Diesel heater hell

TheLilypadBus · August 31, 2020, 01:58:12 PM

Ok so recently bought this https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07ZZ46LP8/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It worked a few hours last night. As of 5 am this morning it does NOTHING but blow smoke. If it ignites it shuts back off within 5 minutes. There is so much damn smoke.

I'm about to lose my ever loving mind. Is ANYONE can help that would be great.

sandra@BCM · August 31, 2020, 02:39:27 PM

I know nothing about this topic, but I feel for your frustration.

I found this on the Skoolie.net forum.
https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f51/white-smoke-from-diesel-heater-18571.html

and I found this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wrfEuQKBIM

I think the video has your answer.

thomasinnv · August 31, 2020, 04:03:15 PM

Check your battery state of charge. Diesel fired heaters are very picky about low voltage, it must have adequate airflow from the combustion air fan and proper rpm on the fuel pump to achieve proper fuel atomization for a proper burn.

chessie4905 · August 31, 2020, 04:09:07 PM

Make sure the glow plug is working. Maybe burned out. I'm assuming the smoke is light grey or white- unburned fuel; not igniting.

TheLilypadBus · August 31, 2020, 05:41:24 PM

Thank you everyone. I read that post on skoolie.net. I cannot imagine after less than a few hours it's all gunked up. Will look though.

I had plenty of battery life and still do yes it's white smoke. The heater went ignite so unburned fuel is a good guess lol I'll look out the glow plugs but again it's been installed less than 24 hours. How the heck parts can just be dying is beyond me.

I'm so freaking irritated and it's cold AF here lol I truly appreciate everyone chiming in. 🤞 We can get it working before I freeze to death or die of carbon monoxide poisoning.

richard5933 · August 31, 2020, 05:50:42 PM

Quote from: TheLilypadBus on August 31, 2020, 05:41:24 PM
...How the heck parts can just be dying is beyond me....

How much did this unit cost compared to the high-quality ones from Webasto or Espar? Not being critical of your choice to go with this unit, just bringing the reality of the situation. The costs have to be cut somewhere to sell units as cheaply as they do, and my guess is the result is lower quality and far less QC.

My experience has been that knock-offs like this can be hit & miss. Sometimes you get a great unit and sometimes nothing but problems.

Hopefully you can isolate the problem part(s) and get things working again.

TheLilypadBus · August 31, 2020, 05:57:27 PM

Yes it's a knock off. Like the hundreds of others that people have. But what I paid for it won't help diagnose the issue so it's a non point. Even if it needs replacement parts so soon, talking about price points doesn't pin point what I need to replace to get it to work. IDK if I mentioned but in beyond losing my $#!% over this right now. So while you may not have meant anything, it's really not helpful to point out the not paying thousands is the problem.

richard5933 · August 31, 2020, 06:05:17 PM

Quote from: TheLilypadBus on August 31, 2020, 05:57:27 PM
Yes it's a knock off. Like the hundreds of others that people have. But what I paid for it won't help diagnose the issue so it's a non point. Even if it needs replacement parts so soon, talking about price points doesn't pin point what I need to replace to get it to work. IDK if I mentioned but in beyond losing my $#!% over this right now. So while you may not have meant anything, it's really not helpful to point out the not paying thousands is the problem.

I was trying to answer your question about the parts just dying, and was not trying to create any additional heartache. I also wasn't trying to say that not paying big bucks is the problem. Apologies if it came across that way.

My experience is that parts on this type of thing can just die randomly, and it's sometimes necessary to go part by part and make sure that all the bits and pieces are still doing their jobs. A methodical inspection of everything tip to tail might uncover a loose connection, air leak in a fuel line, or any other number of things that can and do just fail.

luvrbus · August 31, 2020, 06:32:53 PM

Pull the nozzle and clean it you may have gotten trash in the fuel line when doing the install,all diesel fired units have to have the correct fuel pressure and spray or they smoke like hell.I have never worked on those heaters but have friends that have replaced those before.I had a problem with my AquaHot smoking last week and the RV dealer checked the fuel pressure it was 100 psi and fed me a line of BS it needed 600 bucks worth of parts,I called Rich and he said change the fuel filter and that was the problem 7 bucks not 600 bucks

chessie4905 · August 31, 2020, 07:00:52 PM

He said tremendous amount white smoke. Sounds like not igniting. Maybe a loose connection if you are lucky. Richard, it had a lot of good reviews on Amazon. They have a good return policy if you can't get it sorted out.

luvrbus · August 31, 2020, 07:05:19 PM

Quote from: chessie4905 on August 31, 2020, 07:00:52 PM
He said tremendous amount white smoke. Sounds like not igniting. Maybe a loose connection if you are lucky. Richard, it had a lot of good reviews on Amazon. They have a good return policy if you can't get it sorted out.

It is not going to smoke unless it is trying to fire

Iceni John · August 31, 2020, 09:41:26 PM

Have you joined the Chinese Diesel Air Heaters group on Facebook? There's a lot of expertise and real-world experience there with diagnosing and fixing those heaters' woes, especially from Australia and Britain where they're very popular and common. Is it showing a code? Is the fuel pump oriented correctly (about 30 degrees up)? Is the glowplug working? There's a LOT of YouTube videos on those heaters, so there's no shortage of info if you can dig around for it.

I recently bought two of the Warmtoo "8kW" (actually 5kW) aluminum-case heaters, one for the bedroom and one spare or maybe eventually for the front of the bus. Considering they're cheap enough that you can always have a spare on hand and rotate them to always have one ready for immediate service, I'm prepared to put up with their foibles, especially for a seventh of the price of a real Eberspaecher / Espar.

John

luvrbus · September 01, 2020, 05:06:59 AM

You can buy those cheaper that you can have a Webasto serviced ,I have friend that uses those to heat his bays when he is in cold country

pabusnut · September 03, 2020, 09:06:45 PM

I looked into them too as many of the step van and skoolie folks are using them successfully. I have read that it is advisable to buy them in pairs so you have an identical one for spare parts.
I have two old military heaters that are probably better manufactured that I have not yet installed, but they are not identical.

Wish I could be of more help. Buying two more new units may be cheaper than even getting the right parts for the one you have.

jap42 · September 04, 2020, 05:05:35 PM

Hey Lillypad, It sounds like you need to just slow down and work through the diagnostics. A couple people have given you some really good tips but we are not there seeing your trouble.

Post a video of whats happening and take the think apart and learn how it works. They are pretty simple.