Ducted heating

[ShaneT]

Even with the roller door up and the van close to the front I could smell the fumes throughout the factory.

Im not sure if its just me but I have no smell from either of my diesel heater at all, besides when it fires up for the first time.
In saying that
1) I have never run it inside and
2) Im a Heavy Duty Diesel Mechanic so may be I just cant smell it
Can any one else smell there diesel heater while it is running?

 

[Crusty181]

Im not sure if its just me but I have no smell from either of my diesel heater at all, besides when it fires up for the first time.
In saying that
1) I have never run it inside and
2) Im a Heavy Duty Diesel Mechanic so may be I just cant smell it
Can any one else smell there diesel heater while it is running?

It wasnt anything like the eye burning (and permanant sleep causing) car exhaust, and it wasnt annoying or strong enough to turn it off, but it was noticable.

On another issue youve just thrown yourself open for, is the any real benefit to installing pre or post aftermarket diesel filters to cars, if so which would you recommend

 

[Crusty181]

Another great balanced post @Crusty181 the basic truma controller has 4 or 5 settings. That is your thermostat setting. Once on the fan speed is constant and depending on the number the burner cycles in and out to maintain temp. You can also just run the fan alone ??? The thermostat is located in the controller so ideally you locate it where you want the temperature to be gauged from. There is an additional remote thermostat avaiable if you wish to locate the controller in one location but it doesn't suit for optimal measuring of the temperature. You can buy an optional electronic controller that turns it on and off by preset times etc etc maybe like the ebespacher one? I have looked closely at it as i didn't have a need for it.

Yes location for the inlet/exhaust is the gauging factor. Under a window is a no no unless you rivet t loses which is what @AndrewC did or you can by an interlock to disable the heater when the window is opened. Bit of a toss really as you don't go opening windows when your cold anyway. But it's right to say that compliance is the biggest issue with installing an LPG heater.

The other issue not mentioned yet is battery useage. The diesel with its glow plug design uses a lot more power depending on how many times the glow plug has to ignite as opposed to the truma only using power to run the 12v fan and pizio ignition. TBH this was banded around a lot more in the past than now. With modern vans power usage with LED and solar is a non issues.

Interesting point about the glow plug, and got me wondering. The diesel heater pump is a dose pump, delivering a set dose for each cycle of the pump. If the pump is clicking, the burner is burning. The rate of click indicates the intensity the heater is operating. When you turn the heater on in cold weather it clicks away like a damn cacada, then the clicking stretches out as it reaches temp.

I was at the factory today so i turned the heater on to experiment. The ambient temp hovered around 10deg all day and the pump clicked away all day. I set the temp realitively low at 16deg, and the pump kept on clicking. That would mean the only time all day the glow plug played a role, was at startup.

The heater definately turned itself off in the warmth of the day at Echuca on the long weekend, so i presume when the ambient temperture is significantly higher than the controller it turns the heater off, how much higher i dont know, until that point it continues running, just running very low. Then i suppose when the ambient temp drops below the controller setting the heater fires up from a cold start, and would require the glow plug at that point.

That suggests left switched on, the heater only activates the glow plug once, at start up. (Phew, thats a relief) Not sure if this is the same with the cheaper units. Maybe @ShaneT knows that. Good point to bring up though @achjimmy.

 

[t0ne]

I would have thought that if its burning diesel it would use the glow plug everytime to ignite the diesel.

I maybe wrong...

 

[Crusty181]

I would have thought that if its burning diesel it would use the glow plug everytime to ignite the diesel.

I maybe wrong...

If its continually fuelled and continually burning, would it continually need the glow plug? ... my car doesnt use the glow plugs once its running?. More research maybe

 

[t0ne]

In indirect injection Diesel engines the air is compressed into a small chamber above the cylinder through a small hole. This chamber is called the swirl chamber because the air entering it swirls around the chamber. The fuel is injected into the swirl chamber, and mixes with the swirling air. The glow plug sticks out into the swirl chamber so the air and fuel are heated up to ignition temperature and the engine is allowed to run. The chamber quickly heats up so the glow plug is no longer needed to provide heat.


