Joining the Renewable Heating Hub forums is completely free and only takes a minute. By registering you’ll be able to ask questions, join discussions, follow topics you’re interested in, bookmark useful threads and receive notifications when someone replies. Non-registered members also do not have access to our AI features. When choosing your username, please note that it cannot be changed later, so we recommend avoiding brand or product names. Before registering, please take a moment to read the Forum Rules & Terms of Use so we can keep the community helpful, respectful and informative for everyone. Thanks for joining!
'Chinese Diesel Heater' to heat the home .....
Last year i installed a chinese diesel heater to heat/pre heat my kitchen/conservatory area. it was much better than i expected, being able to control it via the remote made it simple to operate - i could even turn it on from bed when i woke up so the kitchen/conservatory was warm when we got up.
ok, for those who may be thinking exhaust fumes, dangers of catching fire etc .... the heater itself was sited outside and the hot air was fed into our house, under the kitchen units. Initially i had the air intake taking air from the outside, but soon realised i actually needed to take the air intake from INSIDE the house, so installed another ducting run, again under the kitchen units. i also had to use a step down transformer from 240v to 12v DC but as its all under the kitchen units its tucked nicely out of sight.
ive installed the ducting in such a way that the heater can be removed from the patio area when not required and the ducting 'sealed' using end caps.
i 'acquired' a cover for it all so its protected a bit from the elements - its not pretty but it works. it wouldn't take too much to make a permanent enclosure should i ever feel the need. i like the temp enclosure because i can remove it all when the heater isn't needed to boost the temperature up. the temp enclosure also helps in insulating the ducts, i kept the external ducting runs to a minimum so as to reduce heat loss.
Running cost was around a litre of fuel every other day, depending on length of time and of course temp settings, but as a rough guide we used around 5 litres every two or three days for 12 hours running.
Our only other source of heating in that area is an inverter (air con/heating) so the diesel heater took some of the 'strain'
I will definitely be using it again this coming winter, though i may look at installing a bigger fuel tank somehow, prob using a 20 litre paraffin container, so i will only need to fill it up once a week! i use metal jerry cans to get the diesel from the local garage, though i really should look at cheaper fuels such as heating oil or paraffin, but dont know if they would impact on the heater itself, i prob need to check out youtube to see if anyone has used alternative and cheaper fuels (so long as theyre easily obtainable for me!)
if i ever get round to tweaking the system, i will look at ways to recover the heat wasted through the exhaust, which really gets hot. i have seen a few methods on you tube which look simple enough, very 'Heath Robinson', but i like that approach !!
The heater has now been reinstalled (with a cover over the top of it all). Its started up without a problem, i was expecting a few teething issues, but so far ......
still need to look into a different fuel though, but it really does make a difference - probably going to split the heating pipe into two, using a y piece or t piece, so that i can run a heater outlet into an adjacent downstairs shower room/wc. would really love to sit down and design one for the 3d printer to produce an 'unequal tee' on tinkercad ...
quick update, i bought a t piece and additionl trunking from ebay, cheap enough to not even start designing a 3d printed one! the diesel heater has been working throughout the winter (starting to get a bit warmer now) and i bouhgt one of these, to transfer the fuel from a 20L plastic drum
works really well, the nozzle doesnt fit into a jerry can , but works brilliantly with the 20L plastic drum. no spills, no diesel wasted, no diesel on your hands etc and really is easy to transfer fuel now.
i suppose the ideal will be just to put the feed pipe into the container itself and let it pump the fuel direct to the burner. i might have a go at that when i get chance, but for now the diesel heater really is a very good addition/boost for the existing (or only just existing) heating options in the kitchen.dining/conservatory where we live most of the day.
- 26 Forums
- 2,607 Topics
- 60.8 K Posts
- 308 Online
- 6,967 Members
Join Us!
Worth Watching
Latest Posts
-
RE: Renewables & Heat Pumps in the News
@editor, I hear that too. I can confirm that out of ...
By ASHP-BOBBA , 4 hours ago
-
End-of-Life Heat Pumps: How Do You Dispose of an ASHP in the UK?
As many of you know, our Global Energy Systems heat pum...
By Mars , 4 hours ago
-
@derbygraham fully agree with James, and it’d be good t...
By Mars , 4 hours ago
-
RE: Indevolt Batteries UK Support & Info Thread
Finally got around to installing and setting up the Sol...
By Mars , 4 hours ago
-
Unfortunately its a function of the physics. Max heat ...
By JamesPa , 5 hours ago
-
RE: Microbore heat pump installs
In principle you are almost certainly right, but in pra...
By JamesPa , 5 hours ago
-
RE: Electricity price predictions
@old_scientist We are a low mileage home, so bulk of ou...
By ChandyKris , 7 hours ago
-
There are just too many unknowns for me to comment on p...
By Transparent , 8 hours ago
-
RE: What is the main ‘dictator’ of Agile’s unit price?
@toodles I keep an eye on wholesale prices and energy m...
By ChandyKris , 9 hours ago
-
RE: Brand and installer questions for ASHP
Strange, perhaps it doesnt use modbus which the third p...
By JamesPa , 11 hours ago
-
RE: Upgrading my system, how far do I go?
For comparison, my PW3 with 11.04kW inverter, will char...
By Old_Scientist , 14 hours ago
-
RE: Changes to Tesla Powerwall Charging Regime?
Elon gate - legendary! I take my hat off to you @toodle...
By Old_Scientist , 17 hours ago
-
RE: Mitsubishi Ecodan not good enough ?
Thanks @goody, appreciate the feedback and sorry you ha...
By marcexec , 1 day ago
-
RE: Minimum and Zero Disrupt Heat Pump Installations
True (first sentence) Thats the reason to consider th...
By JamesPa , 2 days ago
-
RE: High air source heat pump running costs – Vaillant AroTherm Plus
Quite right. I was using a rough guesstimate of doublin...
By Majordennisbloodnok , 2 days ago
-
RE: My Grant R290 9kW Heat Pump Installation
Again, really don't know how accurate this is! &nb...
By petch , 2 days ago
-
RE: MCS Quality Audit – Has Anyone Had One? Did It Lead to Remediation?
@toodles The whole scheme is a shocking waste of money....
By Papahuhu , 2 days ago
-
RE: Anyone concerned about GivEnergy?
Many thanks for your, and the subsequent, answers tk qu...
By KevH , 2 days ago
-
RE: DIY or Don’t Touch? Solarman Smart Meter Install
Yes, and these guys would probably be my preferred inst...
By Batpred , 2 days ago
-
RE: Hot water tank lose heat rapidly on random days
@jamespa Hopefully their reasons are well intended! ...
By Bash , 3 days ago
-
RE: Ecoflow UK Support & Info Thread
As mentioned above, we’ve got our full review of the Ec...
By Mars , 3 days ago
-
RE: Say hello and introduce yourself
@sonosppp welcome to the forums. I see you've posted in...
By Mars , 3 days ago
-
RE: Guidance with installing a new heating system
@bobflux Great, thanks for the advice. The pipe has an ...
By Hamilton , 4 days ago
-
RE: Daikin Altherma 3 LT compressor longevity question
@optimistic-optimiser I have has a Daikin for a few yea...
By madsid , 4 days ago
-
RE: UK DIY Battery: SEPLOS 48V 200Ah x2 + Sunsynk 8K – Safe Installation for Garage Conversion
The rule of thumb is to ensure that you can isolate any...
By Transparent , 4 days ago





