'Chinese' Diesel Heater

[SquirrellCook]

Sorry, but I'm still trying to get my head around the logic behind using an exhaust silencer on the inlet?
As a user of a D2 for over ten years now, the only noise I'm aware of is the noise from the hot air pipe. I even have a high temperature section about a metre long in flexible silicon tube though bends. That should dampen sound of the ring.

 

[StreetSleeper]

Finally got round to finishing the job of fitting the exhaust and the inlet. I opted to use the exhaust and then sleeve it with the original inlet pipe: I thought this would make reasonable sound insulation and give some more support to the inlet silencer and filter. Although these will be separately bolted to the chassis, I couldn't see a problem with doing it.

Another angle to give you some idea.

A better shot of the pipe: both ends have been flared out and I expanded the tube from each end leaving a narrow band in the centre.

All that's left is to make the four cuts in each end and fit the jubilee clips. Once I get the heater fitted it should just be a matter of fitting the inlet and exhaust pipes in place.

Rae

 

[wildebus]

Sorry, but I'm still trying to get my head around the logic behind using an exhaust silencer on the inlet?
As a user of a D2 for over ten years now, the only noise I'm aware of is the noise from the hot air pipe. I even have a high temperature section about a metre long in flexible silicon tube though bends. That should dampen sound of the ring.

Well, all I can say is that there is a noticable reduction in noise when an exhaust silencer is used on the inlet pipe.
Is it logical? who knows, but it works.

 

[StreetSleeper]

Air ducting.
As I fully intend to use most of the original ducting that I got with the van and the vents, I had to sleeve down the Chinese T piece and cut up my original and sleeve inside. Fairly straight forward job, fits in quite nicely and, with a dab of glue, the job should be a good one.

As you can see from the above picture I marked it up and, below, you can see the three pieces cut.

In situ. waiting to be glued. Won't do this until the final fitting of the heater...........as things may change.

Rae

 

[wildebus]

Well, all I can say is that there is a noticable reduction in noise when an exhaust silencer is used on the inlet pipe.
Is it logical? who knows, but it works.

Just on this topic, I thought I would give the heater a run (try to remember to do this once a month at least as I found with the Eber, If I left it for a few months it took a few goes to get it back and running again).
And thought might be interesting to record the sound with and without the silencer on the inlet ...

Without the silencer you can hear the air sucking in as well as the Exhaust.
With the silencer the only noise you hear is the exhaust.
(I've taken off the air filter on the end for this test so the only difference is the silencer on or off)

Obviously I have the mic very close to the pipes whilst doing this, but from a normal distance, you can still tell the difference and it is better with the silencer for sure.
I also ran a DB Sound Meter app and either with or without the silencer, the app describes the sound level as "Quiet Office", so pretty well OK I think for a heater in a van?

 

[StreetSleeper]

Thank you for posting that Dave, that video says a thousand words.

Rae

 

[mistericeman]

Just on this topic, I thought I would give the heater a run (try to remember to do this once a month at least as I found with the Eber, If I left it for a few months it took a few goes to get it back and running again).
And thought might be interesting to record the sound with and without the silencer on the inlet ...

Without the silencer you can hear the air sucking in as well as the Exhaust.
With the silencer the only noise you hear is the exhaust.
(I've taken off the air filter on the end for this test so the only difference is the silencer on or off)

Obviously I have the mic very close to the pipes whilst doing this, but from a normal distance, you can still tell the difference and it is better with the silencer for sure.
I also ran a DB Sound Meter app and either with or without the silencer, the app describes the sound level as "Quiet Office", so pretty well OK I think for a heater in a van?

Ever driven a vehicle with no air filter on OR an aftermarket K+N cone type....

Car makers spend a huge amount of effort to design intake filtration that also reduces intake noise without reducing flow.

I'm constantly amazed that folks complain about eberspacher heaters being noisy and not running BOTH intake and exhaust silencing.
Intake silencers on eber type heaters reduce the noise a huge amount. As does location of intake/exhaust outlets.

