Diesel heater install

landowner said:

I would be interested to know peoples views on a tee into the fuel line for supply, feed or return ? or drill one of the plates in the top of the tank (maybe gauge) and pop a pipe in there for the heater pump to draw on.

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I teed into mine. Not had any issues. I think your brave not boxing the heater in. Be nice to see how long it lasts.

Oh........... and while ive been off with a bad foot the heater display has drained the secondary battery within a week. The battery was fully charged and is relatively new. Looks like some sort of solar top up is required after all.

Bobsticle said:

I teed into mine. Not had any issues. I think your brave not boxing the heater in. Be nice to see how long it lasts.

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I have thought about that and am considering putting a shield to protect it from stones etc I have enough metal below the heater to drill some holes so I can bolt on another piece of metal.

You tee’d it into the return pipe?

EvangelicAtheist said:

I have thought about that and am considering putting a shield to protect it from stones etc I have enough metal below the heater to drill some holes so I can bolt on another piece of metal.

You tee’d it into the return pipe?

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No. Into the feed. I did put a small tap to isolate the heater but it started sucking air in after six months or so. It took me ages to find the leak.

So I decided to attach a guard to the bracket, which I made out of 2mm aluminium plate. Was a bit of a faff as I hadn't quite got enough metal to bolt straight to it. Should protect it from stone hits and as its removable will make access easier than a fully blow box.

Finished the main install, very happy with it, just got to wire it up and connect to the fuel system. Its quite a tight fit but nothing fouls so all good. I have fitted the vent between the handbrake and the transmission tunnel, the vent can be swivelled to direct air where I want it. Roll on winter!

Finished the job today... I tee’d into the fuel return line - mine already has the long return stand pipe so I lopped an inch off it. Apart from a bit of trouble getting it pulling fuel to get it started (a few mouthfuls of diesel for my trouble) it’s now working a treat.

Good job. I have still to fit mine. One question though, I've watched a few YouTube vids of people mucking about with these heaters and one guy reckons you shouldn't fit them on their side cos eventually the gauze around the glow pug gets saturated and it won't start. He reckons it's ok on one side but not the other. If I remember rightly, the glow plug needs to be uppermost on the good side.

Col

Colthebrummie said:

Good job. I have still to fit mine. One question though, I've watched a few YouTube vids of people mucking about with these heaters and one guy reckons you shouldn't fit them on their side cos eventually the gauze around the glow pug gets saturated and it won't start. He reckons it's ok on one side but not the other. If I remember rightly, the glow plug needs to be uppermost on the good side.

Col

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I didn't know that, it doesn't say anything like that in the instructions.... out of interest, where is the glow plug? I've got it so that the electrics go in at the top, but in any event I can't easily locate the unit with the pipes exiting the bottom as there isn't really enough clearance.

I did think about leakage so the way I've rigged it I've got the pump at the lowest point and the heater fuel line in is not far off the top of the level of the tank as that should avoid too much leakage through into the unit if the pump lets any through.

I also added some heat shield to the fuel pipe going into the unit as it is very close to the exhaust!

You have to take the plastic cover off to see the glow plug, it's on the top of the unit but not central. If you tip it on one side the glow plug is lower than if tipped on the other side, so it needs to be either mounted with the in/out pipes facing down or if on its side, the glow plug should be in the higher position. I haven't tested the you tubers claim though.

Col

Colthebrummie said:

You have to take the plastic cover off to see the glow plug, it's on the top of the unit but not central. If you tip it on one side the glow plug is lower than if tipped on the other side, so it needs to be either mounted with the in/out pipes facing down or if on its side, the glow plug should be in the higher position. I haven't tested the you tubers claim though.

Col

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I fitted mine top side up and hadn’t heard about the flooding problem.
They do flick on the heater plug on shut down to burn off any residual diesel but it may not clean the gauze completely.

Nice to see you have it ready for summer anyway