Diesel Heaters

Nigel L

Nigel L

Joined
Apr 25, 2016
Posts
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Location
Soham, Cambs
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42,710
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Consort Oslo
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Since 2016
I started a thread a few days ago, about getting a day van for our everyday transport, and day trips out, for when the MH is just too big.
seen a couple for sale that look what we are looking for, but other than the hook up and lpg facility, has no heating etc.
So, how easy is it to retro fit a diesel heater, and approx how much are they.
Wouldn’t be looking to fit myself, so would have to outsource it.
Any comments/advise would be much appreciated.
 
I just found this if any help.
Looking to get one but just for my man cave / beer shed. :cheers:
If your on Facebook there are several groups for help / info.

www.vanlifeuksurvivorsguide.co.uk

Tried and tested Chinese Diesel heaters

Buying a Chinese Diesel heater can be a bit of a minefield if you have never purchased one before, there are so many different manufacturers, suppliers and designs it can be hard to know where to start. UPDATE - WE HAVE POSTED A NEWER UPDATED VERSION OF THIS POST FOR 2022/2023 PLEASE CHECK IT...
www.vanlifeuksurvivorsguide.co.uk www.vanlifeuksurvivorsguide.co.uk
 
Roughly £100 for the heater, you may want additional pipes to route the outlet(s) where you want. Choice of feed from tank or supplied separate bottle. Only hole is 70mm (I think) under the heater for air intake and exhaust. Assuming you don't need to drill to get a good 12V feed to the heater too.
 
Hi.
It will get you warm..( Think Blow lamp ). Power hungry and noisy. Had them in lorry cabs over the years and in one mo/ho. Would not be my first choice,but for the " Odd " night out, does what it says on the tin.
( Noise ? Starting up and cooling down) .Never had any fumes in the cabs.
Tea Bag
 
Had an eberspatcher in th R V. Came out of a crashed BT van. Fitted under the front end it boosted the Heat in the coldest spot. As well as up the front windscreen. Wasn't the hardest job to fit but I had to fabricate my own brackets. And Took the fuel supply from a 10L tank under the front hood, so I could use red diesel. Noisy on startup but once running. Not so bad. The ones we had in lorries had timers, we set them to come on half an hour before shift. Toasty cabs on frosty mornings. (y) Gaffer wasn't best pleased though. Wasting his fuel.(n).

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From the many full-time van groups and forums they seem to be better and more efficient than gas powered ones .

I wanted to fit one in my hymer but due to the double floor and underslung lockers finding a suitable place hasn't been easy
 
Mine is on the way 👍
However it's just for my man shed not the motorhome.
Screenshot_2020-10-06-15-48-17-0257470549.png
 
Jaws said:
Twas me !
Been almost a year now and still chuffed to bits with it
Click to expand...
I remember reading your thread at the time.
I'm still considering fitting one but the best place for the heater is the most awkward for routing the exhaust etc as my battery locker is directly below.
The other seat base has an opening front on it so not as ideal

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Northernraider said:
I remember reading your thread at the time.
I'm still considering fitting one but the best place for the heater is the most awkward for routing the exhaust etc as my battery locker is directly below.
The other seat base has an opening front on it so not as ideal
Click to expand...


I fitted ours externally under our van and took the heat outlet up through the floor.

1602013688954.png


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1602013721891.png
 
Two on Tour said:
I fitted ours externally under our van and took the heat outlet up through the floor.

View attachment 431307

View attachment 431308

View attachment 431310
Click to expand...

You should have the heating air (the large pipe with the silencer fitted) ducted from inside the van. Fitted like this you risk sucking in fumes from the heater exhaust and other sources into the habitation area of the van.
Also without a thermostat included in the controller (many haven't) your heater will run more or less flat out all the time in cold weather as it uses a sensor in the ingoing end of the heater to monitor the vehicle interior temperature. Even with a controller with an internal thermostat you are wasting fuel by always heating cold air from outside.
Despite the rugged look of these heaters they should also be shielded from the elements if fitted outside to keep the worst of splashed up water and dirt away.

