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Diesel heater fuel pickup

Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2019 10:20 pm
by Avittery
So I bought a diesel air heater for my L400 and wondering about plumbing it into the vehicle’s existing fuel tank.
It comes with a small fuel pickup (see photo) that I would put in the bottom of my fuel tank, but I’m wondering if it create too much vacuum inside the fuel tank since I won’t be running the vehicle’s engine when using the diesel heater.

Is the gas cap or tank vented on these vans???

Diesel heater fuel pickup

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 9:41 am
by b_kims
Can't speak for the L400, but a common method when installing a diesel heater in the L300's is tapping into your fuel is by plumbing a 3-way valve into the hose destined for the fuel filter. This could me a viable alternative to your fuel delivery questions.

Re: Diesel heater fuel pickup

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:55 pm
by Twotimeowner
I’d love to know if anyone has actually done this. Also, where do those diesel heaters vent the exhaust???

Re: Diesel heater fuel pickup

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2021 7:59 am
by Davidor
If you're still looking for answers, I put a hydronic coolant heater onto my L400 (diesel) and i just teed into one of the rubber fuel lines in between the hard line sections along the body rails underneath roughly under the sliding door. After 2 years she's still running smoothly with no vacuum issues in the fuel tank when running it.

Re: Diesel heater fuel pickup

Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 3:15 pm
by KBand
Davidor wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 7:59 am If you're still looking for answers, I put a hydronic coolant heater onto my L400 (diesel) and i just teed into one of the rubber fuel lines in between the hard line sections along the body rails underneath roughly under the sliding door. After 2 years she's still running smoothly with no vacuum issues in the fuel tank when running it.
Which Hydronic heater did you go with?

Re: Diesel heater fuel pickup

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:24 am
by Davidor
I was able to find a used Espar at a reasonable price and I'm very happy with it's results. The fire chamber did foul up on me a little while after I got it however parts and new gaskets were easy to find at local shops that deal with heavy equipment. If I had to purchase new I'd still probably cough up the high price tag for one that I know can be serviced (espar or wabaso) as they do like to have somewhat regular maintenance on them.