I have had my $89.00 Chinese Diesel heater for 3 years... I use it all of the time between late Sept. thru April. Just a few months ago it began NOT starting up immediately when I hit the On Button...and pushed out a lot of white Smoke. I shut it down and waited about 5-10 minutes and it always started right up on the 2nd. try. The day before yesterday I decided to take it apart and clean it up and see how it was inside. I was Amazed at how clean it was. There was Zero carbon build up anywhere. The screen was like new, the Glow Plug was very clean and only a very small amount of carbon in the Combustion chamber. I put it back together and it started right up as normal ! I was Shocked at how clean this thing was ! I have 2 more that I have bought but not used yet...one "All in One" that I plan on installing in my old Hummer H3 that I have converted into a camper type vehicle !
Thanks for your video. it was the best that I came across last night figuring out how to clean out my heater. It had been smoking and your video gave me the confidence to open and clean it all up today. It's now working like a new one.
The glow plug may look OK, but the resistance needs checking. The wire brush treatment (at about 8 minutes onwards) indicates the problem is previous to it - the fuel should be burned in the combustion chamber, not that heat exchanger casting. The gauze is easy to remove with a suitable coach screw. It initiates the fuel combustion at start up in conjunction with the glow plug. Once the fuel is burning in the combustion chamber thglow plug is turned off - no heat, no longer combustion at that point. The entry to the combustion chamber is a bear to clean (some have a gauze in that area which can get blocked). It is an area needing particular attention and the cover may need to be removed (and carefully reinstalled later, such that it is secure but not interfering with the fan on the motor shaft. It might benefit from burning on kero and maybe on ‘alpine’ setting, at maximum setting. Soot is not the real problem, for cleaning - it is the hard deposits in the combustion chamber inlet that are not so responsive to cleaning chemicals. Definitely they need running at high setting rather than lower ones. Well done with your cleaning and good luck with future running. These controllers with no (easy) adjustment of the air:fuel ratio are a pain for the serious user. Cheap chinese tricks to reduce the manufacturing costs, as usual.
well, that's half a service! he should have changed the gaskets for new ones, and the "vaporizing screen" or as he called it a filter screen, should be changed for a new one "every service!" as this part if slightly clogged up is the main cause of the heater bellowing white smoke out and then not starting up, plus they only cost pennies from E-bay. so, it's kind of stupid not to replace it. Oh, and it's not worth trying to clean this part by scrubbing it or burning it out! but at least he remembered to clean out the air supply hole to the "vaporizing screen". as that is very important to get it cleaned out or again the heater wont light very well and bellow out white smoke! also no diesel heater likes running on low power, so if you run your heater on low power then at least one a week run it on full power for a few hour or so to "help" burn out any carbon build up inside the heater, its best to run them flat out all the time really, and if you get too hot, then open a window and let some heat out taking the damp air out with it as well! as a 2Kw heater only burns 0.58lt an hour or a 5Kw heater burns 0.68lt an hour ""flat out!"" so in short, don't get cheap on yourself stay warm.
Couldn't you add an additive to the diesel each time you use a gallon , like a catalytic convert cleaner or a spot of petrol to the mix each time to have it burning clean ?
I have had my $89.00 Chinese Diesel heater for 3 years... I use it all of the time between late Sept. thru April. Just a few months ago it began NOT starting up immediately when I hit the On Button...and pushed out a lot of white Smoke. I shut it down and waited about 5-10 minutes and it always started right up on the 2nd. try. The day before yesterday I decided to take it apart and clean it up and see how it was inside. I was Amazed at how clean it was. There was Zero carbon build up anywhere. The screen was like new, the Glow Plug was very clean and only a very small amount of carbon in the Combustion chamber. I put it back together and it started right up as normal !
I was Shocked at how clean this thing was !
I have 2 more that I have bought but not used yet...one "All in One" that I plan on installing in my old Hummer H3 that I have converted into a camper type vehicle !
Thanks for your video. it was the best that I came across last night figuring out how to clean out my heater. It had been smoking and your video gave me the confidence to open and clean it all up today. It's now working like a new one.
The glow plug may look OK, but the resistance needs checking.
The wire brush treatment (at about 8 minutes onwards) indicates the problem is previous to it - the fuel should be burned in the combustion chamber, not that heat exchanger casting.
The gauze is easy to remove with a suitable coach screw. It initiates the fuel combustion at start up in conjunction with the glow plug. Once the fuel is burning in the combustion chamber thglow plug is turned off - no heat, no longer combustion at that point.
The entry to the combustion chamber is a bear to clean (some have a gauze in that area which can get blocked). It is an area needing particular attention and the cover may need to be removed (and carefully reinstalled later, such that it is secure but not interfering with the fan on the motor shaft. It might benefit from burning on kero and maybe on ‘alpine’ setting, at maximum setting.
Soot is not the real problem, for cleaning - it is the hard deposits in the combustion chamber inlet that are not so responsive to cleaning chemicals.
Definitely they need running at high setting rather than lower ones. Well done with your cleaning and good luck with future running.
These controllers with no (easy) adjustment of the air:fuel ratio are a pain for the serious user. Cheap chinese tricks to reduce the manufacturing costs, as usual.
well, that's half a service! he should have changed the gaskets for new ones, and the "vaporizing screen" or as he called it a filter screen, should be changed for a new one "every service!" as this part if slightly clogged up is the main cause of the heater bellowing white smoke out and then not starting up, plus they only cost pennies from E-bay. so, it's kind of stupid not to replace it. Oh, and it's not worth trying to clean this part by scrubbing it or burning it out! but at least he remembered to clean out the air supply hole to the "vaporizing screen". as that is very important to get it cleaned out or again the heater wont light very well and bellow out white smoke! also no diesel heater likes running on low power, so if you run your heater on low power then at least one a week run it on full power for a few hour or so to "help" burn out any carbon build up inside the heater, its best to run them flat out all the time really, and if you get too hot, then open a window and let some heat out taking the damp air out with it as well! as a 2Kw heater only burns 0.58lt an hour or a 5Kw heater burns 0.68lt an hour ""flat out!"" so in short, don't get cheap on yourself stay warm.
michaelthorpe9560 you are spot on with observations . not rocket science
Good video it's kinda fun to see the everyday life behind the scenes of the Van life. Keep the videos coming
Great, informative video!
It gave me the information needed to feel comfortable enough to disassemble and clean my heater.
Thanks!!!! 👍
Oh yeah.... Liked/Subscribed !
Your unit is getting to much fuel,put it in high altitude mode it will run like a champ
👍👍 thanks for the video
Thanks this helped
Glow plug strainer screen?
Is this from burning diesel itself and maybe not burning on high setting to help clean out,maybe just curious 👍
Couldn't you add an additive to the diesel each time you use a gallon , like a catalytic convert cleaner or a spot of petrol to the mix each time to have it burning clean ?
Burn kerosene regularly or at least cycle a tank of kerosene every once in awhile to clean the burn chamber.
Be a good idea to put those things where you can remove them easily for regular maintenance I guess…
I heard oven cleaner works well for removing soot.
Oven cleaner is the bigest bull*** that you can use for anything