To the know it all About to make a comment. Maybe realize your the same as all the other 280+ comments saying the same thing on a 3 year old video. Of a system with 5 upgrades and modification videos on it over 3 years.
Im researching if I want one of these things and was going to ask about the fuel consumption being a bit high and wether it might be related to the black fumes as I have read Amazon reviews claiming they returned the blacksmoking ones and that they burned too much fuel. Butt guess you dont want any of this here? Ill brows through your vids and see if I find any info :)
I have one. Route the intake inside and reduce fuel consumption by 50%. mount your fuel pump to a piece of pool noodle and the noise will stop. and, a stick of 3/4 inch electrical conduit fits perfectly to extend the exhaust. Have fun! I love mine!
Those heaters are supposed to mount inside and the burn air intake and exoust go outside. With the heater inside it is pulling in inside air to heat so it is more efficient than what You are seeing because You are always heating cold air.
I don't trust them enough to mount inside my house. Yes they aren't meant for houses but some of us need temporary solutions. You could pull fan and burner intakes from the inside of the house. I have mine in a semi insulated barrel with vent lines insulated running into my house. Not pretty, but one could make cosmetic changes if they were clever.
I don't think the mounting outside is an issue, and it does help with noise, but yes, the air intake from indoors helps in many ways, stops odors, drafting and allows the unit not to have to work as hard so you can run on lower settings helping with fuel usage.. good points!
You are right about the startup issue, but as long as your air intake is inside the space you are heating, it doesn't actually reduce the temperature at all.
Leave your exhaust be. If you direct that exhaust upwards you're going to collect water. Route your intake air from inside your house as has been mentioned. Thanks for sharing.
@@todddon wow... this man has it setup just like every directions on any unit.. look it up... they give you two tubes.. they only need to be like 3 feet away from eachother... sounds a little funny right?? but this will not kill you.. i know... do the research... will i make mine farther away.//.. yes
@@mykewarnusThe directions say mount it indoors and pipe the exhaust outside. If you mount it outdoors, it MUST be out of the weather. Also, if you defy the instructions and mount it outside, common sense says you need an intake duct to get the air from the heated space inside to the unit to he recirculated. This unit is mounted dangerously due to exhaust, itcould fail due to water intrustion, and it's inefficient by drawing exterior air. I have not seen this in the instructions or any other installs. Idk what the f you're talking about.
Neat unit, good idea adapting a vehicle heater to heat a house. And yes, get that exhaust up above the air intake bc that is a seriously large Carbon Monoxide risk as it is. Even better would be to run the air intake into the house, no risk of CO and you'll get much warmer air plus no cold air coming in while it starts up
It does need to point down to drain moisture but he should be drawing his air from inside the house as well not the colder outside air. The combustion air intake is fine outside.
CarbonMonoxide sinks more than air... if you put the exhaust above the intake, you are more likely to suck in the "falling" exhaust... Exhaust should be the lowest point in the system. Vent Hole in the muffler should point down. Muffler outlet should point sideways. The point of not leaving it anywhere close to UP, is so rain water and condensation can't form a puddle in the exhaust.
it really isn't unless you're only using it for maybe 4 hours a day. They start off on about 150 watts but then go down to 40w. If you wanted to really be sure you had the battery at 100% it would be much better to have around 100w, it's really not much more expensive than the 25w.
There is a small hole in one side of the small exhaust muffler. This is a moisture drain-hole The Muffler needs to be oriented as you have it but vertical so that hole is at the bottom. This will then let collected moisture drain out and with luck no vapour expelled when starting up. Also check out videos on ideas for reclaiming more heat from the exhaust tube to get even more economy :)
Hey!!! I was researching diesel heaters and came across your channel. Im in Maine aswell...small world. I live just outside of Brewer.. Eddington... Great vid. Very informative. I appreciate the help. take care.
These heaters were (maybe still are) used in big trucks to heat the sleeper...so one didn't need to idle the truck for heat. Resulted in a 90% reduction in fuel consumption. Good job with this vid. ...Ayuh!!
I have been using these things for many years, after 1 year of use the bearings in the motor get dry, you can re oil them if you take it apart soak them in trans fluid works great they don't like running on any setting but high or they fill with carbon and unburnt fuel , they like clean fuel waste oil any mix of oil is a no no incomplete burn and carbon in the primary swirl chamber that is very hard to clean out,had very good and very bad luck with these things lol but still use them every year
the air intake (air to be heated) should be routed to the inside as well, just like a normal home heater, so that you are reheating air instead of attempting to heat ice cold outside air. this will greatly increase your efficiency
I tried that with a pellet heater and didn´t turn out so good. Pulling air from inside in turn pulled cold air from the outside into the home. Just my experience in my particular situation though.
@@leonobrega1418 this is a heat exchanger just like a forced air gas furnace. The combustion intake and exhaust go outside but the air being heated cycles through the furnace by way of your returns and registers.
@@lordgarth1 I think I might have read the OP comment incorrectly. Thanks for correcting me. They said that they wanted to reroute the air to be heated intake from outside to inside, which is correct. Sorry
If you pipe your inlet into the house also, this would allow the warm air inside to recirculate, It will run more efficient and also don't have to worry about the exhaust fumes coming into the inlet and then the house.
Maine ! Hello fellow Mainer. Love the diesel heater I have 5 in 4 places the first lasted 4 years before I turned it it to parts. Ps Lebanon Maine. In 30ft wad 24 ft motor home. Camping 24/7 !
Something like that might work out in my shop for heat in the winter....yes, the startup on them is very slow, sometimes they never start at all, and is also another common complaint...however, most of the other videos on these where they're being so nice in their review is because they're being paid by the company they got it from to do the review, in exchange they get a free diesel heater. The cost on them isn't too bad, and that clicking fuel pump sounds exactly like the electric fuel pump on my tractor, they're pretty loud, but so is the fan they have in those heaters.
