Chinese diesel heater

Newbie's Corner
1

Hi all

Im new to this group and van life, please excuse my lack of knowledge, i was hoping someone might be able to help with a power issue on my Chinese diesel heater, one day it was working perfectly well the next day the control screen was blank,

Ive plugged in a new controller screen so its not that
Ive checked the power supply power and its fine at 13.7
When i connect the heater the power supply on the other side of the jack is 1.9, really have no idea why if the power supply image 1 is reading 13.7 its not on the jack that connects to this and goes in to the haeter

Because there isnt any power transferring to the heater from the battery i cant even see a fault code

Can anyone help with my issue?

Thank you

Stuart

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2

Greetings & Welcome!

Considering all the problems people have with those types of heaters, I recommend against them.

My heater/cooker cost all of $6 to build using dollar store parts, and runs on cooking oil. It is pretty much fool proof, and requires no power. With the addition of a $20 heat powered wood stove fan, you can fan forced heat without the need of electricity.

For only a couple dollars more, you can also turn it into an electricity free air cooler.

Multi purpose, cheap, reliable, and electricity/battery power free, for the win.

Cheers!

"Stealth is an obvious camper with nothing to hide." ~ RoadRunner



3

My experience trying out diesel heaters was negative and I had returned both of them.
They are so poorly made I would be worried about fire in the vehicle. They have no real tech support.
Also, one very popular brand was caught on dangerous indoor emissions from their unit, the unit was recalled in the US but clearly they are marketing the very same stuff now. Very shady.
Diesel emissions are extremely dangerous for health for muliple reasons, including long term consequences not seen right away. There are American units that are probably well made but they are quite expensive. For that price I’d just get vented propane heat (which I already have in my current rig).
I’m interested in cooking oil systems for homesteading in stationary dwelling (not in a vehicle with small space, flammablity, moving) but I wouldn’t want oil to burn unvented in my actual living space, stuff got to be vented.

4

Greetings!

I have both low & high vents for passive airflow/cooling that doesn’t require any power, and I keep them open 24/7 normally. I do have exhaust fans on them, but rarely use them.

Then when heating, cooking, cooling, or using my table top fire pit, they sit on my counter, with an opening window behind them, and a range hood over them. To date, they have never triggered my carbon monoxide detectors, even when running the heating/cooling 24/7 for days on end.

My fire pit has flames above it’s container, but with the heater/cooler/cooker the flames are down in the container below a grill on top. It’s made using a cookie tin with a lid, so when it’s not in use, the lid prevents any spillage when traveling. The fire pit has spill proof lid as well.

I actually keep several, so I can have multiple burners, plus one for my portable, fold flat oven.

The somewhat open flames don’t bother me, people use their stoves & ovens for heat all the time. This is just a cheaper & simpler version, and what I probably appreciate more than anything is the adjustability of the heat output. Mine have 36 wicks, and you adjust the heat level by how many wicks you light. Fan forced cooling only requires a single wick to be lit to run the fan, and no electricity.

The newer versions of heat powered fans use a Peltier chip to power them, but the older versions used variations of the Stirling engine design, which is what I’ve chosen to use. My fans are from the 1800’s, and still running like new.

We can learn a lot from history, and how they accomplished things before electricity, and much of it can be very beneficial to modern day nomads. Having power is great, but having the ability to live comfortably without it is priceless.

Cheers!

"Old school, cheap, simple, reliable, and easily replaceable for the win!" ~ Traveler@Heart



5

I mean it sounds like power supply connector or wire is going out, there’s damage probably, likely needs relacement.
Not surprising given how these things are made.
One of the models I tried had very hot exhaust pipe/flue going right by exposed plastic fuel line connection. In disbelief they are allowed to sell that.

6

Greetings!

I need to setup portable oven to run on cooking oil for outside use, I dont use my propane inside oven at all and dont want to cook inside.

Do you need directions on how to build one?

Cheers!

"Old school, cheap, simple, reliable, and easily replaceable for the win!" ~ Traveler@Heart



7

Yes, I do. I see some folding camping ovens sold on Amazon for about 50 bucks but not sure of their quality, except may in in Coleman case. One can probably build own small oven, in my case its 1 person situation

8

Greetings!
heater_cooker

I used a large Phillips screwdriver to quickly & easily punch the wick holes through the foil wrapped foam.

Adjust the heat output according to the number of wicks lit. I rarely light more than 10-12.

Cheers!

"Old school, cheap, simple, reliable, and easily replaceable for the win!" ~ Traveler@Heart



9

What about the oven itself, that goes on top of the cooker, what portable oven are you using?

10

Greetings!

I can’t find a name on it, but any of them that fold flat and have a thermometer on them should work fine. (I think it’s a Coleman…)

Cheers!

"Old school, cheap, simple, reliable, and easily replaceable for the win!" ~ Traveler@Heart



11

I see, Coleman seems to be the way to go.

