How to tune a Chinese diesel heater with no tools 2kW & 5kW

Hopefully, this explains how the Chinese diesel heaters can be tuned to perfection with no tools apart from your fingers. Out of the factory, they're set at a default value that gets them running. All of the ones I've tested have been terrible. If you follow these 'simple' guidelines, it'll run MUCH cleaner and MUCH more economical.
I am not responsible for any damage caused by tuning your heater. You do this at your own risk!

A basic description of how to tune it with default fan speeds is:

Turn the heater up to full and leave it to settle for a couple of minutes
Reduce the maximum pump speed (0.1hz at a time) until it drops one bar on the display
Increase the maximum pump speed (0.1hz at a time) until it shows all the bars
Increase the maximum pump speed by 0.2hz to make sure it keeps the heat just over the top bar

Turn the heater down to minimum and leave it to settle for a couple of minutes
Reduce the minimum pump speed (0.1hz at a time) until it drops one bar on the display
Increase the minimum pump speed (0.1hz at a time) until it shows all the bars
Increase the minimum pump speed by 0.2hz to make sure it keeps the heat just over the top bar

Repeat the above until it's all stable.

[mobiusx]

Thanks for the helpful video!

It seems that to keep the combustion chamber as clean as possible, you would want to have combustion on the lean side and also maximize your combustion chamber temperature.

So, it seems that you want to lower the fuel pump speed (which you have done) to lean-out combustion, but also *lower* the fan speed to increase the temperature of the combustion chamber.

Where is the flaw in my logic? I guess the fan controls more than the external (cooling) air, that runs over the exterior of the combustion unit to provide room heat, the fan must also provide the combustion chamber air as well?

[micg]

I've been getting endless e-08's and e-10's for 3 months since getting one of these last fall -- all indicators pointed to too much fuel, but all the internet experts suggested too much air in my fuel lines, bad wires etc. Working on these changed nothing. Last night I used your setting as a starting point, 3.8 hz and 5000 rpm for the high setting, and without any other change it just started up instantly! Thank you!

[darrien]

Oh My Goodness! I have been hunting for MONTHS about how to stop my one of these, from fouling. I'm no mechanic, but I suspected there was a relationship between the hertz and the fan speed that was causing my issue. This is the first resource that I've found that showed a logical, simple, approach to sort the tuning...that anyone could do with a spare half hour or so. So - THANK YOU VERY MUCH! :D :D :D :D

[gordonmitchell]

I have watched your video and followed along for my heater. With the minimum fan from 1, 500 to 2.500 and the maximum at 5, 000 rpm, I adjusted my low hz to 1.2 and the high hz down from 5, 5 to 3.6 when I got the 2 red bars back. All appears to be okay, so I will see how it goes for a while. Many thanks for doing this video.

[clifficus]

Stumbled across your video as I’ve just bought one but haven’t installed it my small workshop/shed, was gonna buy one 3 years ago for my old camper van but didn’t, so have seen hundreds of vids, was amazed at your quiet unassuming but knowledgeable presentation, blown away actually, instantly subbed and looking forward to your next blast of knowledge 👍😃

[Zekerose]

New subscriber. I ordered a heater, don’t have it yet, and I’ve been watching videos on them and I really liked your video. Straightforward, great knowledge, and a great way of explaining the info. Again thank you!!

[wrxs]

After running my heater all winter on factory setting, I get great results, make sure the exhaust is in a downward slant, this is where the carbon or soot buildup starts. And the most important thing is "leave it alone so you don't burn your house down"

[memikel]

That was the best advice out there on the Chinese diesel heaters can't wait for your next video on the pump 👍👍

[julias-shed]

That’s pretty good explanation of how to tune it. My 5kw is on a max of 3.3 at the moment as my fan speed is 4600 max I didn’t think they liked 5000 but it sounds like yours has lasted okay so might push it higher. I’ve had terrible carbon in mine but its getting better now the mixture is leaner. Thanks for the video.

[FuttBuckerByMutt]

What I’ve noticed with the heater is the intake “filter” is tiny. As a gear head and diesel mechanic I’d imagine that filter may be restricting the air which could cause excessive soot or carbon build up. I modified mine and it appears to run significantly better at its highest temperature setting

[ringonotts]

Meh - that ticking sound is the sound of warmth and peace :) If i don't hear the ticking i wake up!!! Nice one Tony - keep up the excellent work! Thanks, Ringo

[ridgerider]

Thanks Tony, loving mine, will definitely have a play with its settings now.
Intrigued with your fuel pump upgrade, I have mine hanging on some string which has dulled down the harsh clicking 100%

[rustys]

I've just installed one of these and will tune as you suggest, thank you. Mine's in a large workshop so space not massive issue so my next step is to try playing with exhaust heat exchanging. I appreciate that whatever I do can't create any more back-pressure than the supplied exhaust tubing, but my thought / hope is that extracting heat from the exhaust will drop pressure if anything (it's effectively a charge intercooler) whilst enabling the harvest of some waste exhaust heat.

[foxy]

Brilliant video, I have 2 of these, one in my van and just about to install one in my house. I will be using your video to tune them now. Many thanks

[TheDirtyChef]

So glad to have found this video. I have been wondering about fine tuning these units. I use one to keep my bedroom nice and warm but I have noticed it really goes through a lot of fuel on high and this video has shown me that I can really reduce my consumption and get the same heat and even better air flow in the room.

[AJBK]

I'm glad to see that someone was able to make good use of theses heaters and taken the time to tune it as I've seen several of them fail (Julian Illiet had one fail)

[Dirt-Diggler]

At last someone who understands AFR !
Appart from davidmcluckie and john mck 47 your the only YTer who even starts to understand it, soo many 5min experts out there 🙄
The original webasto and ebers didn't allow owners to sod about with pump speed and fan speed, they were set at the factory to give heat with a low ex emissions, something the Chinese dont really care about all that much.
90% of issues i fix are sooting up because owners fiddle with the settings or the base settings are way off, the older blue controller would let you set dose rate up to 8Htz with a max fan speed of 5500 rpm, some would only allow 5.6htz at the same rpm so no wonder they get messed up and sooty 🙄 after a clean out i reset the controller and tell owners to use the temp settings and stop messing with the dose rate 😏 or buy a decent make, webasto and eber obv, mikuni are ok, autotherm/plannar or the lavana pro series 👍
Really enjoyed that vid chap 👍 looking forward to a few more on the subject from ya 😎

[lookinin]

I love the tinkering and tweaking of this heater. I wonder if you were able to get the dose rate so low because you're closer to sea level. I'm over a 1000' ASL and I can't go any lower than 4.5 Ghz. Of course, the incoming air temperature might have an effect on the heat exchanger, too. Thanks for taking the time to post this. 👍

[dphillo]

Another way to get less fuel to the heater is get a smaller pump. My 2kw came with 18.5 written on it. My 5 & 8kw came with 22 written on it. This will help those that have a different controller and can't adjust the Hertz or fan speed.

[e-bikerbulgaria]

Often check the prices of these China heaters view to purchase. Some very interesting data you found there Tony. 👍👍👍👍👍