Knipco F110F Fan Forced Heater

[yeehaw1960]

When I hook it up to power it pushes diesel all the way out to the business end. It will only ignite, though, if it's warm. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a heater. Anyway, I replaced the spark plug and it hasn't changed things. I'm pretty sure it's the igniter. Any other ideas, because parts for this thing might be hard to come by? Other brands of igniter work?

 

[Linctex]

Flashpoint of the fuel is too high. Try something more winter oriented.

I know people will flame me - but adding just a pint or two of gasoline to your diesel tank will make that thing behave,

 

[Donald]

Dump the diesel and go with kerosene.

The heater will not run very well without the cover on.

Usually it's the fuel or air pump.

The fuel needs to come out of the nozzle as a fine mist.

 

[Jmoney7269]

Originally Posted by Linctex
Flashpoint of the fuel is too high. Try something more winter oriented.

I know people will flame me - but adding just a pint or two of gasoline to your diesel tank will make that thing behave,

You can also put a quart or so of methanol/e85 in there if its acting up. Mine holds 13 gallons

 

[yeehaw1960]

I may have fingered it out. I pulled the cover off and it kicked right off when I flipped the switch. I let it cool back down to the 18 degrees it was outside, and it kicked right off again. I think the safety photocell thingy (technical term) is defective. I jumped the wires and put the cover back on. I'll see if it works after sitting in the cold garage all night. Might be shopping for a photocell that's made from 'unobtanium' after that.

 

[Donald]

First look for dirt or spider webs in the way of the photocell. The photocell should produce a small voltage when it sees light (a flame). You can test that with a DMM. There is a small circuit board that is involved also. It allows the heater to run for 15 or 20 seconds with no flame.

I so not believe jumping the photocell will work. Its not an on/off switch.

 

[yeehaw1960]

Well, I cleaned every part of this thing until it shined like a new penny. I blew air through all the lines and found them to be perfectly clear. Grasping at straws, I ordered a new air filter for it night before last. Yesterday morning, though, I actually pulled the line out of the tank and blew out the fuel filter. When I went to put the line back in, I noticed it was falling apart. I looked in the tank and found the first inch and a half of line lying (intact) on the bottom. It had fallen off when I pulled the line out. After grabbing the piece with my long clampy things (hemostats) it pretty much disintegrated. Finally got all the little pieces out and replaced the line. Problem solved I think. After all that cleaning, it turned out to be bad fuel line. It had looked fine when I shined the flashlight into the tank, but as straight and clean as it ‘looked' it was very rotten on the bottom-most end. There's nothing like being thoroughly not quite thorough.

 

[Donald]

That's the fuel inlet assembly that pushes into the top of the tank and has a short straw that goes close to the bottom of the tank and has a fuel filter screen inside it? The actual flexible fuel line connects to it.

You should be able to find those on the internet, EBAY, etc.

I would not suggest running the heater very long without a filter if you were considering that. The nozzle is awfully tiny and will clog easily with no filter.

Pour out the fuel into a clean container and pour it back through a funnel lined with a paper towel to catch any pieces you missed pulling out of the tank.