Thread: Cheap Ebay diesel heaters

Originally Posted by Saitch

My niece's hubby bought a 'Cheap E-Bay' diesel heater, three times in 18 months. He then bought a recognised brand heater, which is still going strong, after four years.
Just sayin'.

Yes but the total cost of the three ebay heaters was still very much less than a brand name - the experience of your niece's hubby is very much at odds with most other's experience. Plenty of discussion on this forum and plenty of user reviews on youtube.

Originally Posted by Saitch

My niece's hubby bought a 'Cheap E-Bay' diesel heater, three times in 18 months. He then bought a recognised brand heater, which is still going strong, after four years.
Just sayin'.

I’ve had my cheap 5kw for 4 years now. Only problem the fuel tank cracked. I bought a 5 litre diesel container from Repco and added a fuel straw and breather for less than $40.

Haven't purchased yet but looking for the ideal location to mount one that doesn't use up valuable storage space.

Well a few years on and I can report the original heater fitted to the Viscount is still working just fine, and I’ve since installed another in my motorhome which is also working fine although it’s only been in a year now, but neither has in any way had issues and just does its thing as needed. No way I would spend 5 to 7 times the price on a name brand unit, these units work just fine. 👍

I had one on the list for next months purchase but found one on gumtree that the owner removed from a newly purchased van, apparently he only used it twice as he fitted it last year.
For $60 it was worth a shot seeing as i'll probably use a different fuel tank.

I've had a 5kw Chinese cheapy in the Oka for a couple of years now and it's been great . Too big really for what I need but the 2 kw was nearly twice the price when I bought it. I've got it plumbed directly into the rhs fuel tank via its own pickup. Worth its weight in gold on those freezing desert nights and has its own remote so don't even have to get up to operate.

A couple of issues for a new owner though. The Chinglish install instructions were incomprehensible so totally useless. Google found a very good British user group which is a mine of information and written in English and very easy to understand. Our heater came with both a 'volume control' type operating box and a more comprehensive lcd display console. I installed the lcd console and once I'd figured out (from British site) that there are TWO operating modes for controlling the heat ie. pulse mode measured in Hertz and thermostat mode measured in degrees (default was Hertz) setup became a lot easier. There was no mention of this in the Chinglish instructions.

The 'ticking noise' of the fuel pump can be quite intrusive to both the user (you get used to it) and nearby campers especially at night so be warned and considerate There's really got to be a better way but every system I've seen (Genuine and Chinese knock offs) has the same noisy tick - tick - tick - tick ...............

I hope for any potential buyer that the instructions have improved.

Deano

Originally Posted by DeanoH

I've had a 5kw Chinese cheapy in the Oka for a couple of years now and it's been great . Too big really for what I need but the 2 kw was nearly twice the price when I bought it. I've got it plumbed directly into the rhs fuel tank via its own pickup. Worth its weight in gold on those freezing desert nights and has its own remote so don't even have to get up to operate.

A couple of issues for a new owner though. The Chinglish install instructions were incomprehensible so totally useless. Google found a very good British user group which is a mine of information and written in English and very easy to understand. Our heater came with both a 'volume control' type operating box and a more comprehensive lcd display console. I installed the lcd console and once I'd figured out (from British site) that there are TWO operating modes for controlling the heat ie. pulse mode measured in Hertz and thermostat mode measured in degrees (default was Hertz) setup became a lot easier. There was no mention of this in the Chinglish instructions.

The 'ticking noise' of the fuel pump can be quite intrusive to both the user (you get used to it) and nearby campers especially at night so be warned and considerate There's really got to be a better way but every system I've seen (Genuine and Chinese knock offs) has the same noisy tick - tick - tick - tick ...............

I hope for any potential buyer that the instructions have improved.

Deano

Dunno,
Could you put a small tank up high somewhere and gravity feed the heater?

Tony

Originally Posted by TonyC

Dunno,
Could you put a small tank up high somewhere and gravity feed the heater?

Tony

The fuel is injected into the combustion chamber so I assume the pump is needed to provide the appropriate pressure.

Youtube has a lot of videos on how to quieten the pump or even replace it with a quieter one. I dont find the pump too bad as it is masked by the roar of the fan.