I have two of those units in my cabins and in the Winter b4 bed I turn it on so I don't have to keep putting wood in my fireplace. It keeps the heat constant to 65-70 dry heat uses about 1/2- 1 gal a night depending on temp I bought a 12v to 110v converter so I can plug it in if need to. Great video. But you do need to cover the unit especially the fuel container it tends to Crack at the seams from u.v rays.and mounting it outside is best for the noise ... but don't turn the unit sideways you will have fuel burning issues later
I've just had a great idea I think, if you put the hotblow pipe onto a copper water cylinder coil, full of water, it will eventually heat the water and heat Room at same time
On your point about the fan running before the unit is putting out heat, there are some newer units that have the ability to program the fan separately. And there are some aftermarket controllers (The Afterburner) reviewed by youtuber David McLuckie that have other advanced features. If your air supply (not combustion air, but house air supply) is drawing 'less cold' air from inside the home, the trip through the cold and starting heater does remove some heat, but the resulting 'return air' is not as cold as if the supply is directly from a very cold outside. A low tech workaround is to devise an 'air valve' where your heated air enters the home, with a physical flap routing the return air outside during the startup phase. Important note for such air valves: If the air flowing over the heater is not allowed to move because you have somehow blocked the movement of air, you could have a dangerous buildup of heat inside the heater case and damage the electronic board and possibly cause fire. So be sure to create an air valve that never blocks the air from moving across the heater fins. Additionally, there is a great series on these heaters by Australian youtuber John McK 47 that covers a great deal of useful details on how these work and the ways to optimize a system. Good Video. Thanks.
I believe the start up fan run time is to evacuate any possible flammable vapors before heater ignition, common in a lot of HVAC units. Other than that looks like your going to make other changes for the better ! Thanks for sharing !
By having outside air heated and injected into the bedroom, you are essentially pressurizing the bedroom and causing air to leave from where ever it can (the vent you mentioned).
Maine here also, I have one in my van. 5kw. It was 23°f out. Cold start on my diesel heater and within 30 min it was 60°, 40 min it was 75 and banked down to a low fan setting.
Worth remembering that anyone who is unlucky to have a fire in a vehicle or building which has one of these heaters installed, isnt insured. There are many videos covering these heaters, but not seen a single mention of no insurance cover?
Definitely have a second hole somewhere for an intake inside the house and turn the silencer 90 degrees, it has a hole in the edge to let out condensation and should be facing down.
Good review. As other have stated if your air intake were routed inside you would not only gain much greater fuel efficiency but it would also correct the problem of it pumping cold air in for the startup time. With the unit itself mounted indoors, the unit is always at room temperature. I can imagine where up North in extreme cold the units efficiency would be greatly effected by being directly exposed to the extreme cold. If you were installing in a very well sealed environment then the intake outside would make some sense as it would bring in fresh air. Here in the south, the heater would quickly become clogged with dirtdobber nest. The little assholes love plugging up everything. In our case, it only makes sense to mount the entire unit inside and port the exhast and exchanger intake outside....best of all worlds there. Plus the entire unit would be out of the weather.
Just an idea and please point out a reason if I'm wrong but here goes. Why not have the air intake from inside the building? For one it'll be warmer air than outside especially when temps get lower and may allow it to run on a lower setting as a result. Plus it'll eliminate the fume intake and cold through draft when it's not running.
My first heater, fitted to van, from new was smokey and sounded like a jet engine.on start for quite some time. Did eventually run clear after many starts. Now just bought a 5-8kw, but mounted on it's side and never smoked or sounded like a jet.
We install these on semi trucks which is mostly what they are used for but are actually called an Espar (The non Chinese version actual German company that makes I think is like Eberspacher). I think your system would work much better if the entire unit was inside the house and you just plumbed the exhaust out of the wall. I know they will keep a large sleeper cab toasty when its -30 outside plus with the unit inside you wouldh't have to worry about your diesel gelling up in the extreme cold. Looks like its working great for you though good job.
I live in a van, I'm running two 100 w solar panels into a controller, to a 100 amp hour Marine battery. Since the setup you have is running off minimal solar and a small battery, how long does it run? If I were to install it in my van, what's 100 amp hour battery, how long do you think it would actually run? 4 to 6 hours I've done the math a few times and it doesn't seem like 100% would be enough to run it throughout an evening. Basically for the coldest months of the year, running it when it's 30° or colder. Thanks for the video!
They were designed for use in semi trucks. The pumps tick is to confirm your heater is working. Usually the pump was under the bed. So annoying. But got used to it. No tick no heat. It gets to minus 40 degrees Celsius here . When the tick isn't present you wake up fast lol😊
Remember these are cab heaters, unit inside and burner intake exhaust out. I would put unit on it's side inside building. Draw fresh warmed air and recycle through heater.
@@todddon One at work i had to mount sideways inside building, with exhaust out through wall. Burner air intake inside. Running on Jet fuel. Problem is it smells. It would be better if all of the unit was outside in a box. But the walls are 1940's brick full of slag. Hard to cut through.
This is not a house heater it was made for the trucking industry the black body is supposed to be inside the cab pulling in inside air not out side air. This let's a truck driver shut off his or her truck and have a warm place to sleep at night in the winter. I am sure they never meant it to heat a house.
You are correct. I heated my small house with it two Winters ago. I was amazed at how much it dropped my electricity bill. I live out in the country in an old small poorly insulated farmhouse. My unit was mounted outside but the intake was routed into the house as well. It's pretty amazing piece of equipment.
Sorry your feeling are hurt but look how many other items have dual purposes. And I'm sure the companies aren't complaining with the profits plus look it gives the funds to help advance the product to be more efficient and effective.
And you were made to procreate and work. Is that all you do? You're incorrect about it being inside and drawing inside air. The unit where combustion occurs should be outside, as should the intake. Thanks for spreading more bullshit misinformation
These are good reliable heaters, I’ve had them in semi trucks for years. One thing that has always come up with time is that they have to be cleaned out inside. Soot coke builds up on the inside. Not a big deal. Just routine maintenance. I have wanted to use one as a home backup heater.
The soot thing seems to be coming up often in the comments. The way mud wasp are in the summer around here I figure I will break it down and store it in the spring.
I was told to avoid the soot issue turn the unit on high let it burn the soot out it takes about 30 min soot build up is from running it on lower Temps it don't burn all the fuel.
