Chinese diesel heater

I don't see safety and peace of mind as a waste of money. as i have said in the past, i bought one to see what they are like and in MY opinion for me they are noisy and there is always a slight smell of diesel. i am happy to stick with a truma. loads of testing and very safe. that's just me
 
Billy192 said:
i bought one to see what they are like and in MY opinion for me they are noisy and there is always a slight smell of diesel.
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That does not make it a safety issue, but in the wrong hands.....
I have plenty of experience of installing these heaters and setting them up correctly and doubt you would even know that mine was running, now our Whale blown air heater, that's a different matter :oops: which is why I fitted a diesel heater, plus we have a large supply of heating oil to run them on. (y)
 
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Two on Tour said:
Totally, just interested in what you have to say to back up your opinion.
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my ears and nose. i had a boat with a webasto heater but the build quality was far higher. a truma 6e or 4e easy to install quite, reliable and well tested.
 
Fitted correctly there is no smell of diesel unless your window is open, The burning chamber is completely isolated from the heating chamber, they are noisy for about 5 minutes while warming up after that the noise is minimal and isn't intrusive inside or most importantly outside.

If you know what your doing then have one, if you don't then stick to the established brands and make sure whoever fits it stands by their work, as with anything knowledge is king.(or queen) ;)

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Saw one of these when I was up at SAP the other week and thought Hello, Whale are getting into the diesel heater market, but although they have the tell tail inlet, exhaust and fuel in stubs, they are in fact LPG fueled.

Whale Systems

Whale makes outdoor living easy and enjoyable with a wide range of quality low voltage pump, heating, and water systems.
www.whalevanlife.com www.whalevanlife.com
 
Two on Tour said:
Saw one of these when I was up at SAP the other week and thought Hello, Whale are getting into the diesel heater market, but although they have the tell tail inlet, exhaust and fuel in stubs, they are in fact LPG fueled.

Whale Systems

Whale makes outdoor living easy and enjoyable with a wide range of quality low voltage pump, heating, and water systems.
www.whalevanlife.com www.whalevanlife.com
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well that will sort out the smell :ROFLMAO:
 
I think a picture of a properly fitted diesel heater intake pipe, fitted correctly at the top of the tank, may answer some questions to the OP and others, as a picture is better than a thousand words.

As for Chinese Diesel heaters, having seen an original Eberspacher striped down in bits the primary Chinese brands are exact replicas!, every chamber, every nut & bolt.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Eberspacher were now made in China, and rebranded.

If you have the chance to buy a new generation Truma Diesel Combi when ordering a new van, then thats an option that has only become available recently, so worth looking at.
LES
 
I think everyone has covered it all. But my experience and summary would be.
Wrong pipe used. That green stuff is too soft and pulses with the pump and causes problems.
Wrong type of connector used and in the wrong location. Something like this but mounted on the very top. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334563045019

Last comment, unless you are going to be using red diesel I would tap into main vehicle tank as this will obviate the need to carry a diesel jerry can with you.
I believe that in the vast majority of vans you don't need to drop the tank or drill any holes. There are connectors available like this one (which I used on my van).
With these you just look for a suitable point on the return pipe to unplug and plug this T piece in. If you can't find one underneath near where you are mounting the heater then I suspect you would find one or two in the engine bay.
This in combination with the solid white pipe rather than the green flexi stuff will give you a much better end product.

I had Wissel fit my diesel heater for me and this connector made the job a lot, lot easier.

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I don’t know why just because a heater has been installed badly, then Chinese heaters are being called bad and dangerous. When any heater installed badly would be dangerous, in this case the installer is the dangerous thing in this case.
 
So any sign of Maintenance Pete😂. Running terrified I suggest!

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TinaLes said:
I think a picture of a properly fitted diesel heater intake pipe, fitted correctly at the top of the tank, may answer some questions to the OP and others, as a picture is better than a thousand words.

As for Chinese Diesel heaters, having seen an original Eberspacher striped down in bits the primary Chinese brands are exact replicas!, every chamber, every nut & bolt.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Eberspacher were now made in China, and rebranded.

If you have the chance to buy a new generation Truma Diesel Combi when ordering a new van, then thats an option that has only become available recently, so worth looking at.
LES
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I had a look at the new vans at Brownhills Autotrail and swift new vans all had deisel heaters ,wabasco or similar under the vans. Seems to be the way forward. (y)
 
Our Chinese Diesel heater kept us beautifully warm last winter.
Hubby (Manic) fitted it last summer and has serviced it this summer.
Wouldn’t be without it now!
One bad apple will always spoil the whole lot, we found this with legal off-road motorbike riding too!
There will always be people that take the bad news but wont listen to the good!
 
Gromett said:
I think everyone has covered it all. But my experience and summary would be.
Wrong pipe used. That green stuff is too soft and pulses with the pump and causes problems.
Wrong type of connector used and in the wrong location. Something like this but mounted on the very top. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334563045019

Last comment, unless you are going to be using red diesel I would tap into main vehicle tank as this will obviate the need to carry a diesel jerry can with you.
I believe that in the vast majority of vans you don't need to drop the tank or drill any holes. There are connectors available like this one (which I used on my van).
With these you just look for a suitable point on the return pipe to unplug and plug this T piece in. If you can't find one underneath near where you are mounting the heater then I suspect you would find one or two in the engine bay.
This in combination with the solid white pipe rather than the green flexi stuff will give you a much better end product.

I had Wissel fit my diesel heater for me and this connector made the job a lot, lot easier.
Click to expand...
I have also used the ebay T piece i was anxious at first and had to make up a stop valve from it.
if you have a good option of a stop valve i would be gratefull

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PeterCarole29 said:
I have also used the ebay T piece i was anxious at first and had to make up a stop valve from it.
if you have a good option of a stop valve i would be gratefull
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Sorry I don't know what you mean? I didn't install any valves? It is is in the return pipe of the diesel system so not under any pressure.
 
When you have all finished arguing the safety points of Chinese diesel heaters have a look at these...

Eberspaecher BN2
or
Eberspaecher BA6
or a modern equivalent
Eberspaecher B2L

I've worked on the earlier petrol versions which have no complex electronics but worked very well and were not known to be of any fire risk if fitted correctly. Volkswagen introduced those heater types to cars and vans in the early 1960.

Petrol versions were known to run quieter than the diesel versions.
 
Two on Tour said:
They were due to the very poor Chinglish installation manuals that could have caused poor installs by guessing what was meant, the heaters themselves and how they operated when not the problem.

I don't doubt that there are some poorly made Chinese diesel heaters out there, but for my part, the unbranded ones that have come through my hand over the past few years have been perfectly safe in their construction and assembly, and the branded Chinese heaters of which I have one on our van at present have been of comparable quality of the Ebersachers and the like.
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We have a Chinese heater in how van for many years service every year when the m. o. t is due never had a problem.
 
A few comments about the fuel hose above, I see. Didn't read everything so someone may already have commented on that, but I'll write anyway. Those Chinese heaters come with an installation kit which includes just a hose like that. I have installed a few of those and I've always replaced it with proper Webasto/Eberspächer hose which is, like mentioned already, white, stiff and thin. Most likely these things work with the original hoses too, but it just doesn't feel right to me as it's totally opposite everything I've learned in Webasto courses.
 
I'm not sure what that type of hose is rated for, I used reinforced fuel line, similar to this stuff

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