Posts tagged: freedom camping

Installing a Chinese diesel heater in your motorhome, van, or RV is a great way to keep warm in the winter. They’re efficient, provide a warm, dry heat, and are relatively easy to install yourself. I’ve got two diesel heaters installed. In this article I’ve put together my thoughts on the Chinese diesel heater.

Based off the Eberspächer and similar heaters originally, the Chinese ‘copy’ of this parking heater has become extremely popular. They cost a fraction of the price. People who own them can often be heard stating that they could buy a Chinese diesel heater and six spares for the cost of one Eberspächer heater. I’m not sure anyone has ever needed to though as the Chinese copy seems to be reliable if installed and operated correctly.

Cost of Chinese Diesel Heaters

The cost of these heaters has dropped dramatically over the last few years, and spare parts for them have increased in availability. My first Chinese diesel heater cost $650 second hand 5 years ago, and I’ve recently bought another one for $250 from Trade Me. They can be purchased direct from overseas for a similar, if not cheaper price.

My Diesel Heaters I’ve Installed

I’ve found the Chinese diesel heaters to be generally reliable and good. I have one in my van, one in my motorhome, and I’ve just purchased a second one so as to have two in the motorhome. I’ve done this as a back up, they’re cheap enough and while reliability seems good, you just don’t want it to break down on a cold night and have no heating. So I figured since they’re so cheap I’d throw a second one in.

The heaters I have are 5KW. The van, being small heats up in ten minutes. The motorhome at 9 metres is the perfect size for the 5KW heater, and often I only run it on it’s lowest setting. It’ll warm the entire motorhome up easily. Although I’ve never timed it, my estimate is that from 8 degrees inside the motorhome, it will be up to 20 degrees in 15 minutes. On a cold day outside it’ll keep you plenty warm enough.

How Many Amps Do Chinese Diesel Heaters Draw?

Chinese diesel heaters need power as well as diesel to run. They use the most power on start up while the glow plug does its thing. It’ll draw about 8 to 10 amps while it starts up – around 5 minutes or so. Once running, depending on your heating needs it’ll use roughly one amp an hour. Your existing power supply should be adequate to run the diesel heater. Running my diesel heater has very little impact on my power supply. It’s running off a couple of AGM batteries and 300W of solar. See more about my electrical set up here.

How Much Diesel Does a Chinese Diesel Heater Use?

Diesel use is minimal. The actual amount you use will depend on the heat setting. On a low setting you’re probably looking at around 0.2 of a litre per hour, and if you turn it up to a high setting you’ll be using closer to half a litre of diesel per hour. Realistically, diesel usage is not an issue – I find that I run my heater on it’s lowest or second lowest setting. So allowing 0.2 liters of diesel per hour I’m getting 5 hours of heating for a litre of diesel. Although diesel prices have gone up somewhat, it’s still pretty reasonable considering I wouldn’t have the heater going all day. Even on the lowest setting in the day time, it’ll get too warm inside with it constantly on.

Install a Carbon Monoxide Alarm

Diesel heaters exhaust fumes contain carbon monoxide which can kill quickly and silently. Although the exhaust exits outside the vehicle, I’d never install or use a diesel heater in a location without a good carbon monoxide alarm. I’ve got two in my motorhome. It’s just not worth the risk.

Can You Install a Chinese Diesel Heater Yourself?

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that it depends how handy you are at wielding a few tools. You’ll need to cut a hole in the floor of your vehicle, and wire up the electrics to the battery.

Depending on your vehicles floor you may need to cut or drill through wood or metal. My motorhome has a wooden floor and the van has a typical metal van floor.

You’ll need to carefully plan and consider where you’ll install the heater. It needs to sit upright. On the bottom of the heater is an air intake which the heater uses to bring in air from outside for the combustion process. Next to this is the exhaust outlet, and this again must be vented to the outside of your vehicle. The exhaust gets very hot! As does the outer casing of the heater. This really means you need to use common sense when installing. You’re dealing with something that if installed incorrectly, is dangerous. With that said, I’d say give it a go yourself. Plenty of people have installed them, there’s even Facebook groups dedicated to Chinese diesel heaters.

