Around OZ by Road

Small project finally tackled and completed. Last year before we took the van to the Tara Camel and Music Festival deep in the cold outback I had ordered a AU$100 Chinese Diesel Heater off eBay. This,  as the nights were predicted to be very cold and we were essentially off the grid so had no way of heating the caravan. Unfortunately, the unit arrived too late for me to install it so I installed an inverter and an electric blanket on the bed. It was very comfortable in bed cold in the van at night. I was very mindful of the 100AH battery that would be supplying the power for this and lights and TV and did not want to run it down. My 250w portable solar panel did a fantastic job in recharging the battery in the early morning sun taking around 2 hours.

Anyway, with our looming trip into the hinterland and with cold nights forecast i was prompted  to get going and get the heater installed, I did this even though we planned to spend most nights connected to mains power (and electric heating) – just in case, you know!!! As it turns out, we will actually be spending of first 2 nights off grid!! and maybe more.

So, after much umming and ahhing, measuring and checking and measuring again and checking again and then some, I finally took the plunge and cut the 100mm diameter hole in the caravan floor. Success!!!

Of course that was not the end of it. Then it was connecting the connectors between the fuel line and the filter, pump, heater and fuel tank – 6 in all. Very fiddly as the rubber connector had an  opening smaller than the fuel line, so it was a squash and push and force the connector onto the fuel line which was only about 3mm external diameter. Eventually got it all done. also got the fuel line, fuel pump control line, exhaust pipe and inlet pipe onto the heater. All very fiddly, Then place the heater over the face plate and through the hole.

Then hop underneath the van to see how it looked and where everything would be routed too. Just to be clear, everything leading to the heater is in very close proximity so have to make sure that the fuel line is not touching the exhaust pipe and the the air intake is far from the exhaust outlet!!! Then secure everything under the van, route the fuel line with fuel pump and filter to fuel tank and connect. All done after many trips to and from the underside of the van!!!

Then connect the electrical harness and control panel to the heater. Finally connect to the power supply. True to form, the leads are too short. Arrrggghhh!! So out to Bunnings/Supercheap Auto/Kickass(4WD shop) to source appropriately sized connecting wire and various items to secure everything under the van. Floor of van is only 12mm thick and smallest decent wood screw is 16mm long!!! Arrrggghhh!!!

Finally, everything is properly secured and connected – especially the heater which is also sealed in place with heat resistant silicone. Except the exhaust pipe which is too short – so back to eBay for a longer pipe – still to come.

Oh yes, also had to buy a 5l diesel canister and fill it up. At servo, place canister on ground, get diesel nozzle and tip to place in the can and a whole heap of diesel, retained in the nozzle spills out over the can/ Arrrggghhh!!! No gloves in Mary’s car so just wipe up with paper towels. Car will stink of diesel now!!!

Back home, fill fuel tank, and now its time to start the machine up. Run the priming cycle, then hit the start button. Fan come on and glow plug shows it’s heating. Success!! Nooooo! unit never fires and just shuts down after 2 failed attempts at starting – giving the dreaded E-10 error code. Now what??

Back to YouTube – well actually consulted with my newish but already firm friend first – ChatGPT – on how to get rid of the error code!! Have to disconnect from battery!! Easiest way is to pull the fuse and then the heater’s motherboard resets to default values.

Ok, Let’s try again. Run priming cycle for much longer but still no luck. After checking also can’t see any diesel in the fuel line for filter bowl. Argh, no, man!!!!

Back to my friends.

Well, for these pumps the fuel line has to abut directly to what ever it’s connecting too. Even a 5mm gap inside the connecter causes turbulence and no fuel flow. I had cut my connectors too long so wasn’t able to get everything tightly abutting each other.

Sooo, back under the van for the umpteenth time, disconnect all the fuel lines from the fuel tank to the pump, cut the connectors shorter, refit and try again. So this time I left the fuel line on the heater side of the pump disconnected and started the priming business, still no flow!!

Now what? Ok ,try opening fuel filter (between tank and pump, and manually fill with fuel. Try priming again, Success. This time the pump is happily spewing diesel out into a bucket under the van.

Ok, now reconnect to heater unit, prime a bit more and fire up the heater. Is it going to work or is it going to throw out an error in which case I’ll need to shorten the connector at the heater inlet – a miserable job, under the van in a very, very restricted space. Nothing yet, Fan still going, glow plug up to 26C, fan going, yes? no? I feel heat – it’s working 🙂 🙂

And very efficient it is. Measured 88dC at the outlet!! Warmed the van in no time all all even with the door open and it’s cold outside.

Now just tidy up the electrics and mount the control panel. Also the remote works as does the bluetooth app – YAY YAY YAY

Ouch!! It’s been too long but what can I say?? Since I retired I have come to wonder where I ever found time to actually go to work!! Suffice it to say we’ve been busy!!

Finally though, a few weeks, or was it months ago we made the commitment to take off with the caravan for a short trip around Queensland for a few weeks. So, I drew a circle around home with a radius on 750km. A very small area when compared to the whole of Australia. Anyway, plan a route to take in a bit of the outback, some northerly areas and a gentle drive south along the coast towards home. Not a big deal, looks like quite a short trip when you look at Google maps!! Well, 2700-3000km later……

Image of route:

Image of route in whole of Australia:

So, we’re off in a week with the dog on a 5 week trip. No leg is longer than 350km making it for a relaxing travel with plenty of time to see everything along the way.

ChatGPT has been most useful in assessing travel time and distances, places to stop, thing to do and see and how long to stay in any one place as well as preparing a list of fuel stops based on the average fuel consumption of my car skipping the  more expensive fuel stops. Also providing a rough estimate of fuel costs, accommodation costs as well as cost of attractions etc.