Garage Lighting and Heating (China Diesel Heater?)

dlockers

dlockers

dlockers

Soldato
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21 Jan 2010
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Hi folks,

I currently have about 14 tube lights in my workshop. I think they use a bunch of electricity but I've never tested.

I'm thinking of replacing with either LED battens or those fancy hexagon lights.

I'm also thinking of a basic 100 quid china diesel heater to blast heat in. Has anyone bought a specific one they'd recommend?

Can anyone give any guidance?
 
dlockers said:
Hi folks,

I currently have about 14 tube lights in my workshop. I think they use a bunch of electricity but I've never tested.

I'm thinking of replacing with either LED battens or those fancy hexagon lights.

I'm also thinking of a basic 100 quid china diesel heater to blast heat in. Has anyone bought a specific one they'd recommend?

Can anyone give any guidance?
Click to expand...

See my thread for the diesel heater side of things. I have a MAXPEDINGRODS but they are 99.9999% the same with really only the control units that differ very slightly between them.

As for lighting, I have a smaller garage than you at ~36sqm but I have 5 40W LED panels (cheapish from Amazon) and the room is as bright as I could ever realistically want it! I had flourescent tubes in there before and I did give some thought to just replacing the tubes with drop-in LED replacements but they still look naff. The panels look far smarter in any case.
 
DRZ said:
See my thread for the diesel heater side of things. I have a MAXPEDINGRODS but they are 99.9999% the same with really only the control units that differ very slightly between them.

As for lighting, I have a smaller garage than you at ~36sqm but I have 5 40W LED panels (cheapish from Amazon) and the room is as bright as I could ever realistically want it! I had flourescent tubes in there before and I did give some thought to just replacing the tubes with drop-in LED replacements but they still look naff. The panels look far smarter in any case.
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Thanks - I keep meaning to read through this. I guess they are all much of a muchess. I was looking at this:

The MAXPEDINGRODS ones all seem to be 12v?

I see you mention smell - is that the heater itself stinking the place up? That is a disappointing bit of news if so! It'll be a gym, so kerosene sickness not ideal :cry:

Lightwise - I hadn't considered the panels. Is it just trial and error to find placement/did you apply any "planning"?

I was looking at these things, but no idea w.r.t lumens etc:

I would probably need x3 though for the full workshop (37sqm).
 
Kero smell is 99.9% from the tank. There is no smell of fuel whatsoever from the hot air output and nor could there be unless there is a fault with the unit. The tanks have a vent/breather in the cap if you keep the factory tank, if you don't use that you'll have a vent on whatever tank you do use (or it won't work...). Kerosene smells a lot worse than diesel to my nose (it is both more unpleasant and generates more vapour than diesel, it seems).


As for the lights, I used to have the same panels in my old garage so I knew how much throw they had etc. The ones I have are here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07WK8NJWJ (and I lied when I said they were 40W as they are clearly 48W!). These are ~1.2m in from each wall in the corners of the garage, making them more central than not. They are bright enough and have a decent enough CRI that it is actually quite a pleasant light to work in. I do all sorts of tinkering with things in my garage, the sort of thing that need good light and not once ever have I thought "oh ffs I wish I had more/better/different light in here".
 
I have ordered one of Sunstar toolbox diesel heaters from Aliexpress. It's delivered from a UK warehouse and was £95 delivered.

Going to use to heat a summerhouse I built in the garden from thermalite blocks. I put 100mm insulation in the ceiling but as yet I haven't insulated the walls but has double glazed windows and doors. I built it as a room to use all year round, so insulated the floor as well, but 80% through the build I decided to use it as a workshop instead.

It doesn't currently take a lot of heating and a dehumidifier running inside keeps the temps above 5c even on the coldest of nights.

I have built a lean to on the side for storing garden furniture and the BBQ so I'm going to put the heater in there and then duct the heat inside.

Will let you know how I get on with it as I'm hoping it comes sometime this week so I can play with it at the weekend.
 
So I received the diesel heater yesterday and tested it outside. Connected everything up, filled with diesel and turned it on and everything worked. Quite simple.

The pump is very quiet, quite hard to hear over the roar of the burner and exhaust noise.

Hopefully I'll have it setup over the weekend in the summerhouse.

Here's a review of the unit on youtube:

 
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All you're paying for there is the case. The insides are the same as any other brand/model/whatever of these. The immediate thing to note with that one is that the intake is inside the case and the exhaust (obviously) goes outside. That will create negative pressure inside the space, drawing as much cold air in as is being pumped out the exhaust. This is quite a lot of air! The intake should be re-piped to draw air in from outside if at all possible.
 
For my purposes I wanted it in a case so I can transport it and when not used in the summer I can stack it amongst other boxes out of the way.

I have a barn I mainly use for storeage but sometimes work on cars in there. Also if the boiler breaks down I can vent hot air into the house through the old tumble dryer hole.

The air intake for the burner is on the outside underneath. The air intake for the hot air is inside the case but has vents like a PC case fan right next to it. I can't see this as being a problem and if it is I'll just cut the vent hole out and attach some ducting to it.
 
Usel said:
For my purposes I wanted it in a case so I can transport it and when not used in the summer I can stack it amongst other boxes out of the way.

