Permanent diesel heater setup

Ok, I get older, joints move slower and painful in cold. Sleeping in single digit negative temps in unheated bed cap is possible, but requires too much effort. Efforts if you ask: stop drinking about 2 hours before going to bed, dehydrate, have 3 insulation layers on top of tote, 0F sleeping bag, wool blanket, possibly polyamide emergency blanket if it's very windy, 4 layers of warm clothes, balaclava, something on the face all night long. God forbid going out to pee at night. It's definitely doable, and I did it many times, but enough is enough. So here my Christmas gift: the cheapest Chinese diesel heater.



It had front controls screws positioned strategically against very thin fuel tank, no fuel filter and soft fuel lines. These have been fixed immediately. I may need to replace a noisy fuel pump, but it's not too bad. And it makes more sense to soundproof the sheet metal cover first.

First run was a success, it was able to prime the line on its own, and heated up to 360 F in a few minutes.


The idea is to install it semi-permanently in bed, by the secondary battery, and have it push button ready. I sleep in cabin lately, so noise will be greatly reduced.

The best location as it seems is close to the front of the bed, above the heat shield. Don't blame me, but I drilled a hole for exhaust pipe in perfect bed




Would need to rust-proof it later. The heat shield acts as a splash shield as well, so the moisture entering the bed shouldn't be a big issue.

Did a pilot run, with a 10 ft long flexible exhaust pipe.


And almost died of a diesel fumes stench. But it was warm Declare it a semi-success for now.

Lessons learned:

- flex exhaust hose sucks
- need to use 90 degree elbows
- all exhaust joints have to have some tailpipe putty
- exhaust heats up significantly, need to route it carefully around brake lines and electric cables
- which is impossible/impractical with flex hose
- so have to redo it using straight pipe and elbows
- fiberglass wrap does not provide enough insulation

Thinking whether I need to use a stainless steel pipe, or copper would do it. I can weld both.

Also it seems the exhaust must be venting waaay away from truck. I may fabricate a rigid exhaust pipe with exit in the vicinity of engine's tailpipe, with some sort of removable lid, so I could still offroad, and attach that 10 ft long flex pipe when camp spot is found.

 

Given how much heat that thing throws off, do you think I could heat a 30'x30' garage with one? The garage is insulated (including the door) and our lowest lows rarely hit single digits. Trying to find a simple, cost effective way to heat the garage and make it comfortable to work in there without needing a bunch of cold weather gear

 

How high is the ceiling?

My unit is 5KW. You can get a 8KW, it's about 50% more capable. And it still maybe a bit too low for your garage. But for the price you can get two and run them side by side on coldest day.

I think diesel heater is the cheapest way to run your garage. Wood stove my be cheaper, if you have an endless supply of wood, but push-button of diesel heater is hard to beat.

 

The garage has 10 foot high ceilings. I've heard a wood stove may not be a good idea if any flammable/combustible things are being worked with, and I plan for it to be mostly automotive and marine (boat) projects that I work on, with a bit of fabrication and welding involved too. So these diesel heaters seem the most logical route

 

Yes. Get a 12KW heater then and see if it will be enough.

 

I don't know all of the specs of that little diesel machine you got, but I just dumped my diesel/kerosene torpedo heater from the garage (24x24) because of the fumes and I have gone Mr. Buddy Heater's indoor rated option. Biggest issue was me not wanting to die in my garage and the Mr. Buddy is just straight up pimp and ranges from 4k btu to 18k btu and can run on the refillable portable propane tanks or off a single 20lb (for ~100hours on low). I'm sharing because it has the low oxygen shut off as part of it's indoor rating. Just want to make sure you're safe. They make small options that would be great for the bed of a truck.

This is the one I have for the garage: https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Mr-He...j1Xj8I-XA6DaQrmTCeoaAonLEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

They also make this little guy: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...ater-1082468?store=1965&gStoreCode=1965&gQT=1

 

Yeah, I've considered that, too. But:

- it does consume oxygen (diesel heater does not)
- can't get propane anywhere (diesel is sold anywhere)
- propane creates excess pressure by vaporizing in tank, which makes it a small bomb
- technically I can't drive to Boston Logan airport to pick my brother-in-law up for our Thanksgiving wilderness trip, because pressurized gases are forbidden in all the undersea tunnels we have

The most no go for me is that catalytic propane heater creates a lot of moisture. I myself create lot more moisture I want

But I hear you: battle with diesel fumes is going to be long as it seems. That's why I'm planning to build a rigid piping under bed, use muffler putty in every detachable joint, vent exhaust far away of truck, and place the truck upwind of exhaust.

