Chinese diesel heater’s

[AlandSue]

Has anyone taken the plunge , and fitted one of these and has it been a success ?

 

[gus-lopez]

yes, no problems, 2 years now.

 

[Jev88]

Quite a few of us, yes.

 

[Tombola]

this is the best reveiwer of them ever.
Pay attention to the fact he susses out the higher power ones are not all they seem

 

[Lucky]

Are they noisy in your experience?

A certain YouTuber said the exhaust & diesel pump can seem loud when trying to sleep, although upgrades can address the issues.

I'd love to hear the opinion of Funsters.

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[Two on Tour]

Would not be without ours.

Use the search box, top right of this page, and search diesel heater and it will bring up loads of threads on the subject.

 

[MisterB]

Theres a silent pump available now, it costs about the same as a heater. Do a you tube search for silent diesel heater pump. The bloke who makes them lives in Colchester.

 

[Two on Tour]

Theres a silent pump available now, it costs about the same as a heater. Do a you tube search for silent diesel heater pump. The bloke who makes them lives in Colchester.

I fitted one, and they are silent.

 

[Lucky]

And exhaust noise?

 

[Two on Tour]

I fitted two silencers, one after the other, and wrapped the entire length of the exhaust in exhaust wrap.
The combustion air intake can be noisy as well, but both the exhaust and air intake are only really noisy on start up or if your running the heater at a very high setting.

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[Lucky]

I see you have a filter fitted to the intake pipe - is that part of the kit or your doing?

Also your burner is beneath the motorhome as opposed to inside. Is that normal?

 

[Two on Tour]

I see you have a filter fitted to the intake pipe - is that part of the kit or your doing?

The air filter/intake silencer that is supplied with the Chinese heaters are pretty poor, so I fitted a dirt bike carb filter to mine

 

[Itsmcb]

this is the best reveiwer of them ever.
Pay attention to the fact he susses out the higher power ones are not all they seem

John McKay the diesel heater guru. Yes there are only really 2kw and 5kw heaters despite what the ads say.

 

[gus-lopez]

It is hard to tell when mine is running unless you put your hand in front of the exhaust. I don't findthe pump tick affects me sleeping?

 

[Itsmcb]

I fitted two silencers, one after the other, and wrapped the entire length of the exhaust in exhaust wrap.
The combustion air intake can be noisy as well, but both the exhaust and air intake are only really noisy on start up or if your running the heater at a very high setting.

Thats a lovely neat job. A little bracket for the inlet pipe instead of the cable tie and it would be perfect .
Are you taking the cold air from inside the van?

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[Two on Tour]

Thats a lovely neat job. A little bracket for the inlet pipe instead of the cable tie and it would be perfect .
Are you taking the cold air from inside the van?

Since that photo was taken I have covered the combustion air intake pipe in Armaflex to help cut down the noise externally even more as I try to not be a noise nuisance to our neighbours when parked up with the heater running.
Intake air for the heating side of our heater is pulled from inside the wardrobe above the heater.

 

[rod_vw]

There's a Facebook group for Chinese heater users https://www.facebook.com/groups/265862240781579

 

[Gromett]

This is the guy (David McLuckie) to follow if you are interested in Chinese diesel heaters. He has done just about every experiment you can imagine on them.
Different fuels, different exhausts. customised silencers, converting them to heat water. Adding thermoelectric devices to generate electric. You think of it he has done it.
He is a bit of a character and well worth watching.

Click the videos tab to see them all.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQuKF1hbqMfP7yW3NLD-fsA

 

[Theonlysue]

Silent pump from colchester

 

[Two on Tour]

There's a Facebook group for Chinese heater users https://www.facebook.com/groups/265862240781579

I was one of the first members of that group, but I very quickly moved away from that Facebook Group due to the bickering and dickheads that knew sod all about the heaters trying to convince everybody that they are the experts.

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[Two on Tour]

Silent pump from colchester

The pumps have moved on a bit from that video.
I bought one of the first batch, but a few of us with the early pumps suffered from fuel siphoning through the pump and flooding the heater when the heater was not running due to the pump location.
James has now updated the pumps with a solenoid valve to stop the problem plus additional upgrades to the electronics.
The latest pumps now look like this.

 

[Shrimp]

Yes Diesel heaters are good!
Yes they are noisy on start up and if you have the temp turned up otherwise it’s just a gentle hum in the background of air moving.
Nice and warm.

 

[Davb]

Our first motorhome had one, the person that installed it put the tank in the void left by the gas heater that had been removed and placed the heater under the lounge at the back. After a night out I removed it as the smell of diesel was too much for us, it took over a month for the diesel to evaporate from the vehicle. After a couple of months, we sold the vehicle as the layout was not suitable. I re-instaled the heater but fed it directly from the main fuel tank using a fuel pipe that was better quality than the original and routed underneath the vehicle. I am sure there are plenty of people here that are quite happy with their heaters, but diesel stinks and if you have a spill filling an internal tank or a slight leak you will be smelling it for a long time. The heaters themselves work fine and are just a copy of the ones that have been used in lorries for years.

 

[flatpackchicken]

Great bit of kit . Been using mine all last week and this week and actually had to turn it off a few times as was getting to hot lol but very efficient and warms my 8 m Mh perfectly. I have a 5 kw one. Yes I have full gas ch but always better to use diesel as diesel easier to get than lpg gas !!!!

 

[rod_vw]

I was one of the first members of that group, but I very quickly moved away from that Facebook Group due to the bickering and dickheads that knew sod all about the heaters trying to convince everybody that they are the experts.

I totally agree, I just posted that for others to come to a similar conclusion.

The pumps have moved on a bit from that video.
I bought one of the first batch, but a few of us with the early pumps suffered from fuel siphoning through the pump and flooding the heater when the heater was not running due to the pump location.
James has now updated the pumps with a solenoid valve to stop the problem plus additional upgrades to the electronics.
The latest pumps now look like this.

View attachment 556177

View attachment 556178

I can't quite understand why there is a need for such complication, I've used Eberspachers for almost twenty years in various campers and never had intrusive noise from the supplied pumps IF they are mounted and plumbed correctly.

As for the Chinese heaters, if you seriously look at the price and what is being offered surely you would question the quality of the product. Even if they are made in 'sweat shops' there must be some corners being cut with quality and reliability and maybe even safety.

I know that Eberspacher and Webasto are very much at the opposite end of the price scale but I prefer to install one of these instead of a hugely cheaper version.

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[Two on Tour]

I can't quite understand why there is a need for such complication, I've used Eberspachers for almost twenty years in various campers and never had intrusive noise from the supplied pumps IF they are mounted and plumbed correctly.

As for the Chinese heaters, if you seriously look at the price and what is being offered surely you would question the quality of the product. Even if they are made in 'sweat shops' there must be some corners being cut with quality and reliability and maybe even safety.

I know that Eberspacher and Webasto are very much at the opposite end of the price scale but I prefer to install one of these instead of a hugely cheaper version.

If there was not a need for a quieter fuel delivery pump then James would not have developed and produced such a pump, nor would he have the waiting list that he has for his pump, horses for courses I suppose.
When you look at the cost of a genuine Eberspacher and Webasto fuel delivery pump or the so called quiet version of the Eberspacher and Webasto fuel delivery pump , then Jame's pump is not that expensive after all.

 

[AlandSue]

Thank you all for your help by sharing your experiences , generally speaking they are positive and very encouraging.
Decision made .