204. E-08 Error - Chinese Diesel Heater
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- čas přidán 3. 07. 2024
- Lots of myths about the E-08 error on Chinese diesel heaters, and often incorrectly interpreted as a fuel pump error. Its not. E-08 simply means "Flame out" or "Did not light" and is therefore the least helpful of all the error codes. Generally, error codes at least narrow it down, but E-08 is much more vague. Heres the most likely reason for E-08 IF you also get white smoke from exhaust when trying to start it. If you see smoke, you're clearly getting fuel. Don't bin or replace your heater without trying this first! If my video helped start your heater normally, please come back and give the video a thumbs up as it will help others find this video too.
If you DON'T get white smoke, its possibly the fuel pump or line, and even clogged glow plug gauze. Personally, I keep a spare clean or cleaned burn chamber as it reduces downtime. Its just quicker to swap it out to get the heater going again, then attend to the other one in your own time. For spares, I always have: glow plug, temp sender, gauzes, plenty of gaskets, a burn chamber ready to go, fuel pump, and a spare controller & display. I don't anticipate failure but I like to know I have a full backup - especially in winter as I heat my entire house with it, including drying washing in conjunction with a dehumidifier - much cheaper than an electric tumble dryer! In any event, make sure the back of that burn chamber is as clean as you can possibly get it. It will almost certainly fire up and the error will be gone. All the best.
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Thanks a ton! This was super helpful after dealing with this headache for a little while now. Brake clean definitely wasn't getting the burner clean enough in that area. It was getting it just clean enough for the unit to work a couple times then fail to E8 again
A case of digging a lttle deeper than you think. Would recommend keeping a spare clean burn chamber so you can at least get the heater up and running again while you sort the other in your own time. Thanks for the positive feedback.
Thank You So Much- got my heater working now no black smoke at all and yes i changed the glow plug and pump before seeing this ---- amazing how much i get out of it
Appreciated Mike. Drives you mad stripping it down trying to resolve it doesn't it. Takes even longer cleaning out that back area. Buy a spare burner as they only take about half an hour to replace if it comes to it. Main thing is stick to heating oil or diesel at all times.
Yep got one on the way as a back up now been 3 days after cleaning still running well thanks to you @@Ralphs-House
@@mikepacey1469 Pleasure. I won't pretend my channel has a consistent theme Mike, but some find aspects of it useful. It took me an age to actually figure out WHY it wouldn't start (lots of wild guesses out there), but basically if the mesh at the back is no longer able to soak up fuel (ie solid with carbon), not only will it not fire up, even if it did, it won't burn off that stuff either. Nice when it fires up isn't it :D
I have spent hours on this problem i have five heaters this is great advise i have loads of spares so i will try this thanks
Takes patience, but you should end up with perfectly serviceable burn chambers that are quick and easy to swap out.
Thank you Ralph, that's made things clearer
Worth cleaning properly or swapping out burn chamber for a new one. Generally if theres white smoke, glow plug clearly works and its getting fuel. No white smoke (or very little) could mean insufficient fuel.
Thank you Ralph, i just took mine apart and attacked it with my propane torch, the clouds of white smoke that came off it was a surprise as it looked pretty clean
Its probable that you always will if you heat it up since diesel/kerosene is oily by nature so some residue will still be there. Burning this off may or may not make starting easier but it does seem to help a great deal if you're trying to shift carbon.
thank you I have cleaned this thing 3 times and still getting it but didn't think it would be dirty down in there so 4 times the charm fingers crossed
Let us know how it goes. If you still have troubles, we can suggest other causes. Back of burn chamber has to be scrupulously clean for a reliable start up. Never be persuaded to run alternative fuels either as despite the many claims, these heaters are designed to run on diesel/kerosene only. Veg or mineral oil soon fouls them - even when used as a mix. The ones that do claim they run on alternatives, never show follow up videos where they couldn't start it again afterwards. I also found that running it flat out for a minute or two prior to shutting down really helps keep burner clean. Not all heater controllers allow fine tuning of air/fuel but if you stick to the right fuel and run it up to high before shutdown, it should be hot enough to burn off any oily residue and hopefully shift any coking.
Finally a real answer to my problem . The weather turned cold and of course the heater died (E08). My third heater with the fourth on its way. For now on, I'll keep a spare.
I'd almost guarantee this is the cause. Theres so much misinformation out there on the E-08 error. Hope it gets your dead heaters going again!
Good to know, thanks for sharing
Thanks John. If it saves someone else tearing their hair out, it's worth it 😂
Thanks for the warning Ralph. I wonder whether sooting-up is more likely in alpine mode? Also, can I ask is it acceptable to take your air intake from indoors, rather from frigid outdoors air? Could there be any issues, other than the extra sucking noise?
