Super-Cheap Diesel Heater for Home Use?

[jshell]

I think that there'll be many people trying to beat the energy price hikes by adapting all sorts of stuff to a domestic application. This use of cheap, Chinese built diesel run heaters appears to be a carbon monoxide disaster waiting to happen. The warm air doeasn't pass through the burner, but if there's a leak then I'd suggest some sleepy residents!!

[emicen]

I had been considering knocking something similar up for my garage recently but didn’t fancy boring a hole in the wall.

There’s a lot of (scaffy) self build campers running the Chinese diesel units without any reported issues.

[Evoluzione]

You would smell the diesel fumes and your eyes start watering first.
Also on YT was one entitled something like 'How much fuel does a Chinese diesel heater use?!' I never watched it, but maybe worth a look.
I also keep seeing these ads for a miracle heater, the size of your hand which plugs directly into a socket and heats a whole room for 1p a day or something.

[un1eash]

Looks like what my friend fitted to his T5 camper van conversion.

[troika]

Yep, it’s what’s fitted to campers, HGV’s etc. Could be an interesting conversation with the house insurer in the event of a problem…

[OutInTheShed]

Hundreds of those in campers and boats.
The Chinese actually use these things themselves, so they work.

A CO alarm would be sensible, that's true of woodburners etc too!

[MuscleSedan]

Chap in video reckons 10 Litres lasts 70 hours on low , sounds like a cost effective way to get some warmth especially for garages, workshops etc.

[OutInTheShed]

MuscleSedan said:

Chap in video reckons 10 Litres lasts 70 hours on low , sounds like a cost effective way to get some warmth especially for garages, workshops etc.

Diesel is about 10kWh per litre?
So a 5 kW heater is about 1/2 litre per hour on full chat.

Current prices about 17p/kWh. Bit less if you have a good source of Red, or maybe on paraffin.

They also use a fair bit pf 12V current particularly at start up/ignition.

[cptsideways]

Any Man cave is incomplete without one!

[s p a c e m a n]

Use chip fat to fuel it

[dhutch]

Surely this is going to chew as much diesel as a oil boiler would heating oil for a given amount of energy, Where does the cost saving come from?

[dhutch]

emicen said:

There’s a lot of self build campers running the Chinese diesel units without any reported issues.

OutInTheShed said:

Hundreds of those in campers and boats.
The Chinese actually use these things themselves, so they work.

A CO alarm would be sensible, that's true of woodburners etc too!

They are Eberspacher Airtronic copies, its very reliable well proven concept, and the copies are not bad.

I know several people with them, and some with genuine Eberspacher units, also people who have repaired Ebers with cloned parts. They do work, the do fail too, but so does everthing.

I guess a CO alarm wouldnt go a miss with a gas or oil boiler too.

[AJLintern]

I bought one of these heaters before Christmas and have been putting it together (it's the version with all the parts separate rather than in a unit). I bought a metal cabinet from Argos and I'm intending to run it outside with the air ducting going into the garage through a suitable aperture. Yes already use CO monitors because of existing fireplaces etc.

Testing it before final assembly:



Puts out some decent heat Will report back when properly set up...

[-Cappo-]

I know someone who bought and installed one a couple of months ago, and the one which he bought is now double the price.

Supposedly pretty effective though, and as mentioned above, lots of people using them in campers/motorhomes/man caves.

[tight fart]

s p a c e m a n said:

Use chip fat to fuel it

Or old engine oil.

[dhutch]

For a large garage I can see it.

Maybe combined with running it on suitably filtered waste engine oil which I have heard can work ok.

But for a house, surely even red diesel costs more than heating oil, which is a more expensive heating option than mains gas.

[swanny71]

Have had one in the garage for a couple of years and it works well.

I bought the kit of parts version so I could mount components like tank and pump separately and run ducting as required. CO sensor in the garage, exhaust pipe fully lagged, fuel pipe clamps upgraded and installed on fire resistant materials.

Use red diesel or heating oil, so cheap enough to run.

Wouldn’t ever use one to heat the house though and I seriously doubt the running costs/room temps claimed in the video posted above.

Edited to add a pic of mine.
Mounted to outside of some in-built shelving, cement board backed and tank/pump/cables behind it.

Edited by swanny71 on Thursday 5th January 13:34

Edited by swanny71 on Thursday 5th January 13:37

[Flooble]

I can't help but wonder if you were going to do this why you wouldn't go the whole hog and have a diesel/petrol generator with a heat exchanger in the exhaust passing through your central heating/hot water tank.

Burn the petrol to power your home instead of paying 35p/kWh for the electricity and use the "waste" heat to heat your home instead of paying 10p/kWh for gas.

Not entirely sure how much heat you can extract from the exhaust before bad things happen to it though.

[dhutch]

Flooble said:

I can't help but wonder if you were going to do this why you wouldn't go the whole hog and have a diesel/petrol generator with a heat exchanger in the exhaust passing through your central heating/hot water tank.

Burn the petrol to power your home instead of paying 35p/kWh for the electricity and use the "waste" heat to heat your home instead of paying 10p/kWh for gas.

Not entirely sure how much heat you can extract from the exhaust before bad things happen to it though.

Little one house CHP system!

[OutInTheShed]

dhutch said:

Flooble said:

I can't help but wonder if you were going to do this why you wouldn't go the whole hog and have a diesel/petrol generator with a heat exchanger in the exhaust passing through your central heating/hot water tank.

Burn the petrol to power your home instead of paying 35p/kWh for the electricity and use the "waste" heat to heat your home instead of paying 10p/kWh for gas.

Not entirely sure how much heat you can extract from the exhaust before bad things happen to it though.

Little one house CHP system!

It has been considered.

The price of mains gas and electricity is now relatively high compared to other fuels.