I have two in my 3 car garage. Installed them as a backup to my nat gas heater. Prefer them over nat gas heater. If one goes down always have a second one to turn on. So far in one year they have run flawless. Haven't had to clean them out yet. Spare parts are cheap to keep on hand. I got spare glow plugs, gaskets and fuel pumps. Yet to need them
We have an Eberspacher diesel heaters our VW T5 and the whole unit is mounted under the vehicle and the pump is described as “near silent” in the handbook and I can honestly say I’ve never heard it either inside or outside the vehicle, might be worth buying one from Eberspacher if the ticking bothers you. The supplier who fitted it also recommended having the air intake inside the vehicle to draw in warm air instead of cold air from outside as this would be more economical. Hope this helps someone 👍🏻🇬🇧
Great video. You explain things well. I'm a rookie and I think I will try this heater. Question: What kind of battery is that? I think you said..."12 volt". Where did you purchase it? Can you give a link? I followed the other links to Amazon. Thanks again. Great video!
i have electric baseboard heat in my house..soon as i turn the breakers on in the winter my electric bill goes up to like $400-$450 a month as soon as I just turn the breaker on and when I start running them it goes up to like $750-$850 a month. It's absolutely ridiculous. I may look into something like this atleast to heat my bedroom and downstairs for my animals. Thanks for this man!
I have a 4 unit apartment building in Minnesota that I put electric baseboard heat in. 100% electric heat and the bill for the whole building is $600ish in January. Invest in insulation.
@@Chris.Rhodes one of these will 100% cost less than that even if you leave it running 24/7, even if it's the more powerful version. Use it inside and have the exhaust go through the window, use a hot tent stove hole thing in the window or just DIY it out of some scrap metal and make sure the area surrounding the exhaust doesn't get hot. IN my case it's directly touching aluminum but it doesn't actually get hot more than half an inch around the exhaust pipe... easy enough....
I put one in a 30 ft wilderness camper drafty old windows an all . I installed it in the seating area near the table , the exhaust is plumbed outside just drilled a hole in the storage door. . air intake I was able to stuf it in the floor, an existing hole that had chicken wire from whoever built the camper. I pulled the chicken wire up an cut around it an re stapled it after feeding it under the camper. I stuffed a battery their whith the heater , as far as fuel tank the back side of that seat is were it is simple. just as you walk in the door in case a small spill happens wile filling it"" pump was placed under the seat as well. I've had it two years. I've had no issue at all I fill the tank run it on 2 to 3 unless I'm goin home . A tank of fuel lasts 4 an a half days. that's on a setting of 2 or three. 2 during the day , 3 at night it cools of buy morning. I crank it up for five or so minutes. before shutting it down, just for preventive maintnance, to clean her out... before shutting it off for spring . I've had no issues since I installed it. I've had it for 2 years now. I lived in it for a wile to save money , to save money , It was cold outside 20 degrease some nights an mornings, the heater had no problems heating that camper at all once everything was up to temp inside I found myself opening a vent in the ceiling sometimes. These are great in my opinion after using one I will shurely buy another just as a back up just in case. I swear buy them very good source of heat, in my opinion. Best of luck folks, I would like to know how they would be in a insulated place .
Its much more efficient if you remount it inside with the exhaust going out through the wall. Your drawing cold air rather than warm air and it makes a huge difference. Also, I recommend burning #1 off road diesel because the weak link in these is the burner screen. Its where the fuel burns and after time it will carbon over, the unit will fail. #1 has alot less carbon, and yes the energy content is lower than #2, however if the fuel tank is outside and it gets below around 15° F it will gel. Result is a no flow situation. The burner screen is the fail point in over 90% of the time. Ive run these long before the Chinese made them, i am very experienced with them.
I have one on order, but I want to get things started, like a piece of plywood for a window. I need to put the hole in it for the warm air to come in.like you have into the bedroom. So what size hole or tubing is that, looks like 4 to 6 inch. Thanks for this video and your help.
You can solve the diesel smell by running the inlet inside the building. That will also make more efficient your heater, probably cutting by half your fuel consumption...
Wait, so where's your control panel? Is that still attracted to the heater? Or did you move the panel so that you can control it without having to go outside? And if so, how did you extend the wires? I can't seem to find an extension cable, so I'm gunna have to splice together some scrap wire in order to extend the panel into the house so I can control it without having to go outside..
They have a similar Chinese heater that is air to water. You can get a small cast radiator for the bedroom and pipe in lines with 50/50 antifreeze or glycol mix fluid, just need a air separation and pressure relief in the system. The benefits of radiant heat are better not have dry air blasting or loud noises.
I was thinking of this very same thing, but I’m not sure how to go about it. Everybody I asked said it wasn’t a good idea and they didn’t think I should do it, and nobody was willing to install it! So I ended up getting a mini woodstove instead, but I sure would’ve liked to have it installed.
Ran into this video as I was searching for a solution to heat my uninsulated garage during the winter so I could still do some projects. Do you think this would work in an uninsulated environment like a garage?
Ok, like others say, run an intake hose from inside the room to heat heated air. In a home it is called the cold air return. Do not run your warm air inlet toward the cieling. Heat rises and you will end up with cold air down low and your thermostat wont work right also. Mount the fuel pump on a piece of rebar or pipe pounded into the ground. this will mount it solidly without reverberating into the house. You could mount the heater off the wall similar to the fuel pump to keep it from making nois inside. Definitely try a larger battery to run when the suns is not shiming and use maybe a 6-10 amp charger to charge that battery fully so the batrtery can run the fan when there is no sun. Obviously a 200 watt solar panel would be best because it would put out over 8 amps in direct sunlight but that would only be for a couple hours a day. Oh, and an obvious thing to note is that if you run the intake inside then you wont be picking up diesel smell from the outsided.
thanks for great real world review. been thinking of buying one myself. hope it`s powerful enough to give comfortable temps when its -28 C outside aswell 😀
I have a vevor 3kw running off a battery pack and 12v charger currently to heat our porch, thought to run a solar panel but no way to get a panel to get enough juice to a battery. I get maybe 25ish hours cranked up when I have my hz settings 6.5 usually. When the burn chamber doesn't get hot enough also causes the diesel Not to burn properly, I have messed around with different hz settings to see how it operates. I'm running also 2 lengths of muffler pipe. If you can run a intake pipe for fresh air further away from muffler be better for c02 safety
I have mine running for three nights now at between -5 and -10c with the intake outside like yours, my settings are 1 to 10 , I run it at 4 and it take 5 litres of diesel for 12 hours so it cost me 10$ a night because fuel is $2.00 a litre in Canada now so I find this is very expensive to run compared to propane or electric, thought it was much more efficient
Do not route exhaust up! You will soot combustion chamber. Also, taking air to heat from inside will make heater much much more efficient and you will not intake exhaust gasses inside home
@@redneckcomputergeek yes it is, but directing exhaust up or extending it causes many issues with those units. I have one, so to educate myself,i have joined some fb groups for users and people were complaining that any kind of restriction causes soot buildup. Have in mind that exhaust gasses contains water vapor that condenses in long /up directed exhaust and will flow to lowest point.