Technically, the burn chamber air inlet should always be outside to prevent any smoke being backfed into the area being heated. I get that, however I don't and for the following reasons. For one, my heater isn't having to work anywhere near as hard because its not heating freezing cold air, and on the rare occasion this has happened (usually because of a flame out scenario), fume ingress was miniscule, only lasted 5 seconds and didn't even trigger my carbon monoxide alarms. This subject in itself tends to start a 'heated' debate as you can imagine but I've long given up investing my time in the back and forth of anger it seems to give rise to. I have better things to do lol. Some mount the entire heater outside, generally in a box, but that then requires two 3" holes drilled through your property which I honestly couldn't justify so I opted for a 28mm hole drilled (Toolstation for the bit - about £11) for the exhaust. The only other thing I changed was to bypass the small tank in the unit and drilled a 10mm hole and fed my fuel from a far bigger 20 ltr container placed outside. This negated the need for constant (and stinky) top ups of the onboard tank. Works well. I can either replenish the tank with diesel at the garage, or sometimes by ordering 20 litres from Rye Oils (direct via their website not shopping sites) and its there the next day and post included. Price about the same. You can also use Red if you have a local supplier via a pump. Happy to chat on the phone anytime by the way. Can direct you to my FB page or vice versa. Definately a very viable heating alternative. Came home from my P/T job today and it was freezing outside as you know. Had left it on lowest setting. House was gloriously toasty when I got back Ben. As I said, you need to leave internal doors open for the heat to circulate but that doesn't bother me. Sooting up can be avoided by not straying from diesel or kerosene - unfortunately quite a few (including myself) discover that its a hiding to nothing. Any savings lost in downtime and cleaning. They're economical as they are.
I have 2 of these units that will not start and has all the symptoms you described I have had apart a number of times 1 is only 3 weeks old. I am soaking these parts in a parts washer right now and will clean as described and see if I can fix this I was about ready to garbage them but I think I agree this is the problem as you described. Will clean this evening and try again. Everything else mentioned has been tried with no success.
Almost certainly the cause. Virtually nothing about this problem anywhere other than what I've put together here - after much investigation. Sadly too many junk perfectly good heaters because they just can't start them anymore. They replace pump, no joy, they replace temperature sensor, no joy, etc etc and just give up. The back of that burner is crucial. It has to be clear of debris. Don't be surprised if you come across such big chunks they rattle inside and won't fall out. If that happens, shake them so they fall into the air vent area, and break them up there with a suitable pick. Make up a pick like mine. Coat hanger wire may be a little too thick or not strong enough so see what you can come up with. Don't ever run them on veg oil either lol
Well I was confident I had them cleaned out Couldn't get anything more out of them Since I also soaked them in Varsol for a couple hours I heated them up after and they both started a fire in the chamber to burn out the Varsol I let them burn out on the garage floor and they looked really clean I ran a copper wire and a 90 degree hook through them and put them back together. The first one went through the cycle white smoke etc and came up with a E8 and while sitting on E8 with the glow plug still on it fired but went out again since it had no fuel I tried it again No fire I then started the New one again white smoke No fire on this one either. E8 on both I was sure this was the solution Any more ideas. If it would start it would run Been hard to get started every time I have tried since new Impossible now. Cold here Will have to buy a different heater of some sort tomorrow. Dwight. @@Ralphs-House
@@dwightmcammond5597 What are you running it on? Make sure you use very clean fuel. Are you over-priming it. I never prime at all - seems to help.
I am using fresh diesel winter fuel the same fuel I use in my Diesel vehicles. I also am drawing air from inside Exhaust is less than 2 feet They both flood with fuel when I do a start up When I open up everything is full of fuel. @@Ralphs-House
I have tried both prime and non prime. I ordered 3 new burners and will see what happens when I install a new burner. Everything else seems to be working. I do see a comment or 2 about Alpine mode or the board fuel setting. What is your idea about that ? if it can be reset how do we do it?
@@Ralphs-House
Would spraying carb and choke cleaner into the chamber get rid of the problem once you have the burner stripped down? Works on cars as long as you leave it to evaporate. Ours has just tfown an e8 code. First time was after installing it and that was a failed o ring in the fitting from the tank. It's been ran on low since Oct and last night threw up the e8 code so looks like it could be this problem.
No, since it won't get to the back of the chamber and would still need scraping out. It doesn't take long to strip it down.
