Author Topic: Shop heating  (Read 6376 times)

Offline shipto

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 803
  • Country: gb
  • Redditch, UK
Shop heating
« on: February 07, 2019, 03:49:33 PM »
I have purchased a cheap Chinesium (nicked that off a youtuber  :lol:) parking heater for the shop and have spent the limited time I have in there installing it for the last few days.
It works quite well in my very draughty shed and I am pleased with it, still need to tidy the wiring and hopefully figure out a back up battery in case theres a power outage for whatever reason. I have worked out it will cost me about 5 litres of diesel so somewhere in the region of £7 per week but if I can find a red diesel supplier that should be cheaper.

The main thing I would appreciate feedback on is the large amount of heat that is being directed out of the shed via the exhaust port, its extremely wasteful in my opinion. So I was thinking maybe I could make a radiator to run it through before it leaves the shed or maybe something like the economy7 heaters which I believe used the cheap electricity to heat some bricks or something which could then be let out during peak times.
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/

Offline John Rudd

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2525
  • Country: gb
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2019, 04:19:15 PM »
Nice job  :thumbup: Heard lots about these heaters...

Maybe you could pick up a second hand eco7 heater and madmod it  :dremel: ?

Where did you buy yours from? Thinking of getting one for my garage..
eccentric millionaire financed by 'er indoors
Location:  Backworth Newcastle

Skype: chippiejnr

Offline shipto

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 803
  • Country: gb
  • Redditch, UK
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2019, 05:08:57 PM »
Thanks John I got it from ebay for 129 beer tokens It took a long time to get here though the usual UK seller but item is shipped from China rubbish.
Dont think a standard heater unit will do it but I was thinking maybe the bricks with the holes in them and feed the pipes through the holes?
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/

Online awemawson

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8966
  • Country: gb
  • East Sussex, UK
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2019, 05:12:13 PM »
I hope that your fire insurance is up to date and the heater 'complies' and doesn't just have a label SAYING it complies  :bugeye:
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline shipto

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 803
  • Country: gb
  • Redditch, UK
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2019, 05:18:56 PM »
Dont think there is any extreme risk they are a copy of more expensive makes which are sold for heating caravans, campers and such like the combustion is contained in a chamber. Lets put it this way I think I would be more likely to burn my shed down with the welder than this.
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/

Offline Joules

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
  • Country: gb
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2019, 06:00:16 PM »
I’ve been testing one of these for a couple of months now in my workshop.  They are pretty safe as long as you follow the installation guide.  The pump is a dosing pump, not gravity fed,  so can’t run away, any electrical or cpu failure just kills or stalls the pump, the glow plug manages about 100w enough to vaporise the diesel, but not enough to heat the alloy casting of the heater.  As to the heat out the exhaust, once you are upto temperature and the thing throttles back, the temp falls away and you can hold the silencer.   I am still waiting for the unit to soot up and fail, parts are cheap and the heater mesh can be fabricated.   I run red diesel and for a 2kw unit it costs me less than £1.00 a day for heating.  I use the heater 6-7 days a week for 8-10hrs a day.  I did insulate the workshop roof and door with silvered insulation from Screwfix and this made a huge difference.  I only need 10℃ To be able to work, but the added benefit is, the heater has dropped the moisture that was present in the shop.

I might add, DON’T drill a hole in the tank to fit one of the fuel fittings.  Drill the tank lid and pass the fuel line though and add a clunk to sit at the bottom of the tank.  My tank is fitted so it stand vertical, I have x2 20ltr Jerry cans for fuel and decant into a portable 10ltr can.  It’s easier to fill the heater tank, just use a funnel.



Honour your mentors, and pay it forward.

Offline Joules

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
  • Country: gb
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2019, 07:29:03 AM »
Something to think about if you are installing one of these in a shed.  The exhaust pipe does get hot, around 260℃+ hot.  I made a through wall fitting, as I already had the hole !!!  if you pay careful attention to the supplied air filter, it actually doesn't filter.  My idea was to combine the exhaust out, add some filtering and give the air coming in a bit of preheat.  You need to get some separation between the intake and exhaust to stop it pulling fumes back into the combustion chamber.  The through wall fitting could be as simple as a bean tin with the ends removed, just get some seperation around the exhaust.

My air filter is 3D printed frame with a stainless mesh welded into the print.  This is bolted to the outside of the through wall fitting.  The internal end of the fitting is glued in with JB Weld, the external plate is a free floating close fit, lets things expand and condensation to drain out of the pipe as it is at a very slight angle.  I used copper pipe to extend the exhaust and add a right angle so the exhaust is angled down.

This is the clunk I made from a bit of brass bar, slit it to make a collet, then one of the supplied pipe clamps can fix it to the end of the pipe after you have threaded it through the cap.  Final picture is my fuel setup, this is about 2weeks heating, one week in the tank and another fill in the can below.  I pick up 40ltrs a month depending on how cold the weather is, if it's mild the tank can do 10 days worth of heating.

These heaters share a lot of similarities to model jet turbine engines, the rpm and power output are much reduced but actually firing and running these engines is almost identical and cannot function accuratly without an ECU.
Honour your mentors, and pay it forward.

Offline shipto

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 803
  • Country: gb
  • Redditch, UK
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2019, 07:47:17 AM »
Nicely set up  :thumbup:
I found a place to get the red diesel today and paid £16 for 20 litres, not sure how that compares to others around the country but I am happy at that.
The exhaust heat is one of the things that annoys me about this thing and as I said in origional post I would like to harvest this heat somehow but thats another thread  :D
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/

Offline Joules

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
  • Country: gb
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2019, 08:08:13 AM »
Shipto, you are chasing diminishing returns trying to capture that waste heat.  The exhaust system needs to be hot to get rid of moisture and combustion products.  If you pull too much heat from the exhaust combustion products will condense and choke the exhaust.   That is what I am watching for when the heater ramps down to idle running.   The shutdown sequence ramps up the heater and switches on the glow plug to de-coke the mesh and plug for next run.

Our local Morrisons has a gas oil pump (red diesel)
Honour your mentors, and pay it forward.

Online awemawson

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8966
  • Country: gb
  • East Sussex, UK
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #9 on: February 09, 2019, 09:24:24 AM »
Pop along with your can and I'll flog you some red diesel - I keep a bowser with 1000 litres of the stuff  :clap:
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline shipto

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 803
  • Country: gb
  • Redditch, UK
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #10 on: February 09, 2019, 12:54:14 PM »
Shipto, you are chasing diminishing returns trying to capture that waste heat.  The exhaust system needs to be hot to get rid of moisture and combustion products.  If you pull too much heat from the exhaust combustion products will condense and choke the exhaust.   That is what I am watching for when the heater ramps down to idle running.   The shutdown sequence ramps up the heater and switches on the glow plug to de-coke the mesh and plug for next run.

Our local Morrisons has a gas oil pump (red diesel)
Ah yes i had not thought of that but it makes sense.
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/

Offline kayzed1

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 294
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #11 on: March 09, 2019, 02:39:22 PM »
I have had mine running today :thumbup: smashing bit of kit for the money. I do have one issue thou: the ching-lish!!! i just can not get my head around it, the start of every sentence has an icon over it so it all makes even less sense than it otherwise would..Does any one have a good copy of the setup page please?
Lyn. 

Offline shipto

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 803
  • Country: gb
  • Redditch, UK
Re: Shop heating
« Reply #12 on: March 09, 2019, 04:56:42 PM »
Mine came with the same instructions I got further info from youtube just put "parking heater" into the search bar  :headbang:
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/