Perhaps as a short term option why not add some type of ducting to move the air intake point a bit further away from the exhaust. If a long distance may need to increase duct size to reduce loses. It does not need to be expensive duct , Perhaps extractor ducting.
It would heat better if you had the air intake coming from inside. You are trying to heat cold air to hot. A normal home heater system does not draw air from outside to heat the house. They circulates air from in the house and it's more efficient. That will help the efficiency of the heater
im doing exactly this kind of thing here in the UK but im feeding the heater air from inside the house as it is uneconomical to heat the outside air, this is probably where your extra fuel is going. at start up you wont get cold air coming through the vent but warmer air from inside which will warm up the heater and aid ignition.
Would not recommend you to put the muffler higher than the unit. Inside the exhaust some evaporated water condensate against the exhaust and that would eventually flood your heater I think. Better is to mount the intake what higher up.
You will burn way less when you intake room air not outside air, you are heating very cold air rather than reheating heated air so obviously that cools the unit faster requiring it to burn more to maintain chamber temp
Vevor specifically state that exhaust should be horizontal or downward .. to not put upward. I can understand this as the system is not like a cars exhaust which has pressure from piston / valve action ... Second - surely having intake pipe dragging in air from same spot as the heater ? you will get diesel fumes on start up ??
I think there is something wrong if his is smoking like that. Maybe fuel is slowly siphoning past the pump into the combustion chamber while it's not running or it's carboned up. I started mine after leaving it on my patio over night in -30°C and it barely smoked. I have a video of it. I have one in my pickup that I have cold started below 30 and same thing maybe a little haze while the glow plug is heating and upon ignition.
On mine, I put the rubber onto that plumber's tape that metal stuff with all the little holes in it, then I put it on to another piece of rubber and then mounted it to the wall stops a lot of the ticking sound definitely need to bring that cold air return into the house though
I mounted mine inside my shed with just the exhaust going out through the wall keeping diesel tank warm you get A better burn and much more fuel efficiency )
has to be a single room max, he's using the 2kw version. For reference my 5kw can barely heat a 300 square foot space (uninsulated). Same place as this guy, so COLD
Cold air intake increases fuel consumption. Unit should be indoors and exhaust runs outside. Clacker pumps can be noisy but can be reduced with proper insulation
Diesel fuel used in diesel-powered vehicles and other engines is basically No. 2 home heating oil. The only difference is that home heating oil has a dye added to it that distinguishes it from untaxed or lower-taxed fuels.
you can run either diesel or home heating oil, buy whichever is more cost effective. I’d move the entire thing inside, including the fuel tank, build a box around it if you like. route the exhaust and burner air intake to the outside, you can even install the 12V battery inside (use a sealed battery), mount the solar panel up high and route wires to battery, more sun hours/less blockage of sun to panel
Yeah you are fine. When I hauled fuel, heating oil was just off road dyed ultra low sulphur diesel. Exactly the same as clear diesel at the pumps with dye for the tax man to detect when you run it illegally for tax evasion in a on road diesel powered vehicle
you should make another hole in a wall and connect another hose to be connected to the heater and in this way you will have more heat in the house and the smell of smoke from outside will no longer enter🤩🤩🤩
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
To the know it all About to make a comment. Maybe realize your the same as all the other 280+ comments saying the same thing on a 3 year old video. Of a system with 5 upgrades and modification videos on it over 3 years.
Im researching if I want one of these things and was going to ask about the fuel consumption being a bit high and wether it might be related to the black fumes as I have read Amazon reviews claiming they returned the blacksmoking ones and that they burned too much fuel. Butt guess you dont want any of this here? Ill brows through your vids and see if I find any info :)
I have one. Route the intake inside and reduce fuel consumption by 50%. mount your fuel pump to a piece of pool noodle and the noise will stop. and, a stick of 3/4 inch electrical conduit fits perfectly to extend the exhaust. Have fun! I love mine!
Absolutely
I am installing mine now in a Old Prevost tour bus
That's good information
this is a great reply. thnaks dude.
Absolutely. How people do not realize this.
Those heaters are supposed to mount inside and the burn air intake and exoust go outside. With the heater inside it is pulling in inside air to heat so it is more efficient than what You are seeing because You are always heating cold air.
Agreed that is the best possible setup.
I don't trust them enough to mount inside my house. Yes they aren't meant for houses but some of us need temporary solutions. You could pull fan and burner intakes from the inside of the house. I have mine in a semi insulated barrel with vent lines insulated running into my house. Not pretty, but one could make cosmetic changes if they were clever.
I don't think the mounting outside is an issue, and it does help with noise, but yes, the air intake from indoors helps in many ways, stops odors, drafting and allows the unit not to have to work as hard so you can run on lower settings helping with fuel usage.. good points!
Or route a cold air return to basement
@@ayliniemiWhat don’t you trust about them?
You are right about the startup issue, but as long as your air intake is inside the space you are heating, it doesn't actually reduce the temperature at all.
Correct, and it stops any drafting
it is not an issue but a useful feature for safety. one thing that the creator did not know about it.
Leave your exhaust be. If you direct that exhaust upwards you're going to collect water.
Route your intake air from inside your house as has been mentioned.
Thanks for sharing.
He is drawing in exhaust. Ignorant way to die.
@@todddon wow... this man has it setup just like every directions on any unit.. look it up... they give you two tubes.. they only need to be like 3 feet away from eachother... sounds a little funny right?? but this will not kill you.. i know... do the research... will i make mine farther away.//.. yes
come on man surely he wouldn't leave it straight up to intake water . a 90 will do .
@@mykewarnusThe directions say mount it indoors and pipe the exhaust outside. If you mount it outdoors, it MUST be out of the weather. Also, if you defy the instructions and mount it outside, common sense says you need an intake duct to get the air from the heated space inside to the unit to he recirculated. This unit is mounted dangerously due to exhaust, itcould fail due to water intrustion, and it's inefficient by drawing exterior air. I have not seen this in the instructions or any other installs. Idk what the f you're talking about.
