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Cheapest diesel night heater on eBay test / review
- Thread starter Michael Montgomery
- Start date
Chris are you certain you’ve got no water coming into the cruiser? I say this because I had the exact problem for ages and it’s not obvious as the water lays in the cable channels just inside the door threshold. Lifting the carpet edge after removing the step plate mouldings exposed about half a litre on mine. Each side. The only thing that cured it was removal and refitting my windscreen with (don’t shoot!) sealant.
Rich, I was wading through bonnet deep water for several weeks, putting wet gear into the vehicle, driving through pouring rain and standing water and accidentally I left the roof tent door flap open one night so it's no surprise that I got water inside. It's no mystery. It's not a leaking screen. I sorted that 2 years ago. It's general dampness. My unit is on a farm where it's bitterly cold and blowing a constant gale. If it was summer, I'd leave the doors open on the drive for a couple of days and it would probably dry out completely. I really need something to drive the moisture out. It's not really the floor, it's everything in there that isn't plastic!
It’s funny I saw this only a day or so before this thread got posted. There is little difference really except the circuit board is open, the connectors are different, it probably has different controllers, maybe no diagnostics and things like the pump and motor are probably ok. There’s not an awful lot to them.
Ive got a planar heater made by autoterm in mine. Its a copy of the wobasto/eberspatcher and made in Russia. Its CE approved and comes with a 2 year warranty where as the eberspatcher comes with a 3. Mine was twice the price than the chinese ones on ebay but then half the price of a new wobasto/eberspatcher. I got mine from PF Jones. When i phoned them up i asked their advice and the chap said if i was him hed buy the planar unit as to date they hadnt had one back but the eberspatcher they get faults with regularly. Obviously this could have been sales talk as the mark up could have been bigger on the planar unit but thats what sold it to me.
If i compare mine to the wobastos that ive seen it obvious its not at the same quality ie the control uni, also the instructions on how to use it are crap and mainly in russian, though now i have got my head around it, i think its great.
I duct it up to the roof tent with a remote thermostat that you can get for them and it is blissful. Plus it keeps the condensation out the tent, if its been raining you can blast the tent for 20mins to dry it off before putting it away
If i compare mine to the wobastos that ive seen it obvious its not at the same quality ie the control uni, also the instructions on how to use it are crap and mainly in russian, though now i have got my head around it, i think its great.
I duct it up to the roof tent with a remote thermostat that you can get for them and it is blissful. Plus it keeps the condensation out the tent, if its been raining you can blast the tent for 20mins to dry it off before putting it away
I’m told pillow cases full of cat litter help soak up moisture. There’s also little bags you can regenerate on the microwave but it sounds like you need something more industrial than that.
How about making up a board that would fit where the gullwing is and fit one or more PC fans in there. You can get ultra low power ones for very little money which would run off the leisure battery for days. Crack the sun roof for airflow. A pillow case with cat litter in as a kind of pre filter on the air to try and dry it may help. Positioning extra PC fans inside to circulate the air to lower difficult spots may also help.
Alternately stick a dehumidifier in there and run it for a few days and have done.
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- Mar 11, 2014
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It says it's a Planar, but as it's from China.........looks like you can get a stand alone too.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=183526000967&_sacat=0
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=183526000967&_sacat=0
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- Jul 15, 2012
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- 2,178
There is a facebook dedicated to the cheap chinese heaters. Support there is really good. Glow plugs are sometimes an issue but people just replace them with an eber or webasto one (not sure which or if they are the same.) The most common fault on them seems to be fouling up with soot inside the exchanger if they are running them on low for a long period of time. This also seems to be a fairly easy fix with dismantling and just cleaning out. The fowling happens when they get a 5kw heater and stick it in a van and it's just heating up too much. 2kw seems to be more than enough for a cruiser or something like a T5. There hasn't been a single report of one catching fire ... only ones exhaust setting some very dry grass on fire in oz.
Quite a few are fitting them to boats as well which for me is probably the one area I wouldn't take a risk on anything lesser than the best available
There was one guy who was getting a CO reading inside but the cause of this is exactly what Chris described with the exhaust not being sealed correctly. To try and limit any possibility of any CO leakage from the system both the air intake for combustion and exhaust come from outside.
Loads more information in the group which keep in mind is just there mainly for problems so it can look like a lot of people are having them but in reality there are alot of them out there.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/146837062640024/
Quite a few are fitting them to boats as well which for me is probably the one area I wouldn't take a risk on anything lesser than the best available
There was one guy who was getting a CO reading inside but the cause of this is exactly what Chris described with the exhaust not being sealed correctly. To try and limit any possibility of any CO leakage from the system both the air intake for combustion and exhaust come from outside.
Loads more information in the group which keep in mind is just there mainly for problems so it can look like a lot of people are having them but in reality there are alot of them out there.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/146837062640024/
Some really interesting strip down vids out there. There really isn't anything to them at all. I might get one just to play with. It would certainly help to heat my unit. I went up there last year and the snow had been driven under the door. It was 4 feet deep inside!
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- Jul 15, 2012
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- 2,178
People are also modifying them to work with a GSM module so that could be an option. If they were mounted in a metal box I think there would be very little chance of them causing any damage.
Michael Montgomery
Well-Known Member
Just was wondering Chris how to best mount it and this would be ideal as a plug and play when needed rather than a permanent fixture. Thanks for sharing.
I like tht you could use it for the vehicle, roof tent, Oz Tent and even the awning with the sides on just to keep the chill off. It only needs 12v and 10 amps. You could use it to warm your car through in the winter before going to work too. All of those bits like the exhaust vent and longer hose are all available on e bay.
The only thing to bear in mind is to put them on an oversized power cord as they take a heavier current to start than to run. Voltage drop at this point is one of the Eberspacher’s achiles heals, as I found while reading up on mine.
Higgy
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This chap is a mate of mine,..SUB ZERO. Ian Smith. www.subzeroac.co.uk 07843 936155. Hes on face book under subzero automotive. He spends his days fitting them to boats down the marina.. and at night repairs the night heaters in Trucks for some company in London... Knows his stuff. He can get refurbed units etc.. but he will probably tell you not to bother with copy units... And hes always busy
