[Video] 2KW Diesel Heater Install

sipma02

Currently full time in the van
Nice work! I just watched the whole thing. Very informative. I'm wanting to install one of these heaters and this video is giving me the confidence to do it!

Is the T in the fuel line between the fuel tank and the Espar heater pump?

Also, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Monstaliner paint job! You should start a thread about that ;)
 
Last edited:

JoeyB

Active member
Nice work! I just watched the whole thing. Very informative. I'm wanting to install one of these heaters and this video is giving me the confidence to do it!

Is the T in the fuel line between the fuel tank and the Espar heater pump?
Very glad to hear you enjoyed the video.

Yes you want the T before the espar pump, so that the espar pump is not pumping into your new line.

Also, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Monstaliner paint job! You should start a thread about that ;)
I started one https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81151 but it was focused more towards just showing it off and saying for the love of God, spray it on if you can! Rolling it on was an enormous amount of work haha.
 

sipma02

Currently full time in the van
Hah, nice. Yeah I'm in between right now. You feel strongly about spraying it? I have some experience rattle-canning stuff, but nothing major like a freaking sprinter van! But I was reading a thread here about it... it seems doable if you take your time.
 

JoeyB

Active member
Hah, nice. Yeah I'm in between right now. You feel strongly about spraying it? I have some experience rattle-canning stuff, but nothing major like a freaking sprinter van! But I was reading a thread here about it... it seems doable if you take your time.
It took us roughly 12 hours including prep work to roll it with 2 people. I think spraying it would had been much faster lol.
 

RedLens

Member
Hey Joey,

Your video inspired me to quit being lazy and drill some holes under my passenger seat to get my chinese-espar heater installed. Did yours have a fairly noticeable smell when first running? I've run it for an hour and it definitely has an odd smell, but damn it's pumping heat.
 

RedLens

Member
Never mind! Problem solved. It was the fan catching the plastic housing a bit making it smell plasticy. This thibg is awesome for $130! Leaves ample money for a really nice CO monitor :)
 

JoeyB

Active member
Never mind! Problem solved. It was the fan catching the plastic housing a bit making it smell plasticy. This thibg is awesome for $130! Leaves ample money for a really nice CO monitor :)
Mine actually has had a weird smell. I've been thinking it'll just burn off or maybe I didn't tighten my bolts down enough for a seal.
I'll have to see if it's the same thing you experienced, did you just have to remove the cover and push the fan in towards the center of the heater?
 

sipma02

Currently full time in the van
Very glad to hear you enjoyed the video.
Also wondering. What is your coldest weather you’ve camped in? I’m trying to decide between the 2kw and 5 kw version. I would much prefer the 2kw Version as it would fit underneath the van between the frame rails.
 

JoeyB

Active member
Also wondering. What is your coldest weather you’ve camped in? I’m trying to decide between the 2kw and 5 kw version. I would much prefer the 2kw Version as it would fit underneath the van between the frame rails.
I really haven't used it yet because I'm still converting our van.

From what I've read on the FB group for these heaters, 2kw is good down to like 0F. The 5kw is best if you're planning to be below that.
With that being said, if you didn't know, the heaters don't cycle on/off. They just cycle to their lowest mode. A lot of people have to leave windows opened so the temp doesn't run up too high on low.

Also, even if you order a 2kw you will probably get a 5 kw with different settings labeled as a 2kw. The sellers are notorious for doing this. I wasn't aware and got lucky I actually got a 2kw.

Differences can be noted here: http://imgur.com/gallery/AbWaTcp
 

RedLens

Member
Mine actually has had a weird smell. I've been thinking it'll just burn off or maybe I didn't tighten my bolts down enough for a seal.
I'll have to see if it's the same thing you experienced, did you just have to remove the cover and push the fan in towards the center of the heater?
Just be careful not to overtighten the 4 bolts from the body, it can twist the body than actually cause worse rubbing. I had a clearly rubbing fan as it was really noisy st first. When I opened mine up you could tell the fan had been rubbing since the plastic was scraped up, pop yours open and check if you have any marks.

Did you mess with your pump setting at all or just leave as it came?
 