I have a barn I mainly use for storeage but sometimes work on cars in there. Also if the boiler breaks down I can vent hot air into the house through the old tumble dryer hole.

The air intake for the burner is on the outside underneath. The air intake for the hot air is inside the case but has vents like a PC case fan right next to it. I can't see this as being a problem and if it is I'll just cut the vent hole out and attach some ducting to it.
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Perhaps I wasn't clear... The way these things work, there's a big fan on the 'outside' that draws air over the internal case around the metal combustion chamber to 'cool' it, which is where the hot air that comes out comes from. That's not what I'm talking about here... That same fan shares a shaft that is connected to another fan inside the metal combustion chamber. It draws air in through the small intake tube. Combustion happens and it blows that same air out of the exhaust.

If that intake tube is drawing air from inside your space (garage, barn, house, whatever) and the exhaust pipe is sensibly outside, you will be creating negative pressure inside that space/garage/barn/house/whatever. That negative pressure will suck in cold air from outside, making the whole thing quite inefficient. Duct the combustion intake tube outside and you don't create that negative pressure so don't suck cold air into the space, just into the combustion chamber. Have a feel (careful, it is hot!) of just how much air is being blown out of the exhaust and you'll see exactly what I mean.
 
Got you, the setup I plan will essentially be a PIV.

I am putting the whole unit outside in a lean-to and the hot air will be ducted into the building. This will reduce condensation and also stop any drafts if there were some.
 
Usel said:
Got you, the setup I plan will essentially be a PIV.

I am putting the whole unit outside in a lean-to and the hot air will be ducted into the building. This will reduce condensation and also stop any drafts if there were some.
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I hadn't considered this - so essentially you are external mounting and ducting in heat, vs. internal mounting and ducting out exhaust?
 
dlockers said:
I hadn't considered this - so essentially you are external mounting and ducting in heat, vs. internal mounting and ducting out exhaust?
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Yes external mounting. I want it as quiet as possible indoors. The unit will be protected from the rain.

I am going to extend the wires on the digital controller so that can be mounted on the wall indoors. It's only 3 wires.
 
@DRZ for the unit you bought, did it come with a proper UK plug? I see most are 12v.

Looking at this one

Edit: This one says it is 240v so presumably just plugs in.

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What does the exhaust look like on the outside? Do they make a neat cover for the outside?
 
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dlockers said:
@DRZ for the unit you bought, did it come with a proper UK plug? I see most are 12v.

Looking at this one

Edit: This one says it is 240v so presumably just plugs in.

------------

What does the exhaust look like on the outside? Do they make a neat cover for the outside?
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No, I have it powered by a car battery that's charged via solar when the sun is shining, else by a trickle charger. That 240v SMPS is the sort of thing that'll catch fire immediately and burn your house down. I struggle to trust 5W chinesium chargers let alone something that will put out the sort of current these things draw at startup (10-18A ish).

The exhaust is just an ugly pipe. I've extended mine to above roof level but you have to make sure there's a drain hole BELOW the level of the exhaust on the unit or it'll fill with condensate. I come out of the wall downwards into the 'silencer' (lol) and then from that I go up. The silencer has a drain hole built into it which is handy. I plan to make something a lot more 'pro' looking, which I think means sleeving it in some pipe to make a sort of flue. It'll get warm but hopefully not the 150c+ it is now. I might even get around to bothering extracting the heat from the exhaust with an EGR cooler, you never know!
 
You could use an old PC PSU. Check the 12v rail is over 20 amps, should be on a sticker on the back of the unit.
 
Ah - I hadn't realised it had a big start up power demand. I understand it needs a cool down cycle otherwise it'll grenade itself, so maybe a car battery is a safer prospect overall (pseudo UPS?).
 
dlockers said:
Ah - I hadn't realised it had a big start up power demand. I understand it needs a cool down cycle otherwise it'll grenade itself, so maybe a car battery is a safer prospect overall (pseudo UPS?).
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Yes, absolutely they need to run on for a little while to cool - a power failure at full chat would probably be quite damaging I would have thought.
 
So today I need to finish laying the gym floor and get organised on the other half of the workshop. I've ordered two racks to replace two bits of IKEA stuff I've been keeping hold of for a decade.

The thing that keeps playing on my mind is how to exhaust the heater. I have 4 brick courses I could drill through, or I could mount higher up and come out of the wood. Going out of the wood obviously introduces fire risk without the appropriate fitting that stops heat transfer.

Has anyone done it out of wood before?
 
dlockers said:
So today I need to finish laying the gym floor and get organised on the other half of the workshop. I've ordered two racks to replace two bits of IKEA stuff I've been keeping hold of for a decade.

The thing that keeps playing on my mind is how to exhaust the heater. I have 4 brick courses I could drill through, or I could mount higher up and come out of the wood. Going out of the wood obviously introduces fire risk without the appropriate fitting that stops heat transfer.

Has anyone done it out of wood before?
Click to expand...

It will be okay to run the exhaust through wood as long as its not touching anything and there is a small gap around it. If you look at pictures of these diesel heaters, not just Chinese, you'll see that the diesel fuel line is extremely close to the exhaust.
 
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