In our last van, I installed a $1100 diesel heater. Had no issues with it during
For our new van, I am doing research on these Chinese diesel heaters at around $ 150. ( Average). To me they look exactly like the previous heater. Therefore me thinks that the $1100 heater supplier purchases these Chinese units and then on markets them a the price mentioned previously..
This now leads to ask the Question.
Those of you who have purchased the cheap Chinese version what are your findings?
We mainly travel during the 6 month winter period and we will need a good heater.
if the Chinese one fails you could buy a new one and carry one as a spare and still be in front dollar wise, but my Chinese one has served me well so far
In our last van, I installed a $1100 diesel heater. Had no issues with it during
For our new van, I am doing research on these Chinese diesel heaters at around $ 150. ( Average). To me they look exactly like the previous heater. Therefore me thinks that the $1100 heater supplier purchases these Chinese units and then on markets them a the price mentioned previously..
This now leads to ask the Question.
Those of you who have purchased the cheap Chinese version what are your findings?
We mainly travel during the 6 month winter period and we will need a good heater.
Although it is great to see that others have had a good run with El Cheapo Chinese stuff, personally I wouldn't touch it.
Truma Combi D6 heats my Hot Water and when it is minus 3 or 4 outside I leave it running all night. One litre diesel = 8 hours.
However, you could do as Mike Harding did, buying and installing one El Cheapo unit, but carrying another "Just in case".
When temperatures are below zero it's not much fun having a faulty heater! Good luck. Cheers
In our last van, I installed a $1100 diesel heater. Had no issues with it during
For our new van, I am doing research on these Chinese diesel heaters at around $ 150. ( Average). To me they look exactly like the previous heater. Therefore me thinks that the $1100 heater supplier purchases these Chinese units and then on markets them a the price mentioned previously..
This now leads to ask the Question.
Those of you who have purchased the cheap Chinese version what are your findings?
We mainly travel during the 6 month winter period and we will need a good heater.
I have a Webasto and a "Chinese " Diesel Heater ....one in a Slide on and one in a Van.....both work well ......just make sure that "Southern Winter Diesel" is used in them , otherwise the fuel can "Gel" in the lines right when it is cold enough to need the Heater .....
Although it is great to see that others have had a good run with El Cheapo Chinese stuff, personally I wouldn't touch it.
Truma Combi D6 heats my Hot Water and when it is minus 3 or 4 outside I leave it running all night. One litre diesel = 8 hours.
However, you could do as Mike Harding did, buying and installing one El Cheapo unit, but carrying another "Just in case".
When temperatures are below zero it's not much fun having a faulty heater! Good luck. Cheers
We have a Webasto glycol heater in the OKA. It provides central heating, hot water and can pre-heat the engine when very cold. The heat source can be engine waste heat while driving, diesel or solar power (it also has a 1kW immersion heater) when parked up. Diesel is only used if neither of the other 2 are available. It has been faultless since installation about 7 years ago. The new build will get a similar Eberspacher. Cheers, Peter
-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Saturday 17th of February 2024 07:31:04 PM
I have a cheap Chinese ebay special and it has performed fine, although I have not used it a lot as someone permanently on the road may do.
There does not seem to be enough correlation between quality and price to justify the much higher prices being charged. I prefer to pay for quality but if the price difference is huge and the quality difference not obvious I would prefer to save the money. With no care about budget, then sure .... buy the quality one as it may be better and save inconvenience.
Cheap Chinese (Eberspacher copy) $140.00, bought three winters ago - no problems. As I am an old fart it took over a day to install, mainly because manual (piece of paper) was next to useless. I got instructions from Mike Harding that saved the day.
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I have a Webasto and a "Chinese " Diesel Heater ....one in a Slide on and one in a Van.....both work well ......just make sure that "Southern Winter Diesel" is used in them , otherwise the fuel can "Gel" in the lines right when it is cold enough to need the Heater .....
Hi Kerry,Putting kerosene into the diesel also is a good idea, and ratio matters little.