RedLens

Member
Also wondering. What is your coldest weather you’ve camped in? I’m trying to decide between the 2kw and 5 kw version. I would much prefer the 2kw Version as it would fit underneath the van between the frame rails.
I’ll update you when I take it to 0-10 degree weather next week. I can tell you today I got my van up to 90 degrees from 55 in about 45 minutes today before turning it off. I think a lot also depends on how well insulated. 2kw seems fine for most 140/144in WB vans.

The 2kw under the van would be awesome. I was considering placing it directly behind the sliding door step well with 1 vented outlet on each side.
 

JoeyB

Active member
I’ll update you when I take it to 0-10 degree weather next week. I can tell you today I got my van up to 90 degrees from 55 in about 45 minutes today before turning it off. I think a lot also depends on how well insulated. 2kw seems fine for most 140/144in WB vans.

The 2kw under the van would be awesome. I was considering placing it directly behind the sliding door step well with 1 vented outlet on each side.
RedLens, think you missed my response, just wanted to bring it to attention:

Mine actually has had a weird smell. I've been thinking it'll just burn off or maybe I didn't tighten my bolts down enough for a seal.
I'll have to see if it's the same thing you experienced, did you just have to remove the cover and push the fan in towards the center of the heater?
 

RedLens

Member
RedLens, think you missed my response, just wanted to bring it to attention:
I just wrote back to messages, so maybe it was confusing since I don't know how to quote 2 things in one response :thinking:

Just be careful not to overtighten the 4 bolts from the body, it can twist the body than actually cause worse rubbing. I had a clearly rubbing fan as it was really noisy at first. When I opened mine up you could tell the fan had been rubbing since the plastic was scraped up, pop yours open and check if you have any marks.

Did you mess with your pump setting at all or just leave as it came?


Yes, I pulled the fan forward a bit, and I actually loosened my bolts. both made a huge improvement and now its whisper quiet.
 

JoeyB

Active member
I just wrote back to messages, so maybe it was confusing since I don't know how to quote 2 things in one response :thinking:

Just be careful not to overtighten the 4 bolts from the body, it can twist the body than actually cause worse rubbing. I had a clearly rubbing fan as it was really noisy at first. When I opened mine up you could tell the fan had been rubbing since the plastic was scraped up, pop yours open and check if you have any marks.

Did you mess with your pump setting at all or just leave as it came?


Yes, I pulled the fan forward a bit, and I actually loosened my bolts. both made a huge improvement and now its whisper quiet.
My pump settings are stock.

Glad to hear it was as simple as popping the cover. I'll take a look when this rainy weather clears up. Mine isn't noisy really, but theres a weird smell I can't figure out...could still just need burned off like I thought initially. We shall see
 

GSWatson

2013 144
The first one I installed had a kind of a ‘new heater smell,’ similar to an electric heater run the first time of the year with dust and whatnot on the neater body... I ran it on high for a couple hours with everything open and it went away. My guess is it’s some kind of release oil from the aluminum casting of the heat exchanger.

I’m sitting here now with my 5Kw ticking over; it’s 45 degrees outside and I have the thermostat set at 16*c. A thing to note is that if you use the temp function, the fan will slow down to very quiet when the target temp is reached. When switching to the “Hz” setting, which sets the pump speed, the fan seems to run higher or at a constant speed.

The best way to check if you’re getting an actual 2k is the body measurements; there’s a great FB group on the Chinese heaters for troubleshooting and installing.


Cheers,
Greg
 

JoeyB

Active member
The first one I installed had a kind of a ‘new heater smell,’ similar to an electric heater run the first time of the year with dust and whatnot on the neater body... I ran it on high for a couple hours with everything open and it went away. My guess is it’s some kind of release oil from the aluminum casting of the heat exchanger.

I’m sitting here now with my 5Kw ticking over; it’s 45 degrees outside and I have the thermostat set at 16*c. A thing to note is that if you use the temp function, the fan will slow down to very quiet when the target temp is reached. When switching to the “Hz” setting, which sets the pump speed, the fan seems to run higher or at a constant speed.

The best way to check if you’re getting an actual 2k is the body measurements; there’s a great FB group on the Chinese heaters for troubleshooting and installing.


Cheers,
Greg
Yep! I'm on the list to get the After Burner controller. It's an alternative controller handmade by a guy in Australia. You can connect to it via WiFi and control the heater, it has a ton more features (you can set the heater to actually cycle on/off), it's great. Looks like there's a couple month wait but I don't mind. I'm #25.

