Maximize Efficiency: How to Tune Your Diesel Heater!

[@Dav-S5658]

This is the first video I have seen that shows how to reset the pin code! I set mine to - - - -. The best way to get consistent and accurate CO readings is to direct the gases into a can, like a large bean can, and punch a hole in the side for the meter nose to stick in. If you are in open air, you have have very still air. For a cabin CO monitor, I highly recommend the Kidde KN-COPP-B-LPM. DO NOT buy a Chinese CO cabin monitor. I don't want to write a page long explanation why. I have been using the same hand held CO meter shown in this video for 4 years. Works great. You should check your new cabin monitor with the handheld when it is new, then annually. Subscribed.

[@GatorOverland]

Brilliant! And thanks for taking the time to watch and comment.. also i found out after posting that - - - - was an acceptable input.. makes things so much easier. Thanks for the bean can tip 🤝

[@IntoTheMystery13]

Fantastic video! Well done sir

[@GatorOverland]

Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment.. hopefully you found it helpful

[@malcytull]

A brilliant video, mine is virtually the same as yours except I have 4 smaller outlets. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong but I can't seem to get mine into hz, it just shows the temp. Thank you once again.

[@GatorOverland]

Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment… To switch between Hertz power setting and temperature on the display hit the setting button and the up button at the same time.

[@malcytull]

@@GatorOverland Thank you for your reply, I'll give it a go later. Again, thanks. 🙂

[@GatorOverland]

@malcytull you bet .. stay warm

[@PittsFly]

I set my pin code to _ _ _ _, no numbers. That way you only need to push "OK" four times 👍. My settings are P-1.4hz Fan 1450rpm 25PPM, P-4.3hz Fan 4500rpm 30PPM, 700ft AMSL (1.23353kg/m³ Air Density).

[@GatorOverland]

Well shoot! I didn’t know a “-“ Input was an acceptable value.. wish I knew that before!! Going to do this for sure.. thanks for posting your stats 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤝

[@Dav-S5658]

In my experience, you can achieve very good CO numbers at the max output end because the burner temperature is high. By "very good" I mean 20 - 30PPM. At the low end, when I typically have just one yellow bar showing on the controller, I can only achieve 250 to 300PPM because the heater is running too cool to run clean. Bear in mind that lowering the fuel does not always mean less CO. If you go lower to the point that your heat output suffers at a given fan setting, your CO will actually go up. I live with the higher CO at the low end because I need a very low heat setting to maintain comfort in my camper. I always start and end my heating session with the burner on the highest setting to burn off accumulated carbon. These heaters work amazingly well, but they do require some tinkering. I love mine. If you are not a curious person, I would get something else!

[@GatorOverland]

This is valuable info… Just like with modern diesels you should run them hard after long idling to avoid soot buildup and/or regen process. Running on high for a period of time after running long periods at low should combat that.. after tuning I’ve been able to achieve consistently below 30 ppm on my low temp setting @1.4Hz (often below 15ppm).. I typically run 2.8-3.2hz heat setting which is right in the middle of the 1.4-5.4 heat range and maintain minimal sub 30ppm.

[@Dav-S5658]

@@GatorOverland I agree. I don't ever see any carbon buildup by following this routine. For some context, my travels take me to a wide range of elevations. For the last month I have mostly been camped between 7500 and 8500 ft. Earlier in the year I was at the south Oregon coast. I am currently in Utah camped at 7300. The only way these heaters can increase oxygen is to increase fan speed. That creates an unstable burn at very low fuel settings, but that is where you end up when the air density is low. Does that make sense? I wish there was a way to increase air flow without increasing air speed. Maybe a secondary air port? I'm not contradicting anything you have said. These heaters were designed originally for use near sea level, and tuning in that dense air is much easier. When it is very cold, and you are at altitude, just don't be surprised if these perfect readings become hard to achieve. I'm not posting any settings because it would just confuse everyone. I'm using a James Browning Smith fuel pump, which is also tunable For people who do like to tinker, this pump is pretty awesome, and James is a very good guy. You can google "James Browning Smith fuel pump" if you are curious. I have no affiliation.

[@GatorOverland]

@Dav-S5658 absolutely makes sense.. understandably less efficient at elevation with lower air density. Thats a lot of traveling and high elevation. You must be in a pretty capable rig. I would be happy to share some of my camping coordinates in Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona. If you’re interested, shoot me an email to [e-mail]

[@Kevin-h9k2n]

You should be able to get low numbers at the low end too. Some motherboards dont allow the hz to drop below a certain figure, even if they say they do. So you may have to raise the lowest fan speed. But I can get lower figures at bottom end than top. The lower end usually also reads low, as the fan is slower, thus pushing less out of the exhaust and reaching your probe if in the same position. So if the probe is in the same position and getting higher readings, then something doesn't sound right. It can also be not enough fuel.