Neat unit, good idea adapting a vehicle heater to heat a house. And yes, get that exhaust up above the air intake bc that is a seriously large Carbon Monoxide risk as it is. Even better would be to run the air intake into the house, no risk of CO and you'll get much warmer air plus no cold air coming in while it starts up
It needs to be pointed down so to drain out moisture or the exhaust will rot. Maybe a longer pipe?
It does need to point down to drain moisture but he should be drawing his air from inside the house as well not the colder outside air. The combustion air intake is fine outside.
CarbonMonoxide sinks more than air... if you put the exhaust above the intake, you are more likely to suck in the "falling" exhaust...
Exhaust should be the lowest point in the system. Vent Hole in the muffler should point down. Muffler outlet should point sideways. The point of not leaving it anywhere close to UP, is so rain water and condensation can't form a puddle in the exhaust.
I would never of thought a 25 w solar panel would of been enough to maintain it. Nice set up 👍
it really isn't unless you're only using it for maybe 4 hours a day. They start off on about 150 watts but then go down to 40w. If you wanted to really be sure you had the battery at 100% it would be much better to have around 100w, it's really not much more expensive than the 25w.
There is a small hole in one side of the small exhaust muffler. This is a moisture drain-hole The Muffler needs to be oriented as you have it but vertical so that hole is at the bottom. This will then let collected moisture drain out and with luck no vapour expelled when starting up. Also check out videos on ideas for reclaiming more heat from the exhaust tube to get even more economy :)
The air intake should be connected to the room to be even more efficient and to eliminate the exhaust smell.
I saw that, his exhaust blows all around the outside of the house, then gets sucked in his intake air port.
Hey!!! I was researching diesel heaters and came across your channel.
Im in Maine aswell...small world. I live just outside of Brewer.. Eddington...
Great vid. Very informative. I appreciate the help.
take care.
These heaters were (maybe still are) used in big trucks to heat the sleeper...so one didn't need to idle the truck for heat. Resulted in a 90% reduction in fuel consumption. Good job with this vid. ...Ayuh!!
I have been using these things for many years, after 1 year of use the bearings in the motor get dry, you can re oil them if you take it apart soak them in trans fluid works great they don't like running on any setting but high or they fill with carbon and unburnt fuel , they like clean fuel waste oil any mix of oil is a no no incomplete burn and carbon in the primary swirl chamber that is very hard to clean out,had very good and very bad luck with these things lol but still use them every year
Run a little Marvel Mystery Oil in the diesel fuel to help clean the combustion chamber from time to time.
Thank you for that honest tidbit of info at the end of the vid. It has changed my set up/running ideas drastically.
the air intake (air to be heated) should be routed to the inside as well, just like a normal home heater, so that you are reheating air instead of attempting to heat ice cold outside air. this will greatly increase your efficiency
I tried that with a pellet heater and didn´t turn out so good. Pulling air from inside in turn pulled cold air from the outside into the home. Just my experience in my particular situation though.
@@leonobrega1418 ?
@@leonobrega1418 this is a heat exchanger just like a forced air gas furnace. The combustion intake and exhaust go outside but the air being heated cycles through the furnace by way of your returns and registers.
@@lordgarth1 I think I might have read the OP comment incorrectly. Thanks for correcting me. They said that they wanted to reroute the air to be heated intake from outside to inside, which is correct. Sorry
The man like you deserves better accommodations. Wish you all the best.
I use a 12V power converter. Great way to go, no battery or charger to worry about. Cheap to buy and use.
Be careful running exhaust upward and can build-up moisture in the bottom of the pipe. But you should be drawing air from in the house not outside
If you pipe your inlet into the house also, this would allow the warm air inside to recirculate, It will run more efficient and also don't have to worry about the exhaust fumes coming into the inlet and then the house.
Maine ! Hello fellow Mainer. Love the diesel heater I have 5 in 4 places the first lasted 4 years before I turned it it to parts. Ps Lebanon Maine. In 30ft wad 24 ft motor home. Camping 24/7 !
You need the intake to pull in warm room air so it’s not constantly fighting the outside temperatures
Read pinned comment.
Something like that might work out in my shop for heat in the winter....yes, the startup on them is very slow, sometimes they never start at all, and is also another common complaint...however, most of the other videos on these where they're being so nice in their review is because they're being paid by the company they got it from to do the review, in exchange they get a free diesel heater. The cost on them isn't too bad, and that clicking fuel pump sounds exactly like the electric fuel pump on my tractor, they're pretty loud, but so is the fan they have in those heaters.
I have two of those units in my cabins and in the Winter b4 bed I turn it on so I don't have to keep putting wood in my fireplace. It keeps the heat constant to 65-70 dry heat uses about 1/2- 1 gal a night depending on temp I bought a 12v to 110v converter so I can plug it in if need to. Great video. But you do need to cover the unit especially the fuel container it tends to Crack at the seams from u.v rays.and mounting it outside is best for the noise ... but don't turn the unit sideways you will have fuel burning issues later
I've just had a great idea I think, if you put the hotblow pipe onto a copper water cylinder coil, full of water, it will eventually heat the water and heat Room at same time
On your point about the fan running before the unit is putting out heat, there are some newer units that have the ability to program the fan separately. And there are some aftermarket controllers (The Afterburner) reviewed by youtuber David McLuckie that have other advanced features. If your air supply (not combustion air, but house air supply) is drawing 'less cold' air from inside the home, the trip through the cold and starting heater does remove some heat, but the resulting 'return air' is not as cold as if the supply is directly from a very cold outside. A low tech workaround is to devise an 'air valve' where your heated air enters the home, with a physical flap routing the return air outside during the startup phase. Important note for such air valves: If the air flowing over the heater is not allowed to move because you have somehow blocked the movement of air, you could have a dangerous buildup of heat inside the heater case and damage the electronic board and possibly cause fire. So be sure to create an air valve that never blocks the air from moving across the heater fins. Additionally, there is a great series on these heaters by Australian youtuber John McK 47 that covers a great deal of useful details on how these work and the ways to optimize a system. Good Video. Thanks.
Might want to try a cold air return from the bedroom to the heater and insulate it somehow go though less fuel. And run less. But keep us posted. 👍👍👍
Oh then you don’t have to move the exhaust
Agreed I left it all laid out for the video. Looking at a few box ideas to put it in.
