What is a diesel heater

[samleeds]

I know that makes like Eberspacher and some chinese and russian models are flying around, but what are they and what do they do. Can someone answer me the following questions, as the lit on whats being said, only covers their costs and the like. I know they use diesel to heat the cab or van independent of any other source in the van, however....

1. Are they hard to instal and is there anyone that does it professionally.

2. Can they take their diesel from the vans diesel tank or do they need an independant supply tank.

3. Do they act as an engine warmer or just to heat the van.

4. Why do people instal them if they have a perfectly good trauma heater in their vans.

5. Are they advisable for a typical A/S van like an exec, boxer.

 

[Obanboy666]

I know that makes like Eberspacher and some chinese and russian models are flying around, but what are they and what do they do. Can someone answer me the following questions, as the lit on whats being said, only covers their costs and the like. I know they use diesel to heat the cab or van independent of any other source in the van, however....

1. Are they hard to instal and is there anyone that does it professionally.

2. Can they take their diesel from the vans diesel tank or do they need an independant supply tank.

3. Do they act as an engine warmer or just to heat the van.

4. Why do people instal them if they have a perfectly good trauma heater in their vans.

5. Are they advisable for a typical A/S van like an exec, boxer.

Going off the numerous threads on the forum something that goes wrong quite frequently :lol-049::lol-049::lol-049::lol-049:

 

[Fazerloz]

I know that makes like Eberspacher and some chinese and russian models are flying around, but what are they and what do they do. Can someone answer me the following questions, as the lit on whats being said, only covers their costs and the like. I know they use diesel to heat the cab or van independent of any other source in the van, however....

1. Are they hard to instal and is there anyone that does it professionally.

2. Can they take their diesel from the vans diesel tank or do they need an independant supply tank.

3. Do they act as an engine warmer or just to heat the van.

4. Why do people instal them if they have a perfectly good trauma heater in their vans.

5. Are they advisable for a typical A/S van like an exec, boxer.

1 No but that depends on the installers ability, most failures are down to bad installation, and Yes there are plenty of professional installers .

2 Yes

3 Most just heat the van but some can heat the engine as well.

4 Sometimes as backup and it give you options.

5 No reason why not its up to the individual.

 

[mark61]

I know that makes like Eberspacher and some chinese and russian models are flying around, but what are they and what do they do. Can someone answer me the following questions, as the lit on whats being said, only covers their costs and the like. I know they use diesel to heat the cab or van independent of any other source in the van, however....

1. Are they hard to instal and is there anyone that does it professionally.

2. Can they take their diesel from the vans diesel tank or do they need an independant supply tank.

3. Do they act as an engine warmer or just to heat the van.

4. Why do people instal them if they have a perfectly good trauma heater in their vans.

5. Are they advisable for a typical A/S van like an exec, boxer.

1. Depends on your DIY skills. Plenty of professionals around to fit them.
2. Yes, take fuel from main tank, but can be fitted to take from independant tank if you wanted.
3. Depends which model you choose. Some are just hot blowen air, others warm up coolant, which can pre warm up engine or be diverted to warm air in van. I find the hot air versions are better at warming up van, but thats all they do. The ones which heat coolant, can also be used to heat up water. They are a bigger drain on battery though, if used when parked up.
4. Don't know. I think most people choose between gas or diesel heating, could have both if you wanted though.
5. Can have them in any vehicle.

 

[carol]

One reason to choose a diesel heater over a gas one is if you have small gas bottles, as I have. I'd be loath to put my heating on, especially in places where LPG was hard to get.

 

[wildebus]

FROM OP:
I know that makes like Eberspacher and some chinese and russian models are flying around, but what are they and what do they do. Can someone answer me the following questions, as the lit on whats being said, only covers their costs and the like. I know they use diesel to heat the cab or van independent of any other source in the van, however....

