Diesel Heater On All Night

[Nabsim]

If you notice the smell when heater is running with the van at side of the house can it just be lack of air flow? Van would not normally be parked up next to something when in use, would be space all around. Parked next to house wall may be letting smell linger where in open space it would dispel. Any weight to that theory?

 

[StreetSleeper]

First thing, thank you for all your input. I have read all the replies and taken all your suggestions onboard. Today I put it all back together, ran it at a high temperature ...... ok, turned it down and the smell of unburnt diesel became strong. Tomorrow I will be removing the exhaust and putting a straight through pipe in it's place and see if that makes a difference.

 

[StreetSleeper]

Last hope.
Before I start on the electrical side I thought it would be prudent to check the exhaust.

After disconnecting the silencer it was just a matter of starting up the heater and see what happens.

Could not believe how much soil had deposited itself on the silencers.

Next job, pull the silencers apart and have a look through. When I was making this system I opted for the Chinese silencer as it was straight through. Looking at the first one, no problem there.

Here we have the second. I think, and I say think, this may be the problem. The muffler has collapsed inside and it must make some difference to the exhaust gases. At the moment I'm running it with no silencer just to see if that, in fact, was the problem.

A new silencer will have to be purchased but, this time, a quality one as I believe the noise will not be acceptable to me.

Rae

 

[SquirrellCook]

Lets hope you have found the answer. I'm running without a silencer on Betty at the moment and it does howl.

 

[StreetSleeper]

I'm running without a silencer on Betty at the moment and it does howl.

The first thing I noticed was that the smell was different so it must be burning properly now; hopefully, that's one problem solved. Next, make it less offensive to others and not ruin their peaceful outdoors.

I opted for one of these, not cheap but hopefully it will do the business.

Rae

 

[mistericeman]

Last hope.
Before I start on the electrical side I thought it would be prudent to check the exhaust.

View attachment 3273

After disconnecting the silencer it was just a matter of starting up the heater and see what happens.

View attachment 3274

Could not believe how much soil had deposited itself on the silencers.

View attachment 3275

Next job, pull the silencers apart and have a look through. When I was making this system I opted for the Chinese silencer as it was straight through. Looking at the first one, no problem there.

View attachment 3276

Here we have the second. I think, and I say think, this may be the problem. The muffler has collapsed inside and it must make some difference to the exhaust gases. At the moment I'm running it with no silencer just to see if that, in fact, was the problem.

View attachment 3277

A new silencer will have to be purchased but, this time, a quality one as I believe the noise will not be acceptable to me.

Rae

Doesn't look damaged to me... Just looks like the genuine eberspacher 'u' bend inside...

I'd be more concerned about the fact I'd paid for a silencer with the other one and got an empty tin...

Have a, looksy on here at what a correct one looks like inside.

Silencers

 

[wildebus]

Doesn't look damaged to me... Just looks like the genuine eberspacher 'u' bend inside...

I'd be more concerned about the fact I'd paid for a silencer with the other one and got an empty tin...

Have a, looksy on here at what a correct one looks like inside.

Silencers

Could still have all the wadding around it even if no bend though. Can't be sure it is an empty tin from that picture.

 

[SquirrellCook]

Silencers are a funny subject, especially for a constant noise. Trying to absorb annoying frequencies without reducing flow is not that easy. Even with perforated tube, hole size and spacing can make a big difference. I studied this for a while before deciding life is too short.

 

[StreetSleeper]

Doesn't look damaged to me... Just looks like the genuine eberspacher 'u' bend inside...

I'd be more concerned about the fact I'd paid for a silencer with the other one and got an empty tin...

Have a, looksy on here at what a correct one looks like inside.

Silencers

I have taken it apart and it looked like the spring had collapsed and, yes, it is a Chinese one. I could have used a eberspacher one but I wanted one that was straight through, as I had 2 in line, I thought the bend x2 would slow the gasses down.

 

[mistericeman]

Silencers are a funny subject, especially for a constant noise. Trying to absorb annoying frequencies without reducing flow is not that easy. Even with perforated tube, hole size and spacing can make a big difference. I studied this for a while before deciding life is too short.

Try reading up on pulsed resonance expansion pipes for tuning 2 strokes...
Scavenge cycles and port tuning etc

 

[StreetSleeper]

Silencers are a funny subject, I studied this for a while before deciding life is too short.

Tuned exhaust, I think I am right in saying, on a 500 Triumph, the down pipes had to be 26 inches long before they could meet.

 

[StreetSleeper]

Try reading up on pulsed resonance expansion pipes for tuning 2 strokes...
Scavenge cycles and port tuning etc

I thought my RD 350 was fast enough, bog standard. My Suzuki 500, I could not keep it in spark plugs........ did go well though.

 

[wildebus]

Of course it may not be applicable to the Chinese Heaters, but Eberspacher publish specific recommendations regarding maximum exhaust pipe lengths from heater to final outlet and also in what positions a silencer can be installed. They are actually quite short maximums.
It is probably available on that Cypriot varnish site?

 

[StreetSleeper]

Could still have all the wadding around it even if no bend though. Can't be sure it is an empty tin from that picture.

Here is one I took apart to see what was inside

 

[Silver sprinter]

Hi Rae looks like your getting some answers. That's good. You remind me of Quincy on TV when I was younger. My money is in you getting to the bottom of it. Thanks for pics and posting

 

[Squiffy]

Rae
I had a similar problem with my old eberspatcher , every so often I could smell burnt diesel fumes in the van , I did same as you and dismantled it then cleaned it and rebuilt it and it was great again , but now and then the smell would return , eventually by luck I noticed the fumes stronger around the cooker area , after further investigation I noticed a vent in the floor under the cooker and realised this was were the fumes from the heater exhaust under the van was coming in and not the hot air outlet from the heater , I moved the heater exhaust and pointed it away from the underside of the van and the problem was cured , no more fumes in the van . Could this also be the answer to your problem ?

I have mentioned this before in other threads, the continental coach builders do not put in floor vents for this very reason, that exhaust fumes were being drawn in from heating appliances through vents in the floor and it was deemed more dangerous than the possibility of build up of escaped gas due to leaks. That gas detectors and Co2 detectors were better than cold air and exhaust fumes being sucked into the living accommodation. Phil

 

[Debs]

Doesn't look damaged to me... Just looks like the genuine eberspacher 'u' bend inside...

I'd be more concerned about the fact I'd paid for a silencer with the other one and got an empty tin...

Have a, looksy on here at what a correct one looks like inside.

Silencers

Good thing to read. If a heater has been over primed or not burning properly, and diesel has collected in the exhaust, it's going to smoke!

 

[SquirrellCook]

Try reading up on pulsed resonance expansion pipes for tuning 2 strokes...
Scavenge cycles and port tuning etc

I used to design and manufacture two stroke pipes, not the same animals

 

[SquirrellCook]

Of course it may not be applicable to the Chinese Heaters, but Eberspacher publish specific recommendations regarding maximum exhaust pipe lengths from heater to final outlet and also in what positions a silencer can be installed. They are actually quite short maximums.
It is probably available on that Cypriot varnish site?

I wonder how fussy the eberspacher number are, as I intend to take them to the limit. The D4L will be mounted on the left and the exhaust needs to exit on the right.

 

[wildebus]

I wonder how fussy the eberspacher number are, as I intend to take them to the limit. The D4L will be mounted on the left and the exhaust needs to exit on the right.

I had that situation on my T5.... D2 Heater on right and wanted to exit on left. Woukd have went beyond the max length limit and I decided not to test it! Just accepted it would exit right