SO by that if that heater stays hot then no its not needed, but if it cools down enough it will be needed to reignite the fuel.

 

[Crusty181]

In indirect injection Diesel engines the air is compressed into a small chamber above the cylinder through a small hole. This chamber is called the swirl chamber because the air entering it swirls around the chamber. The fuel is injected into the swirl chamber, and mixes with the swirling air. The glow plug sticks out into the swirl chamber so the air and fuel are heated up to ignition temperature and the engine is allowed to run. The chamber quickly heats up so the glow plug is no longer needed to provide heat.


SO by that if that heater stays hot then no its not needed, but if it cools down enough it will be needed to reignite the fuel.

Yeah .... but what do we do without that piston compression to keep things humming along. The power consumption specs of the heater dont seem to be high enough to include too much use of a glow plug, and i suppose if the avg 2amp includes any glow plug popping in, i can live with that.

Now im very curious to know how this thing actually works. I was happy in my uninformed and naive but cossy warm bliss .... now im obsessed with the damn combustion process

 

[twscoot]

And I was too... This helped. All about heat exchange. I assume the water is simply replaced with air moving across the chamber.

 

[ShaneT]

On another issue youve just thrown yourself open for, is the any real benefit to installing pre or post aftermarket diesel filters to cars, if so which would you recommend

Always before the factory filter because if you have a warranty issue it then cant come back on you. Direction injection parts are big $$.
Once your fuel system is assembled in the factory no crap can ever get in, until you change the filter, that's when you are opening up a sterile system. So I put my extra filter in so I can push out the factory filter changes. The less you open it the cleaner it will be. I have 60k km on the factory fuel filter so when its a nice day I will change it just to have a look.

 

[ShaneT]

The glow plug only comes on at start up and stays on for about 20sec after it first fires up. That's what my drifter control panel is telling me anyway I think the made in china ones turn on and off to regulate the temp, I don't have the van or the instructions here and I have never tried it to know for sure. I have only read that on other forums when I was doing my research.

 

[Tone]

we have a Planar heater which seems to be made in Russia, in auto mode the glow plug lights the burner at startup and runs until desired temp is reached then it goes on and off to relight the burner after the temperature is reached to maintain temperature. In manual mode the burner stays running with different levels of output, set on hi the fan runs full on low the fan runs very slow the glow plug comes on at startup and stays off. I had an amp meter on it for while to see what was happening.

 

[Meanderthals]

Due to the layout limitations of the Work n Play our diesel heater is installed with a single output vent and mounted in the storage box under the front bed. Works well there and fairly quickly (normally) settles down to a low speed. Last night though high up between Armidale and Dorrigo it was quite frigid. Turned the heater on at 5pm with a slightly higher temp set and it struggled to cope and I passed it off as due to what was outside and eventually went to sleep. Was still on a high speed at 3:30am when I woke for a while. Finally as the daylight started to appear I realised what I had done. We had two 4 seasons vents fitted at ordering time and I usually open part of the front one to line up the TV antenna and it was open all night and I could see light where there should not be any. When refuelling the car that day I had topped up the heater tank at the same time (an advantage of diesel heating) and overnight it used up about 3 litres, somewhat more than usual for similar usage, plus the greater battery drain. If one quarter of a vent makes that much difference I hate to think how it would struggle with the front bed in use.

 

[Crusty181]

Due to the layout limitations of the Work n Play our diesel heater is installed with a single output vent and mounted in the storage box under the front bed. Works well there and fairly quickly (normally) settles down to a low speed. Last night though high up between Armidale and Dorrigo it was quite frigid. Turned the heater on at 5pm with a slightly higher temp set and it struggled to cope and I passed it off as due to what was outside and eventually went to sleep. Was still on a high speed at 3:30am when I woke for a while. Finally as the daylight started to appear I realised what I had done. We had two 4 seasons vents fitted at ordering time and I usually open part of the front one to line up the TV antenna and it was open all night and I could see light where there should not be any. When refuelling the car that day I had topped up the heater tank at the same time (an advantage of diesel heating) and overnight it used up about 3 litres, somewhat more than usual for similar usage, plus the greater battery drain. If one quarter of a vent makes that much difference I hate to think how it would struggle with the front bed in use.