 

Be sure to upsize the exhaust if your routing it that far back, I think 6’ is the max for the standard diameter. Also does your controller have 3 fan blades or 6? 3 has no options for altitude derating, 6 blades can be tuned for altitude

 

Human-free part of New England is pretty flat. Highest "mountain" is less than six pack to climb to. Quebec where I go annually (Route Du Nord, Trans-Taiga, Caniapiscau) is flat as well. It sounds crazy, but I wanted a heater in early August up north in Quebec

 

Also what did you replace the fuel line with? Soft stuff up to the pump is ok, but pump to heater you want small diameter nylon hose to help push air bubbles thru the line

$15 LIZAPUS White 4mm Fuel Pipe Hose Line Kit Replacement 89031118 Compatible with Webasto Eberspacher Heater

https://www.amazon.com/ALLMOST-Repl...61a-435d-93d4-7fe364d9aa56&pd_rd_i=B08PBN2HS3

 

A Mr. Buddy will pump out a TON of moisture (because that’s what propane does). A diesel heater will be a dry heat and will NOT produce poison gas…provided that the diesel heater’s exhaust is plumbed correctly. Since the OP bought a portable style diesel heater, i would have simply set the heater next to the truck and routed a heater duct into the canopy. No holes to drill, no worries about spilling diesel when refilling the plastic tank, no worries about exhaust, no worries about listening to a fuel pump, no listening to the fan kicking on and off. They also make a semi-permanent version of the same diesel heater that takes up roughly have the space. A 5k diesel heater is also WAAAAAY overkill for an uninsulated pickup truck canopy. It will get so warm inside the bed of the truck that the heater will have to be turned down way low….which will cause a bunch of carbon buildup on the heating element and will cause the unit to not operate. A 2k heater would have been a better choice for such a small enclosure. If the OP is fine with all of that, then that’s great. I’m just offering out this information for other potential diesel heater buyers who might not be ok with that.

 

I've got the same/similar kit.

 

All these things were considered, yes. I want it to be inside the canopy to protect from weather. It is often wet outside in the evening and freezes overnight. Myself is sleeping in the cabin, so the pump noise is greatly reduced already. Will also do a better noise cancelling. I've got a Y-splitter with throttles, so it would be possible to control how much heat goes into the sleeping space. I think I'll redo the fresh air intake, so it won't suck any fumes from the canopy if any get in.

At the end of the day I have no mental/physical energy left for any complex camp setup. Sometimes I even skip the dinner and go straight to bed, that's how tired I am after a day of clearing the path and winching out. If my setup ends up as a truly push-button, that would be awesome.

 

It won't die in 3-4 nights. I can run it full power for an hour to burn soot as well. Also it can be VERY cold in northern Maine. This is OP a few winters ago drinking his beer =)

 

Thank you all for your comments, I really appreciate it! Happy winter wheeling!

 

I have an all in one unit like yours, my biggest complaint is the fuel tank; doesn’t hold enough to run all night without a refill and it doesn’t seal well, so I always try to travel with it mostly empty and fill up once I get to the destination. I plan to make a pelican case build for it and use my 2 gallon gas can as the feed

 

Right, same observations: the built-in tank is too flimsy and small. I plan to feed from a 5 gallon jug.

 

you can buy a silent fuel pump , i have like 4 of these, its like 20 us on ali

 

It was a superlazy Christmas/NY break, I didn't do much with the truck or anything at all. What I learned is I have exhaust fumes in the bed. Either exhaust pipe is leaking through the joint that much (no exhaust cement/putty yet) or the heater exhales a bit of fumes through the intake. Do I need to vent this one out as well?

 

It seems like you’ve done your research. How about a link to the unit/manufacturer?
I’m curious about the adventure. What county and what is your activity? (Most folks are snowmobiling, skiing, ice fishing , drinking liquid beer, etc)

 

North Maine Woods, between Millinocket and Ashland. Offroading, hiking, hunting. Just being in the woods by myself is already good enough.

 

Normal you dont need to.vent it, but you really need to tight the exhaust. I run these on 70/30 diesel waste oil and love them . But i do need to clean them weekly

 

Ugh, missed the link request.

This is what I've got:

KYBOLT 5KW Portable Diesel Air Heater with LCD Monitor & Remote Control, 5L, for Vehicles RV Truck Boat Bus Motorhomes Caravans

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CJXN6D4M?th=1 A 5KW-tall one. Paid $79 less than month ago, it is $128 now Bought the cheapest one fully understanding it's a DIY parts kit basically, because all I needed is parts. You can get a better one.

 

The original ones comes from vevor

And you can buy all parts from aliexpress

 

You brake it down and open the burn chamber weekly?

 

The original one is Eberspacher. They made a mistake of moving their production out to China.

Vevor is just a virtual company that sticks their label to various sh-t.

Yes. $79 was the cheapest, with Amazon Prime luxury of returning any non-working crap back.

 

Hobby heater chat, count me in.
I have the Vevor bluetooth one, it was cheap and has well over 100hours without a hiccup.

 

That would be very inconvenient. I would prefer to run mine full blast for an hour or so. Also diesel is like twice cheaper in US than in EU, and we used to feed 5-7 liters engines

 

I’m on a heater FB group and waste oil is a big no no for these reasons. I’ve ran kerosene but that stuff is almost 3x more than diesel here.
Since I run mine in my uninsulated tents it’s usually at 60% or higher and my exhaust pipe is always clean as a whistle! This last trip I opened the tent to check on the kids and it was like a damn sauna inside so I had to turn it down! Hahah another trip I come in the tent and my kid is sprawling out on the cold tent floor, I’m like what’s up dude? ITS SOOO HOT IN HERE!!!!
Nice and toasty this past weekend

 

ARB awning room! I have one, too!