Chinese Diesel Heater Challenge!

[hpeer]

If he is pulling spec current then he is OK. It’s the amps through the resistance of the glow plug that create the heat. If the wire was too small he would have too much resistance which would limit the current.

Just thinking this through for the first time I think you are right looking at the air.

You need 3 things
Ignition source - checked
Fuel - you have white smoke, sounds like fuel to me
Oxygen/air - if not enough air your not getting the proper mix for combustion

So if you have sufficient heat for combustion your air/fuel mixture is wrong.

Too much or too little or some combination thereof.

You should have a good volume of air blowing. I’ve never held my hand over the chimney while starting up. When running even at mid high it blows a good bit of air. During start up I suspect it should be blowing pretty hard. So maybe if the smoke is just sort of wafting out Will tell you there is not good air flow.

Maybe (warning, I’m thinking) if the unit was off and you put a vacuum cleaner Exhaust to the air intake it should freely blow through the system. If it doesn’t then there is blockage to the air flow. ????

I mean it could be a blockage in the exhaust line. I’d have no fear about trying to blow that out with a vacuum. It’s just flex hose. It would eliminate something anyway. Maybe a mouse built a nest in it while in storage? Or some paper got shove down there.

[Warby12]

Thanks hpeer, you make perfect sense. It only takes three things and then it must work! I am back on the boat now and have taken it apart to clean the screen. I did notice an amount of unburnt fuel dribbling out. That would not be helping combustion if it is flooded from testing.

I will clean the screen and check the inlet and exhaust for flow, I will take the exhaust right off for this. If that doesn't work I will drip one drop of diesel onto the glow plug and see if the plug lights the drop. I've also bought some kerosene for the next test run.

[Bill Seal]

"
You need 3 things
Ignition source - checked
Fuel - you have white smoke, sounds like fuel to me
Oxygen/air - if not enough air your not getting the proper mix for combustion

So if you have sufficient heat for combustion your air/fuel mixture is wrong.

Too much or too little or some combination thereof."

It's a DIESEL!!!
Otherwise known as a COMPRESSION IGNITION engine.
It compresses the air to raise the temp to above the flash point of the fuel
It then sprays a small amount of fuel which then burns in the superheated air.
A diesel is a lean-burn engine, can't be too lean.
If it gets too much fuel, it will look like a tractor pull

[Dsanduril]

Even before ignition you should have good air flow. The heater has a purge sequence that runs ahead of combustion. Should be able to feel (and even hear) air flow before combustion starts. If you don't have good air flow at both the combustion air inlet and the exhaust during the purge cycle then there's something wrong with the combustion air blower.

[Bill Seal]

OOPS
Wrong thread
This lockdown has turned my brain to mush.
Anyway, the glow plug is an igniter like the one in an oven, and should be red hot.

[GRIT]

Nice recovery Bill.

My 2 cents, having had several espar heaters over the years, and two on this boat. It does sound like you've "flooded" it. If you can't clean it out, disconnect the fuel line (and catch the drips), and try to start it a few times.
Watch the tiny white fuel line for bubbles, and be sure there is more fuel than air. I find that there are always some bubbles, but only say 1% of the volume would be bubbles.

If this is a fresh install, then you may have air before the pump, you have to keep trying to run it with the fuel hose removed from the heater (catching the drips), or manually feed 12v to the fuel pump by quickly touching a 12v wire to the pump (assuming 12v pump) and removing the wire, then touching again. It's a diaphragm pump, so you have to mimic the pulses coming from the controller.

Then reconnect the fuel, and start "fresh".


Cheers.
Paul.

[Cheechako]

it's amazing how well these type of heaters run trouble free if you use kerosene instead. Probably not what you want to hear but, there it is. I fought one off and on for a couple of years, finally put in a small Kerosene tank and Bam! ... worked great. We put them in gas powered boats destined for Alaska chartering, so had to use a separate tank anyway and used kerosene. They were very reliable also.

[Warby12]

It's fixed!!

Blocked exhaust! I did blow through it the other day and the fuel vapour did come out when trying to light it but it was blocked enough to stop it lighting up. So thank you everyone. I guess I dodged removing the exhaust because of the ensuing mess it would cause and thought blowing through would be a good enough test. Today I tried pushing some stiff electrical cable through but no go, so off it came and there it was, a lovely cosy mud nest from some crazy insect.
And speaking of cosy, that is now us and we fear not winter.

Thanks everyone (including you Bill ) for your ideas and patience.

[hpeer]

On the East coast we have a wasp called a “mud dauber”, that’s why you see boats with tape or bits of cloth on the vents and small through hulls.

Good job!

[Dsanduril]

If you'd had a real Eberspacher instead of the Chinese knockoff that certainly wouldn't have happened

[Windpilot]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

If you'd had a real Eberspacher instead of the Chinese knockoff that certainly wouldn't have happened

good one.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Warby12

It's fixed!!

Blocked exhaust!

Thanks for the report back. I guess the only defense for that is a bit of stainless screen across the exhaust outlet.

We have those mud wasps too. Harmless but they will build a nest anywhere they can stick one. One took a shine to the backside of our electrical panel.

[Warby12]

I had a wooden bung in there over summer but this must have happened before that. Doh!

[Captn_Black]

Carbon Monoxide is no joke. Be careful please mate.

[Dsanduril]

Originally Posted by Captn_Black

Carbon Monoxide is no joke. Be careful please mate.

+1

If you're installing a combustion heater for the confined space of a boat, please, please install a CO detector. For us that went in first (and probably cost about third what the heater cost) and then the heater got installed.