Fixed - White Exhaust Smoke Won't Start Problem (E-10 Ignition Failure)

[@taylorhay]

Great video! Thanks!! Gave me the idea to wrap my mouth around the intake and blow when it’s in its white smoke era. Worked a bloody treat to get it going!

[@RichardCummins-ni4em]

Much appreciated, my new heater would start and smoke badly prior to clearing up when hot. Glow plug screen had not been pushed fully home and was covering the air hole. Now runs well with nil smoke thanks to your advice.

[@SpoonerTuner]

Oh great! Really glad the video helped. Sometimes I think these videos are a waste of time. haha

[@simonhelwig1]

You are a lifesaver I was trying everything cleaning everywhere out and I also ordered a service kit but it’s all not needed as it was that little hole that was blocked. I really appreciate your videos and now I’ve subscribed true lifesaver 💯👍

[@SpoonerTuner]

Oh good to hear it! Ya, took me a bit to figure out what was going on the first time too. Thanks for subscribing helps me out. I'm almost to 1000! 😁

[@3dphillo396]

You need 3 things to make a fire. Fuel, Heat, and Oxygen. Take one away and no fire. Great video.

[@jonathanlemonsky1566]

Hello, thanks for the video I managed to fix from your videos 😊

[@SpoonerTuner]

That's great to hear! 👍 I didn't know if anyone would even watch this video. Haha

[@michaelwebb1767]

Thanks a lot….yes a blocked air hole in the glow plug chamber. All good working well…no smoke

[@SpoonerTuner]

Oh nice! Glad my little video helped out. :)

[@jessejameson154]

Brilliant...thank you so much for sharing your experience and helping so many people with this problem 👍👍👍👍👍

[@SpoonerTuner]

You're welcome. I'm just happy it has helped others out. 😊

[@oojimmyflip]

I burn kerosene in all 3 of mine with 5ml of two stroke oil to lube the pump per tankfull a 2kw and two 5kw heaters, ive been having an issue with white smoke on startup for ages, so i serviced the heaters new gaskets, new plugs, new glow plug screens and cleaned the burn chambers and then changed the lower fan speed in the special settings menu to 1650rpm and the upper fan speed to 5000rpm they start without a hitch every single time now. we have been running them at 1.7 hz for a year now so they were due a service. one more thing if your heating internal air in the winter time switch to external air in the summer time for use with the odd cold snap my heaters seem to smoke on startup drawing in warm summer air from indoors but they dont smoke drawing in outside summer air.

[@Cammo-vp1gl]

I installed one of these in my boat. It wouldn’t ignite and smoked like a steam train. Kept throwing e-10 code. I found the combustion chamber was flooding with diesel. I removed the air intake pipe and gave a very short burst of Nulons ‘Start ya bastard’ into the combustion chamber (initially did this with upper engine cleaner -same effect) and she roared into life. I gave it a squirt whilst it was in the initial start up process, works a treat to get it igniting properly. 🍺🍺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺

[@tomgrist2062]

I tried starting fluid, we don't have Nulons ‘Start ya bastard’ in the states. but I assume it's the same thing, either. And IT WORKED!! not the safest thing in the world, I probably used a little too much. it backfired a little through the intake and then fired right up. thank you for the idea.

[@Cammo-vp1gl]

@@tomgrist2062 there’s another product called aerostart, similar idea. Yeah I caused mine to backfire a few times but when all else fails 😀🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@tomgrist2062]

@@Cammo-vp1gl I thank it is not putting out the heat it used to and I will have to clean it. mine is less than a month old but I did burn used motor oil in it. it worked great until it didn't work at all.

[@Cammo-vp1gl]

@@tomgrist2062 From day one mine has smoked badly, I thought the problem was voltage drop but, I measured it with a voltmeter and volts were good. It still smokes on every start up. Since my original comment, sometimes the trick with 'start ya bastard' hasn't worked so I bought a new glow plug but, the weather is warming up here and I haven't tried the new plug. My unit seems to send too much fuel and floods the chamber. I am at the point where, come winter next year (I'm in Australia) if it still isn't starting first time I am going to piss it off and buy a Webasto, Eberspatcher or the like. When it does fire up, it's the best thing since sliced bread. Never thought of using engine oil, good thinking!

