Skotl's diesel heater garage install thread

[not done it yet]

No, Tom, the minimum may well be too much when it gets up to temp - my workshop is very well insulated. I most certainly don’t need 5kW, to warm my workshop quite quickly.

It appears that the current minimum fuel setting is somewhat in excess of the advertised value. I need to see if the controller can be turned down to its specified value (it is presently as much as 45% in excess of its advertised minimum - if the pump is the standard 22ml/1000 strokes).

 

[Jan-DIY]

It is running.
Need to call the big boy to hammer these wall.

 

[skotl]

Stage 3. Having moved the fuel tank I've fitted a tap and also given the fuel line some protection as it crosses the back wall, as I normally stand medium-lengths of wood and metal against that wall.

^^^ going to put some rubber sealant in there to centre the fuel line so it's not touching the edge of the pipe.


...or disconnect from the tap and fit the rubber grommet I forgot to fit at that end... VVV

 

[blackolive (Ste)]

I'm looking at putting underfloor heating in my yet to be built small workshop, I'm thinking of using a Webasto Thermo Top V, mounted outside in it's own enclosure. I can tweak the temperature parameters with the Webasto software, so the output drops to the 2.5kW output with an external input from a thermostat, has anyone any experience of running these for hours on end? typically they only operate in vehicles for up to 60 minutes.

Dont know if anyone replied but they run for 30 minutes then shut down. Id sold one to a boatyard chap and when I delivered it we had a good natter about them . I asked him how they get around this issue on the bosts and he said they use either the webasto timer or the 7day chinese timers (link below) and set a number of on/off periods per day

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Ubique]

Cheers for that, you can programme the timer for a max. of 60 mins. or use a 'K bus' controller which is how they are controlled on the vehicle, which has no max, run time.

 

[blackolive (Ste)]

Cheers for that, you can programme the timer for a max. of 60 mins. or use a 'K bus' controller which is how they are controlled on the vehicle, which has no max, run time.

Ah right, every day is a school day

 

[Ubique]

Ah right, every day is a school day

TBH, if they're fitting them on boats, I would've thought they would know that. You can get Webasto standalone ones but I plan to use a microPC with a pair of USB thermistors and the Webasto software to make it think it's fitted to a vehicle and run as required, I may well add a remote interface for a pre-heat - but only because i have a 'spare' kit kicking around .
The PC will be able to do 'normal' stuff as well so it won't be wasted just running a heater!

 

[not done it yet]

thermistors

I note both yourself and m_c speak of thermistors for temperature control. I would expect these transducers to be thermocouples, not thermistors, but have not checked myself. Are you confident they are thermistors?

 

[m_c]

I note both yourself and m_c speak of thermistors for temperature control. I would expect these transducers to be thermocouples, not thermistors, but have not checked myself. Are you confident they are thermistors?

Why would you use a sensor that covers a relatively huge temperature range and have to base readings on millivolt differences for the useable range you need, when you can use a sensor that provides several k-ohm variation over the range you need?

 

[not done it yet]

I take it you are confident, in light of your response? It was just that thermocouple response is very predictable over the ranges measured. Thanks for your confirmation.

 

[Newlands]

I‘ve run mine for about four hours total so far over the last week or so. A bit of a whiff of diesel this morning, so I took the cover off to find that fuel had been leaking out of the tank supply fitting. Emptied the tank and mopped up the mess and discovered the fitting was hardly even hand tight.
While I had the cover off I re-routed the fuel line and fitted a grommet where it passes through a razor sharp hole in the tin work. Refitted the cover to find that half the self-tappers had been overtightened and had stripped their threads.
These things really are built down to a price.

 

[Nomad]

I fitted one of these diesel heaters for a friend a couple of months to heat the kitchen of their stone built cottage just above Yorkshire (lovely place but cold and bleak in winter), it's installed in the back porch and ducting takes the heated air into the house.

Message from her today "It's a game changer - has been running almost continuous for 2 months, used very little fuel, the kitchen is now the heart of the house and the pets are a lot happier". Impressive results for something costing under £100

 

[Newlands]

And a quick update - after fitting the cover I connected up the power supply, or tried to, as the negative terminal fell apart - more fixings that were only hand tight. Cover off yet again, and I now have to find some decent self-tappers as all but two have stripped now. But at least it doesn’t leak diesel anymore. I’m tempted to change the power supply cables, as the ones supplied look a bit thin to me.

 

[the snooper]

Have you had this running yet ? Does it heat the garage or is it too small ?

 

[skotl]

Have you had this running yet ? Does it heat the garage or is it too small ?

I have! Just haven't had time to complete this build thread. I was massively surprised that it a) didn't leak diesel all over the floor and b) fired up first time

More info and pics shortly...

 

[bayzoo]

I have! Just haven't had time to complete this build thread. I was massively surprised that it a) didn't leak diesel all over the floor and b) fired up first time

More info and pics shortly...

Just noticed this thread, I need to come and see this!

 

[skotl]

As premiered above, it's in and it works!

Youtube video below but here's a couple of pics and some thoughts...

First off, these are great value for money. They are fiddly, and the instructions leave something to be desired (although I got a better than usual set of instructions, available over here)
It's early days but so far it's working extremely well. My garage is well insulated but (smiley face) has plenty ventilation gaps deliberately set out and (frowny face) has a bog-standard metal up-and-over door.
That said, an unscientific test in 2 degrees C external weather earlier in the week raised the garage temperature from 4C to 13C in around half an hour.

The whole diesel pipe fitting scared the crap out of me (but then anything to do with plumbing scares me) so I did buy jubilee clips rather than relying on the pinch clips that came with the kit.

Building a harness was essential, IMO. This allowed me to figure out how the inlet and exhaust hoses would work, where the fuel pipe would route and how I would fit the power supply, fuel filter and full pump.
As an added bonus, I went with 8mm steel dowel to fix it in place rather than screws or bolts so that I could easily fit and remove it. The video has a bit more info on that.

I have wired it directly to the mains (via a power supply, of course) and didn't use the apparently-recommended route of using a car battery to provide an "uninterruptible power supply". I can see why this could be beneficial but the additional mess and complexity of managing a lead acid battery (or similar) and its charging seemed over the top for my use case. I'll be in the garage when I turn the heater on and will nurse it through its shutdown process. In the unlikely event that the power is cut during this process then my worst case is spending £100 on replacing the heater unit, but I personally (your mileage may vary!) have never been in a situation where this seems likely.

All in all, I think these are great buys but the installation definitely tests your metal in terms of fabrication, heat management, electrics, and combustible fuel storage & routing. I'm glad I did it and, in hindsight, would be far more comfortable if I had to attempt it for a second time.

I can get more pics if people are interested, especially of the harness, but I hope the video helps anyone else thinking of installing one of these.

 

[Lewis_RX8]

This is mine installed in the top corner of the garage

Just a piccy I found in camera roll will get a better photo of the charging and fuel tank system tomorrow if I remember lol

 

[skotl]

This is mine installed in the top corner of the garage

View attachment 327940

Just a piccy I found in camera roll will get a better photo of the charging and fuel tank system tomorrow if I remember lol

Oooohhhh..... carbon fibre - fancy

 

[500e]

Nobody tried the big 100/150 and venting exaust into that a Lot of feat goes out of exhaust, it does work