$200 5KW Portable Diesel Air Heater
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Victory_Overland
Explorer
Been following this thread for a bit and there doesn't seem be a water heat exchanger heater avail yet outside of Alibaba and shipping to the states adds another $130-ish the price making it a $360+ range purchase.
However, here are a few links for you guys already running these heaters and need the exhaust heat exchanger the one guy posted on his site with the UK auto parts. Pool exchanger work the same way so here you go for your exhaust heat exchanger needs. Pick a size cuz I do not know what size the exhaust pipe is but the water connections are standard pipe threading from what I can tell.
Exhaust Heat Exchanger
Finally, this is what I am planning to run on my Landy for hot water with a separate tank for showering/washing only. Plumb this into the coolant system and you have heat exchanger capability. I for one run my truck for a few minutes daily anyway for sanity check when I am off the grid, you can circulate water with a pump from Home Depot/Lowes, etc... and heat as much water as you want from coolant temp specs on your rig. 5 minutes of run time with circulated water and you can heat your water tank to shower (almost boiling hot) temps. Put your pump on a thermostat switch and it will shut off when it reaches the right temp of your toasty buns choice. Any 12v pump of flow rate choice should work just depends on what circulation rate you want. You can also buy drop in submersible pumps about the same price if you want to run a 5 gal bucket or reservoir/river feed of sorts.
Vehicle mount by my parts list is about $250 one time installation and I have on demand hot water anytime I need off the vehicle. Advantage is you can run this off a single battery with the vehicle running during hot water circulation for the 5 minutes or so that you need to get the engine to operational temps so there is no battery drain issues at any time. One of the very few items I will run on my start battery only since the vehicle will be running while I am circulating water to get it to my desired temperature.
Coolant Style Heat Exchanger
12v Lippert Frest Water Pump
However, here are a few links for you guys already running these heaters and need the exhaust heat exchanger the one guy posted on his site with the UK auto parts. Pool exchanger work the same way so here you go for your exhaust heat exchanger needs. Pick a size cuz I do not know what size the exhaust pipe is but the water connections are standard pipe threading from what I can tell.
Exhaust Heat Exchanger
Finally, this is what I am planning to run on my Landy for hot water with a separate tank for showering/washing only. Plumb this into the coolant system and you have heat exchanger capability. I for one run my truck for a few minutes daily anyway for sanity check when I am off the grid, you can circulate water with a pump from Home Depot/Lowes, etc... and heat as much water as you want from coolant temp specs on your rig. 5 minutes of run time with circulated water and you can heat your water tank to shower (almost boiling hot) temps. Put your pump on a thermostat switch and it will shut off when it reaches the right temp of your toasty buns choice. Any 12v pump of flow rate choice should work just depends on what circulation rate you want. You can also buy drop in submersible pumps about the same price if you want to run a 5 gal bucket or reservoir/river feed of sorts.
Vehicle mount by my parts list is about $250 one time installation and I have on demand hot water anytime I need off the vehicle. Advantage is you can run this off a single battery with the vehicle running during hot water circulation for the 5 minutes or so that you need to get the engine to operational temps so there is no battery drain issues at any time. One of the very few items I will run on my start battery only since the vehicle will be running while I am circulating water to get it to my desired temperature.
Coolant Style Heat Exchanger
12v Lippert Frest Water Pump
Victory_Overland
Explorer
This is the one I bought today; same one as the original post I believe but says it comes with the new digital controller which I assume means digital and altitude sensing.
Happybuy 5KW Diesel Air Heater Aluminum Alloy Air Diesel Heater 12V 5KW Diesel Parking Heater Silencer with Digital Switch for RV Motorhome Boat and Trailer
Also picked up one of the stainless exhaust flanges for whatever box I decide to stuff this thing in. Late in the season but might still get some high altitude use in so I will pack it into the smallest box possible and strap it to the roof or rear swing out. On that note, I most likely will run a separate marine grade diesel tank or tap and insert a line in one of my diesel jerry cans. I hate the thought of carrying another fuel source but, such is life when you have a Petrol LR.
Happybuy 5KW Diesel Air Heater Aluminum Alloy Air Diesel Heater 12V 5KW Diesel Parking Heater Silencer with Digital Switch for RV Motorhome Boat and Trailer
Also picked up one of the stainless exhaust flanges for whatever box I decide to stuff this thing in. Late in the season but might still get some high altitude use in so I will pack it into the smallest box possible and strap it to the roof or rear swing out. On that note, I most likely will run a separate marine grade diesel tank or tap and insert a line in one of my diesel jerry cans. I hate the thought of carrying another fuel source but, such is life when you have a Petrol LR.
hour
Observer
I was going to ask about a through panel union to allow me to have a quick(ish) disconnect from the fuel tank, since my box just houses the heater, fuel pump, filter.. and I've been crudely extending a line to a fuel tank.
this video has a) convinced me to re-implement the white tube the kits ship with (anyone know the ID of the rubber fuel like bits they send you?) and b) that I probably don't want to continue dropping a line in to a fuel tank and running it. I haven't paid too much attention during start ups, but it seems to me like I'll have fuel inside the tubing of the box, fuel filter, pump and line out to heater.. and then a 1.5 foot long dry bit of tubing down in to the fuel tank. Priming would mean sending a bunch of fuel in to the heater, and running like I have been means a minute of no fuel after it's already kicked on with the fuel in the box's lines.