[@tomgrist2062]

@@Cammo-vp1gl I think using engine oil is what caused my problem. if I were you, I would try blowing in the intake with a small shop vac while it is trying to start. if that doesn't work, remove your glow plug and clean the screen. I switched back to Red diesel only and it seems to be working.

[@MrHugemoth]

Enlarging the air hole to 1\8 inch completely solved the smoke problem on startup.

[@janmessek1826]

oh the screen has to be past the vent hole! well that explains why mine is SO hard to start! I'm on my 4th glow plug trying to get it started, my screens don't slide in past the hole ...guess I need to apply more force to it.

[@GaryMcKinnonUFO]

Thanks for sharing man, very informative.

[@SpoonerTuner]

You're welcome. Glad it helped

[@janmessek1826]

Thanks so much! I can't believe how with a little priming it lit right up before it even started injecting fuel!

[@SpoonerTuner]

Oh nice! That's great! 👍 Sounds like you were having a hard time with it for awhile.

[@janmessek1826]

burned out a glow plug trying to get it going and had a thermal runaway once when it finally lit because it was full of fuel! Exhaust pipe glowed red hot for 20 minutes with no fuel injecting.

[@SpoonerTuner]

@@janmessek1826 Wow! That sounds exciting. Never had mine run away like that. 😬

[@andreyzagoruyko5390]

Glad you got that sorted out! Will come in use for me. I'm guessing you had propane for backup . . .

[@SpoonerTuner]

Ya, my RV's propane furnace held up for me during my downtime with the diesel heater. But now I have to fix or replace the blower motor motor in the propane furnace. Bearings are shot and it's making a lot of annoying noise.

[@jj-zy6gc]

This is only ONE of the screens. The one that gets clogged is much larger and is inside the “turbo” at the bottom of the burn cylinder. You can sometimes pull it out and clean it. Other ones are held in place with a welded “washer.” It’s much easier to just buy a whole new burn chamber. ~ $20USD

[@SpoonerTuner]

Yes, you're right. I didn't know there was a bigger screen down there for a while because my chamber was welded, and I couldn't see it very easily. I accidentally pulled the screen out of place and damaged it while cleaning it, thinking it was carbon that had built up back there. It's super hard to clean. I think you could probably burn it clean in a really hot, clean fire if left in there long enough. Probably some type of chemical could clean it too. 🤷 I've learned that if I tun the air fuel mixture to be leaner, it prevents the carbon from building up. Makes a huge difference. Factory settings seem to be a little too rich for me, but then again, I'm at 3000 feet elevation.

[@robertjett5243]

What hole are you talking about? The main hole the glow plug goes in or is there another hole within that hole?

[@fredhammond8532]

I had the same with my diesel heater, Try adding a Diesel additive like ( Howes) for diesel fuel.

[@petermoygannon698]

My heater was running all night on low . In morning turned it off . The next night white smoke E8 . That small hole blocked and screen blocked up .

[@SpoonerTuner]

That sound familiar. Mine would do that too often. I finally figured out that if you only run the heater on full blast and just turn it off after it's warmed the place up for you, it will not cause it to get dirty and blocked up inside. Also, you need to adjust the pump speed down so it burns leaner (less fuel and more air). If you do this it will just keep working without having to clean things out all the time. I bought an aftermarket controller call the Afterburner so now it turns itself on and off to maintain the set temperature. afterburner.mrjones.id.au Hope this helps.

[@pwbpeter]

On mine the carbon had blocked up the bottom of the heater plug hole i poked it out with a 3mm drill by hand it now works fine .

[@SpoonerTuner]

Nice job! You'll probably have to disassemble it pretty soon and give it a good cleaning inside the combustion chamber.

[@rabfinn70]

started my night heater after months only to get error 10! But its firing up getting warm then the glow plug turns off then after a minute it comes back on before running for a short time then switches off altogether, at first i was pulling the fuse after it stopped then i pressed it to start without taking the fuse out and it fired up but gets warm and cuts back off, at least its took the chill out the van before going to bed. I will clear that hole and order the tool and a new plug but any other ideas in the mean time would be much appreciated. Thanks for an informative video

[@SpoonerTuner]

Check to make sure your exhaust pipe isn't plugged up anywhere. Could also be air pockets in the fuel line that are working its way out.