 

[wildebus]

No Probs. Oh, as a aside and not that relevant to anything, I have the same air inlet filter as you and while I was crawling on the ground I thought I would take the cap off and look at the foam inside ... pretty well as it was around 2 years ago so not deteriorated or gone crumbly.
Have to say it is very hard to knock these heaters considering the price. Yes, cheaply made and not as good as an Eberspacher, but for a 1/5th the price of an Airtronic D2, since it has been in it has never let me down.

 

[wildebus]

Ever driven a vehicle with no air filter on OR an aftermarket K+N cone type....

Car makers spend a huge amount of effort to design intake filtration that also reduces intake noise without reducing flow.

I'm constantly amazed that folks complain about eberspacher heaters being noisy and not running BOTH intake and exhaust silencing.
Intake silencers on eber type heaters reduce the noise a huge amount. As does location of intake/exhaust outlets.

When the heater is in use, for me personally, because there is a constant noise from the heater - like a fan heater but not so loud - I just tune out of that, but the bit I DO notice is the ticking of the pump. Always disliked ticking clocks, and it is a little like that. Not bad as such, but I hear it ...

(I have followed the advice on the Varnish peoples website ref making the fuel pump in and out pipes a 90 degree angle and that did make a difference, but still hear the tick, tick, tick...)

 

[mistericeman]

When the heater is in use, for me personally, because there is a constant noise from the heater - like a fan heater but not so loud - I just tune out of that, but the bit I DO notice is the ticking of the pump. Always disliked ticking clocks, and it is a little like that. Not bad as such, but I hear it ...

I wrapped mine in rubber and mounted it in a insulated 'munson ring'

I've got to have my head next to it to hear it tick.

 

[StreetSleeper]

Nice one

 

[StreetSleeper]

The tank installation.
Take no notice of the gas bottle and filler, that will be removed before the heater will be up and running. As you can see, snug fit but still enough room for us to get stuff in and out, as and when we need it.

Decided to use Advel nutserts, four in total, I believe that should be more than adequate for holding the tank. All that's left now is to drill the relevant holes and poke the pipe and wire through.

Rae

 

[wildebus]

When you do the electrics for the Chinese Heater, you will notice the power loom is VERY long. I suggest you cut this very short and if you need say 2 metres of whatever +12V cable to run to the battery connection, you use a thicker gauge cable (2.5mm minimum) rather than just using the cable in the loom cut to 2 metres, and splice it in close.

And this is the reason ....
When I was doing the Heater silencer test, I also took a couple of photos of the Heaters voltage reading (top) and the actual battery voltage (bottom)

You will see a massive difference - Battery is at 13.26V, but the apparent voltage at the heater is 11V.
Some of this voltage difference is due to the heater under-reading the voltage, but some of it is the voltage drop on the cable when the glowplug is on.
If you have a Lithium setup where the batteries tend to sit at >14V until very low, you may not experience an issue, but if the battery voltage was at a perfectly healthy 12.7V for example, it is quite possible if you keep the original loom that the voltage the heater sees is too low to start it.

The above is when the glowplug is on. When the heater is just running normally, pulling under 1.5A, the voltage difference is 'just' 0.5V, which is almost all down to a poor voltage reading on the heater, but with the glowplug on, that drop in the cable and circuitry, coupled with the inaccurate reading means you can get a heater that just won't switch on
What you can do to get round this (and I have done this on my setup) is add in a voltage booster rated at around 200W, fitted close to the heater. This will present a decently high voltage close to the heater and avoid that issue. I've fitted that with a 3-way switch so I can run it direct normally, but if I think the battery level may be an issue, I can flick the switch to use the booster; plus with the 3-way switch, can just easily switch it to off to cut all power to the heater, which is handy in the summertime.

 

[Silver sprinter]

The tank installation.
Take no notice of the gas bottle and filler, that will be removed before the heater will be up and running. As you can see, snug fit but still enough room for us to get stuff in and out, as and when we need it.

