Cheap Heat?

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Dalecamino

Dalecamino

Local Chapter Leader
Joined
Jan 2, 2008
Messages
14,608
Location
Indianapolis, In.
We'll soon find out. When my electric bill more than doubled last month, I decided to shop for an alternative way to heat the shed. I found this Vevor diesel heater while browsing Youtube. After watching hours of videos, I decided to buy one. I learned that the factory fuel pumps are quite loud as they have a piston inside of them that slides back and forth. I knew I couldn't stand that for very long, so I searched for ways to make them quieter. That search lead me to a gentleman in the UK who builds silent fuel pumps. That would be the black box on the wall to the right of the heater in the photo.

The heater is powered by 12 volt battery. I wanted to be able to plug it into a 110v outlet, so I bought a 110 to 12v converter. The heater has a cool down feature, which means they have to cool down after you turn them off. They still need power during this stage. So, battery back up is needed. The power supply (silver box under the heater in the photo) will automatically switch from 110v to 12v instantly. This prevents damage to the heater. On start up, the heater can pull 10 amps for a few minutes, then drops to around 2 amps. Fuel capacity is 1.3 gallons, or 5 liters. At 120 square feet, I can run the heater on lowest setting after initial warm up. Expectation is 30 + hours on a gallon of fuel. I bought 2 gallons of diesel fuel at $3.49 per gallon.

Exhaust / intake

The heater has an intake (Inlet for the turbo fan) and an exhaust (outlet for the turbo) There is a fan in front of the turbo for air to pass over the turbo housing where the heat comes from. There is an exhaust pipe for the fumes to be expelled. I've run the exhaust out the window through a piece of backer board. This exhaust pipe gets extremely hot. I lined the hole for the pipe with aluminum tape. I'll have to keep an eye on that. I don't believe the board will burn, but still want to be cautious. On the board there is a 3" hole for the exhaust from the laser engraver. I stuck a 3" elbow in there to connect the hose to. I set this up so I can remove the board, and set it on the bench when I'm finished, then close the window.

Tuning

I still need to tune the silent pump when I start it up. I'll need to adjust the 12 volt power output on the converter, and adjust the air/fuel mixture on the pump for my altitude. I'll acquire my brother's assistance for this step.

I hope this works out! Stay tuned for updates!
 

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I might change out the wood board for a piece of hardibacker or cement board. You could seal up any gaps with some fire proof spray foam.

Also, make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector. You want to make sure that you don't get knocked out because of CO.
 
Jarod888 said:
I might change out the wood board for a piece of hardibacker or cement board. You could seal up any gaps with some fire proof spray foam.

Also, make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector. You want to make sure that you don't get knocked out because of CO.
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Thanks Patrick, that is backer board. (cement) I need it to spin freely when I take it out of the window, and set it on the bench. I've got the CO covered as well.
 
PatrickR said:
Watching this with interest. I am curious as to what the approximate up front cost is and how large of a space you are heating?
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Some might call it overkill. They have 2kw, 5kw and 8kw. The 5& 8 are nearly the same heaters. I bought the 8kw which is like 27,000 btu I'm heating 120 square feet. Although they have different heat ranges. Some have settings of 1-10, others have different measurements. All are basically the same.

They start at around $80.00 where mine was $100.00 + shipping. I allowed for quick start up then decreasing the output to around 1-3 level. The silent pump was roughly $163.00 coming from the UK. The Power supply was only $40.00, and I got a 12 volt battery for $30.00 Initial investment, but should recover some of it in electric bill savings over a few months. In one of the videos I watched, a guy said they last 10 years. I hope he's right.

Also, if you run these heaters on low, you need to crank them up for 10 minutes before turning them off to clear out any soot build up. Hope this helps.
 
I wanted to buy one but it seems that there isnt much shop time available this winter anyway. These heaters look promising for such a setup. If you dont mind me saying the fresh air intake should take air from outside or else you inevitably create drafts. Cheers
 
MedWoodWorx said:
I wanted to buy one but it seems that there isnt much shop time available this winter anyway. These heaters look promising for such a setup. If you dont mind me saying the fresh air intake should take air from outside or else you inevitably create drafts. Cheers
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Thanks Mike. I don't mind your advice at all. There have been opposing opinions about that intake in some of the videos I've seen. I think it's sort of like the CA finish discussions here on IAP. Some say it's better to reheat the already heated air, as opposed to heating frigid air. Since I only have a one foot hose, I don't have a choice for the present time. To be clear, I'm not arguing with you. Just saying!
 
