diesel heater choice

[dutch-barge]

we opted for a Kabola...Heating and hotwater combo

they have a nice air unit, really small, using the hot water to generate the hot air.

No need to buy a spare unit, because kabola is build to last

 

[paulga]

we opted for a Kabola...Heating and hotwater combo

they have a nice air unit, really small, using the hot water to generate the hot air.

No need to buy a spare unit, because kabola is build to last

it's a pretty big machine. suitable for bigger boats

 

[paulga]

You can be sure the internals are identical. The 4 vs 1 hot air vents is simply a different end piece molding. Focus on the peripherals. Focus on the controller. Does it have the features you want. Try to find out if it uses the universal motherboard. If it does replacing the controller is easy.

I see these have the soft green fuel line. Likely to cause problems. Plan on replacing with the nylon kind.

You're probably going to need longer exhaust tubing.

Understand it is not likely to produce 8 KW heat output. These are Espar D4 knockoffs. A D4 produces 4 KW heat.

I just bought an Hcalory 8 KW heater. No complaints so far but it's output is nowhere near the output of the 8 KW Espar in the boat.

Years ago I lived abroad in Seattle. During the relative to your location cold snaps the D4 knockoff I installed could heat one cabin at a time.

I bought a Hcalory 5kw heater. Did you mean it's a copy of Espar, not Webasto?

 

[Moonfish]

When living aboard in the winter, we leave our Wallas Spartan on 24/7. My understanding is turning diesel heater units on and off causes more soot to buildup in the burner assembly, thereby decreasing their efficiency. Of course, our unit is in the engine room so it's not very likely we would see any CO in our cabins if there was a leak.

Regarding the one or four outlet models, you can always put a "Y" in the single outlet ducting to branch off into other spaces.

 

[Portage_Bay]

I bought a Hcalory 5kw heater. Did you mean it's a copy of Espar, not Webasto?

I don't see a lot of difference between Espar and Webasto 4 KW units. I do see a lot of the Chinese knock offs claiming 5 KW even 8KW when the internals are so similar to the original 4 KWs to expect greater output will lead to disappointment. I have an Hclaory. It's a good unit as long as I don't expect greater output.

 

[paulga]

I don't see a lot of difference between Espar and Webasto 4 KW units. I do see a lot of the Chinese knock offs claiming 5 KW even 8KW when the internals are so similar to the original 4 KWs to expect greater output will lead to disappointment. I have an Hclaory. It's a good unit as long as I don't expect greater output.

This is the fuel system picture from the espar d4 manual
If this hcalory is a copy from d4, it likely uses the same fuel lines. Are these what you have used:

Suction side: 5mm rubber hose (9)
Pressure side: 3.5 mm rubber joining pieces (7) and 1.5 mm hard nylon line (8)

All these numbers are ID. 3.5mm should be the size of the fuel output on the pump and the intake nozzle on the heater. It seems that espar nylon line on the pressure end is 1.5 x4mm and webasto line is 2x5mm. I don't know if a 2x5mm line works here.

 

[Portage_Bay]

I'm not sure what problem you are trying to solve or question to have answered. If I am correct in thinking you are trying to setup the fuel lines on your Hcalory you will find numerous suppliers of the needed parts on Amazon and Ebay. Most list they fit both Espar and Webasto. The come with the nylon tubing, hose and clamps for connection. The are inexpensive and worth a try. If you want confirmation of what to use Hcalory has a support line. Contact Us - Hcalory Give them a try, they may help.

As for what I used I have not yet made any modifications to my Hcalory. I purchased one of the all-in-one heaters to test out heating my shop. It has the soft green fuel line that will fail. When it does I'll order one of the kits.

I will make the comment that while it is listed as an 8KW unit it does not produce anywhere near the heat the old Espar 8KW in the boat does. If / when the old Espar goes to the great beyond if I go the Chinese heater route it will require two to try to keep up with heat the Espar produces.