I heat my house with one but mine is mounted with the heater inside and the rest outside works great
I got mine from Amazon 4 years ago, it has been great with no issues.
I have one of these also. A Vevor heater sold under the HappyBuy label.
When you change things put the exhaust muffler in the correct orientation. There is a hole on the side to let condensation out.
Would it make sense to have the inlet hose on the inside of the house, seeing that the air inside is already cleaner and warmer?
They really like spiders and creppy crawlys in their home.
I believe the start up fan run time is to evacuate any possible flammable vapors before heater ignition, common in a lot of HVAC units. Other than that looks like your going to make other changes for the better ! Thanks for sharing !
Diesel vapors??
By having outside air heated and injected into the bedroom, you are essentially pressurizing the bedroom and causing air to leave from where ever it can (the vent you mentioned).
Maine here also, I have one in my van. 5kw. It was 23°f out. Cold start on my diesel heater and within 30 min it was 60°, 40 min it was 75 and banked down to a low fan setting.
Worth remembering that anyone who is unlucky to have a fire in a vehicle or building which has one of these heaters installed, isnt insured. There are many videos covering these heaters, but not seen a single mention of no insurance cover?
Definitely have a second hole somewhere for an intake inside the house and turn the silencer 90 degrees, it has a hole in the edge to let out condensation and should be facing down.
Good review. As other have stated if your air intake were routed inside you would not only gain much greater fuel efficiency but it would also correct the problem of it pumping cold air in for the startup time. With the unit itself mounted indoors, the unit is always at room temperature. I can imagine where up North in extreme cold the units efficiency would be greatly effected by being directly exposed to the extreme cold. If you were installing in a very well sealed environment then the intake outside would make some sense as it would bring in fresh air. Here in the south, the heater would quickly become clogged with dirtdobber nest. The little assholes love plugging up everything. In our case, it only makes sense to mount the entire unit inside and port the exhast and exchanger intake outside....best of all worlds there. Plus the entire unit would be out of the weather.
Try to route the inlet side in the house as well. The heater will run mose efficiently and there is no possibility of fumes that way.
Just an idea and please point out a reason if I'm wrong but here goes.
Why not have the air intake from inside the building? For one it'll be warmer air than outside especially when temps get lower and may allow it to run on a lower setting as a result.
Plus it'll eliminate the fume intake and cold through draft when it's not running.
That is the goal in the future. Right now it was setup just to test it the way it is used to heat a tent.
My first heater, fitted to van, from new was smokey and sounded like a jet engine.on start for quite some time. Did eventually run clear after many starts.
Now just bought a 5-8kw, but mounted on it's side and never smoked or sounded like a jet.
We install these on semi trucks which is mostly what they are used for but are actually called an Espar (The non Chinese version actual German company that makes I think is like Eberspacher). I think your system would work much better if the entire unit was inside the house and you just plumbed the exhaust out of the wall. I know they will keep a large sleeper cab toasty when its -30 outside plus with the unit inside you wouldh't have to worry about your diesel gelling up in the extreme cold. Looks like its working great for you though good job.
I live in a van, I'm running two 100 w solar panels into a controller, to a 100 amp hour Marine battery. Since the setup you have is running off minimal solar and a small battery, how long does it run? If I were to install it in my van, what's 100 amp hour battery, how long do you think it would actually run? 4 to 6 hours I've done the math a few times and it doesn't seem like 100% would be enough to run it throughout an evening. Basically for the coldest months of the year, running it when it's 30° or colder. Thanks for the video!
They were designed for use in semi trucks. The pumps tick is to confirm your heater is working. Usually the pump was under the bed. So annoying. But got used to it. No tick no heat. It gets to minus 40 degrees Celsius here . When the tick isn't present you wake up fast lol😊
The pump ticks because it’s a pulse pump, plain and simple. The unit puts out heat to confirm it’s working.
The pump an all fuel tanks and line should be outside the heated space, If installed correctly.
Lower your fuel tank so flow can't happen as result of gravity. This might fix the start up smoke problem
Mine draws from a fuel jug 4 feet below the unit just fine.
Remember these are cab heaters, unit inside and burner intake exhaust out. I would put unit on it's side inside building. Draw fresh warmed air and recycle through heater.
That is the safe, efficient and quiet way. The right way. Just keep the glow plug on top.
@@todddon One at work i had to mount sideways inside building, with exhaust out through wall. Burner air intake inside. Running on Jet fuel. Problem is it smells. It would be better if all of the unit was outside in a box. But the walls are 1940's brick full of slag. Hard to cut through.
One in my camper is floor mounted, no smells from that heater. I think smell might be from the burner air intake when not being used.
This is not a house heater it was made for the trucking industry the black body is supposed to be inside the cab pulling in inside air not out side air. This let's a truck driver shut off his or her truck and have a warm place to sleep at night in the winter. I am sure they never meant it to heat a house.
You are correct. I heated my small house with it two Winters ago. I was amazed at how much it dropped my electricity bill. I live out in the country in an old small poorly insulated farmhouse. My unit was mounted outside but the intake was routed into the house as well. It's pretty amazing piece of equipment.
Who cares what it's meant to be. It heats my home just fine.
Sorry your feeling are hurt but look how many other items have dual purposes. And I'm sure the companies aren't complaining with the profits plus look it gives the funds to help advance the product to be more efficient and effective.
And you were made to procreate and work. Is that all you do? You're incorrect about it being inside and drawing inside air. The unit where combustion occurs should be outside, as should the intake. Thanks for spreading more bullshit misinformation
These are good reliable heaters, I’ve had them in semi trucks for years. One thing that has always come up with time is that they have to be cleaned out inside. Soot coke builds up on the inside. Not a big deal. Just routine maintenance. I have wanted to use one as a home backup heater.
The soot thing seems to be coming up often in the comments. The way mud wasp are in the summer around here I figure I will break it down and store it in the spring.
I was told to avoid the soot issue turn the unit on high let it burn the soot out it takes about 30 min soot build up is from running it on lower Temps it don't burn all the fuel.
They can spot up but not all do i have had one last 4 years without any issues
I have two in my 3 car garage. Installed them as a backup to my nat gas heater. Prefer them over nat gas heater. If one goes down always have a second one to turn on. So far in one year they have run flawless. Haven't had to clean them out yet. Spare parts are cheap to keep on hand. I got spare glow plugs, gaskets and fuel pumps. Yet to need them
@@MrRatkilr is there a wall adapter you can use so you don't need batteries?
