When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
About 99% done installing this chinese diesel heater. it's on and it's working.
The good:
1. it is much less expensive than the german Webasto and Eberspacher
2. It gets the coolant warmed up very quickly, pics showing this below.
3. It is a very simple, easy to maintain heater. Found a video of a guy using one for his off-grid house cobble a replacement glow plug with a screw and basic tools.
The bad:
1. There are reasons it is much less expensive. It is very basic compared to the alternatives. no canbus, no dianostic software. When something goes wrong, no support.
2. it is less efficient. I don't yet know the fuel consumption rate, but with the smoke in the exhaust, I'm estimating it is considerably more than the German variety.
3. It draws more current than the expensive options. My old thermotop evo would spike about 10 amps during startup, then settle in around 2.4 once the glow plug shuts off. This one pulls just over 8 amps running. I didn't get the amp clamp on for the glow plug draw.
4. My webasto might haze a bit on startup if it is very cold but it would clear up once a flame was going. This china heater smokes on startup, but it only goes down to a mid sooty haze. must be a boost leak.
Having said all that, it is a much larger unit and really cranks out some heat. Today's test run wasn't on a particularly cold day; it got down to around 20 last night, and the engine hasn't been run before or during any of the testing.
If you opt for the low-cost version, it comes with a garbage fuel pickup tube. I advise ordering the Webasto brand pickup to avoid any leaks & dramas. On that note installing the fuel pickup is the most challenging part and it applies to all brands.
It will require drilling a hole in the fuel tank lid and trimming the pickup tube to be about the same length as the one that supplies the engine. I'm trying to find some pics of this as I already have this part installed from before.
Water pump about 12mins runtime.
Key on engine off, blower about 12 mins.
around 25 minutes engine off, getting good heat. maybe 17kw was a bit much...
Gratuitous exhaust shot. The FLIR built into my phone maxed at 302F. exhaust temp is much higher.
This is for preheating the engine when it gets really cold. Like soaking in the negatives all night and starting like it was mid-spring without having to let it high idle up to temp.
It does draw off the truck's batteries, and I didn't really anticipate it pulling this much current. Going overboard might get me this time. This size heater is more for larger engines or as supplementary heat for buses.
The smaller 5kw unit this is replacing would run for an hour to heat the engine so my thinking was to go bigger for shorter runtimes. I won't really know for certain until winter goes full tilt.
I'm used to seeing a lot more snow and lower temps by now which probably means we gonna get it hard next couple three months.
I'd get that heater off the batteries, it's a big draw. Good batts can take it for now but drawing them down significantly every day will degrade them.
someone posted a pump heater the other day that works for what you're doing. It heats the coolant, uses some fuel and is less straining on the batteries. I thought it was you but didn't go back to look.
They make kits for semi's. I only have experience with the espar bunk heater. It can run for up to 12hrs using only a gallon of fuel IIRC. Not taxing on the batteries. However, a semi uses a bit larger of a battery and typically 4 of them.
The espar is a small heat pump that exhausts outside as well and sounds like yours in the video.
I think you have the right idea, just need to find the most efficient one. Will be curious how this works out for you. keep us posted
Yeah, that was me. This is just me taking a chance on the cheap heater to see if it will work. Ya know, being the crash test dummy so others don't have to.
I was hoping it would be an upgrade and it may still work out, but I paid less for this than the glowplug+shipping I need to swap back to the webasto.
I very nearly installed one of these when I was still living in Minnesota. I ended up going with a Mr Buddy heater with a stove fan attached to the grill.
Originally Posted by callforfire
Gratuitous exhaust shot. The FLIR built into my phone maxed at 302F. exhaust temp is much higher.
Your phone has FLIR built in?! What phone have you got?
ulefone power armor 18t. After my Note 8 split open from the battery swelling (what idiot thought making a phone out of glass was a good idea), I immediately searched for the "most rugged Android phone" and discovered a whole new world of
feature-rich devices I had never heard of. My first one was a Blackview BV9800 pro... I kinda bricked it messing with root. gotta have root.
So now I have this one. And I use it all the time as a troubleshooting aid that pays for itself in prop heat and bleed air leaks.
Wait till you see the borescope and other accessories.
But definitely look at some review videos online. I was thinking about upgrading to the 27T Pro, but its FLIR only has a 9hz refresh rate in exchange for better temp reading accuracy.
That's cool as hell...
I've found that there are many android phone manufacturers out there years ago. The only downside which applies mostly to travelers is they mainly support foreign countries and do not fully support US carrier bandwidths. Maybe this has changed over the years.
I also agree, it was not the smartest move for them to want to make glass phones jut so they seem more premium. The old composite phones were way tougher and had spare parts available if needed.
