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Re: diesel air heaters, how clean is North American diesel fuel?

4K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  WanderingWakes 
#1 ·
So I've read of fouled combustion chambers in diesel heaters. Have also read of people mixing in some percentage of kerosene where they have low-quality diesel, possibly go so far as using 100% kerosene, in order to combat fouling.

Just curious how "clean" N. American diesel fuel is for use in diesel heaters. Primarily concerned about Canada and the US. Mexico is on the map but for a farther future.

Should I carry some kerosene around to mix into my heater fuel?
 
#7 ·
I went propane “Propex” in my van (as we carry propane anyway for cooking) & propane heaters do not seem to have the same operational issues like fouled combustion chambers & finicky requirements (Like running them on high so they don’t carbon up).

Recently, I purchased a Chinese “Barking Heater” & installed it in my cabin 3,500’ Above Sea Level. Canadian diesel is ultra low sulpher as SteveSS reported & I have used this diesel heater for a couple of weeks. It is an 8KW heater (or so the label says). The heater “so far” has performed very well. Here are a couple of observations I have made about my “Barking Heater” (some I had no idea of how they operated until I ran mine);

1) My diesel heater used more amp-hours to operate than my propane (this is very noticeable during the startup process - I am assuming some type of glow plug operation & time required to get lit).

2) I have noticed when starting up; the process is way shorter if the house battery is @ 14.1 vs 12.5v

3) I can smell even 1 drop of diesel

4) Diesel is a cheaper energy heat source due to “No Fill Fees - Many places charge Fill Fees for propane”. When I buy diesel it is at market price & I am not charged a crazy high “fill fee” (if you fill your propane tanks @ Costco in Canada you pay for what you get filled now which for a 20lb tank is about $7.50 Canadian & I have experienced a fill fee of $25 for a 20lb tank regardless of how much propane is filled)
 
#10 ·
No issues, and we have run it at over 9,000 feet several times. The controller on ours turns on the glow plug and runs it on high for a few minutes as part of the shutdown process. I love how efficient it seems to be, and we are an all-electric, no propane design, so the diesel heater made the most sense for us.
 
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