slim_boy_fat
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"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. 
- Thread starter rcx132
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I suppose I should have referred to it as "the router", but the folk at the ISP understood fine. 
JOEPRO
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How old is the Heater?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 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
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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
Philip
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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
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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
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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
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FWIW I run my China heater on pure Kero and it runs for 10 hours at a time with no issues at all.
Farside
Badly Welded Man
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The pumps obviously vary.
JOEPRO
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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.
DAPPH
as dyslexik as I'm daft
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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 ..
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
as dyslexik as I'm daft
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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 .
