Was recently some banter about this. Maybe? Quite possible that seasonal fuel changes might affect it; but hard to imagine other quality issues (like octane) since these things will run on just about anything...

 

Didn't see anything when using the "Search Community" box, I try to not litter the forum with redundant posts.

 

It's a valid question. But I think it's only come up a couple times - including within the last week or two? But there's no solid answers. These heaters are really, really simple: they're closer in function to a diesel two-stroke engine with no valves and no spark plugs. In the cheap CDH space, the controller makes ALL the difference for everything. IOW, if fuel IS an issue, it's just a tuning thing... not that we're able to tune them...

 

It's documented that you can't just burn gasoline in one of the cheap diesel truck heaters. I suspect it's because the gasoline vaporizes too quickly when the heater starts to warm up.

As @gregoryx says, they're really simple beasts, but there is engineering in getting the burner volume, air flow through the burner right for the amount of fuel being injected, placement of the ignition source, etc. All this is optimized for a particular fuel viscosity and range of air-fuel ratio requirements.

That said, road vehicle fuel gasoline is all very close to the same viscosity and vapor pressure no matter what kind you get. I suspect nearly anything short of E85 will burn about the same in one of these.

 

This thread talked about vapor pressure of different gasoline blends possibly having an effect.

https://www.fordtransitusaforum.com/posts/1364502/

 

I had a riding lawn mower carb get gummed up using the normal gas with ethanol from any pump. After that mess, I now only run ethanol free gas in any mower, snow blower, weed whacker, etc. Any chance the ethanol could gum up the injectors in the heater?

 

Gum up the WHAT?

No, seriously... there are no injectors. Or a carburetor. Or valves. Or much else. I'm not sure how best to describe how simple they are. I'd say they're closer to a jet-engine... but that doesn't sound simple (even though it is). The diagrams barely help because it sure SEEMS like there's something more going on.

There's a, "glow plug," which is commonly found in a diesel engine (with no, "spark plugs," there, either). Basically, once the combustion starts working it keeps going so long as there's fuel delivered. I think the, "combustion air blower," is the internal air-mover that keeps the combustion air moving through the chamber (more similar to a jet engine in that way - once it ignites it keeps burning so long as there's air-flow and fuel available). But this is just my understanding... there's an Aussie guy on YouTube who has a series of videos where he goes through every aspect of these things.

 

Not related to gas heaters, but in general, gasoline powered equipment that goes long periods of no usage fare poorly on ethanol containing fuel.

 

This is the lesson I learned the hard way with a lawn tractor carb rebuild. And what also makes me wonder if this same problem could occur with these heaters if they sit all summer.

 

Velit fuel type is all programming in the same physical unit. My unit shipped as a diesel, did a download and now it's a gas unit. And the instructions say it should be fired up monthly in the summer to keep it cleaned out and operational. 15 minutes stick in my mind, but I'll double check that come spring / summer. Got the laser temp thingy out to see just how hot the heated air was, at the end of the 2' of 3" hose, I was getting between 129F to 132F. Only issue I've had is it going into an Error 01 twice. Both times I was fiddling with the temp settings up and down and shutting things down playing with it. Now, I just turn it all the way down to 40F during the day and don't actually shut it off. I did get the instructions to put it into boot mode to reflash the gasoline download, but will wait until I'm home at the end of the month. While on the road, if it's at least functional... DON'T MESS WITH IT !!!

 

The pump in a parking heater is called a dosing pump. It delivers drops of fuel to the combustion chamber. You can hear the solenoid in the pump click as it pumps drops of fuel through the fuel line.

 

I’d think if it just drips into the combustion chamber, you’d run the risk of air getting into the fuel line. Air, fuel, and flame in a tight space? Seems like a bad idea in this case. I still think there has to be a nozzle or some restrictor that keeps the pressure inside the fuel line higher than the pressure in the combustion chamber.

 

I have a few NOS Espar diesel heaters in the garage. Maybe if I get bored I will open one up and see what the fuel delivery is like.

 

Esbar rates their heaters for 5000 hours life......that's NOT long at all (7 total months of none stop usage).

Scary...

 

Why scary? For the average user I bet that is about 10 years use. I use a Propex heater and it’s the only device using propane so pretty easy to get a decent number use hours based on propane fills. In 3 years use it works out to be almost 2000 hours of run time based on Propex’s published fuel consumption rate.

 

FWIW... just short of 2300 hours on the Espar in our 2020. So... that'd work out to @Blur Rider's 10 years estimate. I'd guess typical usage is probably a LOT less. Granted, we have years with more usage than others; but I tend to have a few weeks each year that it's on 24/7 - though it cycles, of course.

I assume I'm going to need to rebuild it soon-ish. Should probably order the rebuild kit...