Diesil heater power use

Ron-D · Guru

Diesil heater power use

Dougwe · Chief one feather

G'day Ron, not a diesel heater but I have a gas heater installed and the fan operates on 12v ALL the time it is on. I notice very little use of the batteries. Little use of gas too.

That said, I'm sitting here in Young NSW feeling a bit chilly so might just have to flick the switch me thinks.

Keep Safe on the roads and out there (OH! and keep warm)

iana · Guru

Power use is quite high, 4 or so amps, you may need to start thinking about a second battery.

Ian.

valiant81 · Guru

Hi Ron d;

In the process of buying a Chinese diesel heater and still waiting for said heater to arrive( Ausie post ) so i won't hold my breath. I did a google search on these cheap heaters, and while the heaters glow plug in active for the initial start up ( a few min ) the current is in the order of around 10 Amps and the heater comes with a in line fuse of 15 Amps. BUT once the heater has got going and this would take a few minutes the current draw drops to around 1 Amp.

Turning of the heater ant this will kick the glow plug back on as to burn off any carbon built up this may take a little time and also with the cool down cycle of the heater.

Looking forward to installing my own diesel heater when it arrives. have a look on u tube or google ( typing in 5Kw diesel heater ) and you will fine a wealth information.

Good luck.

Ron-D · Guru

Gas seems a good option Doug but I can fit and buy a diesil One myself so it will be a lot less expensive,what concerns me is the power usage as I have only a 160 amp panel and. 120 amp agm battery Ian suggests 4amps valiant suggests one amp per hour after start up?to much power draw would be no good ,haveing to purchase extra batteries and chargers auto electricians expenses what a pain that would be...

-- Edited by Ron-D on Wednesday 8th of May 2019 05:31:34 PM

Brenda and Alan · Guru

Ron we have a Eberspacher 2 KW heater. The power draw varies with fan speed when operating as below.

speed 1 0.9 Amp

speed 2 1.5 Amp

speed 3 2.0 Amp

speed 4 2.8 Amp

Ours has an automatic control and fan speed depends on temperature difference between ambient and that set on the controller.

You can get them with a manual control that would allow you to control fan speed .

Alan

iana · Guru

I ran our heater this morning to get figures, but the sun came out and that stuffed that. next time we light up the heater at night I will be more attentive.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Our diesel heater has variable fan speed . Even when Ive been anxious about usage on overcast days . Ive hardly noticed any battery usage . At times . 12.5v going to bed leaving heater on . Turning thermostat to 1/4 from
Max . To keep fan speed low as well as noise . In most cases the battery voltage hardly drops .

iana · Guru

Soon after I put up the last post, orders came through to stoke up the heater. 4 amps would be a good figure to work on, our heater drew more than that, up to 6 amps, but then the fridge came on and that was that.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Yes a lot depends on usage over time . Why you really need about twice required . Storage and solar . Nothing beats a hell good 240v battery charger to top them up with either (dear I say generator ) or when 240v mains is available. Why we use elect / generator when on our own to boil water . The 10 to 20 minutes punches and balances our batteries . We have had good service from them since doing this . Over 4 years old seems to be good so far !!

Ron-D · Guru

Alan your figures look better than Ak and Ians ,I wonder if your running a 2hw heater and there runing a 4kw heater? your Heater seems A good one very economic...

Brenda and Alan · Guru

The only problem is they are not cheap in Aust. as they are marketed by Dometic at about 100% markup on European prices. You can buy them from England and Turkey at far cheaper prices online. The site I buy from in England is "butlertechnik.com ". I also get service kits from them at 10% of the price Dometic ask for the same kit. Their service and shipping is extremely good and very quick.

Sorry about the link but the website wont let me do it as a link.

Alan

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Running a diesel heater does not use excessive power, but starting them does, for a short time. They have a glow plug type devise that needs to be heated with electrical power to start the combustion process. They can draw up to 30A for a short time.
To avoid high power use, don't install a diesel heater that is too large for the job otherwise it will shut down and then re start on a regular basis, wasting lots of power. Bigger is NOT better.
Cheers,
Peter

Ron-D · Guru

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Running a diesel heater does not use excessive power, but starting them does, for a short time. They have a glow plug type devise that needs to be heated with electrical power to start the combustion process. They can draw up to 30A for a short time.
To avoid high power use, don't install a diesel heater that is too large for the job otherwise it will shut down and then re start on a regular basis, wasting lots of power. Bigger is NOT better.
Cheers,
Peter

Good information Peter I will install the small diesil heater, what we do is when we shower the pump is the heavy hitter as far as power goes we hook the car up for fifteen minutes while showering it puts heaps into the battery ,start the diesil heater useing the same method when nesseary why not...

Ron-D · Guru

Thanks for the link Alan.

dennis78 · Member

Hi Rond,

I installed a heater from China and it works a treat. Don't have any info on power usage at this stage. If DIY install pay particular attention to fitting the exhaust pipe to the unit and routing outside the van. I sealed the connection with muffler paste as well as the clip to ensure no carbon monoxide leaks into the van. Also, where the exhaust passes through the van wall, I wrapped the pipe with asbestos tape and glass wool, and also sealed any chance off CO fumes coming in through here by coating the tape and glass wool with the muffler putty. It is also a good idea to install a carbon monoxide detector in the van if you do not have one,

Cheers,

Dennis

elliemike · Guru

My Eberspacher D2 diesel heater seems to be pulling on average about 1 to 1.5 amps each time I have happened to look at the ammeter, when it is running.

I started it and ran it up this morning for a fellow Avanner who is wanting to install one. He commented on, it was pulling 1.5 on full power jut after startup, as he was standing by the ammeter.

Mike

-- Edited by elliemike on Friday 10th of May 2019 06:43:15 PM

Eaglemax · Guru

We run a 3kw chinese heater. But we also run a cpap for 8 hours which draws 4-5 amps. I think your 120ah battery will be ok

Ron-D · Guru

Thanks for the extra information Dennis,mike ,eagle...

denmonkey · Senior Member

bit late on the reply but I installed a chinese deisel heater over the weekend.
Start up and warming up to tempt which can take anywhere around 10 minutes or so,m depending on your settings, I was seeing 6amps.
Depending on which setting I have it on after that, I could easily maintain a comfortable temp with it on its lowest setting and it was pulling 0.5amps.
That's a 3Kw unit, 17ft van with 3 windows open and on it's lowest setting at around 22degrees.

So quite economical on power I think. That said, I have plenty of solar and 260Ah of batteries to work with but most of that goes to the fridge.

cheers Brett

T1 Terry · Guru

The really important part is the wire size from the battery to the heater. That start up/heat the glow plug current is quite high, only short term but it will cause severe voltage drop if the wiring is too small. too much voltage drop and the glow plug doesn't fully heat to burn off temp and this results in excessive servicing required because the unit has carbon fouled the glow plug.

T1 Terry