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A minor catastrophe averted


Chris

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Most folk familiar with us will know how I love the diesel heater.  I reckon the bloke who invented should be knighted for services to the industry.

Anyways, last night we were sitting in comfortable warmth wth heater ticking nicely, when a thump in the unit was followed by cold air blowing.  This was not a good development.

We both quickly googled solutions and reams of advice came up.  Pages of advice, all of it useful.  It was too late at night to do anything other than check the fuses (who could have known where the fuses were without Mr Google?) and they were fine.  Today Val got himself organised and got under the van (apparently it's dusty under there) and cleaned the fuel line and the filter at the start of the pump, as well as the connections to the pump.  He couldn't see anything but used cotton buds to clean it out with Windex. 

All good now, and working perfectly.  It is still dusty under the caravan but we can't do anything about that.

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  • 3 months later...

Update.  The diesel heater again played up about a month after that first incident.  So Val (on advice from another forum) installed an additional filter in the line.  That seems to have solved the problem.  No more hiccups.

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Hi Chris & Val,

There is a filter screen on the fuel tap on the bottom of the tank, remove tap from tank, remove and DISCARD this filter, refit fuel tap.

in a suitable/safe location between the tank and the inlet of the pump, install/fit a 'cheap' disposable 'inline fuel filter' available from Supercheap or similar. This filter should be changed every 12 months regardless of usage or when ever you get a load of iffy fuel.

Add 1 litre of kero or metho to the fuel tank once a year also it will break down any moisture in the tank and clean the pump (internally) at the same time.

I don't think knighthood is good enough for the inventor.....I suggest sainthood....stay safe

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On ‎16‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 7:56 AM, TonyH said:

Hi Chris & Val,

There is a filter screen on the fuel tap on the bottom of the tank, remove tap from tank, remove and DISCARD this filter, refit fuel tap.

in a suitable/safe location between the tank and the inlet of the pump, install/fit a 'cheap' disposable 'inline fuel filter' available from Supercheap or similar. This filter should be changed every 12 months regardless of usage or when ever you get a load of iffy fuel.

Add 1 litre of kero or metho to the fuel tank once a year also it will break down any moisture in the tank and clean the pump (internally) at the same time.

I don't think knighthood is good enough for the inventor.....I suggest sainthood....stay safe

 

Tony, all good advice.  Val says he intends to empty the tank when we get home and remove that filter.  In the meantime he has installed a new and additional fuel filter after the tap in the line.  We're not sure if our model of tank has that filter in the tap but we will check.  We do regularly put kero in the tank (I guess metho would have the additional merit of drying out the moisture).  Diesel conditioner and injector cleaner are also used every six months or so.

 

He cleaned out the filter and the pump as well which solved the problem at the time.  It was dirty...

 

In any event, the problem seems to have disappeared for the time being.

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Hi Chris & Val,

If Val has installed a 'new & an additional' filter after the the fuel tap......I would think you may have problems!

You possibly have a potential blockage/restriction at the fuel tap (yet to be confirmed) by installing an extra filter ( from my understanding) you now have TWO auxiliary filters before the pump......you'll be asking the pump to work VERY hard pulling fuel through two Inline filters AND the (possibly) restricted filter on the fuel tap.

I understand and appreciate the value you put on your heater.......just don't want it to fail on you.

Stay warm ???

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Tony, As said earlier, when we get home we will check if there is a filter on that particular tank. (Since we got van Kedron are using a different tank).  At present the fuel is running freely through the line to the pump and in the two months since we made the change running well.  The filter is clean which is good to hear.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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