[@ddprepper5227]

Thanks excellent report

[@josejose6510]

What can cause the hole to become blocked after a few uses? I cleaned it myself and everything worked fine and I already have the same problem in less than a week, and the heater is new

[@SpoonerTuner]

It may be running too rich. Or if it runs most of the time in the low speed mode it will cause it to clog up inside. I only run mine at full throttle now, and I tuned the fuel mixture to run leaner (less fuel more air, or less pump pulses per minute)

[@basmeyer22]

@@SpoonerTuner I guess not everybody is aware you can adjust the amount of pulses in relation to the fan and set the whole linear response of these values. But I am not sure if you can say it makes the mixture more or less rich. If you pump in more diesel the combustion chamber gets more or less hot and the fan that controls the heat needs to be properly related with a fitting linearity, which van be set if you go into the deeper settings. I have worked on this and also created settings that allow lower output if the outside temperature is not that cold (1.3 pulses per second instead of the default 1.7 Hz, as this was the default with a 2kW heater).The heater works great but not below -10ºC, then it will still extinct, even on higher settings, and it did this from the beginning (when just new) and that is a pity. According to the manufacturer I need to replace the plug in my case, which I now have in front of me and I am about to do.

[@chetmyers7041]

4:30 So a proper fitting and sealed BOOT on the glow plug is necessary for proper combustion air flow? If the boot isn't seated properly does combustion air escape?

[@SpoonerTuner]

That's a good question. I'm not sure, but it makes sense that it would throw the air/fuel mixture off.

[@teachingbeats]

Wait- what would prevent the carbon monoxide from the RV from being forced up backwards through the diesel heater while you are driving?? This looks like a dangerous way to plumb the heater exhaust.

[@SpoonerTuner]

Of that happens it would just push the exhaust back out through the intake tube which is also plumbed to the outside of the RV. So no exhaust would get into the inside of the RV in that case.

[@RVingwithG]

Well done

[@juliogonzo2718]

I wouldn't pipe it into the vehicle exhaust if you intend on running the engine as it will push engine exhaust backwards through the heater burner intake. If it's a monument motorhome like one of my coworkers owns that doesn't run it would be fine 😆

[@SpoonerTuner]

Ya, that could be an issue. The bigger problem I ended up having is that the condensation from the heaters exhaust was freezing inside the motorhomes exhaust pipe and ended up plugging it completely with solid ice.

[@lucacavallini561]

Hi, i use this in house, but i have a lot of smoke First of startup, the glow its new, the Power supply are 600w 50amp, the wire are 4mm, and the Little hole its free... Do you have idea?

[@SpoonerTuner]

It needs more air. The exhaust pipe might be plugged or restricted. You might need to disassemble it and clean out the combustion chamber.

[@Herzeleydt_Diesentrueb]

Hi - can I rotate the heater, so the hole is not pointing straight upwards ? Tia + greetz fr Minotauria - Herzele 💛💚💛

[@SpoonerTuner]

I tried that and it didn't work. The diesel fuel needs to gravity feed down into the burn chamber. It will also leak out when turned off.

[@pauls466]

Whatever code you get most likely it is low power DURING start up . E10 is multiple failed attempts to start .

[@willismorgan8369]

Big thanks for your valuable straight forward information. Much better than most having to listen what they had for breakfast ect. Willemog.

[@pauls466]

Both fuel pumps are .22 , They give the same amount per stroke.

[@kpc5]

So what stops the Exhaust from the Engine going through the heater and poisoning the occupants??

[@SpoonerTuner]

It's completely sealed from the inside meaning if you blow air (or engine exhaust) backwards through the diesel Heather's exhaust pipe it will go through the heaters combustion chamber and exit to the outside of the vehicle through the heaters combustion intake tube. If everything is installed and clamped down properly there's no chance that any exhaust will get inside the vehicle and poison the occupants.

[@kpc5]

@@SpoonerTuner Thinking about it know you are correct, thanks for the reply and i have installed one of these heaters in my basement to compliment my central heating, i live in a very small house and it's working perfectly.

[@SpoonerTuner]

@@kpc5 nice. Same here. I gave the motor home back to my mom and now I'm in the single wide trailer house. My diesel heater is my only heat source for the moment until I can get a wood stove in here. It's doing pretty good though

[@pereximepere8439]

thanks!!!!!!!!