We have an Eberspacher diesel heaters our VW T5 and the whole unit is mounted under the vehicle and the pump is described as “near silent” in the handbook and I can honestly say I’ve never heard it either inside or outside the vehicle, might be worth buying one from Eberspacher if the ticking bothers you.
The supplier who fitted it also recommended having the air intake inside the vehicle to draw in warm air instead of cold air from outside as this would be more economical.
Hope this helps someone 👍🏻🇬🇧
Great video. You explain things well. I'm a rookie and I think I will try this heater. Question: What kind of battery is that? I think you said..."12 volt". Where did you purchase it? Can you give a link? I followed the other links to Amazon. Thanks again. Great video!
i have electric baseboard heat in my house..soon as i turn the breakers on in the winter my electric bill goes up to like $400-$450 a month as soon as I just turn the breaker on and when I start running them it goes up to like $750-$850 a month. It's absolutely ridiculous. I may look into something like this atleast to heat my bedroom and downstairs for my animals. Thanks for this man!
Check out a ductless mini split heat pump
@@nick-leffler that's expensive. I rent. I'm not putting that much into it lol
I have a 4 unit apartment building in Minnesota that I put electric baseboard heat in. 100% electric heat and the bill for the whole building is $600ish in January. Invest in insulation.
@@Chris.Rhodes one of these will 100% cost less than that even if you leave it running 24/7, even if it's the more powerful version. Use it inside and have the exhaust go through the window, use a hot tent stove hole thing in the window or just DIY it out of some scrap metal and make sure the area surrounding the exhaust doesn't get hot. IN my case it's directly touching aluminum but it doesn't actually get hot more than half an inch around the exhaust pipe... easy enough....
i opened a window, then built an insulated box outside for my diesel heater, can shut window when not using, no holes thru the wall
That is brilliant!
I put one in a 30 ft wilderness camper drafty old windows an all . I installed it in the seating area near the table , the exhaust is plumbed outside just drilled a hole in the storage door. . air intake I was able to stuf it in the floor, an existing hole that had chicken wire from whoever built the camper. I pulled the chicken wire up an cut around it an re stapled it after feeding it under the camper. I stuffed a battery their whith the heater , as far as fuel tank the back side of that seat is were it is simple. just as you walk in the door in case a small spill happens wile filling it"" pump was placed under the seat as well. I've had it two years. I've had no issue at all I fill the tank run it on 2 to 3 unless I'm goin home . A tank of fuel lasts 4 an a half days. that's on a setting of 2 or three. 2 during the day , 3 at night it cools of buy morning. I crank it up for five or so minutes. before shutting it down, just for preventive maintnance, to clean her out... before shutting it off for spring . I've had no issues since I installed it. I've had it for 2 years now. I lived in it for a wile to save money , to save money , It was cold outside 20 degrease some nights an mornings, the heater had no problems heating that camper at all once everything was up to temp inside I found myself opening a vent in the ceiling sometimes. These are great in my opinion after using one I will shurely buy another just as a back up just in case. I swear buy them very good source of heat, in my opinion. Best of luck folks, I would like to know how they would be in a insulated place .
Try to put it on high altitude mode and it will run close or over 100h
Its much more efficient if you remount it inside with the exhaust going out through the wall. Your drawing cold air rather than warm air and it makes a huge difference.
Also, I recommend burning #1 off road diesel because the weak link in these is the burner screen.
Its where the fuel burns and after time it will carbon over, the unit will fail.
#1 has alot less carbon, and yes the energy content is lower than #2, however if the fuel tank is outside and it gets below around 15° F it will gel. Result is a no flow situation.
The burner screen is the fail point in over 90% of the time.
Ive run these long before the Chinese made them, i am very experienced with them.
Pinned comment on the video and for some reason no one reads it.
I have one on order, but I want to get things started, like a piece of plywood for a window. I need to put the hole in it for the warm air to come in.like you have into the bedroom. So what size hole or tubing is that, looks like 4 to 6 inch. Thanks for this video and your help.
You can solve the diesel smell by running the inlet inside the building. That will also make more efficient your heater, probably cutting by half your fuel consumption...
And adding years to your life. Don't kill yourself and screw it up for those that install these correctly.
Wait, so where's your control panel? Is that still attracted to the heater? Or did you move the panel so that you can control it without having to go outside? And if so, how did you extend the wires? I can't seem to find an extension cable, so I'm gunna have to splice together some scrap wire in order to extend the panel into the house so I can control it without having to go outside..
They have a similar Chinese heater that is air to water. You can get a small cast radiator for the bedroom and pipe in lines with 50/50 antifreeze or glycol mix fluid, just need a air separation and pressure relief in the system. The benefits of radiant heat are better not have dry air blasting or loud noises.
I was thinking of this very same thing, but I’m not sure how to go about it. Everybody I asked said it wasn’t a good idea and they didn’t think I should do it, and nobody was willing to install it!
So I ended up getting a mini woodstove instead, but I sure would’ve liked to have it installed.
Ran into this video as I was searching for a solution to heat my uninsulated garage during the winter so I could still do some projects. Do you think this would work in an uninsulated environment like a garage?
Absolutely love the diesel heaters, if you have a head on your shoulders you can simply figure out any issues.
Wouldn’t leave the diesel tank outside or could get cold and congeal
Brilliant I add m in the process of installing my new diesel heater.
Can you run this upside down, where the heater is sitting on the ground with the exhaust ports facing towards the sky? thanks!
Ok, like others say, run an intake hose from inside the room to heat heated air. In a home it is called the cold air return. Do not run your warm air inlet toward the cieling. Heat rises and you will end up with cold air down low and your thermostat wont work right also. Mount the fuel pump on a piece of rebar or pipe pounded into the ground. this will mount it solidly without reverberating into the house. You could mount the heater off the wall similar to the fuel pump to keep it from making nois inside. Definitely try a larger battery to run when the suns is not shiming and use maybe a 6-10 amp charger to charge that battery fully so the batrtery can run the fan when there is no sun. Obviously a 200 watt solar panel would be best because it would put out over 8 amps in direct sunlight but that would only be for a couple hours a day. Oh, and an obvious thing to note is that if you run the intake inside then you wont be picking up diesel smell from the outsided.
