Diesel heater fuel line

[Bus'n it]

So I bought a 8kw heater and ran my own 3/16 Napa fuel line from the on board tank through a threaded in stand pipe to the heater which is about 18 feet away. In my reading they say not to use anything but the little nylon hose that comes with the kit. Despite that, both my rubber fuel line is 3/16 ID as is the nylon fuel line with the kit. I imagine it would take a year to get the fuel from the bus tank to the heater in the back. In doing my research I was trying to see if I could add a secondary lift pump to bring the fuel to the chinese piston pump but no luck in my searches. Anyone have any insight to this who has done it?

[cadillackid]

the initial prime will be the hardest part.. the issue wit ha lift pump is that little clicker pump is a dosing pump and the dose depends on there being zero positive pressure against it.. each click is a specific dose.. my heater isnt real far from my tank however I took the line off at the heater and use a little hand pump to prime it up.. squeezed off the line and then connected it.. its never lost prime since other than when I changed the filter and there was enough fuel around i just cycled the heater a couple times..



just dont run the heater out of fuel and you should only have to prime it once..



what i dont know is how much ability that little pump has to move the column of fuel thats 18 feet long.. the book should have limits but both my heaters came with i think 15 feet of that nylon line so 18 feet should be doable since its mostly horizontal..



i also found it is defimitely important to point the pump up vs having it lay flat.. it really made a difference in startup on mine

[Bus'n it]

I learned alot from YouTube University before installing anything except my automotive grade fuel line. They say to not use anything but the nylon fuel line that comes with the kit. Thats really more of my concern with priming being secondary. If I found a way to get a low volume prime pump, I would theoretically be able to keep my thicker well made fuel line in place. I could keep the hard line after the pump and to the heater which is about 1' away

[rossvtaylor]

Funny...Simon...I just responded to this question you posted in the FB groups without realizing it was you.

I think the hard nylon line is only important between the pump and the heater, where it's subject to the surge from each metered pulse and it's important that the tubing not expand during that pulse. At least I think I read that? Anyway, we've not had any issues installing these with regular fuel line on the suction side of the pump.

[Bus'n it]

Yep, thats me! My concern is the length of the run and what I am reading about the rubber fuel line being flexible even though it is the same ID

[Rwnielsen]

I bought a couple of these things and was planning on a check valve right before the pump. I have a few big plastic syringes (Amazon) for filling batteries and such and they would be perfect for drawing fuel up to the pump to get things started. I hadn't heard about using the plastic line until this thread. Simply amazed at just how much I don't know. Seems endless.

[Bus'n it]

I spent hours looking this thing up for installation tips and such. Seems the fuel flow is very tiny and you must use a very small diameter line like the one that comes with the kit. In the end, I found a longer length of plastic line made for a Webasto heater. $76 delivered next week. I haven't seen anything about adding a check valve. The consensus online is that the little ticker fuel pump is very weak as it is. I would hate to put something that makes its stress more. No info on adding a secondary lift pump or check valve.