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Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 15 Feb 2018, 07:39
by ghost123uk
You can now get cheap (£188) 3KW Diesel powered cabin heaters from China like THESE.

I am generally very suspicious of stuff from China having seen some right tat.

Anyone got any experience of these units ?

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 15 Feb 2018, 07:55
by ZsZ
A friend of mine ordered a 2kW one and he said its a good copy of the ebers. He said its much better to buy one instead the 20-30 year old originals for the same price.

As I researched they are a copy of a copy :)
These russian Planars (which I think are chinese manufactured too) are look a bit different:
https://shop.tigerexped.de/Planar-2D-BA ... lldaempfer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Time will tell, but the warranty and spare part availability will be the question.

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 15 Feb 2018, 08:23
by ghost123uk
I just found some end user feedback on a boat forum HERE. They seem to like them. Plus there is a UK supplier posting on there = better to buy from a UK supplier than from China !!

I'm looking because my (hopefully) new van is a Diesel (the cooker and fridge can run off Calor bottles).

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 15 Feb 2018, 08:41
by ermie571
ghost123uk wrote: I'm looking because my (hopefully) new van is a Diesel (the cooker and fridge can run off Calor bottles).


Hurrah! nice to see you back and camping again :-)

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 15 Feb 2018, 10:51
by Oldiebut goodie
ghost123uk wrote:I just found some end user feedback on a boat forum HERE. They seem to like them. Plus there is a UK supplier posting on there = better to buy from a UK supplier than from China !!

I'm looking because my (hopefully) new van is a Diesel (the cooker and fridge can run off Calor bottles).

I would believe whatever David at East Coast Marine Heating says - he is an authorized Webasto dealer and when he says that he has tested one it will have been thoroughly put to the test. I should know as he has put a couple of my 5Kw heaters to the test before fitting in boats.
The Planar units do appear to be good for the money but have only been around for a couple of years in the UK and no one has given any info on spares availability that I have seen. If you want Russian copies of their manuals I can get them from http://www.carhelp.info/forums/showthread.php?t=67111" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ( I am a member on that forum - it is Russian language only unfortunately) -
tc14.zip
kod_14-10.pdf
device1.pdf
planar.zip
kod_planar.pdf
black_box.pdf
re_04ts.pdf
stend.pdf
black_box14tc.pdf
remont4-5.pdf
kod_04-05.pdf
device.pdf
kod_termix.pdf
re_pult_05ts.pdf
tc14_planar.zip
adapter.pdf
It is interesting to see on that forum that the Russians still favour Webastos and Eberspächers over their home grown Planar heater.

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 15 Feb 2018, 14:09
by ghost123uk
Cheers for the info Mark :ok

You say you can get the Russian ones, how much to 80-90 members :wink:

Oh and how much is one of your re-furbed Diesel Webasto units (I know you can't advertise on here, but I can ask 8) )

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 15 Feb 2018, 19:21
by jrt
This has cropped up on a few of the facebook sites recently and from the people that have them the reviews seem favourable.
David

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 15 Feb 2018, 20:04
by Oldiebut goodie
ghost123uk wrote:Cheers for the info Mark :ok

You say you can get the Russian ones, how much to 80-90 members :wink:

Oh and how much is one of your re-furbed Diesel Webasto units (I know you can't advertise on here, but I can ask 8) )

I can't get the Ruskie ones, I have more than enough to do with the Webastos.

Around £290 all in. ( depending upon what is required ) There may be a brand new one in a couple of weeks. Pm me if/when you have a new van if you are interested.

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 17 Feb 2018, 00:33
by kevtherev
James76 has fitted a 5kw Chinese planar copy.
He is very happy with it.
£165

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 17 Feb 2018, 00:50
by Oldiebut goodie
5Kw in one of our vans? It will be interesting to see how it fares with getting coked up as it will be running at low heat most of the time which is the killer with most of the heaters. That is why it is better to run a 2Kw at full heat all of the time. I only run a 3.2Kw in my Merc ex-bus which is easily double the volume of our vans.
I have just had a couple of 3.9Kw Webastos in - both of which had burner pads coked up, they both had less than 250 hours running and they had never been run at more than their lowest setting.( All recorded in the ecu) My thought about them was that the guy that I got them from had done exactly the above in fitting an overpowered heater for a small volume. As he had the same problem with them both he got shot of them rather than think about how he was using them. ( I am not complaining as I got 2 good heaters cheap :D )

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 17 Feb 2018, 07:26
by dave friday
Hi Oldie,could one of these heaters be used for heating a room? good/bad idea?
ta.

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 17 Feb 2018, 07:49
by R0B
I would of thought the air intake and exhaust routing might be problematic.

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 17 Feb 2018, 10:17
by Oldiebut goodie
dave friday wrote:Hi Oldie,could one of these heaters be used for heating a room? good/bad idea?
ta.

I use a 7Kw Webasto for my 20 x 10 ft workshop so you could heat a room. You would have to scheme the air ducting in and out of the room unless you want to mount the heater inside the room which wouldn't be ideal aesthetically.

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 17 Feb 2018, 11:12
by dave friday
Ta,at the 'mo we don't have any fixed heating so will have to cut a hole/holes in the wall.
We use wood fires and bottled gas heaters...so using a diesel tank is an option.

Re: Cabin Heaters, Diesel powered, new Chinese ones = any good ?

Posted: 17 Feb 2018, 17:11
by ghost123uk
I'm guessing, if you were to mount the unit inside the room, the only pipe that needs to go outside is the exhaust from the burner.