Mines sealed into a caravan with fire proof silicone so would have to strip the whole thing out and re seal it all unless it can be stripped in situ
You can spray it with carb and choke cleaner but the carbon is thick and chunky and will also need to be scraped out of the burner to properly clean it so disassembly is pretty much required to fix the flame out issues. I usually take a torch and cook all the carbon out of the burner I can, then scrape out any that is left and then finish with carb and choke to get the carbon out of the steal mesh that is behind the lip. A lot of people say these don't have mesh but they do have a mesh that runs around the outside wall of the burn chamber and it will get carboned up also and that is what the carb and choke cleaner works good for cleaning after cooking it with the torch. Make sure you let it cool down before using the carb and choke cleaner though. Carb and choke cleaner is flammable.
Soak the burn chamber in brake cleaner, degreaser or other cleaning solution for at least 6 hours, then half an hour in ultrasonic cleaner, then blow it dry compressed air or torch it.
That should fix your problem.
There are few solvents and cleaners that will even touch carbon due to the nature of its composition although there is some stuff called "carbon off" which seems to tackle it very well in ovens etc. Not tried it, but a long soak in that might yeild very good results. In the end though, I guess its a case of weighing up whether its worth the time/cost in cleaning against just fitting a new burn chamber. I suspect its a close-run race between the two. Good idea though. Thanks for your input.
Error E-04 is the fuel pump if anyone cares to know, and it will not be clicking if you get this code. It means the electromagnetic coil in the pump is open or the pump is unplugged or wiring issue with the pump itself. You can test this by unplugging the pump and trying to start the heater. You will get error code E-04. It is not common for a fuel pump to fail, or at least I have never had one fail. It is usally Error code E-08 that I get and it will be rolling white smoke and usually always means it's time to take it apart and clean the burner.
In my case it was the pump. The heater would start up but wouldn't flame up properly, no smoke, and eventually shut down with E08 showing. It seemed clear that the pump was not delivering, the click became weak as it tried to pick up the pace. I bought everything to service it in case along with a pump I've fitted first. End of problem, with no other work needed.
Yep, thats the other scenario. No smoke gives that one away. Again, E-08 just means 'no flame' or 'flame out' - as vague as it gets :)
I found that the exhaust gets clogged especially if you are stationary for a while. Drilling a few small holes in the exhaust helps.
It shouldn't do if the exhaust only goes down but if you've got a bend, for sure. It'll fill up with water through condensation otherwise. Nice tip.
im hoping you can help me out with mine, it's 2 weeks old been working pretty good, the first time it shut down on me was after an hour an a half with a bit of smoke, the second time the same , now it's not running long and when i just started it up its smoking, then goes away, so wha would make it plug up that quick or do you think it could be a bad glow plug or something? thers no smoke when it shuts down now. it's coding e8 as well.
As I said, E-08 is 'flame out' so in your case it could be one of several things. Glow plug only operates at beginning and end of cycle so unlikely to be that. Could be a fuel pump issue, soot/muck in burn chamber or a restriction in exhaust. The exhaust must not be fitted in such a way that water condensates inside it - ie pipe should go down and away.
@@Ralphs-House well im gonna have to take it apart an just check it, one thing is the line after the pump you can see air bubbles being shot into the feed line, is that normal with diesel or could that be the issue?
@@davidwalesby2426 Pumps don't cost a fortune and without a filter ahead of it, even a tiny grain of dirt can stop it operating correctly. I keep a spare pump to reduce down time. Make sure you're using good quality clamps on fittings and not the cheap ones that invariably come with these heaters. Upgrading to nylon fuel line also helps.
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@@davidwalesby2426 Also, if you smack one end of the suspect pump on a piece of wood (to reduce potential damage to inlet/outlet) you can often dislodge anything stopping it operating and put it back into service but a spare pump is wise as it means you can quickly get the system running again in the event of a fault.
Blow torch on the back burner should loosen it
had this exact problem after two strip downs 3rd time i took a blow torch to it
ULTRASONIC CLEANER? WOULD THAT WORK?
No. It needs manual work with a pick. Its actually less work (and factoring in the time) to just replace burner. I always keep a couple in my spares box. This is really for those that don't have a new one and are stuck.
Has anyone tried putting the burn tube in an ultrasonic cleaner?
Worth a try, possibly with acetone (aka nail varnish remover) which is one of the limited chemicals thats said to dissolve carbon
@@Ralphs-House I used an ultra sonic cleaner to clean the injectors for my Transit engine. Two of them were really baked with carbon and the ultra sonic took it all off.
@@Ralphs-House BTW I took my heater apart in the process of diagnosing the e-08 and it is really clean. The mesh is is still shiny even down inside the burn chamber. The mesh around the glow plug looks very clean. Going to work on it tomorrow to zero in on the fault.
