VW T4 Forum - VW T5 Forum banner

Van Heaters from China

28K views 75 replies 26 participants last post by  miloslo 
#1 ·
Hi. Has anyone out there got one of these fitted in their campers. at a fraction of the price of a UK one. They look the part but what about quality especially safety.
 
#6 ·
We've heard about it and it seems the popularity is growing quite rapidly!

I'm not on Facebook, but apparently there's a big group with people testifying its quality, function, installation, reviews, etc. Have a search on Facebook.

There's a debate on whether if it's at EC standard or the standard the UK industry accepts for this sort of product, after-market service, repair, returns, etc.

But for a price at a fraction of the "genuine" product, it's tempting.
 
#7 ·
My feeling (and it is just a feeling from my own point of view) from reading reports, feedback - both good and bad - is that these Heaters are a good value buy for DIYers who are happy and competent to fit it themselves, and fiddle around with them - and they don't expect as much from the heater. (For example, the Eberspacher Controllers are much better then then the controllers you get with the Planars. The Eber' 801 you can set a specific temperature on the digital display; On almost all the Planars on sale, you get a basic dial control with no numbers on).

Installation of an Eberspacher and a Planar look identical to me - and if getting someone to fit a heater for you, it won't be cheaper to install becuase it is cheaper to buy, so the price percent difference between the two is not that great anymore.

If I were paying a company to install a Diesel Heater, they would be installing an Eberspacher;
If I were relying on the Heater (say I was full-timing in the van), I would be installing an Eberspacher (reliability and backup);
If the heater failing was just an inconvenience on a weekend away, I would go for the Planar (price).
 
#9 ·
Hoovie, I think summed up VERY nicely T:T:

As for the Chinese being a 'fraction' of the price, well it may be. But to my mind it's still a pretty big fraction, and worth more serious consideration. With regard to DOA, may well be more ebay scammers wanting one for free I:
 
#8 ·
I have been sitting on the fence observing said facebook group, 2kw seems to be the go to for transporter sized vans, the glow pin seem prone to failure, however many have replaced it with the eberspacher d2 one which seems more robust. Some have had a variety of issues, and have claimed DOA, but many have been fine or there has been a reasonable fix. There's has been some issues with difficult ebay sellers, otherwise there does seem to be some that are a bit more reliable. There is a member of a company called drivworld on the group that has tried to be helpful - they don't sell on ebay, and seem to charge a little more but claim a superior product.
 
#10 ·
Hiya,

I was there in the early days on the Facebook page, bought three to test to destruction and all are still working.

If you want to know anything just fire away, I have one outside heating my workshop and exposed to all the elements and still working fine.

I'll give you a few pointers:

1. There are three different controllers, dial, LCD with no timer and LCD with timer

2. Eberspacher D2 glow plug fits but you need to splice the wiring because the connecter is different

3. The thermostat is built into the controller

4. It will coke up if you run it on low, a bit like a DPF without an Italian tune up

5. The quality is very good and the T5 Eberspacher brackets fit for mounting it under the drivers side

6. It pulls about 10amps on start up and then settles down to about 2.6amps

7. Vent heat output is about 120c but ramps down much lower when temp is reached

8. No louder than an Eber as i bench-tested both side by side

9. Will run better on central heating oil as it's a cleaner burn

10. It's a direct clone

11. I have tried to kill two of mine, they are fine and still going strong

12. You pay your money and you take your chances as there is no real warranty

I'm sure I missed a few things, but that gives you the basics.
 
#11 ·
....
9. Will run better on central heating oil as it's a cleaner burn
...
This is very interesting.
I was planning to run at least initially on Kerosene (heating oil) as it meant I could check it out without the hassle of dropping the fuel tank, plus it is cheaper (50p/L vs 120p/L). I didn't know it was actually better! A:
That's a bit of a bonus and probably won't bother to tap in to the tank at all and just use an external can T:
 
#18 ·
Having used Eberspächer for 40 years, installed hundreds and have an 18 year old Eber in my Cali camper, I'm with Eber.

But having said that... I can see the attraction, to replace many parts in an Eber can cost the same as installing a new Chinese heater, it all depends on what your priorities are, service is mostly missing for many Chinese products, durability unknown.

Eber's have a expected service life of 10 years, hours use are not an issue, in the 80's I was using an Eber for 6 years every night for 4 months, my Eber is 18 yr old and has not been serviced or repaired, if it ain't broke don't fix it, I carry a glow plug & gauze shield, although as it's underneath it's not a simple job to change, maybe I should carry a pump?, the controller is a VW only part (not Eber) so could probably buy 2 Chinese heaters.

So you decide, if you need a heater buy it, if you have an Eber stick with it as long as you can afford it, we winter camp so it's essential
 
#19 ·
I had a planar heater fitted by one of the main uk dealers, who caused £400 damage in the process. They refused to accept responsibility and have gone silent ever since. I wish I’d paid more, went for one of the big brands, and benefitted from their after care. If anyone wants to know who it was, get in touch privately, I don’t want to name names on here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#20 ·
I fitted a Planar 2D to my T4 last week, dead easy to fit and does the job and for 425 quid a bargain. There is loads of info out there on the Planar heaters and are very common in boats. Mine came with the better LCD timer not the dial.
No idea what the cheaper Chinese ones are like from ebay but i would think by the time you get collared for import tax it wont be far off the price of \ Planar anyway.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Arrived on Friday..That's 3 weeks since ordering.