Check it out here: http://www.mrjones.id.au/afterburner/

Also I linked a good infographic for 5kw vs 2kw comparison in the last page
 
Last edited:

OChrisJonesO

Chris Jones
From what I have read/seen, there's really 2 versions of these heaters, we'll call them small and large. Small (as pointed out in your graphics) are ACTUALLY 2-5kw output heaters. Large are ACTUALLY 5-8kw output heaters. The kw output depends on the settings set by the controller/LCD (low to high). I don't think you "got lucky" with the label that appeared on your unit, I think it's all related to being broken Engrish / misleading advertising / general confusion. So yours isn't really a 2kw heater, it's a 2-5kw heater. The one I have installed in my 03 T1N is likewise, a 2-5kw SMALL heater.

The small version of these heaters is definitely adequate for vans of this size, in fact I'd say they're better for vans of this size. You don't want to oversize it and go with the 5-8kw heater, as it'll likely be TOO powerful. Too powerful you say? Yes, and as a result you'll likely run it on low for most of the time, which is going to lead to more soot buildup over time which is going to lead to more maintenance needed / shorter lifespan of the heater. When you turn your heater off, it actually turns itself on HIGH for a few minutes to burn off any fuel/soot in the system (whilst turning off the fuel pump) to clean it out before shutting down for this very reason.

If you've got a T1N, the smaller 2-5kw version is the way to go. Or if you want a heater that can also pre-heat your engine via the coolant loop, these guys have also hit the market recently https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...?spm=a2700.7724838.2017115.145.2de64ebdUUEsKb
 

JoeyB

Active member
From what I have read/seen, there's really 2 versions of these heaters, we'll call them small and large. Small (as pointed out in your graphics) are ACTUALLY 2-5kw output heaters. Large are ACTUALLY 5-8kw output heaters. The kw output depends on the settings set by the controller/LCD (low to high). I don't think you "got lucky" with the label that appeared on your unit, I think it's all related to being broken Engrish / misleading advertising / general confusion. So yours isn't really a 2kw heater, it's a 2-5kw heater. The one I have installed in my 03 T1N is likewise, a 2-5kw SMALL heater.

The small version of these heaters is definitely adequate for vans of this size, in fact I'd say they're better for vans of this size. You don't want to oversize it and go with the 5-8kw heater, as it'll likely be TOO powerful. Too powerful you say? Yes, and as a result you'll likely run it on low for most of the time, which is going to lead to more soot buildup over time which is going to lead to more maintenance needed / shorter lifespan of the heater. When you turn your heater off, it actually turns itself on HIGH for a few minutes to burn off any fuel/soot in the system (whilst turning off the fuel pump) to clean it out before shutting down for this very reason.

If you've got a T1N, the smaller 2-5kw version is the way to go. Or if you want a heater that can also pre-heat your engine via the coolant loop, these guys have also hit the market recently https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...?spm=a2700.7724838.2017115.145.2de64ebdUUEsKb
I do not think they're meant as 2-5kw and 5-8kw. I get that they're marketed at different ranges but I think that is China just trying to make you think you're buying a stronger heater and charging a little more $ when as you said they're just changing settings on a 5kw heater to get "8kw" of heating power

They're knock offs of the espar d2 and d5, which come in 2kw and 5kw, not 2-5kw and 5-8kw, and the knock off is exactly the same size as the Espar (e.g. the 2kw chinese heater is the same size as the espar d2, and the 5kw is the same size as the d5).

It seems about 75% of people on the FB group (the one with 30,000 members that use these heaters) say that if they order a 2kw, they actually get a 5kw, which they do not want because of exactly what you said, they will only run on low and soot up, then end up returning or (usually) getting a partial refund, reselling and trying again.
 

JoeyB

Active member
We took the van camping for 3 nights for my birthday. We used the heater on the last night as it got down to 33F. It kept the van warm and toasty @ ~75F. Worked amazingly. I opened our vent fan, set it to pull air in at the lowest speed, and just cracked the window on my side of the bed. The heater stayed on low almost the whole night, as the temp dropped it would ramp up to bring the van back up to temp and then idle at low. Also, the odd smell it initially had when test running it is gone. Very pleased. I should be getting my AfterBurner controller in the next week or so as well, going through customs in NY right now.

Now I've just gotta decide where the heck I am going to mount the controller haha.
 

Top Bottom