Diesel Heater Teardown - Disassembly & Cleanout

[@benjaminnevins5211]

Thanks for ripping this thing apart for us!

[@jimholmes2555]

I took my diesel heater apart for cleaning. After a few blasts of air, I was heading back to my work bench and I lost my grip, The exchanger hit the floor and broke the glow plug. Then I found a replacement glow plug with gaskets on eBay for just under $20. Seller said shipped from USA and the US Mail is slow but not as slow as it took to arrive. Obviously the seller gets his supplies from China and then sends them to you. Anyway, My heater was on my work bench disassembled for three and a half weeks, I forgot which connector went where. Thanks for the help Tom!

[@TomtheDilettante]

LOL! A benefit of recording stuff...I can always refer back to it and answer the question "where the f*** did this go again?" LOL

[@neilfoster814]

I've run mine for 3 winters, so I'm about to pull it apart for a clean out. One thing I would say is, bin that green fuel line and swap it out for the much more rigid white pipe. That green pipe is flexible enough to expand with every pulse of the fuel pump, therefore reducing the delivery pressure at the burner. You can also pull out the mesh atomiser screen around the glow plug and clean that, as well as the tiny feed hole next to it.

[@dogdazetravellergarrett1367]

Good demonstration video of teardown, reassembly of heater. I believe that possibly you got wrong gaskets, but they make two specific sizes for all diesel heaters. A small set for the 3 kw/2 kw and bigger set for the 5 and 8 kw models. Thanks 👍

[@ItsMeGiga]

Thanks for sharing! Routine maintenance is so important especially when there's combustion involved. I'm thinking this summer when the prices on em drop I'll pick up one of these for my garage.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Agreed on routine maintenance. Turns out not much maintenance needed on this thing. Or, I just lucked out with this particular unit. Either way, glad folks are finding the content helpful. Thanks for watching!

[@RobertFlipWilson]

Thanks Tom for the video. I was just putting my heater away for the season and thinking about how dirty it must be inside. Now I know...lol. Keep doing what you're doing man!

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks for watching! Yeah, I'm happy with how well it's held up so far and encouraged by how clean it has run. Hoping yours is functioning the same. If so, you should be good to go :)

[@phildunne2632]

Nice one Tom. The burn settings must be spot on.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Must be. Happy with what I found and how it's performed for sure.

[@nohrtillman8734]

Agreed. Especially to get the mix right on diesel fuel. Although the kerosene space heaters used to burn clean and they weren’t rocket science either.

[@rupaa62]

enjoyed the bloopers at the end, that deserves a drink. Hope you do a video on A/C maintenance for the summer.

[@yinglyca1]

Dont forget Catayltic screen/Catalyst. make sure its all the way to the bottom.

[@pauls466]

The first video without a lot of .pouha; thanks

[@davidmilledge221]

Great video mate yep amazing that heater is working spot on u couldn't ask 4 better , gives us all faith in them thank you 👍

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks much! Yeah, for the price, I've been happy with these units. Sure they're imported and not top of the line, but for what it is and what I need it for it does the job.

[@eugenenault4935]

Nice video, comfortable to watch.

[@curtwuollet2912]

I've heard a little silicone spray will keep the gaskets from sticking.

[@ThUnDaHuNtA_Australia]

i like your style, especially your torque wrench... wink wink, lol. and best of all you know what you are doing, straight to the point and no BS, great stuff... 👍

[@temporarilyoffline]

Looks like fun Tom

[@TomtheDilettante]

It's always fun to take things apart...until you forget how to put it back together again at least. Then it's a different kind of "fun" LOL

[@temporarilyoffline]

@@TomtheDilettante very true

[@icabobcrane8984]

Love the bloopers at the end

[@philchurch8878]

That was nice-- great video

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thank you!

[@ProctorsGamble]

I have one exactly like that. Got to do mine now because, you know, it’s cold now and I’m freezing 😆 Great job on videos you do. You are a natural with a great voice for it. I get a vibe of Captain Kirk and Juan Brown from blancolirio channel from you 👍

[@wallacegrommet9343]

Your heater looks great inside. Many do not! Lol

[@nikluz3807]

Love this channel

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks much!

[@wallacegrommet9343]

Buttttt. You should have changed the igniter screen while you were in there. It wicks fuel into the glowpin chamber, and it tends to carbon foul over time.

[@green461]

my vevor one has these little rubber half moon shaped spacers that came out of the case, no clue where they go and it rattles inside without them...

[@PainterD54]

Are you filtering the fuel? For gaskets, I have always used old cardboard cereal boxes and made my own using gasket silicone and never had a leak. Try to keep the old gasket to copy for the new one which makes it a little easier.

[@nohrtillman8734]

I’ll bet the official tool for that glow plug resembles some designs of automotive O2 sensor sockets. Roughly a deep socket the size of the nut, with 1/4 of the “tube” removed on one side. The overgrown slot clears the wires/connectors, and the socket comes down over the sensor/glow plug. Might be worth making one. When the glow plug fails, just use the cutaway socket to unscrew it through the access hole. No need to take the exchanger apart.

[@nohrtillman8734]

Well…if I had watched the second half of the video before I rambled on about making a tool. 😮 Love the xkcd shirt, btw!

[@wallacegrommet9343]

I cut a slot in a cheap deep socket for the wire to pass through. Works great

[@eugenenault4935]

Very clean for 3 year usage. Do you usually run on high heat ? Heard inside guts stay cleaner . If seen videos where only 1- year and inside full of carbon /crust.

