The Diesel heater thread

[brokedown]

My first video on the diesel air heaters. Hope this helps anyone who is on the fence!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK1K...ature=youtu.be

[2kool4skool]

Having used a Planar diesel and Suburban propane. 2 things that put our Suburban over the diesel are the programmable thermostat and high altitude operation.

The thermostat is set to 5am and waking to a warm bus is so nice. The Planar can be throttled down to keep the bus warm but then of course it runs all night and at 7200 ft (our fav docking area) it carbons up quickly.


" The Afterburner only works with compatible digitally controlled Chinese Diesel heater"

[brokedown]

If you get the control module I show in the video, you have a thermostat (in celcius) with basic timer functions. For more advanced configuration, there's a third party control board called the Afterburner that is fully programmable and open source.

I don't use the timer myself, I prefer to be warm through the night

[firebuild]

[QUOTE=brokedown;360154]My first video on the diesel air heaters. Hope this helps anyone who is on the fence!


Nice video!

[TheArgobus]

Originally Posted by brokedown

My 5kw unit hides behind my sofa and is more than capable of heating my bus.

Right now I run it from my fuel tank using a very fancy custom filler cap. On a freezing night we used around a gallon of fuel keeping it around 78 degrees inside. I had to tweak the minimum setting, it puts out quite a bit of heat at it's idle level.

Review video coming soon.Attachment 31458Attachment 31459

Can you go into more detail about how you created that fuel tank cap? I'm thinking I might modify my diesel tank cap (the only one I have, on the outside) to add a hose like you have that goes into the tank maybe 3/4 the way down. Then add some sort of quick disconnect on the outside of the cap so that I can disconnect the hose when unscrewing the cap; then the other side of the disconnect would just go to the fuel pump and then the heater.


I'm trying to avoid adding a separate fuel tank for the heater, while also avoiding cutting into my bus's fuel tank. But if I can just modify my bus's fuel tank cap, that would be gold.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by TheArgobus

I'm trying to avoid adding a separate fuel tank for the heater, while also avoiding cutting into my bus's fuel tank. But if I can just modify my bus's fuel tank cap, that would be gold.

Full size skoolie? If you bus/tank is anything like most I've seen, there's a hole in the floor to access the tank from above. My tank has a few bungs in it that are capped. I pulled one of them and bought a replacement. Only because the hex head in the OEM wouldn't leave as much material as I liked. Anywho, drilled and tapped the new plug and ran the fuel hose thru it. At first I was trying to use adapters to go from one thread to the other. NPT to standard to metric. Ok , never mind. Have drill, will tap. MUCH EASIER.

[TheArgobus]

Unfortunately for me, it’s an E350 and I’ve already installed the floor over the tank.

But now I’m wonder if maybe it would be okay to burn down my tank to, let’s say, 1/8th full, then go under the bus and drill a hole in at about 1/4 full, then install an outlet there? Is this feasible, or frowned upon? I ant imagine metal shavings in the tank would be good for anything but I’m no mechanic.

[TheArgobus]

Or would it be easier to splice the fuel line just after the tank?

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by TheArgobus

Unfortunately for me, it’s an E350 and I’ve already installed the floor over the tank.

But now I’m wonder if maybe it would be okay to burn down my tank to, let’s say, 1/8th full, then go under the bus and drill a hole in at about 1/4 full, then install an outlet there? Is this feasible, or frowned upon? I ant imagine metal shavings in the tank would be good for anything but I’m no mechanic.

I dunno anything about Fords much less teh E350 line but the tank on my '06 Dakota and the '85 RX-7 are both held up with two straps. Dropping the tank on an Econoline can't be very difficult. The tanks are awkward in size/shape but easy enough to do solo with a shop jack under it so it doesn't come crashing down. Personally, I'd much rather go thru the top than the side. Only way I'm going thru the side is by cutting a hole and welding in a bung. Welding gas tanks can be exciting in their own way if you aren't careful.

For the shavings alone, I'd drop the tank and put a rag or something where you're drilling.

[TheArgobus]

Well I’m going to go ahead and rule out the side of the tank then. I’m going to investigate dropping the tank and checking that out.