Curious, how long does it take to bake, say, average pie in such oven?
Can it bake a loaf of bread and how long would it take?
And how much oil would get used?

12

Greetings!

Hmmm… I don’t think I’ve ever baked a pie, or made bread in my oven… I do know that if I follow the recipe for whatever I’m making, it’s the same as with any other oven. Example: “Pre heat oven to 350° and bake for 20 minutes on middle rack.” My oven has a thermometer built in, so it’s actually really easy to get & keep the temperature right.

I’ve made brownies, cookies, chex mix, cakes, casseroles, pot pies, TV dinners, corn bread, cinnamon rolls, lazy cobbler, ribs, brisket, London broil, steaks, chops, roasts, turkey, chicken, fish, and many forms of potatoes, in my oven to name a few.

For stuff people would usually use a crock pot for, I use my cast iron dutch oven, either with or without the lid as appropriate. I sometimes use my dutch oven as a regular oven as well, and even as a deep frying pan, or deep fryer. I also bought a new lid for it at a thrift store a few months back, that turns it into an electricity free air fryer! The fan is heat powered just like the wood stove fans, and it has a thermometer and vents all built into the lid. It’ll do French fries even better than McDonald’s, and that’s really saying something.

One thing I do is eat well, maybe not always the healthiest, but ALWAYS the tastiest! I had a loaded, twice baked potato with shrimp, along with a pepper steak, and corn on the cob for dinner last night. I’m making a Jack Daniels London broil for dinner tonight, with scalloped potatoes, and whipped cream/fruit salad. (Can’t remember what that salad is called, but it sure is tasty.)

Cheers!

"Old school, cheap, simple, reliable, and easily replaceable for the win!" ~ Traveler@Heart



13

Yeah, sounds like you are eating all the tasty stuff. I really want to eat less bland on the road, I eat very healthy but sort of bland now.

I just dealt with pancake making nightmare on a stovetop, and Im about done. Need outside oven! Got to scrape the pancakes off the dirty ground after pan slipped and flew off, pretty sure a fox had crapped around that same spot last year, plus sudden strong winds blowing my pancake setup over and away and horribly sticky Lodge cast iron pan nightmare. The company told me since I dont fry meat in it on a regular basis it likely will never be seasoned well! Seems like too much maintenance is required for those newish pans. The last thing I want to eat is fried greasy meat, and thats just to keep seasoning the damn pan! I guess I’m done with cast iron pans but may be can still use it in that Coleman oven for baking, with foil.

I cant figure out what craft foam with foil to use, do you buy it already bonded to the foil somewhere?
Or do you glue the foil on?
How thick that foam should be, roughly?

14

Greetings!

Re: cast iron…

I would think that just bringing some cooking oil up to high heat for a bit would adequately season it. Saute’ some onions & mushrooms in it, then add whatever veggies sound good to you that day. Throw it into an omelet, & enjoy!

Re: Craft Foam & Foil…

I usually get craft foam at either a dollar store or Walmart… It’s thin, maybe 1/16"-1/8", and usually costs about a buck for an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet. The air in the foam will cause it to float. You wrap it in a double layer of foil to keep the flames from burning the foam. No need to glue it.

I just wrap it a couple of times in foil, leaving enough on each end to roll up tight to keep it in place on the foam.

Cheers!

"Old school, cheap, simple, reliable, and easily replaceable for the win!" ~ Traveler@Heart



15

I see, will give it a try with the foam.

As to that Lodge cast iron pan, I give up, I already tried everything before. I grew up with well seasoned old pans that behaved completely different than this new hardware, required no reseasoning, were washed with soap and anything could be cooked in them. May be I should have bought used old pan, not a new one. The company told me I must bake it for an hour to reseason and also fry meat in it. High maintenance isnt worth it and my stomach often didnt feel happy from that semi fried food anyway, going back to sauteeing and baking, its much healthier anyway

16

Greetings!

You know, you could be right… Maybe there’s a difference between newer cast iron and older ones. I think I bought mine used, and a really long ago.

Seems like I saw an ad somewhere about cookware with a non-stick ceramic coating, that could also be used in the oven. Maybe you can find something like that.

Cheers!

"Old school, cheap, simple, reliable, and easily replaceable for the win!" ~ Traveler@Heart



17

Oh I got stuff for the oven, I got oven-safe glass dish and glass plate

18

Some of that coating is toxic-stick with cast iron or stainless
copy and paste this bc newbies cant post links
consumerreport(dot)org/toxic-chemicals-substances/you-cant-always-trust-claims-on-non-toxic-cookware-a4849321487/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20CR’s%20product%20safety,them%20all%2C%E2%80%9D%20Boring%20says.

19

Greetings & Welcome!

Here’s the clickable link for anybody interested:

Cheers!

"Old school, cheap, simple, reliable, and easily replaceable for the win!" ~ Traveler@Heart



20

Yeah, I always was suspicios of new coatings. Bake in glass, ceramic dish or enameled dutch oven. Cast iron adds iron to food, that’s also not good if happens often