I recently put one of these Diesel Heaters in my Camper build and absolutely love it!! Maybe I should do a review video on it as well
thanks for great real world review. been thinking of buying one myself. hope it`s powerful enough to give comfortable temps when its -28 C outside aswell 😀
How it converte the diesel into heat? Is there a real burning inside the converter, or how??
A really good channel about these Diesel Heaters is "John McK 47".
i have one in my roadtrek. don't understand the big deal of the ticking fuel pump. never bothers me a bit.
I have a vevor 3kw running off a battery pack and 12v charger currently to heat our porch, thought to run a solar panel but no way to get a panel to get enough juice to a battery. I get maybe 25ish hours cranked up when I have my hz settings 6.5 usually. When the burn chamber doesn't get hot enough also causes the diesel Not to burn properly, I have messed around with different hz settings to see how it operates. I'm running also 2 lengths of muffler pipe. If you can run a intake pipe for fresh air further away from muffler be better for c02 safety
I have mine running for three nights now at between -5 and -10c with the intake outside like yours, my settings are 1 to 10 , I run it at 4 and it take 5 litres of diesel for 12 hours so it cost me 10$ a night because fuel is $2.00 a litre in Canada now so I find this is very expensive to run compared to propane or electric, thought it was much more efficient
I wonder if you could just use kerosene as it is cheaper than diesel.
Do not route exhaust up! You will soot combustion chamber. Also, taking air to heat from inside will make heater much much more efficient and you will not intake exhaust gasses inside home
Been talking to a few trucker guys that use these all winter. The soot clean out is a known maintenance thing I will have to learn in the future.
@@redneckcomputergeek yes it is, but directing exhaust up or extending it causes many issues with those units. I have one, so to educate myself,i have joined some fb groups for users and people were complaining that any kind of restriction causes soot buildup. Have in mind that exhaust gasses contains water vapor that condenses in long /up directed exhaust and will flow to lowest point.
Hello mate I have noticed on other videos about the heaters the exhaust has to go one way because it has a draining hole on it could be why it smokes
Great review. I’m also in New England .. I may pick one up for my garage. Where abouts in New England are you guys? I’m in mass
Perhaps as a short term option why not add some type of ducting to move the air intake point a bit further away from the exhaust. If a long distance may need to increase duct size to reduce loses.
It does not need to be expensive duct , Perhaps extractor ducting.
It would heat better if you had the air intake coming from inside. You are trying to heat cold air to hot. A normal home heater system does not draw air from outside to heat the house. They circulates air from in the house and it's more efficient. That will help the efficiency of the heater
Thank you for your review. ? for you are you able to run red diesel in this heater.
Yes
So you heat outside air to push inside? Why not pull the air from inside , heat and blow back in
im doing exactly this kind of thing here in the UK but im feeding the heater air from inside the house as it is uneconomical to heat the outside air, this is probably where your extra fuel is going. at start up you wont get cold air coming through the vent but warmer air from inside which will warm up the heater and aid ignition.
How did you install the fuel line fitting to tank?
Would not recommend you to put the muffler higher than the unit. Inside the exhaust some evaporated water condensate against the exhaust and that would eventually flood your heater I think.
Better is to mount the intake what higher up.
You will burn way less when you intake room air not outside air, you are heating very cold air rather than reheating heated air so obviously that cools the unit faster requiring it to burn more to maintain chamber temp
Vevor specifically state that exhaust should be horizontal or downward .. to not put upward. I can understand this as the system is not like a cars exhaust which has pressure from piston / valve action ...
Second - surely having intake pipe dragging in air from same spot as the heater ? you will get diesel fumes on start up ??
I have worked on these for years in trucks inlet air need to be installed inside and leave exhaust pipe short
Should have the cold air return hooked up to the bedroom too that way it's pulling from the house and then going back into the house
In the semi truck that start up's not an issue because we already have heat in the vehicle after we shutdown
I think there is something wrong if his is smoking like that. Maybe fuel is slowly siphoning past the pump into the combustion chamber while it's not running or it's carboned up. I started mine after leaving it on my patio over night in -30°C and it barely smoked. I have a video of it. I have one in my pickup that I have cold started below 30 and same thing maybe a little haze while the glow plug is heating and upon ignition.
Thanks for the honest review at the end. That's why I decided to subsribed.
If your intake air is also indoors it helps to keep your room nice and warm and dry...
On mine, I put the rubber onto that plumber's tape that metal stuff with all the little holes in it, then I put it on to another piece of rubber and then mounted it to the wall stops a lot of the ticking sound definitely need to bring that cold air return into the house though
How many square feet will that little heater heat?
I mounted mine inside my shed with just the exhaust going out through the wall keeping diesel tank warm you get A better burn and much more fuel efficiency )
How many square feet are you heating? I love to see some numbers on square footage. Great vid.
has to be a single room max, he's using the 2kw version. For reference my 5kw can barely heat a 300 square foot space (uninsulated). Same place as this guy, so COLD
If you route the intake for the hot air inside it would be much more efficient and you wont have a draft when its not running.
So about 3 days, would you imagine it may work for van life… I bought this solar set up because of this video XD
Cold air intake increases fuel consumption. Unit should be indoors and exhaust runs outside. Clacker pumps can be noisy but can be reduced with proper insulation
Could you run regular heating oil which should be cheaper than diesel?
Diesel fuel used in diesel-powered vehicles and other engines is basically No. 2 home heating oil. The only difference is that home heating oil has a dye added to it that distinguishes it from untaxed or lower-taxed fuels.
To be honest not sure the price difference would be worth it.
you can run either diesel or home heating oil, buy whichever is more cost effective. I’d move the entire thing inside, including the fuel tank, build a box around it if you like. route the exhaust and burner air intake to the outside, you can even install the 12V battery inside (use a sealed battery), mount the solar panel up high and route wires to battery, more sun hours/less blockage of sun to panel
Yeah you are fine. When I hauled fuel, heating oil was just off road dyed ultra low sulphur diesel. Exactly the same as clear diesel at the pumps with dye for the tax man to detect when you run it illegally for tax evasion in a on road diesel powered vehicle
I find it not properly installed, you should put the intake for the cold air inside the room not outside of the house
you should make another hole in a wall and connect another hose to be connected to the heater and in this way you will have more heat in the house and the smell of smoke from outside will no longer enter🤩🤩🤩
Does the blower duct condensate when it gets really cold out? im currently back and forth where i want it.Inside or outside.