$200 5KW Portable Diesel Air Heater

[luthj]

Correct, the heating air intake. I have not worked with the chinese clones, but the espar and webasto heaters exhausts rarely exceed 350F. At that temp an air gap of 2" in free air is enough to protect most materials from overheating.

As a note some of these heaters are supplied with exhaust tubing that is not sealed (has a seam). This hose may leak some exhaust into the box, so evaluate that before pulling heating air from the box. These heaters produce very little CO, but the odor can be a bit objectionable in some cases.

 

[hour]

Waiting for a few parts on mine to mount in a box.
Has anyone tried using kerosene?
Does anyone have a temp on the exhaust pipes.
Is there a wrap for the exhaust that will prevent heating the inside of the box?
Thanks

I have a pic somewhere of mine exhausting at like 430+ degrees. I bought some vents similar to these that pop in to a 1-inch hole - intend to drill a couple holes up towards the top of my box. Doing this and allowing the intake to pull air from inside the box (and the hole I drilled for external intake pipe) is a good solution if running everything outside.. I'll do that if I ever need to heat a tent or figure out a decent mounting solution to support the whole toolbox outside of my camper.

 

[b_doornenbal]

Any pics you guys have of finished units would be great ! I’ve followed most of the other builds..... I think this will work great for warming up my boat cab and keeping the chill off the tent. Way cheaper than the 1700 dollar units out there also.

 

[Utah KJ]

I made a video of my first start up. Forum says file too big. Lame.
I have my live vids posted on my fb page pastafari if you would like to join.

 

[Utah KJ]

I put up a video on Vimeo. Poor narration, but the info is there.





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[Heavyopp]

so now the question is 2kw or 5kw

I guess thats a hard question to answer...

 

[Utah KJ]

so now the question is 2kw or 5kw

I guess thats a hard question to answer...

Mine is the 5k.


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[Heavyopp]

Mine is the 5k.


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Right, but what is your intended use?

Usually I would say bigger is better but if these things need to run full out to burn better then would a 2kw be a better choice to heat a 4 man tent

I did watch your test run video. Have you tried to actually heat something yet?

 

[Utah KJ]

Right, but what is your intended use?

Usually I would say bigger is better but if these things need to run full out to burn better then would a 2kw be a better choice to heat a 4 man tent

I did watch your test run video. Have you tried to actually heat something yet?

The intended use is in the vid


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[Heavyopp]

The intended use is in the vid


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I guess I missed it

Ok just rewatched — roof top tent

Do you intend to run in through the night or just for the times in the tent but out of the sleeping bags?

 

[snowfiend]

I think I'm going to end up with one of these and debating on 5kw vs 2kw as well. We sometimes use one of those double burner heads on a propane tank in the wall tent which are 30K BTU, but only run them briefly before bed at in the AM. A 5KW would be closest in output, but with the low fuel usage we could probably run it all night and be comfortable with the kids.

Seems like it's either 2kw on high all night or 5kw on low, for noise reasons maybe it's best to go 5kw on low with an occasional kerosene burn to clean things out.

 

[Heavyopp]

I think I'm going to end up with one of these and debating on 5kw vs 2kw as well. We sometimes use one of those double burner heads on a propane tank in the wall tent which are 30K BTU, but only run them briefly before bed at in the AM. A 5KW would be closest in output, but with the low fuel usage we could probably run it all night and be comfortable with the kids.

Seems like it's either 2kw on high all night or 5kw on low, for noise reasons maybe it's best to go 5kw on low with an occasional kerosene burn to clean things out.

What are the dimensions of the wall tent?
The kerosene might prove to be a good idea

 

[Utah KJ]

What I don’t know is, where the unit is measuring the temp the you set? I am hoping in the controller itself, but I do see evidence of that.

EDIT

The temp is monitored at the LCD controller.


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[Utah KJ]

I’m in the shop currently, to test my heater with the lid closed. I wanted to see if it could raise the temp in the shop. It’s a somewhat cool day here in Deerfield Bch, FL, and the thermostat on the wall reads 74f.
I started everything up with the exhaust sticking out the bay door which is cracked about 6”.
It took 7 mins for the heater to get up to temp, during which time current draw was 7 - 7.25 amps. With cooler ambient temps, I’m not sure if it will take any longer, I’ve no way to test that here on the US Peninsula.
After about 45 mins it raised the temp 1 deg on the wall thermostat, then I got an E-05 code indicating over temp. I opened the lid, and after it’s shutdown routine, I was able to restart. Again, I’m not sure how significantly lower ambient temps will impact this.
After an hour, the shop thermostat moved up to 76F, although the unit believes the ambient temp is 82F. The current draw has been about 2.25 amps during this time.
Obviously, my tent is a much smaller area than my shop so this will affect how long it takes to kick down, and overall current consumption.


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[Kirby McRae]

What I don’t know is, where the unit is measuring the temp the you set? I am hoping in the controller itself, but I do see evidence of that.

EDIT

The temp is monitored at the LCD controller.


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It depends on the controller where the temp is measured. As far as I am aware only the new blue lcd and the old gold lcd controls have a remote temp sensor in the controller. All the other controllers lack a thermometer and as such the heater then uses the intake air temp sensor located right by the fan to regulate the thermostat.

It's a balmy 35 here today so if I have time I'll dig out a thermometer and turn on my 5kw heater in the Bronco, it gets toasty real quick.