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Northernraider said:
Doesn't that get a lot of grime off the road ?

Problem is mine has double floor and the fresh water tank right below the lounge area
Click to expand...

It stays pretty clean as it gets protection from the grey waste tank.
A lot of V-Dubs mount them under the van and a lot of those have a casing around the heater unit.

1602014730231.png
 
rod_vw said:
You should have the heating air (the large pipe with the silencer fitted) ducted from inside the van. Fitted like this you risk sucking in fumes from the heater exhaust and other sources into the habitation area of the van.
Also without a thermostat included in the controller (many haven't) your heater will run more or less flat out all the time in cold weather as it uses a sensor in the ingoing end of the heater to monitor the vehicle interior temperature. Even with a controller with an internal thermostat you are wasting fuel by always heating cold air from outside.
Despite the rugged look of these heaters they should also be shielded from the elements if fitted outside to keep the worst of splashed up water and dirt away.
Click to expand...

The end of the exhaust is 2 metres away from the house fan inlet and I'm using an Afterburner controller with a remote thermistor in the hab area. http://afterburner.mrjones.id.au/

Fuel consumption is not a problem as I run it on heating oil from our home 2000 litre tank at £0.25 a litre and I prefer to have fresh air coming into the van rather than the same old air being pumped around and around and around. The heater has stayed nice and clean under there and we have driven through some atrocious road conditions. (y)
 
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Nigel L said:
I started a thread a few days ago, about getting a day van for our everyday transport, and day trips out, for when the MH is just too big.
seen a couple for sale that look what we are looking for, but other than the hook up and lpg facility, has no heating etc.
So, how easy is it to retro fit a diesel heater, and approx how much are they.
Wouldn’t be looking to fit myself, so would have to outsource it.
Any comments/advise would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Nigel, they are pretty easy to fit your self.. As you are not too far away from it would be remis of me not to offer to fit it for you IF you was willing to assist as some stuff I am finding increasingly difficult to do nowadays.. Happy to do most of it but some stuff underneath you would have to help with . Should be about £90 to £110 for the complete kit. My charge for fitting it would be bugger all as in zero :-)
 
Two on Tour said:
The end of the exhaust is 2 metres away from the house fan inlet and I'm using an Afterburner controller with a remote thermistor in the hab area. http://afterburner.mrjones.id.au/

Fuel consumption is not a problem as I run it on heating oil from our home 2000 litre tank at £0.25 a litre and I prefer to have fresh air coming into the van rather than the same old air being pumped around and around and around. The heater has stayed nice and clean under there and we have driven through some atrocious road conditions. (y)
Click to expand...
I'm sorry that I appeared to harshly criticise your installation, you have obviously researched the capabilities of these heaters very deeply.
My observations were intended to warn the unwary of some of the possible pitfalls when installing such heaters.

The link to the Afterburner is an interesting read, your experience of using it would be nice to hear.

Rod
 
EuroTrotters said:
Even Webasto and Eberspacher are unreliable.

Hate to think what cheap imports are like?
Click to expand...
You may be correct but Eberspacher and Webasto have been over priced, in the UK at least, for years. It was noticeable how their prices came down when suppliers from Eastern Europe started selling on eBay at a knock down price.
Maybe there will be a further price reduction from those two as the Chinese and Russian ones become better respected.

Of the five modern diesel Eberspachers that I have used only one has given any problem and that was repaired under warranty in a couple of hours. I have used and repaired the 1960s petrol Eberspacher heaters fitted to air-cooled VWs in the past but even these were more or less fault free.
 
rod_vw said:
You may be correct but Eberspacher and Webasto have been over priced, in the UK at least, for years. It was noticeable how their prices came down when suppliers from Eastern Europe started selling on eBay at a knock down price.
Maybe there will be a further price reduction from those two as the Chinese and Russian ones become better respected.

