[Closed] Chinese diesel heaters, anyone use one?

I like to watch camper and in extreme cold conditions videos on YouTube and plenty of the people on those using them in the far more extreme temperatures of Canadian winters with little or no issues whatsoever. So if they can last in minus 30 or colder conditions in Canada they can manage a far milder usual UK winter. And these are people living in their vans so they’re seeing some hammer.

I've got 2 Chinese diesel heaters.

Quality is hit and miss. First one the pump.wwas DOA.

They don't track temperature well and they do not go off automatically when temperature is reached.

But for 70 quid ....they ain't bad. But the real deal in my van is leagues ahead in terms of quality and control.

Oh and the noise. Holy god the noise.

Yeah it's been faultless

I've had 3, they've all been great.

Maybe a few minor issues with the most recent one but when they are a fraction of the cost of an eberspacher and when that fraction is 1/8 it's a no brainer.

Loads of facebook groups for advice on installation and sellers sell8ng good ones. Definitely worth a look for a first timer.

Can't recommend enough and if you want some ideas for installation drop me a message.

Cheers

Yep they are fine. Just make sure you find a decent guide or instruction and your inlets and outlets go to the right places

I can get my van up to 30 degrees in freezing outside temps with it so it does the job

There's a huge FB page dedicated to these that I joined when I was thinking about buying one. It seems that they're cheap for a reason and that is they need alot of maintenance. If you're happy stripping ond and changing plugs then they can be a bargain.

There’s a huge FB page dedicated to these that I joined when I was thinking about buying one. It seems that they’re cheap for a reason and that is they need alot of maintenance. If you’re happy stripping ond and changing plugs then they can be a bargain.

Very much this would be my main point.

And I don't mean to sound negative...I've just bought a third for a preheat in my landy. But don't think your getting anything close to an eberspacher when your buying one. Your not.

Yeah, I've had one in my van for a bit. Installed a couple in friends' vans too.
Performance wise, they are excellent. Barely use fuel and produce serious heat.
Noise isn't too bad - you can get a wee sound dampener for the fuel pump from alibaba/Chinese eBay sellers for a few pounds that helps. the main noise is a clicking from the fuel pump, but that is outside of the van and isn't loud enough to affect your sleep really - always a bit noisy sleeping/camping in a van anyway.
The controllers can be a bit of a lottery, the best kind is an LCD screen with (I think) 4 buttons at the side. They have a thermometer in them, so work as a thermostat so you can set a temp to reach. Mine holds that temp pretty well - doesn't overheat.

Reliability wise, we've found them be good. Main issue is the glowplugs dying (which happened on mine when I killed the power to it without letting it do its cooldown). But you can get spares for a tenner each, and if you get a special notched socket (like a spark plug socket in a way) you can swap the glow plugs without dismantling the heater - 5 minute job. The socket is about £4 on eBay too.
Another pal had a wee problem with it not heating that we traced to the fan having moved down its spindle a few mm. The controllers give you error codes so you can kind of work out what is wrong.

I'm in the process of setting up a wetroom in the back corner of my van, with a shower. But also to use as a drying room for swimming stuff or wet cycling clothes - will run extra ducting from the heater in there.

Never seen or used the Erberspachers they are copies of, but for the money the Chinese one cost I am very happy with the performance - has made a big difference to the usability of the van in the colder months of the year as my van is not insulated.

Mate had a Planar 2d. Price wise it sits between Ebersprecher and the Chinese variants. Quality wise it's much closer to the Ebersprecher than the Chinese models.

Can buy the kit to DIY install for 480€.

My old work van has an erberspacher in it as has the whole fleet.
For the price of them, they were always in the garage getting sorted.
Mind you, most lads have them running 24/7.
I’ve joined some of the FB groups but there are a bewildering array of options.
This is only a work van so doesn’t need to be super duper, just blow some hot air.
A fully self contained unit would be ideal so I can pop it in the shed too for tinkering duties.

Read up the on the fully self contained units. They really shouldn't be used inside vans