[@danielhardesty]

do i need thet screen mesh

[@en53kff]

Screen mesh. Yes, absolutely.

[@StratOvation]

Great info but what causes the atomizer screen to become fouled with soot? It appears you have a vinyl/PVC 5mm fuel line in use. Many of these heaters are supplied with 5mm soft wall tubing that is not appropriate for the application. You need 2mm rigid wall nylon tubing from the pump to the combustion chamber, this allows for more efficient atomization and helps prevent fouling of the atomizing screen. This video provides a good explanation of fuel delivery problems using the larger bore, soft wall tubing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHS9mZ19rrdmmNE

[@SpoonerTuner]

Thanks. I hadn't heard of the tubing causing the atomizer screen to foul up. I but I did already switch over to hard nylon lines because they don't crack and cause leaks. From what I understand it gets plugged up because of an incorrect fuel mixture and letting the heater run cooler at the slower idle speed too long. I'll check out that video you shared. 👍

[@StratOvation]

@@SpoonerTuner Here is another video from John explaining the importance of proper fuel atomization and the components which support ignition. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aaDSoqWIic11has There are a few key factors required for consistent firing of these heaters. 1st is clean air supply at the upstream end of the atomizer screen, this is why you always want to replace the plastic inlet noise dampener with an actual air filter. 2nd is sufficient heat for combustion, provided by a properly heated glow plug, 3rd is a clean surface with properly sized openings to allow large fuel droplets to be reduced to a fine mist of fuel, which is the screens job, lastly the fuel needs to be delivered in a manner to take advantage of the entire surface area of the screen. Using a large bore soft tubing allows the small cavitation air bubbles created by the pump, to collect and form large air bubbles. since air is compressible, those bubbles steal some of the pumps ability to deliver fuel to the screen with force, allowing the fuel to be distributed evenly onto the entire surface of the screen. The soft tubing also steals this ability from the pump, but in an opposite manner, it expands preventing the force applied by the pumps piston from being realised at the delivery point, by absorbing the force all along it's length with this slight expansion. the result is the fuel is delivered with virtually no force and is oozed or dribbled onto a very limited surface area of the screen, resulting in a very rich mixture in a very small area of the ignition chamber and a very lean mixture in the majority of the ignition chamber. The wet, or very rich area will be a point of very inefficient burn, leaving carbon by product or soot on the immediately surrounding surfaces of the screen. Any debris in the air streaming across this surface will tend to collect on the wetted, irregular soot deposits, thereby making the situation worse. apologies for the lengthy reply. 🙂

[@Genghis-Khan121]

Had all that many times now , sometimes you can overlook the obvious for instance I accidentally kinked the air intake pipe just a little without realising , took me ages to get on too it then broke the fan motor by losing my temper trying to get the horrible plastic cover back on , these things might be cheap to buy but as usual from China poor quality materials and build

[@SpoonerTuner]

Ya, they can be a real pain. If the mixture is tuned lean and you always run them full throttle they do much better in my experience. But ya, the build quality sucks. The bearings in them seem to get loud after about a year of use. I changed my bearings out for some high-quality Japanese ones.

[@Genghis-Khan121]

@@SpoonerTuner yes I have similar problem right now , but my older one that lasted two or 3 months actually might have had the mixture way out from what it should have been, I’m not 100% sure about the air intake, but now I purchased a brand new one and soon as I fired it up guess what the bearings are not right the thing is making a terrible noise wearling sound extremely loud definitely not catching on anything it’s definitely the bearings but the flaming thing is brand new all I can think is that they must’ve not put them in correctly

[@MRTNBLND77]

what a botch on your exhaust

[@SpoonerTuner]

Ya, but it needed repaired anyway. And I know how to weld and so it wasn't really a problem. I just wanted to test out the idea to see if I could extract the extra wasted heat.

[@stanglidewell8915]

120.00 a month to heat a small area with a diesel heater totally ain't fing worth it. Get it?!

[@SpoonerTuner]

I use mine as a backup heat source for when I'm not home. It turns on and off automatically and keeps temps just above freezing so my pipes don't freeze. So it's well worth it for me and others. Just depends on a person's situation. Now, I mostly use wood heat when I'm home.