Strange Diesel Heater fault

[OJCar]

It lives!! My modem chose to self destruct late afternoon so been interweb-less until today [replacement only arrived today despite ISPs promises [but that's for another thread....]

Sat a.m. I cleaned the entrails and bled the system and it eventually fired up and is back to full strength .
Appreciate all the responses/suggestions - happiness reigns again at Slim Towers!!

"Modem" ... Forsooth! Verily which Millennia art thou computing from !

Glad your back and keeping warm!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

"Modem" ... Forsooth! Verily which Millennia art thou computing from !

I suppose I should have referred to it as "the router", but the folk at the ISP understood fine.

 

[JOEPRO]

It lives!! My modem chose to self destruct late afternoon so been interweb-less until today [replacement only arrived today despite ISPs promises [but that's for another thread....]

Sat a.m. I cleaned the entrails and bled the system and it eventually fired up and is back to full strength .
Appreciate all the responses/suggestions - happiness reigns again at Slim Towers!!

How old is the Heater?

How many hours a week roughly is it ran?

What fuel do you use?

It seems strange that one would need disassembled and cleaned out internally.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

How old is the Heater?

How many hours a week roughly is it ran?

What fuel do you use?

It seems strange that one would need disassembled and cleaned out internally.

a) Can't recall exactly, but 2>3 at a guess
b) Maybe 10 max
c) Heating oil (aka kerosene)
d) by that I meant brushing out grinding dust etc and bleeding supply pipe after it ran out of fuel

All good now again though.

 

[rcx132]

Another update. The two latest pumps, which are a different brand, have also failed. So that's six pumps dead now. I ditched the kerosene and put in fresh pump diesel and the heaters have been going a week now. The kero was very old, reclaimed from a decommissioned tank. It had been properly filtered and I was told it would be fine. Guess not. It's nice to have a warm workshop again.

 

[Farside]

Another update. The two latest pumps, which are a different brand, have also failed. So that's six pumps dead now. I ditched the kerosene and put in fresh pump diesel and the heaters have been going a week now. The kero was very old, reclaimed from a decommissioned tank. It had been properly filtered and I was told it would be fine. Guess not. It's nice to have a warm workshop again.

I've read mention from various sources that plain kero should really be dosed with a bit of oil to keep the pumps happy.

 

[dobbslc]

Another update. The two latest pumps, which are a different brand, have also failed. So that's six pumps dead now. I ditched the kerosene and put in fresh pump diesel and the heaters have been going a week now. The kero was very old, reclaimed from a decommissioned tank. It had been properly filtered and I was told it would be fine. Guess not. It's nice to have a warm workshop again.

Is the power supply common to both pumps? If so I'd be taking a look at that incase it's over or under supplying them.

 

[JOEPRO]

I've read mention from various sources that plain kero should really be dosed with a bit of oil to keep the pumps happy.

FWIW I run my China heater on pure Kero and it runs for 10 hours at a time with no issues at all.

 

[Farside]

FWIW I run my China heater on pure Kero and it runs for 10 hours at a time with no issues at all.

The pumps obviously vary.

 

[JOEPRO]

The pumps obviously vary.

It's not as simple as that I'm afraid.

We are referring to a case of repeated pump failure. The causes can be for example:

Wrong ID fuel pipe or pipe collapse/ kink
Dirty or clogged pipe up tube/ filter
Poor fuel quality or other fuel contamination
Overvoltage or other current supply to pumps

I think the actual fuel itself plays a small part in it to be honest.

 

[nickk]

Could there have been a power surge causing faults?

 

[jsf55]

Does the filter you have fitted actually filter down small enough, i'm thinking 100 micron ?

 

[DAPPH]

I found by accident just after I installed my heater in Jan this year as a 12 volt supply that if the battery charger is on and the battery is getting charged with the charger supplying a fraction over 15 volts the heater shut down as an over voltage fault . It won't re start in that fault condition either , So I switched off the charger , left the battery to settle to 13.8 volts and it restarted immediately . Re the fuel pumps they do take in air it allows the piston to slide back to the bottom of the lift cycle by gravity . If there was no air you'd get a hydraulic lock . Next time you fire up your heaters take a few minutes to observe the out put side of the pump and you'l se a tiny air bubble every four or so seconds in the fuel line.

Another thing is cold fuel .. most fuels have a percentage of water in them , ice starts to form at 3 oC so if the pump is laying too horizontal or flat angled and the moisture in the fuel is thick enough just before 3 oC the piston will not fall back down to bottom of the pump stroke under gravity , hence the success of the heated pump ... a switched on 7 watt CFL bulb or black lamp vivarium ceramic heater bulb in a batten holder a few inches below the pump should help stop this happening in colder weather.
Though you might find enclosing this heater bulb and pump iunit s needed if we get in to the serious minus 18 oC or greater temperatures as it will also reduce cold air movement in the area of the pump ..

 

[DAPPH]

It's not as simple as that I'm afraid.

We are referring to a case of repeated pump failure. The causes can be for example:

Wrong ID fuel pipe or pipe collapse/ kink
Dirty or clogged pipe up tube/ filter
Poor fuel quality or other fuel contamination
Overvoltage or other current supply to pumps

I think the actual fuel itself plays a small part in it to be honest.

One thing not mentioned so far is that if the cap on the fuel tank is not breathing you can develop a partial vacuum in the tank as the fuel is consumed , once it gets to the trip point you heater won't work.
My tank cap is lightly tightened then backed of 1/4 of a turn to stop this happening .