Delivered by Herns.

It is very well packaged and well protected with bubble wrap.
Everything appears to be there on inspection. This is the 2kw heater.

However my mate ordered the 5kw heater ( ordered same day as me) he recived the exhaust on its own last Friday and and the heater and parts on Friday there same drop off.

He reports damage to the outer plastic casing and NO bubble wrap protection!

Same seller ordered on the same days but two different results.

Oh I should add £156 no extra charges.
 
#24 ·
I got mine today :D

There are so many different sellers it can be hard to know which is the "right" one.

I based my choice on the photograph of what you should get ... Key factors for me were:
2kW model rather than 5kW
'my' seller had a neat little fuel tank different to the majority and it looked like a better shape for my own purposes.
Mounting Plate - this doesn't seem to feature with most kits but is handy
Full air venting kit - again, this appears to be missing from many kits (based on photograph in seller listings)

My heater had a broken clip on it - shame but no real issue. Impressed with what I received for the price (and no VAT or Duty to add on, which was a nice bonus).
I didn't get the controller shown in the sellers image though, but what looks like technically a better one with a display, but think it will be in Chinese (hopefully numbers will be standard and so easily useable). I did kind of not worry about having a basic rotary dial controller as would be universal, but think I am pleased to have the more advanced version.

(I already bought a pair of exhaust silencers which I got around a month ago - one for exhaust and also one for inlet for ultimate noise deadening)
 
#28 ·
Hi
I have a T4 Westfalia with an ancient Eber. 1994 van and I think the heater is the same era. I had someone look at it a couple of years ago and “fixed it” for nearly £200 but told me that it was shaky as to whether it was actually going to work. It didn’t. Sigh. Fan works but no heat.
So I’m pondering one of these Chinese heaters. Can I sling it under the van to replace the Eber ? It looks identical, but is it weatherproof enough ??? Will everything like the diesel connectors just swap straight over ?
Any help would be awesome on this.
Thanks
Sean
 
#30 ·
Has anyone fitted one of these inside the double passenger seat base of a T5? It looks like it'll fit but wondered if anyone else had gone down the same route? I've had a a look online but most installs are either outside under the drivers seat or inside under the drivers seat. I think there's a wiring loom which runs towards the 'B' pillar seat belt area which might get in the way. Comments appreciated.
 
#32 ·
Not really suitable.
You cannot fit a heater like this directly above the fuel tank as 1) the fuel tank is in the way and 2) should you somehow squeeze the exhaust pie inbetween the van floor and the exhaust (unlikely) you will have a very hot pipe right next to a plastic fuel tank.
 
#36 ·
From what I've seen, the glow plug draws about 10amps at 12v on startup/shutdown (possibly more). If the LED Driver can supply that you're in with a shout.

With some power supplies the volts will sag down a bit under heavy load and this also might bring a low volts error up on your heater.

There are plenty of 20A 12v power supplies available (230v powered) from ebay as an alternative - essentially make sure whatever you use has enough capacity.

Also, if the power goes off mid run the heater will go off also and you'll 'potentially' damage it because it hadn't cooled down properly. Maybe not a huge risk but worth keeping in mind.
 
#37 ·
above is pretty good advice I would say T:
Ref the last part - I would say it something that really is needed to keep the combustion chamber clean (the glowpin comes on again at the end to make sure remaining fuel is burnt.

I would suggest that you use either Kerosene (Heating Oil) or Paraffin as the fuel for this rather than Diesel (either Road or Red) as it burns mostly cleanly.
 
#39 ·
So I have two of the heaters, both work flawlessly, my first was a 5kw badged as 2kw, that is staying in the shed doing a great job of heating a drafty breeze block non insulated building that's three times the size of a T4! My other is a 2kw which will be going in the T4.

The one in my shed has been in there since September, and used a fair bit using road diesel and kerosene, the remote works well, it's a shame they don't have a 7 day timer, just need someone who is experienced enough with electronics and I'm sure they could do something there, lots of people have already modified the controllers to do various things on the facebook group.

I had modified a pc PSU to power the heater which was doing fine until the internal fuse in the PSU exploded impressively. I have been using a 12v 30 amp power supply from ebay, which cost about £9, it does a grand job! If anyone wants a link to an actual 2kw (ali express) or the power supply I'm using let me know and I'll post them
 
#40 · (Edited)
Problem with using computer supplies is, they rely on a BIG load on the 5V supply to stabilise the 12V one.....

Best way to power it would be a 12V 7Ah battery (large house alarm type) and a small charger (such as the C-Tek ones) to maintain charge.

MY computer backup system has 3 x 7Ah batteries in it, and supplies power through the inverter at 230V to keep my lights ( 240V spot LEDs x 12) and my computer plus 3 monitors to run for over 2 hours in a power failure (like 2 days ago!).

The heaters only need a "surge" of power to start, and then around 3 amps when running.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top