Diesel cab heater

[davep10000]

Brilliant little heaters I have exactly the same and keeps my workshop bearable in sub zero temps.
It tends to just run all day, but the supplied tank is too small so I re-purposed an old land rover series one diesel tank (10 galls).
Runs on 30p/ litre heating oil. Probably costs about £1 a day so happy with that.
Good tip about the heater plug spare though.

Edit Its best to add a cheapo in line filter as a precaution.

 

[jsf55]

Mocked up for position and hole out for exhaust


Quickly knocked up four legs, but the casing is quite flimsy so may redo it

Filter came with mine, but there's no room internall

I added a left over pc fan to see if it would blow warm air over the exhaust pipe


30 w power supply

And mounted

The idea behind the fan

My silencer has come with a ready made hole, but i think i'll open it up a bit

After a few false starts trying how to purge the fuel through i eventually got it going and it was nice and toasty, unfortunately it took nearly all afternoon as i don't have a 1" masonry bit !

 

[duncans]

View attachment 264030 View attachment 264031
Mine has been opened, but other jobs on the too do list for now !

looks great that does see one on facebook it was 300.00 thou but it would heat a big garage I would have thought that was a diesel heater

 

[cr500dom]

Got mine test fired yesterday
Please excuse the very Heath Robinson arrangement but it fired up and ran fine
now Need to make some brackets and put a hole through the wall

 

[jsf55]

I had mine on today and it warmed up nice on full pelt No6 then i run it at No2 rest of afternoon, it'll be interesting to see how it performs in the up coming cold snap ! I already fancy remaking my base as it's well wobbly !

 

[fizzy]

Brilliant little heaters I have exactly the same and keeps my workshop bearable in sub zero temps.
It tends to just run all day, but the supplied tank is too small so I re-purposed an old land rover series one diesel tank (10 galls).
Runs on 30p/ litre heating oil. Probably costs about £1 a day so happy with that.
Good tip about the heater plug spare though.

Edit Its best to add a cheapo in line filter as a precaution.

I use a 30L outboard motor fuel tank. Lasts all week running 10 hours a day.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Got mine test fired yesterday

The tank on mine has strengthening ribs like the Audi 'rings' logo, I see yours has interlocking squares - I wonder if Audi rattled their cage?

 

[Lewis_RX8]

Just testing out this Christmas present.

Managed to get it to boot up and work fine starting to understand the controls however it seems i have the 1st Gen LED control panel not the newer one so my screen does not have a OK button which is confusing as everyone else online it seems has OK however I got some squint Chinese and bad English custom printed controls to go with this LED control so i am just getting a hang of it.

Would be interested to see what everyone else is doing with there's as i have it setup with a limited supply of free red diesel from Genset fuel filter changes however wondering if used fuel oil or anything like that would be worth mixing in with the diesel to make it last

Also i have seen it recommended to order a glow plug cheap from china just to have on hand as a spare so if anyone could enlighten me on that it would be great.

Another idea I'm toying with is the heat recovery of the exhaust running through a radiator type setup made copper pipe or putting it through a old household radiator we have as i feel a lot of hot air is wasted through the exhaust and shame to waste it.

 

[Farside]

Another idea I'm toying with is the heat recovery of the exhaust running through a radiator type setup made copper pipe or putting it through a old household radiator we have as i feel a lot of hot air is wasted through the exhaust and shame to waste it.

Nothing wrong with the idea, but be wary of an old central heating rad being rusty down the bottom. If it's sound, crack on.

 

[cr500dom]

So today I put some feet on the bottom and drilled a hole in the garage door for now.
I’m still undecided where it needs to live long term so I tucked it down by the garage door in the bay where my kadett project car lives.
A step drill through the door for the exhaust, and a 12v battery on charge supplying power for now.
Works ok
Left it running for an hour and at 1.5deg ambient outside it took the edge off inside.
Bringing most surfaces etc up to 5-6 deg

garage is not insulated and double garage doors are not well sealed but for now this gives me a solution to take the chill off for £100 outlay

Rough outlet temp

 

[Morris]

I'm thinking about one of these, where's the best place to get one?

 

[bigegg]

I'm thinking about one of these, where's the best place to get one?

the heaters?

I got mine from ebay.

if you meant the handheld thermometer, i'd look at cpc first - then ebay or screwfix

 

[Morris]

Sorry, yes the heaters.

 

[bigegg]

Another idea I'm toying with is the heat recovery of the exhaust running through a radiator type setup made copper pipe or putting it through a old household radiator we have as i feel a lot of hot air is wasted through the exhaust and shame to waste it.

Nothing wrong with the idea, but be wary of an old central heating rad being rusty down the bottom. If it's sound, crack on.

I've been looking at adding a "bell" radiator to my system:
You feed the exhaust into a sealed cylinder (like an "old orange vapour tank" ) from somewhere near the bottom, angled slightly up.
The outlet from the tank is a vertical pipe which runs from the top centre to _almost_ the bottom of the tank.
The fumes enter the tank and rise, then cool and fall so they exit. Like "masonry heaters" or the barrel part of a rocket mass heater works.

Or make one entirely from brick?



Admittedly, an old house radiator is probably going to be smaller, and more efficient, but depending on what shape pipes you have, it could be made to fit anywhere. (I'm wondering if a piece of scaffolding inside a length of 4inch chs would work: even horizontally)

 

[steviec_lj]

Just bought two, on eBay.

One for the van as it’ll save trying to extend the heater pipes from the front cab, and then one for the workshop.

 

[Perry Owens]

Fitting mine today. Got this far.

 

[Morris]

Just bought two of them!
One for the conservatory (currently electric!!) and one for the workshop.
Power supplies now.

 

[bigegg]

Just bought two of them!
One for the conservatory (currently electric!!) and one for the workshop.
Power supplies now.

eBay, again.
Go for the 20A, (no less).
They need 12Aish at start-up. But Chinese power supplies are... Erm... "Optimistic" in their specs.
Best to feed them through a battery, however, as powercuts can cause them to melt the plastic cover. (They need a "cool down" period)

 

[Morris]

eBay, again.
Go for the 20A, (no less).
They need 12Aish at start-up. But Chinese power supplies are... Erm... "Optimistic" in their specs.
Best to feed them through a battery, however, as powercuts can cause them to melt the plastic cover. (They need a "cool down" period)

I've bought just one 20A one for now as a try out. In my workshop I'll probably use a battery.

 

[badabec]

I installed mine today, a comedy of errors. Drilling a 28mm hole through the brickwork, the bit snagged and spun the drill round, only stopped by my thumb and middle finger hitting the metal leg of the workbench. Much swearing, clearing of hole etc. Damn thing snagged again, this time caught just my thumb, but using it cack handed I'd depressed that button for constant running so I couldn't turn it off! I managed to free myself in the end.
For some reason I thought the tank held 10 litres, I shot in the 5 litres I had, only for it to flood everywhere.
Mopped up, tried a portable power-pack, started up OK then error code 1, not enough power. Rigged up a car battery, attempted to start, then error code 3, open or short circuit of the glow plug.

I'm hoping that is just the kerosene I poured everywhere.

I shall leave it for a couple of days to dry out then try again.

Yes, I do have a fire extinguisher handy and no, not powder.