Diesel cab heater

Seadog · Nov 16, 2020

The grille at the end is holding the two halves together. That needs to be prised off.

fizzy · Nov 16, 2020

Mine is like this - held by the round bit at the front. Not very secure tbh so I put some cable ties around mine.
Been running 50hrs a week for about 16 months now no trouble at all.
Using kero.
They are 4kw though not 8 as promised.

Barking Mat · Nov 16, 2020

Seadog said:
The grille at the end is holding the two halves together. That needs to be prised off.

Yep, did a 4 hour video conference training course with the company last week.
I know how to dismantle and rebuild them, I'm asking about the quality of the exterior plastic box / cowling.

Well, I am asking about the quality of the build.

The catchs look inspired by Mickey Mouse.

Barking Mat · Nov 16, 2020

fizzy said:
Mine is like this - held by the round bit at the front. Not very secure tbh so I put some cable ties around mine.
Been running 50hrs a week for about 16 months now no trouble at all.
Using kero.
They are 4kw though not 8 as promised.

Thanks @fizzy that's what I wanted to know. How it's held together.

Barking Mat · Nov 16, 2020

Anybody like to comment on the difference between Russian and Chinese quality? Serious question.

This looks very cheap. (Which it is). Probably more than Banggood, but half the price of a Webasto.

Ashley Burton · Nov 16, 2020

@barking mat Can I ask how you know it's from Russia?

Barking Mat · Nov 16, 2020

Ashley Burton said:
@barking mat Can I ask how you know it's from Russia?

The company is based in Russia, and it says made in Russia on all the labels.

I watched a 20 minute video of how they make them, it's definitely not Chinese. Those workers were russian, the chap doing the video conference was Serbian... Etc.

garethp · Nov 16, 2020

Is it branded Planar?

My Chinese one also has a broken clip and it works fine, however I might have tripped over something while installing it in the garage and dropped it... :mad:

qwakers · Nov 16, 2020

i assume by russian you mean the planair/autoterm ones?

they're a little better built than the chinese ones, and generally accepted to be the best quality heater that isn't Webasto and eberspacher.

having said that i have a webasto and 2 chinese heaters. one "8kw"(not really, they're all 5kw, whether they say they're 3,5 or 8) chinese all in one. it heats my garage and is 100% reliable over 2 winters now. fuel tank could be a bit bigger though. second is a 5kw in my lorry, does a good job, not had much use but seems to work well. i found it needs a non return valve near the tank to stop it draining back when not used for months, and the fuel tank cap seal swelled so the tank got vacuum locked. both easy fixes. the webasto is in dads horsebox, does the job, only issue was with the pump failing as it would mounted outside with no protection, and the doggy 24v supply that caused it to go into fault every time it tried to start. fixed with a decent fuse box not the low quality crappy one that was already there.

my point is, i don't have any issues with the chinese ones, in fact I've had more issues with the webasto, although to be fair, its older....

Ashley Burton · Nov 16, 2020

@barking mat I believe you :laughing:

Webasto & Eberspacher have definitely lost a massive market share to the chinese. I nearly bought one the other day for £85 brand new

They're that cheap you can afford them to be disposable

duncans · Nov 16, 2020

my brother as got one in his conservatory with exhaust going outside he says its brilliant keeps it nice and warm in the winter months he says it costs him peanuts to keep it nice and warm

Barking Mat · Nov 16, 2020

qwakers said:
i assume by russian you mean the planair/autoterm ones?

they're a little better built than the chinese ones, and generally accepted to be the best quality heater that isn't Webasto and eberspacher.

having said that i have a webasto and 2 chinese heaters. one "8kw"(not really, they're all 5kw, whether they say they're 3,5 or 8) chinese all in one. it heats my garage and is 100% reliable over 2 winters now. fuel tank could be a bit bigger though. second is a 5kw in my lorry, does a good job, not had much use but seems to work well. i found it needs a non return valve near the tank to stop it draining back when not used for months, and the fuel tank cap seal swelled so the tank got vacuum locked. both easy fixes. the webasto is in dads horsebox, does the job, only issue was with the pump failing as it would mounted outside with no protection, and the doggy 24v supply that caused it to go into fault every time it tried to start. fixed with a decent fuse box not the low quality crappy one that was already there.

my point is, i don't have any issues with the chinese ones, in fact I've had more issues with the webasto, although to be fair, its older....

Yep, that's the company, the name was escaping me, never heard of them before last week.

Interesting what you've written above, exactly what I wanted to know.

Companies idea, is for the price of one Webasto, you have two, should one fail, you've a spare to replace it, off the shelf.

Just my initial look at it was 'cheap', hence the post. Thanks @qwakers .

Barking Mat · Nov 16, 2020

garethp said:
Is it branded Planar?

My Chinese one also has a broken clip and it works fine, however I might have tripped over something while installing it in the garage and dropped it...

Yep certainly is.

Barking Mat · Nov 16, 2020

Ashley Burton said:
@barking mat I believe you

Webasto & Eberspacher have definitely lost a massive market share to the chinese. I nearly bought one the other day for £85 brand new

They're that cheap you can afford them to be disposable

£85 quid !!!!

Id like a link to that please.

That's unbelievably cheap. Second time I've typed that in two days.

qwakers · Nov 16, 2020

https://www.facebook.com/groups/DieselHeaterSafety/?multi_permalinks=358315088764122
https://www.facebook.com/groups/265862240781579/?multi_permalinks=676042029763596
https://www.facebook.com/groups/146837062640024/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/358361758340771/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/388958075385659/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/283466485963713/

all these groups are your friends.

qwakers · Nov 16, 2020

barking mat said:
£85 quid !!!!

Id like a link to that please.

That's unbelievably cheap. Second time I've typed that in two days.

i can do better than that...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-5KW-...740465?hash=item340fc30cf1:g:~UgAAOSw-DRdPb3v

duncans · Nov 16, 2020

think you have to buy a thingymibob so it runs off 12volt I think 15.00 off eBay only cheap

Barking Mat · Nov 16, 2020

[

qwakers said:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DieselHeaterSafety/?multi_permalinks=358315088764122
https://www.facebook.com/groups/265862240781579/?multi_permalinks=676042029763596
https://www.facebook.com/groups/146837062640024/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/358361758340771/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/388958075385659/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/283466485963713/

all these groups are your friends.

Thanks again, I'll join some groups after dinner, much appreciated. Mat

Barking Mat · Nov 16, 2020

duncans said:
think you have to buy a thingymibob so it runs off 12volt I think 15.00 off eBay only cheap

Ahh, thingmyibobs...

fizzy · Nov 16, 2020

barking mat said:
Ahh, thingmyibobs...

Be warned they take a big current at startup - so you need a 20 or 30amp supply.
I melted two power connectors I bought for the psu - so in the end I hard wired it.

Diesel cab heater

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