1. Are they hard to instal and is there anyone that does it professionally.
Depends on your DIY/Mechanical Ability. Some people think nothing of rebuilding an engine and gearbox in their motorhomes. Others struggle with a fuse. Like most things, if you approach things logically and carefully, it is doable for many.
There are plenty of companies who install these commercially. I would reckon on paying around £400 to have a heater fully installed

2. Can they take their diesel from the vans diesel tank or do they need an independant supply tank.
Either. The easiest once running is to have the fuel tapped from the main fuel tank as don't have to worry about fillng a separate tank. There are benefits of a seperate tank though. You can use a cleaner fuel such as Kerosene or Paraffin, and you can buy use fuel without the road tax element (so on mine, I use Kerosone at under 60p/litre rather than Road Diesel at £1.40/litre). If you will be using your Camper/Motorhome over the colder months, the difference can add up quite significantly

3. Do they act as an engine warmer or just to heat the van.
Very Different. Most Aftermarket-Fit Diesel Heaters will be Air Heaters e.g. the Eberspacher Airtronic and are used purely as Space Heaters. Engine Pre-Heaters are usually fitted when the vehicle is built and is plumbed into the engines cooling system. Not saying you cannot do this aftermarket, but it is a very rare thing to do.

4. Why do people instal them if they have a perfectly good trauma heater in their vans.
I don't think that many do, TBH.

5. Are they advisable for a typical A/S van like an exec, boxer.
If you have an existing good heater in a quality van like a AutoSleeper, I can't see the point really.

 

[Dowel]

4. Why do people instal them if they have a perfectly good trauma heater in their vans.

Don’t know but

1. As Carol says above heating uses a lot of gas which could be a problem if your storage is limited.
2. Because it is no more expensive to fit a cheap diesel heater than to have refillable LPG tanks fitted.
3. Because there is not enough room to fit refillable LPG within the van or hung below the van.
4. Because diesel is universally available almost everywhere but LPG not so easy to find.
5. Because no adaptors required to fill when out of UK.
6. Because red diesel or paraffin is cheaper than Calor – as long as you have a separate tank for the heating fuel.
7. Because diesel or similar is safer than gas, AFAIK no regulations apply to fitting a diesel heater.

How much gas can your A/S Executive carry? In the process of weighing up pros and cons I looked at threads on gas usage. Four quotes below:

• A 6kg bottle lasted 3 days if using heat, fridge ,cooking. It is the heating that eats up the gas. In the summer when we did not need the heating they lasted for a lot longer.
• We always carry 2 x 13kg. A bottle lasts 30-35 days. Cooker, fridge run off it. The heating is diesel.
• We have 2 x 6kg propane bottles in the cubby. This winter, we've found that a 6kg bottle lasts about 5 or 6 days with cooking, heating, fridge and hot water... probably less if you have lots of showers though. We never have the heater on overnight but tend to leave the hot water on very low if the temp is due to drop well below freezing.
• We have 6kg bottle it kinda lasts 3 days in really cold conditions running hot water oven fridge and blown air heating would probs last longer in a coach built than the van conversion we have.

 

[jagmanx]

The responses from "Hairydog" and "carol"

Seem to me to be spot on.
Spend the money on an LPG re-fillable system and go with gas

 

[Nabsim]

Seem to me to be spot on.
Spend the money on an LPG re-fillable system and go with gas

Carol was pointing out go with diesel if you have small bottles???

I also know one member on here who gets through a 13kg gas battle in 3 days in winter because they can’t stand the cold. They do use lpg but that’s a lot of trips getting gas at VERY variable prices and only good if you are in a location where it is available.

Let’s not turn it into a which is best shall we, let’s just answer the questions asked

 

[molly 2]

Problem with gas is changing and refilling bottles and tanks , as with diesel you are unlikely ever to run out and you are never that far from fuel station ,both are great at heating a van, a refillable gas system saves a lot of money compared to calor .

 

[Borders2]

Flying a kite here as we won't know until the weekend what size of bottles our Burstner will take.

If a refillable system is fitted can conventional bottles still be used as where we intend mainly being does not have filling points that we know of.

B2

 

[molly 2]

Some very cheap planer diesel heaters on eBay .probably cheaper than a LPG set up , 6kg gas refill about £22 gasit refills about £7 ,some diesel heaters come with a separate tank. .l I think diesel wins on points .