Diesel Heater Components

The diesel heater arrives neatly packed in a box with all the components you need. At first you’ll probably wonder if you’ll ever work out how to put it all together. For my first install, I had a pretty good idea of how it went together, but I decided to ask someone to confirm a couple of questions I had.

It’s a little bit like a jigsaw. Most components will only go in one place. For example in the picture below I’ve attached the air intake pipe (black) and put the round filter on the end. And the silver pipe is the exhaust with the muffler still in the bag. The silver pipe and black pipe are slightly different sizes. Therefore you can’t put them on the wrong part of the heater – they won’t fit – like a jigsaw. All this minus the clamps that are provided to tighten and hold it all firmly together.

The photo below shows the fuel pump and filter with the fuel line provided. If you haven’t yet bought your diesel heater, I’d recommend getting one that has this coloured fuel line. It’s what I’ve always got, and I’ve read in a number of places that it’s better than using the green fuel line that some of the Chinese diesel heaters come with.

The photo below shows the fuel filter and the fuel pump. Fuel flows from the tank, to the fuel filter, and then to the fuel pump. The fuel filter ideally should be facing the other way as any sediment in the fuel can then catch on the outside of the little mesh basket inside the filter as opposed to filling up the small mesh basket. There’s no arrow on the fuel filter, whereas the fuel pump has an arrow on it that shows the direction of fuel flow / install.

You can install your heater using the 10 litre plastic fuel tank supplied, or you can T off into the vehicles fuel supply if your vehicle is diesel powered. The photo below shows the supplied pipe to connect to a vehicles fuel tank. The connections along the fuel line are made using the supplied rubber hose which you cut to small sections, push the white pipe into, and clamp with the supplied fittings.

Install an Additional Power On/Off Switch

I recommend adding another power switch. When you connect the heater to your battery, with most of these heaters the LCD screen will stay on. I’d rather have control of what items are on in my van, RV, or motorhome, especially when it comes to a device that can give off carbon monoxide fumes and creates heat. Although generally very reliable and good heaters, I’ve walked into my motorhome and found the heater ON, albeit only the fan blowing cold air, but some fault has caused it to switch itself on. I’ve read of similar things on Chinese diesel heater Facebook groups.

Some people will suggest that you don’t add another power switch. Their reasoning is that someone may accidentally turn the heater off using this switch. Indeed, it’s important that the heater is not switched off by an external switch. The heater must be switched off using the off button on the controller provided. The heater then goes through it’s own cool down cycle. This must be allowed to happen. Once it’s done this, you can use your additional switch to completely cut power to the heater.

All things considered, I’d rather have control over when the heater has power supply to it. If you’re worried about someone ‘accidentally’ turning the heater off by your additional power switch, mount the switch in an out-of-the-way place.

Other Tips I’ve Learned Along My Diesel Heater Journey

Install the fuel tank outside rather than inside the vehicle. It makes it easier to fill up and it’s not going to make the vehicle smell of diesel if you inadvertently spill diesel while filling.

Make sure the fuel pump is installed on the correct angle. Check your instruction booklet that comes with it. Although perhaps a bit hard to follow, the pump needs to be installed on about a 45 degree angle.

There’s a correct way to install the muffler on the exhaust too. Have a close look and you’ll see a small hole on one edge. This is to let any moisture drain out of it. It needs to be installed so that moisture can drip out this hole.

You can draw in air from outside the vehicle, or recirculate the air inside the vehicle. I’d recommend recirculating the inside air. That way you’re not ‘heating up’ cold outside air. It also prevents drawing in outside air which may smell of diesel exhaust.

Point the exhaust away from your vehicle. You don’t want the exhaust smell hanging around or exhaust fumes with carbon monoxide building up under your vehicle.

Please note that none of the above is intended as a “how to guide”.

I’d recommend the Chinese diesel heater. For $250 NZD you can’t go wrong. Have a go at installing it yourself. Use common sense, talk to people who have installed them, there’s plenty of information on YouTube and Google, and join the Facebook groups.

So go ahead, get yourself one of these heaters and get out there over the winter months! Here’s a recommendation of one of my favorite places to stay – The Three Sisters, Tongaporutu!