Wrong fuel settings out of the box causes most of this problem. Have you seen some of the fuelling settings some of these heaters come shipped with lol. Even the newer fixed fuelling motherboard/display combo's vary wildly in their pre-set fuelling parameters. When some of these new heaters have it's carbon monoxide readings testing at over 200ppm, you just know they're throwing any old numbers in to the software to get them out the door!. Only advice I can give is if your heater does not have the advanced menu where you can set your own fuel/fan speeds (1688 menu) then either don't buy it or rip out the controller and get the motherboard/display that allows you to adjust the fuelling (the black display with the gear and the motherboard with the red stand up coil), and adjust your settings (all using the standard .022 pump)- for a 5kw= 1.6hz@1680rpm low 5.0hz@4500rpm high for 0 to 2500ft altitude, 1.4hz@1680 low 4.5h@4500rpm high for 2500 to 5000ft altitude, and for a 2kw= 1.0hz@1500 low 3.0hz@4500rpm for 0 to 2500ft altitude, 0.9hz@1500rpm low 2.7hz@4500rpm for 2500 to 5000ft. Unless you have too many bends/restricted air intake/exhaust (non standard silencer/too many fitted) or substandard fuel, this should drastically prolong cleanouts. Also of course, running a mixture of 50:50 or 75:50 kerosene to diesel does wonders for reducing carbon build up too! (neve use engine oil or cooking oil unless you like carbon for breakfast lol).
Brilliant advice and bang on. So many of these controllers do not allow what are essential adjustments to ensure long life of the heater. Thanks buddy for taking the time to expand on this.
I got same error code but ran out of fuel so check this first
if you increase the voltage to the heater, the glow plug will be hotter, burn cleaner. no soot. i increased the voltage to almost 14 volts. all problems went away.
Would agree to some extent as I run at 14v too although that mostly keeps the first mesh clean. The second larger mesh at the back relies much more on a good fuel to air ratio to reduce carbon. Running the heater flat out for at least 30 mins at the end of use or once a week if running constantly, helps with cleaning.
so what we need is a screw on/off cylinder to allow access.
I thought that but it would be difficult to predict how easy it would come apart after its been heated up to within an inch of its life. Exhausts are bad enough on cars. Easier (possibly) to have a removable flame baffle (theres a new word lol).
Ultrasonic cleaner. Even if you get a smaller one where half fits in flipping it over doing it in 2 cycles..
I've got an e-08 code on my brand new heater. It's been running for a couple days on and off, and then this morning it just shut down
No smoke on startup - investigate fuel pump or line/filter. If you get smoke on startup, fuel is fine so check for blockages/soot either inside heater or blockage via exhaust. Rough pointers.
@@Ralphs-House thanks. I've got no ticking noise at all. Upon startup the fan worked but the glow plug symbol appears with no ticking noise
@@Ralphs-House My heater is brand new, the jerry can was brand new, and my fuel was new. Everything was fine and it just stopped working mid use. I'm not sure if I'm missing something simple
Is there a fuel filter? If not could be bit of grit has jammed the pump. If you remove it you can often free it by smacking one end on a piece of wood.
@@Ralphs-House thanks for the insight! I cleared the lines and reconnected everything but when I try to prime the device nothing happens. And upon startup it doesn't finish. I'm confused as to why the pump is not working. Mine was brand new so I'm going to exchange it, but I'd still like to know what is going on lol
Dear you forgot to explain to us the reason for the formation of carbon inside the burner what is the reason
Well documented. Too rich a mixture. Its not always possible to adjust this, depending on the controller installed. It is frequently caused by owners trying to run them on unsuitable fuel mixes like engine oil etc. On the whole they seem to run best on Kerosene (heating oil).
Has anyone tried using brake cleaner?
Yes. It won't shift encrusted carbon. Its one of the hardest things to tackle chemically. It may remove a little of whats left after manual removal, but you really have to get in there and pick it all out.
@Ralphs-House Might heat it up with a map gas torch!
E-08 just means it flamed out.
Yes indeed. I'm hoping people get the message. You still get some say 'fuel pump' whenever this subject comes up. To be fair it could be a few things but absolutely, 'flame out' or 'non start' is what E-08 means.
I add seafoam to my fuel, keeps the carbon from building up. Mine is clean enough to eat out of.
Not tried it, but good tip.
The Chinese can't make a room box fan that will last who in their wright mind would buy that thing and run it in their house.
Its an exact copy of an eberspacher d2/d4. The one I run works flawlessly.
Only thousands and thousands of people are using them successfully in their homes, RVs and vans
I've been heating my flat with one for 2 years without problems.
Right not wright
What a pain
I'd buy another one
Annoying certainly but doesn't take that long to do. Its just that most don't realise that crud is in there. I keep a spare cleaned or new burn chamber so I can do it in around 20 minutes.