 

[Borders2]

Thanks for that. We won't be going abroad as one of our dogs cannot be vaccinated due to a propensity to meningitis.

FillLPG.co.uk - Your LPG Filling station map I am pleasantly surprised at how many more points there are in Scotland than I expected. However I do wonder if they will dwindle as electric vehicles increase in numbers?

We may well investigate fitting a refillable system though.

B2

 

[wildebus]

Some very cheap planer diesel heaters on eBay .probably cheaper than a LPG set up , 6kg gas refill about £22 gasit refills about £7 ,some diesel heaters come with a separate tank. .l I think diesel wins on points .

just a little heads up .... the very cheap diesel heaters are almost certainly NOT Planar heaters, just like they are not Eberspacher or Webasto. The brand names are used in the descriptions so people doing a search will get a hit on those listings.

 

[Dowel]

It is much cheaper to fit refillable LPG bottles than to have a cheap diesel heater fitted. And then you get the convenience of cheaper gas that doesn't run out.

I have not sought actual quotations for supply and fix of refillable gas bottles but found these prices for GASIT kits on the web. I chose these example sizes because I believe they might fit the existing storage space in an A/S Executive:

GAS IT Twin 6kg Refillables & Fill Kit. 1.0M HOSE £299.00
GAS IT 6kg TWIN Bottle Kit - Body Remote Fill £320.00
come to our place in Bristol by appointment only and have your bottles fitted for £70, BS41 8JQ
Offers on Getgas and Gasit LPG refillable bottles - Best prices on Getgas and Gasit refillable lpg bottles bristol

The Gaslow web site showed this price but I could find no mention of installation:
Gaslow Twin 6kg Cylinder Refillable System £528.50

So if I bought a Chinese kit with all the parts promised for £135 I would almost certainly install it all myself. Even if I paid our local garage to do the bits that require a hoist, dropping the van’s diesel fuel tank to insert a pick up pipe, securing the intake and exhaust pipes, and fitting the metering pump, I cannot see the total being more than £250.

I think that works out as (£299+ £70) – £250 saving £119.

I am disappointed that nobody makes a scaled down and competitively priced diesel drip heater like the Danish Refleks stoves. I think the smallest/cheapest produces near 6kw and costs over £1000! Obviously it would need a proper flue but so do the Wallas boat heaters, £1350 for a 2kw one.

A gas installation that doesn't run out sounds wonderful, where do I buy it?

P.S. There is a cheaper Refleks, only 1.6 kw and a bargain price of £741 :lol-049:

 

[Borders2]

Woke up with this query in my mnd.

Is the LPG as "potent" for lack of a better word, as Propane? Thinking of Winter usage.

B2

 

[kenj]

diesel heater

I have one runs on diesel parafin petrol I filled up with red diesel a lot cheaper got some funny looks as folk thought it was my engine tank. only problem its a very slow filler gets the van warm quick been told you have to watch them in dry weather incase it burns the grass?

 

[Channa]

Woke up with this query in my mnd.

Is the LPG as "potent" for lack of a better word, as Propane? Thinking of Winter usage.

B2

Propane is LPG as is Butane

The practical difference is that propane is better in cold conditions than butane the latter struggles to vapourise at 4 degrees is hence often called a summer gas

Regulator pressure is the same 30 mbar and both us the same jetting (unless you have an old Hymer)

I could rattle on about calorific values and technical parts but the practical side is really the weather conditions as mentioned flame temperature is about 15 degrees difference between the two when folk say one burns hotter better than the other and the temp is close to 2000 degrees so not worth worrying about in my opinion

Used heaters can be bought of e bay scrap yards etc and certainly work out cheaper as an initial cost compared to eberspachers they are not particularly difficult to fit but best left to a LPG engineer who should be up to speed with the regulations and can help with insurance companies queirng the competence of any adaptations

Channa

 

[Thebroons]

Trying to find a garage with working lpg pump in Scotland especially the further North you go is a lottery.

There is a company in Central Scotland who sell a 4kw diesel heater from £299 fitted and offer mobile fitting to certain postcodes.

ACLS Retail - Motorhome : Marine