[@Rickydbaby]

any way to clean it without tearing it apart? spray something slowly in the air intake?

[@beryang2778]

How to you remove the fan? What tool would you use ro remove the fan. The wires broke off when removing the motor.

[@WG5Xradio]

Also, it says temp out of stock, but this thing is down to $124. I think it was $170 when you bought it. If they get it back in stock, you can't go wrong for $124.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Wow! nice to hear the prices haven't gone up too crazy and are actually coming down in some cases. I seem to be finding more of the "unassembled" units available than these boxy types. Might have to try one of those soon.

[@ForTheTeoma]

4:17 "I wonder what that does ... " No point me being here then! 🤓

[@markawbolton]

They dont soot up. What happens is they blow smoke and wont ignite. The reason for this is that the glow plug connector gets high resistance and the glow plug wont get hot enough to ignite. Replace / byplace the high current connection with a screw terminal or simialar connector. That will fix it. Dont need to take it apart. HTH

[@TomtheDilettante]

Interesting. I'll have to take a closer look at my old glow plug now to see how to better secure the connection. Should make for a good spare part in case I need it too. (oof...another item for the junk drawer LOL)

[@markawbolton]

@@TomtheDilettante To clarify it is the connector in th loom plug that is inadeqate to carry the ingition current for the glow plug. The sympoms will be a coppery dicoloration of the conectror spades. And that is the rerason why the units for the mobile home deisal heaters give trouble. i.e. the 2 kw models. The lager shed heaters I have no experience with but the glow plugs look the same and so do the connectors. The only difference is that the unit is built to be self contaned and the combustion system is of a larger capacity. I vive in a mobile home / truck. I had the probl;em and met others that do too. Everyone just jumps to the conclusion the unit is sooted up.

[@TomtheDilettante]

@@markawbolton Ah. Thank you for the clarification.

[@fadate7292]

I wondered myself what would happen if I would feed the heater with a mix of diesel and petrol, say 90 % diesel and 10 % petrol (95, 98, doesn't matter). Would it overheat or explode...

[@WG5Xradio]

Man, that was impressive, but I have to say before you even started I was thinking that thing shouldn't need taken apart and cleaned for at least 5 or 6 years :) Oh well, at least now we know.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks! Turns out you were right...didn't need anything at all. For some reason I had it in my head that because it was a cheap import unit that it would not run very efficiently. I'm glad I was wrong :)

[@wvwildlifecam9159]

Beeen thinking about getting one and running the exhaust out of the chimney of my house. Would you have this type of stove over a blue flame propane heater?

[@TomtheDilettante]

hard to say. I haven't used a comparably powerful blue flame propane heater to heat up my shop before, so it would be unwise of me to offer a recommendation. However, having used propane heaters in general before, I will say that I think one of the disadvantages of propane is the water vapor they produce as a byproduct of combustion. I prefer the dry heat of the diesel heater at the moment.

[@bernardphilips3423]

Bonjour vous ressemblez à Orson Welles

[@geraldcagney5926]

Man I wish I had time to tinker!!!! Man I miss Chicago food being in Florida don’t know how to make a pizza for s%!$!!!!!!!

[@TomtheDilettante]

Ooof...I have no idea what passes for pizza in Florida but I'm willing to bet it can't hold a candle to a good Chicago pie :). Sorry for your loss ;)

[@johnlloyd4122]

I would like to know how long (hours) does the diesel heater last on one tank of diesel fuel. Thanks in advance.

[@yvanmanseau5473]

Wy is mine smoking up w End I tern it on

[@slashzero4514]

Me too, I get smoke fumes coming out of the heat vent on start up and shut down. PU! Not healthy! I wish somebody would address this issue.

[@ambofh16]

ooo cut away to a second camera! swanky!

[@BobMarcum]

Making shit up on the fly…isn’t that what all Marines do…? Spoken from a brother sailor… Marines…Department of the Navy…The Men’s Department!

[@TomtheDilettante]

Rah! You got it...improvise, adapt and overcome right? And Navy is the best...best Marine Uber ever that is ;). j/k.

[@venomsitto]

Hi, I'm a little new to all this. I've been using a similar heater for a year, and now it's been causing some problems. I hear pops and bangs from inside the camera. When I open it, I realized that the part that appears in the video in the moment 6:36 (which I don't know what it's called and I need the name) I wanted to ask if that part is changed and what it is for explicitly, the thing that has teeth is very very damaged, it is possible that that is why I hear that noise and not works?

[@matthewbrown761]

@@venomsitto that just looks like a flange with some pipe, is it chewed up from contacting the rotating fins inside the main housing?

[@venomsitto]

@@matthewbrown761 Excatly it is chewed In fact I think it doesn't even connect to the tube itself at certain points.

[@russellesimonetta9071]

Yeah replaced that green fuel line,,, should be much better.

[@twloughlin]

5KW v 8KW - thoughts?

[@twloughlin]

Hold your thoughts! Went 5KW.

[@nomnommonsterr]

I dont see a point in buying the expensive counterpart anymore. More money does not mean the best most of the times these days.

[@Nightowl_IT]

Your phone can read chinese^^

[@hillaryclinton1314]

That is the entire heater .. Not a heat cxchanger..

[@donwhitehead4587]

👍🏻 de AC4OK

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks much!

[@icabobcrane8984]

Love the bloopers at the end