Smoking Planer air heater

[nedskelly]

I have a Planer heater in the bathroom to make getting out of the shower on cool nights a bit more pleasant, by and large it works OK. I took the portable tank out (5L outboard tank) 2 weeks ago to refill and have had trouble ever since.Made a concerted effort to get it going tonight and after removing and replacing the filter several times to seal suspected air leak and getting a mouth full of diesel trying to fill the lines by suction I discovered I had the tank connection on backwards (Boat type connection) DOH . Anyway got it going once the air had cleared the system but the exhaust was very smokey for at least 10 minutes, any suggestions as to why and has anybody tried adding injector cleaner to their diesel supply to clean the jet in the heater.

[Peter and Sandra]

Probably just unburnt diesel, did it eventually clear?
I've never put injector cleaner or anything else in ours, in fact I've not touched it ever since installation 7 years ago.

[jon_d]

They don't have an injector system in them.

The dose pump is metered (the ticking) and the dribbles the fuel onto the mesh hot plate which vaporizes the fuel and it burns.

Sounds like the cavity still has excess fuel in it and it hasn't burn off, or the mesh is damaged.

[SteveW]

Run it for at least half an hour. If it doesn't clean up it needs the thingamebob inside replaced. The killer for diesel heaters is repeatedly running them for short periods.

[Vik351]

Run it for at least half an hour. If it doesn't clean up it needs the thingamebob inside replaced. The killer for diesel heaters is repeatedly running them for short periods.

Is that all brands Steve...??? cos they all must sorta work in the same way...

I also heard treat em like your cars A/C, give it a good run now and then in the off season...

vik...

[BernieQ2]

Vic we don't turn our car aircon off at all , 24 in the winter is warm 24 in the summer is cool .
Same temp our house aircon sits at .
Bernie .

[Vik351]

Vic we don't turn our car aircon off at all , 24 in the winter is warm 24 in the summer is cool .
Same temp our house aircon sits at .
Bernie .

The flash bomb you must drive then must have the climate controll tingo I have only heard about...

vik...

[SteveW]

Run it for at least half an hour. If it doesn't clean up it needs the thingamebob inside replaced. The killer for diesel heaters is repeatedly running them for short periods.

Is that all brands Steve...??? cos they all must sorta work in the same way...

I also heard treat em like your cars A/C, give it a good run now and then in the off season...

vik...

To the best of my knowledge, yes, because all brands use the similar principle. The Webasto service man explained that when they start up they do not burn the fuel well and so they need to come to full heat internally and be run so that unburnt fuel inside and down the exhaust pipe is burnt properly. Turning them on for 10 minutes or so then turning them off is bad, apparently.

[T1 Terry]

I have a Planer heater in the bathroom to make getting out of the shower on cool nights a bit more pleasant, by and large it works OK. I took the portable tank out (5L outboard tank) 2 weeks ago to refill and have had trouble ever since.Made a concerted effort to get it going tonight and after removing and replacing the filter several times to seal suspected air leak and getting a mouth full of diesel trying to fill the lines by suction I discovered I had the tank connection on backwards (Boat type connection) DOH . Anyway got it going once the air had cleared the system but the exhaust was very smokey for at least 10 minutes, any suggestions as to why and has anybody tried adding injector cleaner to their diesel supply to clean the jet in the heater.

If it still smokes on start up, add 20% kero to the diesel. this makes winter fuel and all diesel heaters were designed to run on winter fuel as they were designed for use in Europe not Aust so the diesel fuel is a different blend.

T1 Terry

[nedskelly]

Thanks peoples, that just about explains it, by the time I turned it off the smoke had all but gone. Might try the kero addition.
Regards