G'day All,

We are on the road full time and last winter we headed South to see relatives and have a good look around. We found the roads and camps South were not as crowded as they would be when the winter migration from Victoria heads North. The only problem we encountered was that some of the night times were fairly cold with snow and frosts and the thought of van heaters came to the fore.
Scouring websites and forums we found that some of the heaters were extordinarily high priced and having been in the scene long enough to know that some of the agents and distributors have extreme markups on their products. This made me search far and wide.
Through the C&M forum I came across Diesel Heating Australia. I contacted Roger Phair at http://www.dieselheatingaustralia.com or Phone 02 9525 7358 Mobile 02 42341 9358 for more information. Their heaters are manufactured in China but Roger assures me that a lot of time was spent making sure that the units were of the highest quality before they would import them. At a price of $899 the unit is very attractive so I ordered one which was delivered only a few days ago. I was impressed by the apparent quality of the product and the fact that everything, but the fuel container, was supplied including all the wiring looms, fuel pickup pipe, fuel hoses, clips and other assorted hardware to complete the installation.
I installed the unit myself and the total cost, including jerry can and holder, ended being less than $1,000. which is a far more attractive proposition than all the other fitted prices that I was quoted. The installation was very straight forward and the handbook explains simply the whole installation. One small problem that I had (my fault) was quickly sorted out over the phone and the result was a heating output that will be brilliant in winter (not so good in Northern NSW in the middle of summer). The unit itself would just about sit on a sheet of A4 paper so it can be tucked into one of those out of the way pockets that are in all RVs.
I considered using a similar heater in gas but that meant carrying another 9Kg container and thought that the extra jerry can of diesel may come in handy if we need a bit extra fuel to make it to the next bowser. The other consideration I had was that the total diesel combustion is carried out using air from outside and is exhausted outside so there is no contanimation of the inside atmosphere. Inside air is moved over the heat exchanger and back into the cabin.

The heater and Dimensions - Allow extra length for the cabin air transport tubes to be added.
The compartment I fitted mine in is 500 mm deep, 300mm wide and 300mm high.

Air inlet on left into small unusable space under bed with warm air outlet on right that is aimed towards the bathroom (I still have to put caps over the screws yet) - The Wall Mounted Control Unit

Jerry Can with supplied feed suction pipe. I fabricated a bleed valve to fit as well.

I have no connection with Diesel Heating Australia - I'm just a happy client

Cheers CHONGA

Very neat job
I do like the way you did the jerry can, a very good idea.
bob

Hi Bobsa,

The whole fitting took about six hours as the instructions are very comprehensive.
The wiring is all made up in a loom which only requires one plug attachment to the fuel pump and another plug to attach the control panel - all simple.
Tracing the wiring up to the control panel which is in one of the top cupboards created a fair bit of time consumption. All the wiring had excess length which I coiled into unusable areas. Mucking around with the jerry can and its support bracket took a little bit of fiddling.
I'm certain that the $500 to $1,000 that some of the professionals wanted to charge me will look good in my diesel tank.
I found that DHA were very good when it came to over-the-phone problem solving.
To fit another one would be a snack as I wouldn't be bumbling about as much with one time practice.
I ran the heater again this morning and the heat output was incredible and in winter it appears that the unit will cycle off quickly as the interior of the van reaches your desired setting of the control unit.

Cheers CHONGA

Well posted Chonga,
I trust that the unit is as good as the two incumbants and that service and parts are worthy.
It is high time that there was some competion at significant price savings.
Although I am very happy with my Webasto, it was expensive to purchase, however I did my own install to fullfill my own particular requirements.

Hi Chonga,
I had one of those blue plastic tanks fitted behind my rear spare wheel and one day the diesel got sick so made up my own tank 5ltrs larger than the original with a no mess vent on top and a screw out dip stick to measure diesel level.
Your tank looks very neat and holds double the fuel of a standard heater tank.
I was wondering if you have enquired about parts for the heater like say a replacement glow plug.
If all goes well you may never need to buy any parts but would hope you can, mind you if my Dometic heater fuel pump fails it is about $700 to buy a new one in Australia. Could almost buy a new Chinees heater for that.
Those inlet and outlet grilles in the van look identical to the Dometic ones.

JR

Great post and good info thanks Chonga.

I'll be getting in touch with Diesel Heating.

Cheers

Thanks for the info Chonga.

Think I'll be getting one myself.

Quick couple of questions, is it quiet, not gunna bother the neighbours?
Will it heat a 23 footer without too much drama?

Regards
Jarse

Ditto as above re quietness of the unit when running.

Thanks

Hi Lar Jarse and Legendts,

This time of the year I haven't had much chance to field test the unit but the results so far are very encouraging. The unit will easily heat a 23 foot van judging by the heat coming out of the outlet. The outside noise from the furnace is noticeable even though the exhaust has a muffler fitted, bearing in mind, if it is cold enough to need the heater all your neighbours will have their windows closed and the noise would not be enough to be noticeable.
The fuel pump is attached to the van floor or chassis and the pulse ticking can be heard if you are not careful about the pumps placement.

Cheers CHONGA

Nice work Chonga. Very impressive.
JR I like your fuel tank. Especially the way it tucks neatly behind the spare wheel.
Sid