Diesel heater?

[Bogie]

Have any of y'all tried one of the Webasto knockoff chicom diesel heaters?
 
Webasto: https://www.amazon.com/Webasto-heater-Diesel-single-4111385C/dp/B01M0M26E3/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=webasto+diesel+heater&qid=1667576694&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjcwIiwicXNhIjoiNS40MiIsInFzcCI6IjQuNTcifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=webasto%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-4

Chicom: https://www.amazon.com/Bestauto-Muffler-Parking-Monitor-Trailer/dp/B0832TLFLM/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2BS7NJOO5M4JC&keywords=diesel+heater&qid=1667576857&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI2LjU5IiwicXNhIjoiNi41NSIsInFzcCI6IjYuMzUifQ%3D%3D&refinements=p_89%3AVEVOR&rnid=2528832011&s=automotive&sprefix=diesel+heater%2Caps%2C131&sr=1-6

One of the things I want to do over the next year is get my garage MUCH more weatherproofed, so that I can actually do stuff in it when it is pretty cold outside. Right now, well, I don't necessarily have to turn the lights on when I step inside and close the door - there's still enough light coming through a few gaps to where I can see to walk around some.
 
When I was driving, I had a Webasto, and it would keep stuff fairly warm in a long/tall Sprinter van, but would drain a 27 Optima Yellowtop overnight. I have an industrial 110 AC to 12 volt DC power supply tho...

[K Frame]

Didn't we discuss these last year?

This sounds really familiar...

[Ben]

If all you're doing is heating your garage when you want to work in there and you want diesel, these are way cheaper and will run diesel or kero:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/master-80000-btu-kerosene-forced-air-heater-mh-80t-kfa?cm_vc=-10015

Or one of these, which will run all day or all night on one tank, and can also be used in your home in emergencies:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/redstone-23-500-btu-convection-kerosene-heater

[Bogie]

I have one of the "convection" kerosene heaters - Use it with ULS diesel, and it is "okay," but a moderate hassle. I've considered one of the torpedo things...
 
Hey, baby - it's cold outside...

[Bogie]

Yeah - here's last year...
 
https://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=65527.50
 
My plan is to maybe add a pellet stove for the house during next summer.
 
But I'd REALLY like to get the garage somewhat livable, and I don't want to throw $1,500 at the heater. I'd be happy if I could keep it at 45-50 degrees...

[Ben]

I have one of the "convection" kerosene heaters - Use it with ULS diesel, and it is "okay," but a moderate hassle. I've considered one of the torpedo things...
 
Hey, baby - it's cold outside...

I have both the ones that I linked to. I use the torpedo in my ~2000ish sqft shop. In the coldest months I keep it on a timer so it comes on a couple of times between 0000-0500 to keep the shop from dropping below freezing.

[K Frame]

"But I'd REALLY like to get the garage somewhat livable, and I don't want to throw $1,500 at the heater. I'd be happy if I could keep it at 45-50 degrees..."

Well, the WORST way to do that is to throw $1,500 at a heater and do nothing about sealing it up.

Spend a couple hundred fixing the gaps and worst of the leaks. Add some foil-faced foam board to the ceiling. Don't worry about the walls until you insulate the ceiling. You lose most of the heat out the ceiling, and the foil faced foam board will both insulate and reflect heat, which is a bonus.

I would be VERY leery of running one of the Kerosun style kerosene heaters on diesel. Impurities can cause the carbon monoxide output to ramp up.

Go with the torpedo heater Ben suggests.

[Bogie]

I'm still trying to find a place that has pump kerosene - My Home Depot next to where I work is over $15/gallon jug. That's a nope.

[K Frame]

well, then, go with the torpedo heater. They can run on diesel and run on it safely.

Just make sure you have a CO detector.

[Bogie]

I have two of them - because one is none...
 
Gonna read up on rigging a thermostat that I can set at about 40 degrees. Heading to Home Depot in a minute to pick up a couple of sheets of aluminum foil foam board. I figure if I put up a few a week, I'll be done by January.
 
Fun part is going to be removing the lumber, tent poles, etc., that I have up in the rafters and finding a home for it.

[K Frame]

"I have two of them - because one is none..."

And two is next to none, three is barely adequate, four is horrifically underprepared...


32. That's what you need. THIRTY TWO.

[charby]

Thread necro

So, I'm thinking about one of those diesel heater/furnaces for ice fishing. Seem to to all the rage for heating tents and shanties. Crap ton of YouTubes and Facebook Groups on them.

Only downside seems to be you need a 12volt power supply to fire the glow plug, run the fan, and fuel pump.

[Bogie]

This one is getting decent reviews.
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBBMNCJQ/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0CBBMNCJQ&pd_rd_w=yqvuM&content-id=amzn1.sym.386c274b-4bfe-4421-9052-a1a56db557ab&pf_rd_p=386c274b-4bfe-4421-9052-a1a56db557ab&pf_rd_r=KCQKBTF0GPH2W88E941K&pd_rd_wg=fROcR&pd_rd_r=47c884dc-22bb-48f9-b6bd-44573da42b62&s=automotive&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM
 
Either 12v or 110... But yeah, you're gonna need some way to make it run. A 31 series deep cycle weighs a bunch, and should go for close to 24 hours. I'm probably going to rig some sort of rooftop passive solar collector that I can reroute in warmer months. Right now hard part is moving stuff to get to insulate walls. I caught a cold from a cow-orker the week before Thanksgiving, and I'm just now getting over it - or maybe it was multiple colds, since it has ebbed and... flowed.

