Ranger Mods

Hardly Ranger focused however following a recent trip to the Kimberly and getting our extremities frozen off in SA on our return I purchased on eBay a Chinese diesel powered 5 kw space heater and installed it in our off-road camper trailer.
t was on "special" for $155.00 - that's an almost unbelievable price. If any reader is thinking of buying one trust me, get one, they are incredible !
It took me three days to install ours under the floor of our off road trailer - there are several tricks to doing this that I learnt that I can happily pass on if asked.
On three test runs it gets our tent on the camper/trailer up to 28 degrees Centigrade (far too warm to be comfortable) and at that rate it will easily run for 12 hours a day for 12 days on the 10 litre diesel tank that comes with the "kit".

I can second that. We have one in our caravan as well as one in a rear fold camper. Wouldn't free camp now without one.

Yes they are a good heater for the price.
A couple of suggestions Ian.
A 3kw is more than ample and they run @ more revs/heat to achieve the same as a 5kw does at a lower speed which can cause fouling
Once every now and then open the van and run the heater flat out for a while to burn any build up off the glow plug.
Make sure you tank is covered or painted, don't want any light in there.
Another good idea is to run a bit of kero in the fuel.
It burns cleaner and stops algea growing.
As the fuel will be there a while it has to aid in the burning of stale fuel
500mls to 10lts does the job

RossPat wrote: ↑Fri Oct 01, 2021 4:00 pm Yes they are a good heater for the price.
A couple of suggestions Ian.
A 3kw is more than ample and they run @ more revs/heat to achieve the same as a 5kw does at a lower speed which can cause fouling
Once every now and then open the van and run the heater flat out for a while to burn any build up off the glow plug.
Make sure you tank is covered or painted, don't want any light in there.
Another good idea is to run a bit of kero in the fuel.
It burns cleaner and stops algea growing.
As the fuel will be there a while it has to aid in the burning of stale fuel
500mls to 10lts does the job

Thanks for that. All are good ideas and I'll follow them
The eBay deal was a "special" on the 5 kw, there were 2 kw for sale but the ask for them was $255 so the choice of the 5 kw for only $155 was a no brainer, besides it will, or should, also help heating the annex if we open the side tent panel.
The point about running it flat out to clean the glow plug every now and again was clear in the instructions. We will do this.
Yes, I was told that about sun degradation of the plastic tank so the tank is now covered on the face and one side with self adhesive foil faced rubber insulation that I had left over from another project. By having one side "open" I can easily see the diesel level.
I'll get a 2 litre bottle of kero from Bunnings today.

[quote=RossPat post_id=18564 time=1633068023 user_id=1699]
Yes they are a good heater for the price.
A couple of suggestions Ian.

Another good idea is to run a bit of kero in the fuel.
It burns cleaner and stops algea growing.
As the fuel will be there a while it has to aid in the burning of stale fuel
500mls to 10lts does the job

Humm, okay Ross so I went to Bunnings and got a 2 litre container of Kero, it's a very nice blue colour, and as you advised I measured and poured 500 ml of it into the 10 litre diesel tank and it's sat happily on top of the diesel and shows no sign of mixing into the diesel. So, I poured a litre of diesel into a 2 litre plastic bottle and added 50 ml of the Kero, shook it up to mix it and just over two hours later the kero had permeated to the top of the diesel. Could this just be a synthetic Kerosene that Bunnings retail or is this typical or do I have a problem with the existing kero in my 10 litre diesel tank ? ?

I have only done it twice so far, don't use a lot of fuel.
Mine has mixed in fine on both occasions.
I know several others who ad kero as well and it always mixes in.
Just a thought, do you use that cold climate diesel?
No idea other than that

RossPat wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 4:16 pm I have only done it twice so far, don't use a lot of fuel.
Mine has mixed in fine on both occasions.
I know several others who ad kero as well and it always mixes in.
Just a thought, do you use that cold climate diesel?
No idea other than that

It seems to have mixed to a degree anyhow, it's still a more pronounced blue at the top of the container but the blue has spread through all the 10 litres.
No, I don't use cold climate diesel - it is sometimes distributed up here in the mountains in winter but only by BP and even then they make it quite clear that it has additives.

I occasionally add a small amount of kero to ours, but I must confess that I've never bothered to look to see if it mixes. I figure it's ok to run on straight kero and/or diesel, so eventually it will all ignite anyway.

Chinese made. No thanks.

Lincolnland wrote: ↑Sat Oct 09, 2021 6:45 pm Chinese made. No thanks.

One of the rare Chinese products that works
Better than being ripped off with rebranded expensive units

$200 compared to $2500 for essentially the same thing. A lot of parts are actually interchangeable and the brand names are not without their issues either.
Which ever you get, none are Australian made unfortunately.

i love the statement chinese made no thanks...where do you think half the stuff you own is made? another thing to know is there are cheaply made poor quality chinese items and there are more expensive well made products...just have to know which ones are which and which to stay clear of

There is one thing the Chinese can make better than anyone else, & that's more Chinese.

Lincolnland wrote: ↑Sat Oct 09, 2021 6:45 pm Chinese made. No thanks.

In some instances I would totally agree with you and I normally go to great lengths to buy anything other than Chinese, especially since the Wuhan debacle that we are still living through , however in this instance after shivering our backsides off in what is a canvas tent ( our off-road camper trailer ) we decided we needed it heated.
There are two alternatives in caravan diesel heaters, a "Mr Heater" - claimed to be USA made - retailing at just under $2000 or the identical unit I purchased that was on a special sale on eBay for $150.
Are you going to tell us that you would have paid the additional $1,850 for the USA made unit just to say you didn't buy Chinese ? By the way, on eBay both units have the same Australian distributor, and both have the same 2 year warranty and looking at them I wouldn't be surprised if the Mr Heater unit wasn't also made in China.

Lincolnland wrote: ↑Sat Oct 09, 2021 6:45 pm Chinese made. No thanks.

Most of the electrical gear in your house is made in China, as is......
The chips etc in your Ranger
The power tools you use
And on & on
A sad fact, but true

Where an option exists i avoid chinese anything. Im more than well aware of where most products are manufactured. Its a sad fact we have to rely on fa china after the demise of local manufacturing.

Lincolnland wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:28 pm Where an option exists i avoid chinese anything. Im more than well aware of where most products are manufactured. Its a sad fact we have to rely on fa china after the demise of local manufacturing.

You will most likely buy other products from other countries that licence their manufacturing out to Chinese companies then branded under their own name, sad reality the world relies China whether we like it or not. That is globalisation for you.

The addition of kerosene is essential if you expect freezing temperatures. adding kerosene prevents the wax in diesel fuel from forming a gel.
which will cause the diesel heater to clog and emit a cloud of white smoke requiring the heater to be totally stripped
down and clean out .
I learnt this the hard way after I installed a diesel heater in our new van and did not have kerosene available in our town and was going to buy some in
our travel unfortunately our first overnight stop in Gundaroo NSW experienced -7 degrees and the heater clogged up in a few minutes
I have installed 4 diesel heaters in 20'6" foot caravans all were Chinese units ,we found the 2Kw units not good enough to heat in minus temps the 5Kw
and 3 Kw heaters when stripped down had identical component inside the Chinese just assign what ever ratings they want.
You can run 100% kero in these heaters.