Usually I run 10% kero, or there abouts, but much higher also is acceptable. Cheers
In our last van, I installed a $1100 diesel heater. Had no issues with it during
For our new van, I am doing research on these Chinese diesel heaters at around $ 150. ( Average). To me they look exactly like the previous heater. Therefore me thinks that the $1100 heater supplier purchases these Chinese units and then on markets them a the price mentioned previously..
This now leads to ask the Question.
Those of you who have purchased the cheap Chinese version what are your findings?
We mainly travel during the 6 month winter period and we will need a good heater.
I am a fan of el cheaply Diesel heaters.
Winter 2020 we fitted our E bay special, we did have a hiccup about 18 months after fitting, we discovered the main feed wire from the battery was not good enough but all good now.
A good investment.
PS. It was extremely cold without it for a few weeks until I read on Facebook that had happen to others, so out with the cars jumper leads and that had it going in a flash and that is when I rewired it in very cold weather out Western Queensland.
-- Edited by Radar on Sunday 18th of February 2024 10:28:03 AM
I had a Inscrutable Oriental one for about a six months and it started to huff and puff and not light. This seemed a common occurrence (Lots of people experiencing that problem ) and was attributed to "sooting up" I reasoned that it couldn't be because the fuel would burn lean and even if it didn't sufficient time wouldn't have elapsed for that to happen ...
What the problem is is the electric connector going into it is not capable of carrying enough current to get the glow plugs going. If you examine the contacts you will notice heating and discoloration. I wanna say 10 amps plus?
The fix is to identify the start current wiring. Pull it out of the connector block. Crimp on some proper connectors and implement more robust current block screw terminal thingamy... Something that will carry sufficent current to get the thing running.
From then on "sweet". Wow that was ten years ago ... Still toasty.
Our van is 19'6" dual axle.. 3kw chinese heater was around $140.00. Delivered.. When I turn it on it's flat out until the inside of the van is hot and that's with the door open.. Just love the sound of that turbine howling.. Once the van is warm the heater is then adjusted to our comfort level.. No problems sleeping at night as it's usually turned down very low .. In the morning I will run the heater flat out for a while just to make sure that any buildup that may have occured during the night is burnt off..
I have a Webasto and a "Chinese " Diesel Heater ....one in a Slide on and one in a Van.....both work well ......just make sure that "Southern Winter Diesel" is used in them , otherwise the fuel can "Gel" in the lines right when it is cold enough to need the Heater .....
Hi Kerry,Putting kerosene into the diesel also is a good idea, and ratio matters little.
Usually I run 10% kero, or there abouts, but much higher also is acceptable. Cheers
That is what I do now....works well......KB
-- Edited by KJB on Sunday 18th of February 2024 04:07:55 PM
If buying a chinese heater make sure it is the smaller version rated at 2kw which is more than sufficient for most RV's with basic or better insulation.
The higher rated 5kw units are overkill and often lead to problems when they are run at low levels for extended periods which causes soot buildup and clogging.
Beware of units sold as 3kw, 4kw etc as they are often the larger units "derated" but will still eventually soot up when running at low speeds.
Despite these units seperating heated and combustion air it is possible for the exhaust to escape into the heated air destined for the living space if the exhaust becomes clogged as the higher internal pressure forces the exhaust/combustion gases past the rubber seals on the fuel line and glow plug wiring.
We had this happen to our 3kw unit when the exhaust eventually clogged due to long periods of low level running which in turn set off the C02 alarm!
I've no idea of the trigger level of our hard wired/permanently on C02 alarm so don't know what the levels were when it triggered but you could see the fog in the air plus the alrm gave us a fright it was so loud!
We now also run a personal Aranet 4 C02 monitor just in case which gives us a visual display of levels at all times. It's also surprising how much different actions like cooking, boiling the jug etc make to C02 levels.
I've also noticed increased usage of the diesel heaters all contained in one box by tent and camper trailer users which could lead to problems. With the unit often placed under the trailer with the possibility of exhaust being sucked into the unit and then being pumped into the camping space, never mind the chance of hot exhaust gases floating through open windows or doors especially when there is no breeze.
