Once you’re all warm and toasty, it’s time to turn the diesel heater off and conserve your fuel for next time.

Usually I wouldn’t recommend cheap brands nobody has ever heard of for something as important as a campervan heater. For example, my top recommendations for campervan fridges, leisure batteries and solar panels are all by reputable brands, since most of the time you get what you pay for. Many of the Chinese diesel heaters have a handy timer function. They are especially useful if you want to have it automatically turn on before you get out of bed in the morning or if you’re out at night and want to return to a toasty caravan. Usually you don’t have to go digging to find out if your Chinese diesel heater is throwing an error code. It will most likely be taking centre stage on your LCD monitor. If you are planning to travel at altitudes of around 2000m, consider upgrading this model with the high altitude ready kit. If you’re planning to travel to higher altitudes of 2000m plus I would recommend choosing the AT EVO 40, again with the high altitude ready kit. As the heater gets up to temperature, you’ll notice the lines across the bottom of the ‘diesel heater’ image increase on the screenThe device itself is constructed using premium materials and as you would expect, the build quality is exceptional. Moreover, thanks to advanced engineering, the appliance is whisper-quiet when operating at full power. Talking about power, the Air Top 2000 STC can efficiently provide up to 2000 watts of heat. This heater is capable of providing an impressive 5000 watts of heat energy. That is more than enough heat for anything up to a large campervan. Its reliable, efficient, and low-cost – what more could you ask for? Weighing only 7.2 kilograms, this heater is available in a variety of colours – however, most of the time you won’t see this so were not so sure how much of a deciding factor this is. Regards heating power, this heater has a maximum heat output of 5000 watts; more than enough power to heat a large campervan efficiently. The heaters suggested in this guide all run on 12v systems so can easily be connected to your leisure battery. After the initial surge, this draw of energy will be around 1 amp per hour. Why use a diesel heater?

The instructions for turning your Chinese diesel heater on and off are pretty standard. You can expect the heater to be smokey the first time you fire it up. Whether it’s burning off excess fuel from over priming or extra oxygen that was sitting in the lines, a bit of smoke is completely normal. Sure, it’s a cheap Chinese made version of a Webasto but if it works then why not? Just be aware that the lifetime of this product may likely be much shorter than a Webasto or Eberspacher. We bought this heater under the assumption that it may only last 1-2 years, after which we may need to replace it. As you can see from the table the main differences between the budget and premium models are the cost and warranty availability. The only thing not considered in this table is the build quality. How does a diesel heater work in a campervan? No separate fuel source required since they run off diesel in the running tank (for plumbed in heaters) This one was a tough call; simply because there are a few other models all offering what you want in a premium diesel air heater. However, one manufacturer has been mentioned time and time again.Below you will find what each error code means, plus the troubleshooting solutions you can try. ERROR

The body of the is made of high-quality materials, and similar to other imported models come in a wash of fancy colours. The heating power of this particular machine is 5000 watts – so that's on the top end of the scale and should be more than enough heating power up to a large sized camper. The control panel is modern, with all the standard features you find on most diesel air heaters. If you see the dreaded Chinese diesel heater error code, do not despair. Quite often, the solution to the problem is something simple, which you can fix yourself.

This model comes with everything you need to plumb it into your van’s own diesel tank (if fitting to the top of the tank) as well as a 10 litre tank if you would prefer to keep it separated. Running the heater from the included 10 litre tank will make this significantly easier to install. Also note that the instruction manuals on these budget heaters may be very limited or mostly in Chinese! Most camper diesel heaters are extremely efficient using between 0.1 and 0.6 litres of diesel per hour. The figures are similar for budget and premium models. Noise Now that you’ve had a chance to play around with the heater settings, it’s now time to pair up your Chinese diesel heater controller to the LCD monitor. No more getting out of bed on a frosty morning to turn the diesel heater on!