Help, my diesel drip feed heater keeps going out.

[terriegym]

Hi can anyone help, my heater will burn for a few hours then I'll wake up to find its gone out and I've got a pool of diesel in the bottom of the heater. This has happened for 3 nights running now and we have no other forms of heating.

Edited March 3, 2016 by terriegym

[Batavia]

What make of heater do you have?

 

Chris G

[terriegym]

I don't know, I'll try and take a pic of it

[bottle]

A wild guess it needs cleaning and servicing.

 

Make and model will help to get advice on how to do it, instructions may also be available via google/you tube.

[terriegym]

Thanks. I've brushed the flue out. Not a lot of muck out of there. Cleaned the burning pot and the diesel is running in fine

?

[swift1894]

1)Has it been very windy where you are? Down draught could have blown the flame out.

 

2) on the outside of the heater, If there's a oval shaped reservoir ( when viewed from above) that looks like a flask, turn the diesel supply off, take the top off, then lift the inner workings out (usually held in position by 3 screws), soak up the diesel inside with paper towels and you will probably find a bit/lot of gunge. Gently push the brass valve up and down to ensure its not sticking. Be careful not to dislodge the delicate spring.

 

On the outside at the bottom of this flask there's a small plate held in position with 2 screws. There's a filter inside that probably needs cleaning. Take this small plate off and extract tubular filter. Wash it in clean diesel and replace.

Edited March 3, 2016 by swift1894

[LEO]

Hi,

 

If you have cleaned it recently you may have damaged the thermo coupling in the burner pot, this keeps the fuel flow running.

 

L.

[Phil Ambrose]

Gunge can be a problem so when I fitted ours I included an inline filter between the fire and the dedicated tank. Also ref downdraught, I fitted a "H" cowl to my flue termination which more or less guaranteed that wind would not effect the fire, I also had a normal (smaller, lower) cruising cowl which could be swapped when needed.

Phil

Edited March 3, 2016 by Phil Ambrose

[Alan de Enfield]

Hi Terrie - was wondering if you were still 'in the land of the living' - how are the general repairs & refitting going ? are you now watertight ? engine overheating sorted ?

 

It WILL get better, honest !!

[Phil Ambrose]

Alan speaks the truth.

Phil

[koukouvagia]

1. Lack of ventilation may well be the cause However, you seem to have cleaned the flue.

2. I’m assuming your fire is a Refleks / Kabola type. It is highly likely that the small holes around the rim of the burner pot are clogged. These should be cleaned. What happens if you remove the cleaner rod and wedge open the lid slightly? Note only do this for a very short time to avoid CO entering the cabin.

3. In cold weather the diesel won’t vaporize and as more enters the bottom of the pot it drowns out the flame. Sometimes diesel can be difficult to ignite, especially if there's a pool of diesel. When lighting the fire you need to ensure there’s only the slightest trickle entering the burner pot.

4. Check that the fuel has not become contaminated with condensation. Check the pipe that leads into the regulator. You may have to undo this and clean it out. As mentioned above you may need to clean out the filter. It can easily become gunged up, especially if the fire has not been used for some time.

There are more things to try, but do the more obvious things first.