What brand of heater do you have @PhilD, and what temp do you think it got down to. My decision to go with Eberspacher D2 was based on my experience with @Cindy's heater at the Nagambie get together. The temp in Nagambie plummeted to around zero. Dave and Cindy have a 20.63.2OB, so 2 tent ends. In their van you could have cooked @Smergen's roast pork (without torching it), just by leaving it on the kitchen bench. It was very warm, in fact it was uncomfortably too warm for me. They only had the one duct, heater mounted in the same place as yours

Your not using the tent bed??

 

[Smergen]

In their van you could have cooked @Smergen's roast pork (without torching it), just by leaving it on the kitchen bench.

Yep... here's my latest attempt at a roast chook.

 

[Andrewm02]

H

I went diesel because the unit is 1/3 the price and there are no install costs, plus the 20l jerry can I use for back up doubles as the heaters fuel tank. This is my second unit on my second van, first one from ebay and the other from aliexpress. the second was about $300 cheaper.
I worked out that they (gas vs diesel) cost about the same to run but it is a lot easier to get diesel and I wont run out of gas part way through the night because I cant see through the cylinder unlike a jerry can.

Hey @ShaneT do you have a link to the seller on aliexpress. There are plenty on there but want to make sure I go with a reputable seller.

 

[Meanderthals]

What brand of heater do you have @PhilD, and what temp do you think it got down to. My decision to go with Eberspacher D2 was based on my experience with @Cindy's heater at the Nagambie get together. The temp in Nagambie plummeted to around zero. Dave and Cindy have a 20.63.2OB, so 2 tent ends. In their van you could have cooked @Smergen's roast pork (without torching it), just by leaving it on the kitchen bench. It was very warm, in fact it was uncomfortably too warm for me. They only had the one duct, heater mounted in the same place as yours

Your not using the tent bed??

Last part first. Do you really think that someone who lives in Darwin and has a spa heater because anything below 32 for water temp is unbearable would use the tent bed at these temperatures???????? Not effing likely.

Heater is same as yours AFAIK. Outside temp got down to about -3 and I had the heater set for 19 but generally it has been set to 16 which is reasonably comfortable with low fan speed, low fuel consumption, low noise and with track suit and a good blanket.

 

[Crusty181]

Yep... here's my latest attempt at a roast chook.

View attachment 33614

Nice to see your getting better at it .... good work

 

[ShaneT]

H
Hey @ShaneT do you have a link to the seller on aliexpress. There are plenty on there but want to make sure I go with a reputable seller.

You can use anyone. Unlike ebay you pay a 3rd party and the seller only gets there money after you tell this 3rd party that you have received the product.
I looked up my order and that seller no longer ships to Australia for some reason. When you go through them and find the cheapest price and postage combination as the cheapest listed price is not always the cheapest overall.

 

[BigSkiddy]

H


Hey @ShaneT do you have a link to the seller on aliexpress. There are plenty on there but want to make sure I go with a reputable seller.

G'day @Andrewm02 I just purchased one from Aliexpress. It should arrive tomorrow. Will let you know how it looks. I think it was the cheapest and includes the ducting, but the advert was a bit confusing. $550 AU including delivery.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Weba...or-gas-and-diesel-truck-Boat/32237720959.html

I purchased this diesel tank from Supercheap Auto today.
http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/on...esel-10-Litre.aspx?pid=354060#Recommendations

It looks the same as what these guys use.
http://www.dieselheat.com.au/rv-heaters/fuel-tanks-and-fitting-options


In regards to people saying that the fuel pump 'ticks' is that only an issue if you have the fuel pump mounted inside the van?

Was going to mount the unit under the lounge. Is it necessary to have a duct to suck the air in? Or would that area be too airtight.

 

[Glen Bundesen]

I could only hear the ticking when the pump was mounted near the chassis. moved it away and now no noise.