Guru

Hi Mike.

From your orignal positive comment back in 2020, we fitted one to go away in August 2020, a ebay 2.5kw, a little smaller physical size but is excellent for our 6 metre caravan touring around in lower Queensland.

Our only small problem we had was that it would not start when it was 12 months old, some reading on the facebook site said to have a look at the supplied main feed wire, with an old pair jumper leads I jump started the heater instantly. So I have now replaced the main feed line with much larger wire. Wow the start up difference was impressive, shows at the led controller more volts 12.1 now higher at 12.6 volts, at the battery 12.7 volts, I have not been able to find the supposely power drop. All most given up looking.

I cut the replaced supplied feed wire open and my thoughts were, I would only use that wire to run a car radio at the most. In the bin with it.

While I was busy replacing the main feed wire, I put a master switch in near the heater to turn the heater right off when not needed as I read that LED screens could fade in time and loose their readability, my main thought was, I do not need a night light as they are so bright.

Best money spent for the diesel heater and ours was just little over the $200 delivered.

Wonderful bit of kit for the caravan.

Stretch60 · Senior Member

I agree in the pilbara now and bloody cold. Love that diesel heater. Had mine a couple of years and recently replaced the glow plug and atomiser screen and going great guns.

dorian · Guru

Radar wrote:
Our only small problem we had was that it would not start when it was 12 months old, some reading on the facebook site said to have a look at the supplied main feed wire, with an old pair jumper leads I jump started the heater instantly. So I have now replaced the main feed line with much larger wire. Wow the start up difference was impressive, shows at the led controller more volts 12.1 now higher at 12.6 volts, at the battery 12.7 volts, I have not been able to find the supposely power drop.

Please excuse my ignorance, but I'm wondering why the control circuitry draws so much power. My old Acer netbook with an 11" display drew only 5W when running. Do these diesel heaters have a glow plug to get them started? Is that the stumbling block?

Whenarewethere · Guru

Or an Asus PN41, surprising what these tiny computers can do, without jumper leads!

Radar · Guru

dorian wrote:
Radar wrote:
Our only small problem we had was that it would not start when it was 12 months old, some reading on the facebook site said to have a look at the supplied main feed wire, with an old pair jumper leads I jump started the heater instantly. So I have now replaced the main feed line with much larger wire. Wow the start up difference was impressive, shows at the led controller more volts 12.1 now higher at 12.6 volts, at the battery 12.7 volts, I have not been able to find the supposely power drop.
Please excuse my ignorance, but I'm wondering why the control circuitry draws so much power. My old Acer netbook with an 11" display drew only 5W when running. Do these diesel heaters have a glow plug to get them started? Is that the stumbling block?

Yes, the diesel heater has a glow plug for the start up.

The heater was fitted 27th July, worked well for the next 5 weeks, we were away again the following year around Easter for 6 weeks, no sign of a problem, then in June we headed to cold Toowoomba and it would not fire up, June, July was cold so we moved power point to power point while I read about problems with diesel heaters.

Comes August and thats when I tried using my light set of jumper leads, it was the only wire I had to increase the 12 volt charge to the heater and bingo it fired up.

It may of been moisture in the fuse holder as the battery is on the chassis, who knows but certainly works now.

dorian I hope that answers your interest in the topic.

shakey55 · Senior Member

If not acceptable here I wil start a new thread.

Im in the market for a diesel heater for a 19 van.

Any recommendations on brand Chinese or other. I dont really want to spend thousands $

dorian · Guru

I just found this:

https://thegreynomads.activeboard.com/t67347049/diesel-heater-glow-plug/

A glow plug that has a resistance of 1 ohm would draw 12A. That would explain the voltage drop.

Radar · Guru

dorian wrote:
I just found this:
https://thegreynomads.activeboard.com/t67347049/diesel-heater-glow-plug/
A glow plug that has a resistance of 1 ohm would draw 12A. That would explain the voltage drop.

Thank you.

I don't go real well the technical stuff.

When you switch the light on and it don't light up, I just go looking.

Mike Harding · Guru

shakey55 wrote:
Im in the market for a diesel heater for a 19 van.

Any recommendations on brand Chinese or other. I dont really want to spend thousands $

Any of the Australian e-bay suppliers should be OK, this one seems to have everything needed in the kit at $180:

E-bay heater

You will need to cut a 100mm hole in the van floor, this kit from Bunnings has a 102mm hole saw and is cheap:

Bunnings hole saw

Before fitting take a look at Youtube videos on the matter, ensure you position the pump at a 30 to 45 degree angle, inlet at the bottom.

Whenarewethere · Guru

Those cheap hole saws are horrible things to use. For longer term use the individual Sutton hole saws are brilliant.

https://www.totaltools.com.au/brands/sutton/holesawing/holesawing

Mike Harding · Guru

Whenarewethere wrote:
Those cheap hole saws are horrible things to use. For longer term use the individual Sutton hole saws are brilliant.

And at only four times the price.

I believe this was the only time in my life I have cut a 100mm hole and I don't expect to be cutting many more. The cheapie did the trick perfectly well.

Ivan 01 · Guru

As I said in a post above it is imperative that the heater be run on full heat on a regular basis to keep the glow plug clean.

I used to run mine for about 5 minutes on high every two months and never had a problem with starting or anything else for that matter.

Had it for almost 5 years n the van before I sold the van.

I bought it from Pinnacle Wholesalers on EBay.

Radar · Guru

shakey55 wrote:
If not acceptable here I wil start a new thread.

Im in the market for a diesel heater for a 19 van.

Any recommendations on brand Chinese or other. I dont really want to spend thousands $

Hi.

ebay, have a look for a 2 kw diesel heater, seems a good size in our 19' 6" caravan, excellent in fact.

try to find a ebay seller with a phone number so you can have a chat to be sure you getting the maginal smaller unit, I did pay a bit more 2.5 kw, as I wanted the smaller unit and the seller assured me it was and arrived with in a few days of settling the account. All good.

I can not recommend a particular seller as they only carry a number at a time until sold and then they order more in.

The 5 kw are normally cheaper and most people I have met have them, as that what was available.

Time for you to dial up Ebay. they are great kit for the caravan when you camp in all weather.

Bowen at the moment 14 deg cel and we gave ours a run.