Dalecamino said:
Thanks Mike. I don't mind your advice at all. There have been opposing opinions about that intake in some of the videos I've seen. I think it's sort of like the CA finish discussions here on IAP. Some say it's better to reheat the already heated air, as opposed to heating frigid air. Since I only have a one foot hose, I don't have a choice for the present time. To be clear, I'm not arguing with you. Just saying!
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If i got things right that intake is for the fresh air that goes into the combustion chamber (not the warm air output) so if its cold even better. Anyway this intake provides air that is exhausted ( outside) after the combustion as fumes. If you draw air from the inside of the building envelope a draft will be formed since this air is sucked and thrown outside.
If you think that when installed in a van/rv both the exhaust and air intake go out through the vehicles "floor" it makes sense..cheers
 
My uncle was a machinist. He pulled an oil furnace out of a house about to be demolished and installed it in his 2 car sized machine shop. He rigged a 1 gal tank to the furnace and it ran on kerosene. Warmed the shop up from freezing cold to toasty warm in about 10 minutes. He had to be careful not to cause condensation on his machine tools.
 
MedWoodWorx said:
If i got things right that intake is for the fresh air that goes into the combustion chamber (not the warm air output) so if its cold even better. Anyway this intake provides air that is exhausted ( outside) after the combustion as fumes. If you draw air from the inside of the building envelope a draft will be formed since this air is sucked and thrown outside.
If you think that when installed in a van/rv both the exhaust and air intake go out through the vehicles "floor" it makes sense..cheers
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Thanks Mike, it does make sense.
 
MRDucks2 said:
Will be watching how things go, Chuck. Still thinking about the ways to heat the new shop for next winter.
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Thanks Mike. I decided to order a longer air intake hose to run outside the shed. Makes sense to me. I'll keep you informed as to how it works out, or not.
 
Well it's up and running. I ordered an extra long air intake hose, but the seller didn't respond so it was cancelled. I'll get two regular length hoses, and put them together so I can run it out the window. The fuel pump is silent. The heater motor makes a bit of noise on high, but gets quieter as it slows down. This one has a basic controller, which is good for me. On/off, up/down buttons.

I ran the heater for about an hour with the shed door open. It has to run for a good two hours this way so that the factory materials can burn off. But even with the open door, it brought the temperature up by 10 degrees in 30 minutes running on a lower setting. Next time, I'll set it at highest setting, and see how warm it gets. Then I can turn it down. I had to shut it down sooner than I planned, because Susanne made a fresh batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies. 😊 There are priorities!
 

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Dalecamino said:
Well it's up and running. I ordered an extra long air intake hose, but the seller didn't respond so it was cancelled. I'll get two regular length hoses, and put them together so I can run it out the window. The fuel pump is silent. The heater motor makes a bit of noise on high, but gets quieter as it slows down. This one has a basic controller, which is good for me. On/off, up/down buttons.

I ran the heater for about an hour with the shed door open. It has to run for a good two hours this way so that the factory materials can burn off. But even with the open door, it brought the temperature up by 10 degrees in 30 minutes running on a lower setting. Next time, I'll set it at highest setting, and see how warm it gets. Then I can turn it down. I had to shut it down sooner than I planned, because Susanne made a fresh batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies. 😊 There are priorities!
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Nice! Please keep us posted. This heater looks promising for my workshop as well. How big is your shop and what about insulation?cheers, mike
 
MedWoodWorx said:
Nice! Please keep us posted. This heater looks promising for my workshop as well. How big is your shop and what about insulation?cheers, mike
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Thanks Mike. My shed is 120 square feet. Walls and ceiling are insulated, but the floor is not. I intend to correct that when it warms up. It makes a big difference. I think I want to run an insulated tube through that bench down to the floor, then deflect the heat out towards the center of the shed space. I'll post an update after I get to use it for awhile.
 
Dalecamino said:
Thanks Mike. My shed is 120 square feet. Walls and ceiling are insulated, but the floor is not. I intend to correct that when it warms up. It makes a big difference. I think I want to run an insulated tube through that bench down to the floor, then deflect the heat out towards the center of the shed space. I'll post an update after I get to use it for awhile.
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at some point you will need to take this heater apart and clean/service/change the glow plug etc. bare in mind that the gaskets might contain asbestos. i first saw a mention about asbestos at an amazon heater description and upon asking for further information the seller changed the description and said that it was a mistake (couldn't find more info from amazon questions) anyway it seemed odd, take some precautions (i ve heard that there are asbestos testing kits you could use).
 
MedWoodWorx said:
at some point you will need to take this heater apart and clean/service/change the glow plug etc. bare in mind that the gaskets might contain asbestos. i first saw a mention about asbestos at an amazon heater description and upon asking for further information the seller changed the description and said that it was a mistake (couldn't find more info from amazon questions) anyway it seemed odd, take some precautions (i ve heard that there are asbestos testing kits you could use).
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Thanks for the information Mike. I'll be sure to wear my respirator. As for the heaters function so far, on the first start up, there is a bit of white smoke from the exhaust pipe that lasted maybe 30 seconds. The silent pump is indeed silent. The motor itself creates some noise as there is a turbo inside it. But it's not very loud. In fat it gets pretty quiet after it reaches it's peak setting. I let it run on high with the shed door open for about two hours to burn off the coatings from the manufacturer. This process will take longer. I did get a longer intake hose, and ran it outside.

I like the heat it provides. Now I can focus on the engraver.
 
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