Thread: Diesel heaters for caravans

I bought a 5 kw unit from diesel heat in Tasmania 3 years ago as I live in a motor home the unit has been flogged mercilessly over the 3 winters.
I lived in the Territory an NW WA for over 30 years I like 25-30 degrees c so it gets used a lot
I asked diesel heat for the price on a replacement as they only last 1500 hours the price was $850
I bought a new unit on eBay for $233 delivered it will be delivered Monday
I will run tests on the cheapie to see if it’s as good as my other unit and post back

Will be interesting to hear your views djam1.

I received the unit I purchased yesterday and ran tests on it. This is the unit I bought

5KW 12V Diesel Air Heater PLANAR for RV Motorhome Trailer Trucks Boats 5000W AU 6285129305692 | eBay

The unit ran well and appears to be quite well made it is physically smaller than the previous unit I purchased but the heat output is excellent.
The unit listing says it has 90mm inlets and outlets but it is in fact 60mm this isn't a problem but as I was replacing a 90mm unit it makes things more difficult.
It doesn't come with an exhaust muffler or digital control unit just a simple analogue device that works but has no timer.
Digital controllers/Timers can be purchased for $20 on ebay so this isn't a problem. Glow plugs are quite common and available on ebay so parts are not completely unavailable.

That said the ebay seller was excellent to deal with I had an issue with the 60-90mm thing and they looked after me well.

For the money I would go for it

Nice. Looks like all the selleres use identical pics in their adverts, and they are all probably made in the same place. I'm guessing it's exactly the same as mine, but mine has a digital controller - but no timer, just a digital version of the analogue unit with on/off and fuel input adjust which is what regulates the temp. - I think I'd orefer the analogue unit to be honest.

I finally figured out what mine actually means as it adjusts from 2.0 (minimum) to 5.2 (maximum). The spec sheet shows min fuel usage as 200ml per hour and max shows 520ml per hour, so I've made the assumption the digits displayed works out to fuel input to the heater.

So the 5kw throws more heat than the 2 or 3 kw oe just uses more power?

If it doesn’t put out more heat and just uses power it isn’t much of a feature

Originally Posted by djam1

If it doesn’t put out more heat and just uses power it isn’t much of a feature

Hi,
I assume it is capable of burning more fuel per hour therefore will need more battery for the pumped fuel and more for the fan to circulate the air.
It will only be a small amount and possibly only at heating settings beyond that of the smaller units.
Not really a cause for concern.
Cheers

The power useage is pretty minimal dependent upon what mode the heater is running in at least for the Diesel Heat (Belief) units
Belief 5KW air heater | DieselheatThe Cheapies dont seem to have the 2 modes but I can tell you a 5 kw unit run flat out all the time can burn some diesel I put 140 litres in mine today but I am not sure how long it is since I filled it maybe 2 months