 

[paulga]

I'm not sure what problem you are trying to solve or question to have answered. If I am correct in thinking you are trying to setup the fuel lines on your Hcalory you will find numerous suppliers of the needed parts on Amazon and Ebay. Most list they fit both Espar and Webasto. The come with the nylon tubing, hose and clamps for connection. The are inexpensive and worth a try. If you want confirmation of what to use Hcalory has a support line. Contact Us - Hcalory Give them a try, they may help.

As for what I used I have not yet made any modifications to my Hcalory. I purchased one of the all-in-one heaters to test out heating my shop. It has the soft green fuel line that will fail. When it does I'll order one of the kits.

I will make the comment that while it is listed as an 8KW unit it does not produce anywhere near the heat the old Espar 8KW in the boat does. If / when the old Espar goes to the great beyond if I go the Chinese heater route it will require two to try to keep up with heat the Espar produces.

got it. what I bought is a standalone model. I have sent an email to Hcalory.

 

[paulga]

Marco,


I too saw the cast iron radiator video. Great idea, not gonna fit on a boat. I wonder if the condensation problem can be sloved by having the entire exhaust run slope down?

A quick search on 4" insulation ducting turns up a number of choices. For a new install insulated flex duct. Could be just the ticket.

@Portage_Bay can this flex duct work as insulation for the hot air hose?
the webasto thermoduct insulation has similar caliber/design, but costs ~6 times as much.

 

[Portage_Bay]

@Portage_Bay can this flex duct work as insulation for the hot air hose?
the webasto thermoduct insulation has similar caliber/design, but costs ~6 times as much.

Probably. The only way to know for sure is to buy it and try it.

 

[Marco Flamingo]

The insulated flex duct looks like it would be a lot easier to install than the stuff I used (assuming the stock heater ducting would fit inside it. I would also check the heat rating of the reflective mylar. The stuff I used can even handle the heat of the exhaust outlet.

When I was doing the HVAC on my house, various websites were not advocates of insulated flex ducting. Seems that the interior ridges and partial collapse on curves could cut way down on the flow volume. Better to use rigid duct and insulate on the outside. Not sure how much it matters on short runs, but keep in mind that the motor fan in diesel "parking" heaters is sized for relatively tiny distances.

 

[Irish Rambler]

I'm looking at a 8kw Chinese diesel heater brand that offers two configurations. The main difference b/t the two is: one has a large hot air outlet, remote control and LCD display, the other one has 4 smaller hot air outlets, no remote control, it has a knob thermostat instead of a LCD display.

the first configuration

View attachment 145288

View attachment 145289

the second configuration

View attachment 145290

View attachment 145291

is the type with 4 hot air outlets better? which one would you pick?

I would choose the one with the large outlet I would also choose the one with the facility to blow cold air. I see you have the Vevor but you can find them on Wish.com or Temu.com. The secret when installing any heater is to insulate the hot air pipes, ironically this costs more than the heater.

 

[SeaWoof]

We have a few of the Chinese heaters. A few things to note. One is that if using the provided translucent gas tanks (and lines), they should be covered up if mounted outside. Sunlight and diesel do not play well together and if you leave things for any amount of time, the diesel will degrade quite quickly leading to fuel issues.

And regarding fuel issues... best to have a spare fuel pump on hand. They are the main failure point of these heaters and if they get clogged by bad fuel (the filter on it is not really great) they are very difficult to clean. Easier to just pull the pump and toss a new one in.

The other thing to watch out for is voltage. The Chinese heaters are fickle when it comes to over voltage. It will be fine if you are powering it with 12v flooded / AGM batteries, but they really don't like the higher ~13v operating range of LiFePO4 / Lithium batteries and you will likely have to regulate the voltage somehow. We just use a 110 to 12v 15a inverter. It's not the most efficient method (dumb to be converting from 12v to 120 and back), but keeps the heaters happy.

