$200 5KW Portable Diesel Air Heater

[Kirby McRae]

Waiting for a few parts on mine to mount in a box.
Has anyone tried using kerosene?
Does anyone have a temp on the exhaust pipes.
Is there a wrap for the exhaust that will prevent heating the inside of the box?
Thanks

Mine seems to run about the same on red dye diesel as it does on kerosene. I usually add a little splash of the diesel Heet just for water reasons and it doesn't seem to hurt or really help the heater much at all. Really the only difference with diesel and kerosene is the smell and the price - Jet A is the happy medium, but it's tough to get in small quantities.

Right, but what is your intended use?

Usually I would say bigger is better but if these things need to run full out to burn better then would a 2kw be a better choice to heat a 4 man tent

I did watch your test run video. Have you tried to actually heat something yet?

I think I'm going to end up with one of these and debating on 5kw vs 2kw as well. We sometimes use one of those double burner heads on a propane tank in the wall tent which are 30K BTU, but only run them briefly before bed at in the AM. A 5KW would be closest in output, but with the low fuel usage we could probably run it all night and be comfortable with the kids.

Seems like it's either 2kw on high all night or 5kw on low, for noise reasons maybe it's best to go 5kw on low with an occasional kerosene burn to clean things out.

The 2kw on high is nearly identical to the 5kw on low, both will burn ~.25L/Hr, run the same fan speed, and output ~2000W I've never ran one in a tent, but I'd be willing to bet the 2kw will you plenty warm. Do you have an electric heater you could plug in and try? If a 1500W heater keeps it warm enough then a 2kw diesel one will work great! On low both the 2kw and 5kw models put out around 1.3kw at .14L/Hr.

Really either a 2kw or 5kw should work fine, the 5kw might need to be taken apart and cleaned out sooner than the 2kw but it will also warm the tent up faster and use really similar amounts of fuel.

 

[Utah KJ]

My GA trip will be base camping for four days. I think what I’m going to try is running the output into the annex, and the intake inside the RTT with a small battery fan to circulate the hot air from the annex into the tent. I leave in a week and a half so a lot depends on what I can source for hoses and such


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[Utah KJ]

Mine seems to run about the same on red dye diesel as it does on kerosene. I usually add a little splash of the diesel Heet just for water reasons and it doesn't seem to hurt or really help the heater much at all. Really the only difference with diesel and kerosene is the smell and the price - Jet A is the happy medium, but it's tough to get in small quantities.




The 2kw on high is nearly identical to the 5kw on low, both will burn ~.25L/Hr, run the same fan speed, and output ~2000W I've never ran one in a tent, but I'd be willing to bet the 2kw will you plenty warm. Do you have an electric heater you could plug in and try? If a 1500W heater keeps it warm enough then a 2kw diesel one will work great! On low both the 2kw and 5kw models put out around 1.3kw at .14L/Hr.

Really either a 2kw or 5kw should work fine, the 5kw might need to be taken apart and cleaned out sooner than the 2kw but it will also warm the tent up faster and use really similar amounts of fuel.

I’m not sure how much of an issue soot will be with mine. When you turn it off, the glow plug turns on for a bit as the unit cools, the fuel pump shuts down after a bit before the glow plug does.


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[luthj]

The diesel units have a screen mesh around the glow plug, and a mesh lining parts of the combustion chamber. Liquid fuel partially vaporizes and flows across the screen. The combustion chamber vaporizes the fuel completely, and the screen acts like a wick to hold the flame. Start/stop cycles, and lots of low speed operation result in lower temps in the combustion chamber. So the fuel may not fully vaporize, resulting in some of it coking up on the screens. When the glow plug screen cokes up, it can be replaced fairly easily. Make sure to carry a couple spares, and a tool for the glow plug. The screens can stick in the glow plug bore, so a tap (7mm?) can thread in and grab the screen.

When the combustion chamber cokes up around the mesh, it needs to be cleaned. Sometimes a run on straight kerosene and high power for an hour or two will do it. Sometimes you need to pull the combustion chamber off. With the flame tube removed, you can heat it with a propane torch until the area around the screen glows. That will burn off the coking. A new combustion chamber gasket is needed.

 

[Utah KJ]

Too lazy to set up the tent and annex, so I did the test like this. I wanted to see if it would work well with extended length of dryer hose, and it did. It maintained 31C inside (according to the display). I had set it for 28C.

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[hour]

Anyone else getting E-04 code on their LCD controller? I just received my controller in the mail and it won’t do anything as a result of that code. The normal cryptic chinese remote works fine, ran heater for several hours last night on kerosene full blast to clean things up.

 

[Utah KJ]

Anyone else getting E-04 code on their LCD controller? I just received my controller in the mail and it won’t do anything as a result of that code. The normal cryptic chinese remote works fine, ran heater for several hours last night on kerosene full blast to clean things up.

Prime the pump to get the air bubbles out, or you put the filter in backwards or angled.



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[hour]

Prime the pump to get the air bubbles out, or you put the filter in backwards or angled.



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Yeah, watched some of their videos on youtube for this error - seems like multiple things could cause... I wouldn't assume it's an error of assembly though since I've used the heater with the crappy non-LCD controller for almost a year. I also had just been running it for an hour before attempting to use the LCD controller, everything should have been primed. It's an instantaneous error - no noise heard from the unit itself like it's attempting to do anything, or thinking about things... just E-04 the second after I press power.

 

[Utah KJ]

I've got that error, it was because the filter was at an angle. The other time, it was too many air bubbles. Priming the pump fixed it.


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[hour]

I've got that error, it was because the filter was at an angle. The other time, it was too many air bubbles. Priming the pump fixed it.


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How do you prime the pump with this controller? I'll give that a whirl if I can figure out how to do it. The cryptic other chinese remote just does it automatically (probably has a manual mode too but never figured that out)

er nm, ok btn + down to prime. had to set controller to 12v to clear e-01. all good now

 

[john61ct]

Most people seeing that would think maybe call for help

 

[Buddha.]

Most people seeing that would think maybe call for help

Right?!

 

[zerodrift]

Most people seeing that would think maybe call for help

I read this and about had a laughing fit at the store....

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[Utah KJ]

How do you prime the pump with this controller? I'll give that a whirl if I can figure out how to do it. The cryptic other chinese remote just does it automatically (probably has a manual mode too but never figured that out)

er nm, ok btn + down to prime. had to set controller to 12v to clear e-01. all good now

Before turning the heater 'on', press the bottom left and right buttons simultaneously. An 'h off’ should appear. Up arrow turns on the pump. You can then watch fuel travel through the line. Press down arrow to shut pump off.


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[Utah KJ]

My testing has revealed that the controller temp display is 4 deg C warmer than reality. Today I added deutsch connectors to the controller harness. This way I can plug in an extension cable if I need to. The next step is using it in real life, I leave Wed for a four day outing in GA. Confidence is high.


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