Diesel heater in my garage

[dern]

I was thinking about getting some heat in my new (to me) garage as it's big enough that I have space to work on whatever the current project is without wheeling everything else outside as I used to have to do. I saw this diesel heater on amazon at £67 and figured that it's worth a try. I did end up buying a 12v power supply as I didn't want to be messing around with batteries. I have some tidying to do on the wiring... I'll never actually do it but it needs doing.

The thing run on pump diesel but because it's a heater you can buy red diesel if you can get it. There's a garage nearby that sells it at 99p which I don't know if that's a good price but it's cheaper than standard diesel. It says it'll use half a litre per hour but we'll see. Given the garage isn't particularly well sealed or insulated it doesn't get 'house warm' but it does take the edge off on a cold day. You can also aim the output in the area you're working in and it feels warmer than it otherwise would.

I don't know if it's cheaper than an electric heater although I imagine that it would be. It's way smaller than a propane heater and there's no water vapour being kicked out.

I suspect that it would be pretty good to blow hot air over wet bike clothes.

You can even turn it on from the house with the remote.

heater.jpg (1.2 MiB) Viewed 1881 times

[Eclipse]

that looks great and you will never go back to electric once you have had on of them.
I have one in my Livingroom hooked up to a 22ltr tank and another in my workshop.
They are much cheaper to run than electric heaters because there is no warm up time
and they output much more heat so don't need to have them on so long.

[dern]

I've just found out that they can run on kerosene of which I have 500l in the garden as heating oil. That's much cheaper than diesel... result.

[demographic]

Not sure if thats fully setup in that picture but aren't you supposed to have the corrugated silver exhaust pipe pointing outside?

[Felix]

As heat rises would that not struggle to heat lower down. I would have thought lower to the floor for the heat outlet would be better. BTW you can get splitters to have two outlets or more. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/167010476795 ... R-7fm8fwZA

[Felix]

Not sure if thats fully setup in that picture but aren't you supposed to have the corrugated silver exhaust pipe pointing outside?

Looks like a hole in the wall.

[dern]

The exhaust goes through the wall.

[demographic]

The exhaust goes through the wall.

Ahh, sorry I couldn't really tell from the pic. Thought it was just hanging down and I'd far rather look a bit daft and someone not be dead from asphyxiation than the other way round.

I've keept an eye on these copy Ebespack... Eberspach...diesel van heater things for a while now and they look pretty good.
I was actually talking to a bloke down the road about em the other day for his campervan instead of a tiny fireplace.

[dern]

It’s effective but I’m not sure I’d want one in my van. I’ve often thought about it so we can use it in the winter but it’s pretty noisy. I’ve heard people talk about the fuel pump clicking but it can’t be heard over the noise of the fan. The exhaust isn’t as loud either and that’s outside. You certainly couldn’t sleep with it in. Maybe it runs more slowly and quietly once the space gets up to temperature.

[David]

After fitting a webasto heater in the boat (heating water for the ch), the yard owner came over and complained he could hear it at the far end of the marina. I had to add a silencer.

[Felix]

It’s effective but I’m not sure I’d want one in my van. I’ve often thought about it so we can use it in the winter but it’s pretty noisy. I’ve heard people talk about the fuel pump clicking but it can’t be heard over the noise of the fan. The exhaust isn’t as loud either and that’s outside. You certainly couldn’t sleep with it in. Maybe it runs more slowly and quietly once the space gets up to temperature.

I put the 2kw one in my van. When up to temp the fan just purrs what you dont notice after a while. You can listen to music easily enough. I tapped mine into the van fuel tank and left the pump under attached to the chassis and you cant hear it. I must admit i would not sleep with it on but that is more me not wanting anything gas/fuel related running as i sleep but i think i could easily nod off with it on.

[Druid]

I have a 5kw model in my camper, mounted under ther passenger seat. It's plumbed into the fuel tank withj the inlet and exhaust and fuel pump under the van. It's noisy until it gets up to temp then it's pretty much quiet apart from the ticking of the fuel pump. Rubber mounting the pump helps to quieten it down. We have slept with it running through the night - February in Scotland it's take your chances with the heater or freeze to death

It needs an occasional run at full power to burn off the carbon deposits in the combustion chamber.

[Eclipse]

My brother was a full time vanlifer and had one of these in his transit and used to run it all night long every night during the winter, for about 3 years we had lots of problems with it mainly self induced so I have become a kind of semi expert, I have loads of spares for them and mine is on right now ticking in the background in my living room.

Start up procedure takes about 5 mins and during this time the pump will run more quickly and the fan rpm will be faster abut after it settles down
to a noise not much different from a fan heater with a ticking sound, there is a shut down procedure to which lasts about 2 mins.
(above info is for those that have never used one)

Most of the cheap CDH (Chinese diesel heater) come with a basic controller which lets you start stop, increase and decrease the output, there are a few different controller/motherboards out and some cost more than the heater. I use a cheap controller and motherboard combo which lets me adjust the speed of the pump and fan so I can dial it down as it's too hot for my living room.

Below are a couple of YT channels that have loads of videos about these heaters so worth looking through their list.
https://www.youtube.com/@loweredexpectations4927/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@DavidMcLuckie/videos

Here is a video from one of the above channels showcasing a silent pump

[1913]

Check out exhaust heat reclamation.

I have seen the exhaust run through an old wall mounted radiator and also a sand filled version.

[dern]

I’ve been using this for about a month and while I’m glad I installed it, it isn’t going to heat a medium size garage. It does take the edge off and if you point it at the area you’re working in then it makes working in the garage a lot more pleasant. If you want it to actually warm the room up then work will need to be done to insulate and draft proof the place. Over an hour I can raise the garage from about 2 or 3 to about 7 which sounds lousy but standing in the flow is way better.

[Skub]

That's similar to my garage. I've a double radiator connected to the oil fired central heating and it only lifts the inside temperature 3 or 4 degrees over outside. I plan to put in a ceiling with insulation in the better weather,hopefully make the garage a more pleasant place to be next Winter. Currently,I really don't want to be out there long.

Insulation is the key,otherwise it's just wasted heat.

[weeksy]

Over that last 5 days I've had to do shifts, 45 mins here, 30 mins there, tick off a job, then inside for coffee, then the next job.
Today was still cold even though the temp outside was up, but was ok to work in. Well, apart from re-condensation every time I had to open the door lol.

[Felix]

I have a friend with one of these heaters in a double garage. Double up and over door what is not used but only tape used to stop draughts. Single entry door at the back. Garage is his carpentry workshop and swears by the heater. He does have a 8kw one if that helps and it is at floor level.

[Dixiethedog]

I run two diesel heaters. The mistake I made was when fitting one of them was to clear a space on a worktop and plonk a heater on to it. I drilled the wall for the exhaust, wired it up and away it went. Height wise it is probably about the same height as a kitchen unit worktop. But as it has been said, heat rises so I am going to remodel things and try to get the heater on the floor. Hopefully allowing the full benefit of the heater. The 2nd heater is in my spray booth shed. This is 100% draft free, fully insulated and heats up in minutes. If anything it can be too hot!