 

[paulga]

We have a few of the Chinese heaters. A few things to note. One is that if using the provided translucent gas tanks (and lines), they should be covered up if mounted outside. Sunlight and diesel do not play well together and if you leave things for any amount of time, the diesel will degrade quite quickly leading to fuel issues.

And regarding fuel issues... best to have a spare fuel pump on hand. They are the main failure point of these heaters and if they get clogged by bad fuel (the filter on it is not really great) they are very difficult to clean. Easier to just pull the pump and toss a new one in.

The other thing to watch out for is voltage. The Chinese heaters are fickle when it comes to over voltage. It will be fine if you are powering it with 12v flooded / AGM batteries, but they really don't like the higher ~13v operating range of LiFePO4 / Lithium batteries and you will likely have to regulate the voltage somehow. We just use a 110 to 12v 15a inverter. It's not the most efficient method (dumb to be converting from 12v to 120 and back), but keeps the heaters happy.

The house batteries are Northstar nsbg31, also labeled agm31. But the voltage has always been near 13.4v. is this too high for the circuit board inside the heater?

 

[Irish Rambler]

We had a Chinese 5 Kw heater installed on a previous boat and an 8Kw on our current one. Lessons from our experience ?
The 5Kw and 8Kw are identical bodies, the difference is the 8Kw has a higher diesel fuel pump rating. We found the fuel pump was very noisy so we mounted it on a rubber 'P' bracket which isolates the noise. Be careful to mount the pump vertically to avoid air bubbles.
To reduce the pipework we chose the 8Kw with a large opening. ALL the pipework is insulated from the heater exit to the cabin outlets with 'clip on' insulation, either Webasto or Eberspacher dealers sell it (it's dearer than the heater) and it makes a considerable improvement on the outlet heat. Each cabin heat exit has a shut off flap valve so you can choose where to heat, some of the heat from the lower cabins will naturally rise to other parts of the interior. We found that along with a Webasto silencer (the most effective) fitted and by insulating the exhaust with fireproof lagging reduces the engine room heat (there's still enough heat loss to keep the engine room above freezing) and reduce exhaust noise for our neighbours.
We fitted the rotary knob heater control as the LCD backlights don't last very long and they are difficult to read and adjust.
As we do with everything on board, we K.I.S.S. We're not luddites by any means but can't justify the mental masturbation messing around if there's a simpler more effective solution.
Some folks love to have complicated systems but whatever floats your boat, we regard our boat as a working tool and it needs to be simply operated and utterly reliable under all conditions.
Apologies if some folk are annoyed by my staight talking but it eliminates any obfuscation.

 

[Irish Rambler]

We have a few of the Chinese heaters. A few things to note. One is that if using the provided translucent gas tanks (and lines), they should be covered up if mounted outside. Sunlight and diesel do not play well together and if you leave things for any amount of time, the diesel will degrade quite quickly leading to fuel issues.

And regarding fuel issues... best to have a spare fuel pump on hand. They are the main failure point of these heaters and if they get clogged by bad fuel (the filter on it is not really great) they are very difficult to clean. Easier to just pull the pump and toss a new one in.

The other thing to watch out for is voltage. The Chinese heaters are fickle when it comes to over voltage. It will be fine if you are powering it with 12v flooded / AGM batteries, but they really don't like the higher ~13v operating range of LiFePO4 / Lithium batteries and you will likely have to regulate the voltage somehow. We just use a 110 to 12v 15a inverter. It's not the most efficient method (dumb to be converting from 12v to 120 and back), but keeps the heaters happy.

In fact if you use rebated agricultural diesel and place it in the sunlight the sun eliminates the dye. In Ireland the diesel is dyed green in Ireland (naturally) and red in UK/Europe. If there are any chemists reading this the dye used is called quentinrazahole and if you find some way to eliminate it this dye tell us all so we can all buy cheap diesel.