Of the five modern diesel Eberspachers that I have used only one has given any problem and that was repaired under warranty in a couple of hours. I have used and repaired the 1960s petrol Eberspacher heaters fitted to air-cooled VWs in the past but even these were more or less fault free.
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1960 petrol , that’s very interesting!?
 
These, turn up regularly in Canal Boats too. My sons boat, (he is a "water gypsy" on the Avon and Kennet) has one, as well as a Multi-fuel Stove. They only use LPG for cooking.
 
rod_vw said:
I'm sorry that I appeared to harshly criticise your installation, you have obviously researched the capabilities of these heaters very deeply.
My observations were intended to warn the unwary of some of the possible pitfalls when installing such heaters.

The link to the Afterburner is an interesting read, your experience of using it would be nice to hear.

Rod
Click to expand...

No offence taken and I fully understand where you were coming from on the safety and possible pitfalls to the ill informed.

I'm quite a fan of the Chinese heaters and contrary to some peoples believes, they are on the whole a very good product.
I have fitted two into motorhomes and have an all in one version as a workshop heater.

Happy to save money, but not at any cost, I spent a lot of time researching on forums and YouTube videos before opting to go the Chinese route rather than Eberspacher or Webasto.
The first thing I did when my first one arrived, was to strip it down and see what the Chinese had put together and there was nothing that made me go "your having a laugh"
I did a couple of mods on mine to improve a couple of areas and that was to fit a larger diameter pipe for the combustion side air inlet to make sure it get sufficient air for a clean combustion (once at running temperature the carbon monoxide readings at the exhaust outlet are normally between 24 - 28 ppm on mine) and to fit the Afterburner controller to give me more control over many aspects of the heater not possible with the standard controllers.
Prices of spare parts for the Chinese heaters are very low and they very easy to obtain. For piece of mind, I carry with us a spare glowplug at £9.99 and a spare mother board at £10.20 both bought from UK sellers.

I any body wants to learn more about the in's and out's of these Chinese heaters, then this guy has made a series of very informative videos on these heaters.

www.youtube.com

John McK 47

www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
Webasto prefered to Eberspatcher.

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EuroTrotters said:
1960 petrol , that’s very interesting!?
Click to expand...
Yes VW were fitting petrol fuelled Eberspachers from as early as 1964 in most models that were exported to cold climates. The VW 411 & 412 range (1968-74) that came to the UK were all fitted with them, located above the gearbox and incorporated in the normal vehicle heating ducting. Other VWs of the era that were sold in the UK only had them as a customer requested extra. The 1968-79 van range had them in the normal heating duct, other models had them independently ducted.
 
Maybe a bit of a tangent but I've been researching diesel heaters to install in our van for the last few months.

Last weekend we popped down to planar heaters, they are only about an hour away from us. I've been searching for a quiet diesel heater as most seem to make a fair racket. They sell "Autoterm" a Russian made diesel heater and I wanted to see (well hear) how it sounded.

Planar heaters have a youtube video to show how quiet they are - but on a video it's very hard to judge the real noise level.

They have a demo rig setup and it was really quiet - quieter than the fan I have next to my bed at home - and I think that's quiet.

They are Russian made, not Chinese, so I'm not particularly worried about reliability.

Obviously do you own research - we don't currently own one. Once the van is further along I'll be installing the 4Kw version.

Our van is off to Adam @ MPI for the splay insulation this Sunday - exciting times!

PS. If you visit Planar heaters a few points:
  • The site is nothing illustrious - I like that to be honest, nothing fancy.
  • The warehouse man is James and he's very nice.
  • The farm shop on the same site makes amazing sausages with black pudding 😋
 
Aye, they are. Not far of the price of the German ones.

What price do you put on a quiet night of sleep tostie and warm?
 

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