View attachment 2386

Decided to use Advel nutserts, four in total, I believe that should be more than adequate for holding the tank. All that's left now is to drill the relevant holes and poke the pipe and wire through.

View attachment 2387

Rae

Hi ray hope you and Ann are safe and well. Your avdel hand nutserts how good is it for pulling up and getting a good grip. Does it do different sizes.

 

[StreetSleeper]

Spent last night watching YouTube videos and reading as much as I could about setting up the pump. So here we have the set up coupled together, coming in on the left and exiting on the right. To try and eliminate pump noise I shall be hanging the pump bracket off cable ties; seemingly this will cure the transmission of the clicking noise. The whole system, as you see it before you, will be slightly leaning on an angle, P clipped at the bottom just to steady it. I've also opted to go for a smaller tank, 2.5 litres, I'm not sure how long this will last but, seemingly, these Chinese heaters are very frugal with diesel and heating is something we normally only run for short periods and, certainly, do not intend going to sleep with the heating running.

Rae

 

[StreetSleeper]

It has been asked what the black dot is for on the fuel pipe, this is a measurement to let me know that the pipe has fully penetrated the rubber sleeve. At this point I also would like to mention that I did not use the jubilee clips that were provided and opted for the ones that are shown in the photograph.

Rae

 

[Deleted member 4404]

This really is a brilliant thread, full of useful info and pics - thanks to all posters especially David and Rae for their detailed posts.

 

[wildebus]

I happened to watch a video from a US Youtuber I subscribe to and something he did (a very unfortunate thing!) made me think it is worth sharging a bit of info for these heaters that may not be well known?

The most common controller is the one shown in the top part of this picture:

To turn the heater on, you simply press the "OK" button and the heater display will show 'On'
But to turn the heater off, you have to press the OK button and leave it pressed for a few seconds until the Display shows 'Off' and the fan speed will ramp up and the heater will go into its shutdown routine.
This shutdown routine is actually very important, but it is not always known that you keep the OK button pressed down to turn the heater off, and just pushing it and letting go will do nothing.
The Youtuber I am referring to had recently installed one of these heaters with the display pictured and didn't know how to initiate the 'Off' routine - and he had read the manual, so maybe the instructions for that were lost in translation? So when the heater would not go off, he pulled the fuse instead. The heat buildup within the heater cooked the electronics panel.... He had to buy a new heater (can't get those panels as spares).
So just a word of caution for new installers/users

 

[StreetSleeper]

Thank you Dave for taking the time and posting that. I already knew that it had to be turned off properly, I just didn't know how, well thanks to you posting I now know. For me, this was one of the weak points of the Chinese diesel heater and, providing, people adhere to the instructions of shutting down properly I believe the Chinese heater can be quite reliable.

Rae

 

[wildebus]

Thank you Dave for taking the time and posting that. I already knew that it had to be turned off properly, I just didn't know how, well thanks to you posting I now know. For me, this was one of the weak points of the Chinese diesel heater and, providing, people adhere to the instructions of shutting down properly I believe the Chinese heater can be quite reliable.

Rae

There is another recommendation when shutting down that is widely recommended but I personally don't tend to bother (for a reason).... Ramp up the temp/pump freq (the top right arrow bottom) so it runs hotter for a few minutes before you shut down the heater. I think that is meant to help the glowplug stay cleaner?

The reason I have not bothered is that there is only a problem (again I think) when you run Diesel in the pump, and I have exclusively used Kerosene, which burns much cleaner in these heaters (this is one reason why I fitted a dedicated tank, apart from it being a lot cheaper fuel, and of which I have a ready supply)
I have read quite a few folk saying that they run kerosene through every so often to give the heater a clean (these will be people who have plumbed it into their diesel tanks). The same recommendation applies to the genuine Eberspacher units BTW.

Good move on the jubilee clips there, Rae It would have been instantly apparent to you the quality of the provided clips! I didn't replace mine with ones as fancy as yours, but I did replace them for ones less 'chocolate teapot' like