Using cheap diesel diesel tanks and plastic pipes

[chevron]

Just been reading a very interesting post on Facebook regarding fitting these cheap diesel heaters and being able to use plastic fuel tanks and lines which come with them hope it has not already been posted on here https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/media/299306/bss-interim-position-on-diesel-appliance-fuel-supply-arrangements-dec-2021-final-v10-modified-on-211208.pdf

[David Mack]

So basically, as long as the tank is less than 10 litres you can use any old crap tank/hose/filter that was supplied with (or appears to have been supplied with) the heater. You can also store diesel aboard in any portable fuel tank. But you cannot use a CE-marked portable fuel tank of less than 10 litres to supply the heater!

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, chevron said:

Just been reading a very interesting post on Facebook regarding fitting these cheap diesel heaters and being able to use plastic fuel tanks and lines which come with them hope it has not already been posted on here https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/media/299306/bss-interim-position-on-diesel-appliance-fuel-supply-arrangements-dec-2021-final-v10-modified-on-211208.pdf

 

 

It has been quoted and discussed several times in the past year, but with more and more threads on the pros & cons of installing and using them it does no harm to repeat it again.

[chevron]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

It has been quoted and discussed several times in the past year, but with more and more threads on the pros & cons of installing and using them it does no harm to repeat it again.

I could not believe it must have missed it on here 

[ditchcrawler]

 

[Guest]

https://uknip.co.uk/Breaking/News/breaking/suffolk-trading-standards-imports-surveillance-team-have-detained-973-diesel-heaters-at-the-port-of-felixstowe-over-the-last-two-months/

[MtB]

8 hours ago, watchfuleye said:

https://uknip.co.uk/Breaking/News/breaking/suffolk-trading-standards-imports-surveillance-team-have-detained-973-diesel-heaters-at-the-port-of-felixstowe-over-the-last-two-months/

 

As already discussed in the other thread, the main objection seems to be inadequate documentation rather than the heaters themslves. 

 

From your link:

"All products were found to be unsafe, with listings for all sellers removed on eBay.
Consignments arrived at the Port in October and November and were stopped by the team, with samples sent to a test house for assessment.
Each of the products did not meet the requirements of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 because they could present the hazards of fire and death due to poor supporting installation information.
Manuals supplied with the products failed to give measurements for installing and did not give the minimum distance the exhaust pipe can be installed from flammable material, or material that could give off poisonous fumes when heated, such as insulation material.
No warning was provided about heat and dangers to the user if installed incorrectly.
Large parts of the manuals were written in poor English and had incorrect words used. The intended meaning was, in some cases, difficult to understand."

 

This seems to be hitting the news headlines all over the place and creating massive waves in the boat and mortorhome conversion markets. It's a terrible shame as its perfectly straightforward to install them in a safe manner and only an idiot would do it otherwise. Trouble is there are plenty of idiots out there and this type of nanny state intervention is preventing the Darwin effect fixing this for the rest of us.

 

An odd thing is despite the article's claim that these have been removed from ebay there are still plenty of them listed for sale in the UK this morning. The odd bit about this is all the listings for heaters with the RED and BLACK casings appear to have been removed, but plenty of listings are still present for the identical heater in GREY and BLACK casings.

 

Things rarely seem to go according to plan when the bureaucrats start interfering in technical things. 

 

Edit to add:

And another unintended effect of this interference is, I guess, the fact that the remaining sellers still listing these heaters have raised the price of them by about 50% in the last week. Thanks a bunch, Trading Standards.

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by MtB