[TheArgobus]

You know what I just realized--there is no reason for me to go through the cap. I can just route a feed line through the neck and then not have to worry about any quick disconnects or anything funky like that through the cap.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by TheArgobus

You know what I just realized--there is no reason for me to go through the cap. I can just route a feed line through the neck and then not have to worry about any quick disconnects or anything funky like that through the cap.

I thought about mentioning that but if you're punching a hole thru the rubber hose, you're going to want to have a good seal. If you punch it thru the metal part, that might be better but it's still going to be thin metal and both will be curved. Filling from a high flow pump might be an issue.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by TheArgobus

You know what I just realized--there is no reason for me to go through the cap. I can just route a feed line through the neck and then not have to worry about any quick disconnects or anything funky like that through the cap.

I thought about mentioning that but if you're punching a hole thru the rubber hose, you're going to want to have a good seal. If you punch it thru the metal part, that might be better but it's still going to be thin metal and both will be curved. Filling from a high flow pump might be an issue.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

Full size skoolie? If you bus/tank is anything like most I've seen, there's a hole in the floor to access the tank from above. My tank has a few bungs in it that are capped. I pulled one of them and bought a replacement. Only because the hex head in the OEM wouldn't leave as much material as I liked. Anywho, drilled and tapped the new plug and ran the fuel hose thru it. At first I was trying to use adapters to go from one thread to the other. NPT to standard to metric. Ok , never mind. Have drill, will tap. MUCH EASIER.

Probably a dumb question, but tapping into the tank doesn't mean you have to have the heater directly over the tank, right? You can have a long horizontal section to the feed and put the heater wherever you want?

I'm planning on having a diesel air heater, but it occurs to be that if I want to tap it into the tank (which I'm not sure I do) now would be the time to do it because of the holes I have in my floor above the tank right now. But I'll also have a smaller hatch I'll be able to get to at any time.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Probably a dumb question, but tapping into the tank doesn't mean you have to have the heater directly over the tank, right? You can have a long horizontal section to the feed and put the heater wherever you want?

I'm planning on having a diesel air heater, but it occurs to be that if I want to tap it into the tank (which I'm not sure I do) now would be the time to do it because of the holes I have in my floor above the tank right now. But I'll also have a smaller hatch I'll be able to get to at any time.

It'll depend on your fuel pump. I have a diesel coolant heater (not air). I've no idea if my fuel pump is good, bad, or indifferent compared to others but I'm running my fuel thru 25 feet of brake line. Just to help prolong the pump and keep it from stressing, I put a check valve inline. So mine is fuel filter, check valve, 25 feet, then fuel pump. The OEM for the pump suggested having the pump at teh heater verses the tank. My pump wouldn't prime thru the brake line but gravity and suction took care of that. Check valve keeps it from all draining back into the fuel tank.

[brokedown]

Originally Posted by TheArgobus

Can you go into more detail about how you created that fuel tank cap?

On my bus, the filler tube is a 2 inch pipe with standard threads. I picked up a 2" PVC threaded cap at home depot for a couple bucks and drilled a small hole through the top. Pushed the fuel line through it and attached a washer near the end held in place by 2 zip ties. I should write "SWAG" on it so people can tell it's fancy. Anyway this has been working great for a long time and I highly recommend it over more complex solutions.

[TheArgobus]

How do you prevent the fill line twisting with the cap when you unscrew it? Or do you just let it rotate freely in the pilot hole you drilled?

[brokedown]

It rotates freely enough, binding is not an issue.

On an aside, I'm in the process of building an Afterburner controller for my heater and hopefully in a week or so I'll have it together and can start talking about it. SMT soldering is a new skill for me..

[Native]

Originally Posted by brokedown

It rotates freely enough, binding is not an issue.

On an aside, I'm in the process of building an Afterburner controller for my heater and hopefully in a week or so I'll have it together and can start talking about it. SMT soldering is a new skill for me..

You have your own wave solder machine?

[peakbus]

Originally Posted by TheArgobus

Well I’m going to go ahead and rule out the side of the tank then. I’m going to investigate dropping the tank and checking that out.

I had my tank dropped to put in a diptube for a diesel heater and they found there was already a spare diptube installed. They just hooked up a fuel line for me and we're good to go. Just got the heater install started.