[K Frame]

So, with an output of 8kw/hr, that's a little over 27,000 btu/hr.

I just love how they show the thing set up and running in an SUV with no visible means of exhausting the combustion products.

Even better, half of the reviews are for a... refrigerator? WTF?

[charby]

So, with an output of 8kw/hr, that's a little over 27,000 btu/hr.

I just love how they show the thing set up and running in an SUV with no visible means of exhausting the combustion products.

Even better, half of the reviews are for a... refrigerator? WTF?

I've been reading about them for about 2 years on the different ice fishing groups. They are built like a little modern forced air furnace. The combustion chamber has its own air intake and exhaust. If I decide to go that route for my camper and/or ice fishing shanty, I'll make sure the intake and exhaust for the combustion are piped out of the shelter.

For my ice shanty, I'll probably put the heater on the outside and get insulated ductwork to a hot air and cold air return through the shelter wall. I'm getting tired of the wet heat from the LP Buddy heater in my shelter.

Camper, I'll just replace the ancient propane furnace, utilizing the existing exhaust and intake outlets. I am unsure if the existing furnace works for not. My camper is from 1971.

[charby]

This one is getting decent reviews.
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBBMNCJQ/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0CBBMNCJQ&pd_rd_w=yqvuM&content-id=amzn1.sym.386c274b-4bfe-4421-9052-a1a56db557ab&pf_rd_p=386c274b-4bfe-4421-9052-a1a56db557ab&pf_rd_r=KCQKBTF0GPH2W88E941K&pd_rd_wg=fROcR&pd_rd_r=47c884dc-22bb-48f9-b6bd-44573da42b62&s=automotive&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM
 
Either 12v or 110... But yeah, you're gonna need some way to make it run. A 31 series deep cycle weighs a bunch, and should go for close to 24 hours. I'm probably going to rig some sort of rooftop passive solar collector that I can reroute in warmer months. Right now hard part is moving stuff to get to insulate walls. I caught a cold from a cow-orker the week before Thanksgiving, and I'm just now getting over it - or maybe it was multiple colds, since it has ebbed and... flowed.

This one is popular in the ice fishing crowd. Most of those guys seem to end up buying the one similar to a sleeper heater and building their own custom cabinet for it.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/43CA7230-E931-487A-8FDC-ABA5C4AFC41A

[dogmush]

This one is popular in the ice fishing crowd. Most of those guys seem to end up buying the one similar to a sleeper heater and building their own custom cabinet for it.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/43CA7230-E931-487A-8FDC-ABA5C4AFC41A

Those little ones are pretty popular with the "Van Life" and van overlander crowd as well.  They seem to work pretty well.  They usually come with a template for cutting the wall or floor, combustion intake duct and combustion exhaust hose and muffler.

For something the size of a Sprinter van or small camper (Or Ice fishing shack) they put out plenty of heat to be toasty.  Were I installing one I would give a fair bit of thought to the "on board fuel tank" vs. the "remote fuel tank" models and my application.  Spilled diesel in my camper would be a pain.

I wonder how much 12V the ignitor and control board pull.  I bet it's not all that much.  A small battery and 150W or so of solar might run one of these pretty much indefinitely.

[charby]

I wonder how much 12V the ignitor and control board pull.  I bet it's not all that much.  A small battery and 150W or so of solar might run one of these pretty much indefinitely.

The guys who spend the weekend camping on their ice in their shanties, all seem to agree that a 100Ah battery is enough for 48-60hrs of run time with battery to spare. I guess the killer is starting the unit up, then it doesn't take much to run it. Basically, start the heater and don't shut it off until you are ready to leave is what they say.

[Bogie]

When I was driving for the LTL hotshot outfit, my Sprinter had one of the brand-name Webasto heaters. It wasn't the ignition that killed the battery - it was the fan.
 
Fargo in January, I idled and ran the thing, and I didn't die. It wasn't toasty warm, but the van wasn't all that insulated either. If I can keep the garage above freezing, that's a big start.

[charby]

The one I've been looking at is 8-12 amps to start it and 1.5 amps per hour to run the fan and fuel pump on medium heat. I have an insulated tent shanty and low on a buddy heater will about roast you out if you pile up snow around the base to block drafts.

I have an Eskimo Fatfish 959i for a shanty. Lots of fan bois of that shelter for on and off the ice winter camping.

[Bogie]

The one I had was one setting. "On." So I suspect that it started and stopped as the evening progressed.

[charby]

The one I had was one setting. "On." So I suspect that it started and stopped as the evening progressed.

You didn't have a control panel to set a temp or fan speed?

[JTHunter]

IIRC, it doesn't matter ifit is diesel or kerosene - both stink.

Bogie, there used to be a station or two on Hampton just south of 40/64 that sold kerosene.
There is a Circle K station in Belleville that has it for ~$5/gal.

ETA: many years ago, I was told that diesel and home heating oil are the same thing but the diesel has the "fuel tax" added to it.  Some people were caught driving vehicles with the HHO in their tanks rather than diesel.  Cost them plenty.
Kerosene on the other hand is 1 step higher on the distillation process which is why it doesn't smoke as much as diesel.

[charby]

The diesel heater that Bogie and I have been talking about aren't the same kerosene wick heater or the torpedo/salamander heaters that people are used to. These are an actual furnace with a engine that acts as a firebox with a separate intake and exhaust for the combustion chamber. Air is blown across the heat exchanger just like a forced air gas furnace.

This video will clarify it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvvtca27U30

[Bogie]

The Webasto we had in the Sprinter had basically just an on/off switch. That was put in about 15 years ago, so... It plumbed directly into the fuel tank.