Installing a Cheap Chinese Diesel Parking Heater

[notchboy]

[tristessa]

[obieoberstar]

[vwwestyman]

[Daverham]

OK, one detail at a time, as time permits...

Here's how I made a custom mounting bracket to hang the heater itself under the floor of the bus.

I used the mounting plate that came with it (flimsy and flat, shown at right) as a template. With a little spray paint I was able to stencil the pattern onto a much heaver piece of steel:

After much drilling and improvising a bending brake on my bench vise:

It fits!

So here's my custom bracket, a 1.25 inch thick plywood spacer and a piece of rubber to dampen vibration:

Installed:

And the heater hanging up:

That worked well. And that steel is at least 1mm thick. But I still wasn't comfortable with the fact that I could wiggle the whole thing around with my hand a bit. It would move around too much on a bumpy road. So I added a brace that goes around to the other side and bolts to the frame rail (I even used an existing factory hole there!) and now it's rock solid, 100%:

[Abscate]

Dave, you are going to crash the internet if you internet enable a Bay Bus
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.ssS!

[vwwestyman]

[Daverham]

All added up, this has been slightly less than $300 or so. Just FYI.

Since someone just PM'd me this question, I'll just copy my answer here:


Q:
Saw your heater install. Does it work when it’s mounted with the combustion inlet and exhaust mounted sideways? I keep reading it should be upright. I like your setup. Warm regards.


A:
Out of the four different ways you could position UP, two of them are "allowed" - you just have to make sure the glow plug is at the top. And since the glow plus is actually at one of the corners, that gives you two options. Make sense? Pop off the plastic cowling and you'll see it in there and it will be clear.

And it's not really about the glow plug, that's just the easiest way to know which way is supposed to be up. It's actually about a small hole in the top of the combustion chamber. If that's in the wrong position, the whole thing will leak diesel oil out the bottom.

So yeah - mine is on its side and it works great. Many people do it this way... so long as you keep the glow plug at the top!

[Daverham]

I'd also like to note that this heater has been working wonderfully for me for about a week now. And it's awesome. It came with a little key fob remote. I can fire up my heater from inside the house and go out to a toasty warm bus.

My wife's 2017 Kia Sorento doesn't even have that feature and guess who's jealous of who now that it's 37˚F in the mornings!! Suddenly that "old van" is looking pretty cozy.

[notchboy]

I personally love the embrace these types of heaters have received this last year. Cheap, reliable heat in your lunchbox? Who would have thought?


I hope you all stay warm and happy travels this fine Turkey Day Celebration!!



Link

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[KentABQ]

FINALLY!
The new Cheap Chinese Diesel Parking Heater is installed and working great.
Since it's in the 70s here, it's difficult to test its full potential, but it pumps out a bunch of heat fairly quietly. I'm pleased with it.

To make space for it, and to replace a deteriorating cabinet, I designed and built this...

The little black vent at the bottom is the air inlet for the heater, with another vent on the opposite side for the heat. The vent swivels similar to the ones on the dash, so it can be aimed toward the cab or the bed.

The unit itself...

...is securely mounted to the floor with the fuel line and air inlet/outlet tubes routed thru the floor.

Now it's time to get out and find someplace cool to camp!

[cmonSTART]

Come on up to NH - we have plenty of cool weather here!

Looks really cool. I'm going to have to look into these after I install the aux battery.
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[tjrm63]

I chose the portable chinese heater for my application
Installed it behind the jumpseat, I also chose the one with the 4 vents so I could put heat up front in the cab as well as the back. I used 4 traps from a sink as my heater vents that are curved 90 degrees and fit inside the hole perfecly and I can rotate them to add or lessen the heat

I also added positive and negative wires with clamps from my battery to inside the jumpseat so I can use the heater while driving. I also have a spare battery that is used for the heater when camping. It works very well

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I don’t care how much it’s worth now.
I care how much this bus makes me happy

[blue72beetle]

I added the diesel heater to my watch list awhile back, today I noticed that it's dropped to $160. That was enough to push me over the edge and order it.

https://www.amazon.com/Tseipoaoi-Thermostat-Silencer-Campervans-Motorhomes/dp/B07VT24CLK
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-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus 1776 Microsquirt EFI-

[KentABQ]

This is a heads-up regarding a potential problem with the CCDPH's...

I have my heater installed inside the cabin, connected through a switch and fuse to an auxiliary battery. The last time I used the heater, it started putting out a burning plastic smell, so I shut it down but failed to turn off the switch after cool down. But I did unplug the digital control pad from the heater.

Since the heater isn't needed in Florida this time of year, I planned on investigating the burning smell in the fall.

But the potential problem I am referring to isn't the burning plastic smell, believe it or not. The problem I discovered is the fan on the heater.

Here is what happened:
I was working on some electrical components, so I disconnected the auxiliary battery. When I was done, I closed up the cab, and reconnected the battery. And the next day I opened the cab to find the CCDPH fan was running! The heat wasn't on, just the fan was running. I'm just glad I checked it that next day or it would have kept running and draining the battery. I'm surprised the fan would run with the control unit disconnected, but it did.

I've learned my lesson... I will take extra precautions in the future to make sure I turn off the heater switch after it has completely cooled down.

(BTW... If the electricity to the heater is turned off before it is allowed to fully cool down, the heat inside will fry the electronics in there. So I don't turn off the switch until it has completed the cool down cycle and has turned itself off.)

As for the burning smell, it started immediately after I added an extension pipe to the muffler. Due to the position of the heater inside my van/bus, the exhaust came out under the chassis about 18" away from the slider. I wanted the exhaust to be farther away from the door. Not sure how I am going to address it, but that's a problem to check out in the fall.

[jeremyrockjock]

I'm in the middle of installing one in my deluxe

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Why buy what you can build.
Step away from the fiberglass and no one gets hurt!!

[ImAddicted]

[cmonSTART]

Me too.. I'm liking this......
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[jeremyrockjock]

Duct modified and hard welded

_________________
Why buy what you can build.
Step away from the fiberglass and no one gets hurt!!

[John Ghia]

Jeremy do you think it will fit in the toolbox area?
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BUS BOYZ