Diesel tent heater install

I just Lol'd so hard!

 

very clean set up, thanks for sharing!

 

Late update, had another 3 week trip work related so have t been able to get on much.

I was initially worried that if I set the temp to 70 so the thermostat kicked on that it would actually cycle the glow plug drawing more juice. Wasn’t the case at all. It just adjusted fuel burn as needed.

Awesome to know now, not worried about keeping it on a lower temperature and killing the battery.

Headed out for an overnight ice fishing trip weekend after next, should be a good time.

 

A buddy of mine just sent me this video I don’t know if you guys have seen it. This companies right here in Orange County California. Pretty cool.
https://youtu.be/u04OB9K6GSc

 

Only $550 plus tax

 

That’s a good deal.

 

Awesome kit thanks for sharing.

 

The Chinese Diesel heaters are awesome. I installed one in my Four wheel camper and scrapped my propane furnace.

 

https://www.intoxventures.com/products/5kw-diesel-heater

 

That’s a good little set up

 

Great thread. Nice work!

 

So I ordered one. From IntoXventures. 10l tank. 4-6 weeks. Now to buy a new tent.

 

Are you still using the 500W Jackery for power? I've been looking into getting a diesel heater for the bed for winter camping/ traveling, and powering it is the main thing I'm unsure of.

 

I thought the 500 would work, it trips it. I have it run right to my battery and tested it thoroughly before taking it out. On a 12 hour run on high it only dropped voltage from 12.44 to 12.04 and used 1 gal of fuel. That was with the truck off also. Main draw is from the glow plug heating up on startup and cooldown. Didn’t have any issues at all over 23 days using it last trip and I ran it every night. Longest I ran it was maybe 7-8 hours and not on high.

Just to be even more on the safe side, I fire up the heater before I do anything else and I leave the truck running. Get the tent and everything set up and then shut down the truck. I also start it back up before I shut down the heater. I’d rather have the truck running when the glow plug cycles. I doubt it even drops voltage by .2 doing it this way.

I’ll eventually do a dual battery setup and move the heater over to the aux battery but this thing is so crazy efficient and I’ve tested it so much I have zero worries anymore. I just fired it up 2 days ago for a few hours in the driveway (recommended monthly run) and didn’t think twice about it. Overnight ice fishing trip this weekend with it!

 

Good to know on the running for start/ stop. From the sounds of it, you haven't had any problems with it draining the battery to the point where it won't crank properly the next morning, especially if it's cold? I know I'll be camping in areas that get quite cold and snowy, and having the peace of mind of knowing the battery will still have enough juice to crank in near/sub 0F temps in the morning is pretty important to me.

 

Another option, if you want extra peace of mind, is a small jump pack like the

$100 Noco GB40 : 1000A UltraSafe Jump Starter – 12V Lithium Battery Booster Pack, Portable Jump Box, Power Bank & Jumper Cables - for 6.0L Gas and 3.0L Diesel Engines

Noco GB40 or whatever their middle model is. Fits under the seats or behind the rear seat and you can self-jump worst case

 

No issues at all. That's why I did a full blast 12 hour run without running the truck, just to see the worst case scenario. And like @SR-71A said, a little Noco jumper would just make you even more prepared! I still need to get one just because.

 

One thing to note with these is that it's still a battery and cold still impacts it like any other battery. One time I was camping in the teens and when I hit up the gas station on the way out, a guy needed a jump. Noco couldn't do it because it had been sitting in my truck all night in the freezing cold, but some jumper cables did the trick.

I just wanted to mention that because it would suck to be stranded alone in freezing temps and not have a way to get out. So either keep it in the tent with you where it's warm or have some cables and a buddy or something along those lines.

 

Said it before - nice work! Glad to hear it operates better than you expected!
But your text raised a question... are you sure the glow plugs come into play on cooldown? Curious why they would as the cylinders are already hot, so they're not needed.

 

Thank you!

Yep, the glow plug heats up again on cooldown to clean out the system of any residual fuel. Pretty cool function. You can hear the internals running, with the exception of the fuel pump, for about 2 minutes after you shut it down. The recommended maintenance interval was something crazy like 5,000 hours also (as long as you run it once a month for at least a half hour). I set mine to 1,000 because I'm a big fan of preventative maintenance.