Any thoughts on this short of rebuilding in a larger tool box to house a dedicated tank, like some have done in here?
this video has a) convinced me to re-implement the white tube the kits ship with (anyone know the ID of the rubber fuel like bits they send you?) and b) that I probably don't want to continue dropping a line in to a fuel tank and running it. I haven't paid too much attention during start ups, but it seems to me like I'll have fuel inside the tubing of the box, fuel filter, pump and line out to heater.. and then a 1.5 foot long dry bit of tubing down in to the fuel tank. Priming would mean sending a bunch of fuel in to the heater, and running like I have been means a minute of no fuel after it's already kicked on with the fuel in the box's lines.
Any thoughts on this short of rebuilding in a larger tool box to house a dedicated tank, like some have done in here?
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Victory_Overland
Explorer
I'd go with 3/8" outside diameter and 1/8" inside diameter. This is the line in my kit; haven't done anything with it yet as it's 85degF outside here now but plan to work this as a summer project.
My plan is to get a small Marine tank and modify it with a quick disconnect fuel set. if I can get it all in one box that would be awesome but I am expecting it's going to have a box and a tank.
My plan is to get a small Marine tank and modify it with a quick disconnect fuel set. if I can get it all in one box that would be awesome but I am expecting it's going to have a box and a tank.
MobileAndMonitoring
Member
Hey guys. I'm a little late to this thread now that summer is pretty much here but I wanted to share with you my experience with using a Chinese diesel heater in an RTT full time for 6 months.
I wrote an article on how I built it up, mounted it to my rear bumper, power and fuel consumption and a few other details. Feel free to check it out.
Also reading this thread I didn't see much about energy consumption but I've found my 5K heater at 1.6Hz uses a gallon over 24hrs and draws about 18Ah of batter. Below is a power consumption graph of the first 10 minutes of using the heater. Kinda cool to see how much it uses at start up. There's quite a bit more on my website here.
I wrote an article on how I built it up, mounted it to my rear bumper, power and fuel consumption and a few other details. Feel free to check it out.
Also reading this thread I didn't see much about energy consumption but I've found my 5K heater at 1.6Hz uses a gallon over 24hrs and draws about 18Ah of batter. Below is a power consumption graph of the first 10 minutes of using the heater. Kinda cool to see how much it uses at start up. There's quite a bit more on my website here.
Victory_Overland
Explorer
@MobileAndMonitoring that's awesome; love seeing long-term data collection for future planning.
Can you comment on how you sealed the retained the heat inside the tent if any; I know may people talk more about the inefficiency of the tent and not actually the heater being the cause of excess heater use.
Can you comment on how you sealed the retained the heat inside the tent if any; I know may people talk more about the inefficiency of the tent and not actually the heater being the cause of excess heater use.
MobileAndMonitoring
Member
Interesting. I find the 5kwh heater way too powerful for our James Baroud Tent. In even the coldest outside temperature of -8F at 12000ft elevation we only had the heater set at 2Hz and cracked the zipper just a tad to let excess heat out. I can't imagine worrying about the tent letting too much heat out. In more normal cold temps like 35-40F we easily run the heater at only the lower settings of 1.2-1.6Hz and definitely leave a window unzipped along the top.
We just have the stock James Baroud Evasion tent. Nothing special to insulate or seal the tent up. I'd be very curious on these people setup that are having trouble keeping their tents warm.
Victory_Overland
Explorer
Yeah I have no clue really as I just bought my heater and have not set it up yet. I have been reading and many people are all over the board on what works and what doesn't; I like to see legit testing data to help me set up my best case scenario if possible.
Good information as I expect that my heater might cook me overnight which is okay in my book! lol
Herbie
Rendezvous Conspirator
I suspect that some of the reliability issues some people are reporting on the Chinese heaters are exactly this problem: the vast majority of the Chinese heaters are 5kw (and 5kw labelled as 2kw) and the output is just too much heat for most people's needs. There's a lot of work going on to throttle the heaters and they're never really running hot enough for clean combustion (or people have to be diligent about doing "italian tune up" cycles). I suspect that the name-brand heaters would have similar issues, except that most people who have paid for real D2 heaters are able to get the 2kw models, so they're running them closer to the optimal duty cycle.
MobileAndMonitoring
Member
Yeah so far I almost exclusivly run my 5kw heater at 1.6hz or lower and haven't had an issues yet. I do occasionally run it full blast for about 5 mins thinking that might be helping but hard to say without pulling it apart I guess.
Victory_Overland
Explorer
This might be off kilter to say this but how about running another redirect for another purpose; this allows the heater to run at optimal conditions which leads to a cleaner burn and "in theory" better maintenance cycle?
Maybe run the tent and an inlet into the vehicle cabin or engine bay? I mean yeah, we would be heating something that probably does not need it but my point is, how do we baffle the system to run in bias I guess is what I am saying?
Maybe run the tent and an inlet into the vehicle cabin or engine bay? I mean yeah, we would be heating something that probably does not need it but my point is, how do we baffle the system to run in bias I guess is what I am saying?
robepa
Member
That was my though, I can always dump heat overboard but producing too little heat is the original problem the heater was trying to fix.