[@GatorOverland]

@Kevin-h9k2n 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

[@Kevin-h9k2n]

Good video. All I'd say is that sharing settings with other users is not advisable, they are all different. The tolerences on stuff like pumps isn't great, so even changing that will change things. Same with duct/exhaust length etc, and thats before we even get into the different heater and pump combinations. Traditionally 2kw used .016ml, 5kw .022ml but that is often no longer the case. There's just too many variables even on the same brand, where they just seem to package what they can get their hands on that week. But its a good video to show how to tune your individual heater.

[@GatorOverland]

Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment… I do preface in the video that my settings will differ from anybody else’s due to elevation or unit, but the tuning concept will be the same…. Asking for others settings based on location is just an idea for general reference.. totally agree too many variables are involved to be relevant for actual usage per unit

[@Nomaswearefull]

This could have been a great tutorial if the camera was set on the controller constantly. Being able to to slow down the video in settings many people could benefit from the audio. Only criticizing the speed you run through instructions. Paired with a slower speed and a constant control panel visual this would be so much better IMHO. Still I thank you for your upload

[@GatorOverland]

You make a very good point, and I apologize for the seemingly quick speed of working the controls… it’s actually very simple and A lot of it is punching the same things over and over. I was up against having the menu constantly time out after 7-10seconds and reset to the main menu, so for that you’ll have to understand that it was with a bit of haste to cover the process or it would’ve been inversely hard to watch waiting on me to constantly type in everything. I have a very detailed description of what to do in the video comments for those that want to slow things down a little bit.. I hope this helps, and if you have any other questions feel free to reach out to me through email and we can tackle things on a personal level. [e-mail]

[@wiredforstereo]

I bought a couple Vevors. They have a different much simpler display. Im looking for solutions, or perhaps I need to buy the controller everyone else has.

[@GatorOverland]

vevor unit must be powered on, but put at minimal heat temp setting to keep the heater from turning on. pushing the up and down arrow at the same time brings you to the engineering menu, and then you input your elevation and it calculates the fan/fuel speed automatically ..

[@wiredforstereo]

@@GatorOverland Nope, you're not up on your information. Lowest setting still turns the heat on. Pressing both buttons at the same time does nothing except make the number display wonky. I have tried every possible combination of buttons pressed for many different lengths of time. The only thing that is adjustable is the timer. Literally nothing else works.

[@GatorOverland]

@wiredforstereo you should press those two (up/down arrow) for three seconds and the screen should go to what looks like a lowercase “u 11” (aka wonky display).. from there you press the up button and it will go to your 1 fault list which will show E00 if you have no faults. 2 Press up again and you will get the temperature.. 3 again and you will get the supply voltage (I.e 12).. 4 again and it’s heating operated gear, which should be at 10L 5 Again will be cab temperature, 6 Again will be Altitude 7 Again will be Bluetooth pairing “P” 8 Again with be the remote “rte” 9 Again will be the Bluetooth password “1234” Again brings you back to u 11 This is all info from the vevor manual

[@jasonwood640]

​@@GatorOverlandmust be a different model because no dice on mine

[@GatorOverland]

@jasonwood640 wish you could share photos on here.. or email gator.overland@gmail

[@charlesd3376]

The "PF" is the Plateau Function for adjusting for elevation. It's the short cut for everything you just did.

[@GatorOverland]

Well well well.. that’s interesting.. 😂😂 thanks for taking the time to watch and comment.. I will have to look more into this plateau function

[@tecnology-today]

@@GatorOverland yes, please, check it and comment to complete the excellent video. I would wait excited for the results. This is a very important point sice many people using RVs get hard problems with the heater above 2000 meters altitude getting the burner chamber clogged of slug due to bad combustion (running rich) an later the heater doesnt work any more untill complete dissasembly and cleaning. We are RV builders ant had some customers with this problem (we intall Webasto Airtop with the optional "altitude function" installed (I supose is the same as "PF" in the chinese heaters), but they forget to activate it manually when staying high, and enter in such vicious circle)

[@GatorOverland]

I remember Chris from @venture4wd had issues with his webasto heater in his JK Ursa Minor Jeep. I believe they resolved the issue, but it was definitely elevation related.

[@jasonparsons81]

I just adjusted the pump flow to 1.0 instead of 1.6 is this ok to do???

[@GatorOverland]

@jasonparsons81 depends on where you’re at elevation wise, but should be fine as long as you’re getting sufficient burn without too much carbon monoxide.. Require the fan speed to increase slightly, but it all depends on the PPM.. everybody’s unit will be different, but most will perform variably the same