Electrical Diesel heater - power drain

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GrahamHolland

New Member
Oct 29, 2020
20
17
3
Wodonga Vic
Hi all. I have just installed a 2KW AUFOCUS diesel heater which has been fantastic during testing at home (yet to try it for real).
In the experience of the wider "Expanda" community does anyone leave theirs powered "on" when camping? There seems to be a small drain on the battery when it's not in use, but I'm not sure how much of an issue this would be. We have a 105Ah battery that has been plenty big enough for our long weekends away, so it will be interesting to see how the new heater affects things. We do have a portable solar panel, but have never really needed to use it yet.
Cheers, Graham.
 
jazzeddie1234

jazzeddie1234

Well-Known Member
May 19, 2016
609
731
93
Mandurah
I leave mine powered up all the time over winter and pull the fuse in the hot months, although drain is tiny. No settings are lost - on mine anyway. It does use a few amp hours over night - I think mine draws a couple of amps after the initial glow plug 10 amps.
I have a remote so the heater goes off once we are in bed and on again an hour before getting up.
 
Drover

Drover

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
12,748
19,496
113
QLD
Drain would all depend on the system really but when shut down I don;t imagine it would be very much at all, milli amps anyway....
On my set up I have fitted an easy to reach switch near the battery so when travelling, like the water pump it can't be accidentally fired up or have a short, if your not charging your battery up daily somehow then the heater would chew a fair bit of your power, they seem to draw around 10a for about 5-10 mins on start up and the same for about 5 mins at shutdown with only 1-2a while running if that much ...........................
Most important thing is to not run them at the lowest setting for long periods or shut down when at low, as they will carbon up........... Also diesel for the heater does not go stale, so no need to waste fuel by dumping every 6 months for fresh stuff ....... I actually have thrown some Fuel Doctor in mine just to help clear any moisture or bug growing in the tank.... I run mine for about 20 mins or so every couple of months just to keep things operational, burn out any condensation.
 
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