How To Strip and Rebuild the Fuel Burning Heater

[bigalgenesis]

pm sent

all the best

Alan

[theridler]

Oh well that gasket kit was snapped up quickly! Gone now I'm afraid...

[Clickernick]

I think there is no right or wrong approach to servicing and costs.

Some folk will always be happy to spend next to nawt on maintenance and be happy while other will decide to blow some dough on a project within reason.

I will be doing this refurb soon on my FBH and whilst I would not buy a new one!! a cost of a sevice kit is reasonable to me over the cost of my cars and the joy I get of working on them.

To strip something down and clean it up, and then rebuild it with sacrificed bits and bobs is pure tight fistedness which I don't like to be.

I know a very 'agricultural' mechanic who always goes for this way of doing things and 75% of his work always needs a second look because of some minor penny pinching exercise like cutting out a paper gasket by hand!

Reminds me of the days when the wife/girlfriend/whoever would be relived of her tights due to the fan belt braking,,well it works don't it? why replace with a proper item!!

[doopydug]

How does an FBH work - does it come on automatically when the temp drops far enough? I cant say I have ever noticed mine working

[Jakg]

Originally Posted by doopydug

How does an FBH work - does it come on automatically when the temp drops far enough? I cant say I have ever noticed mine working

It's diesel only - and not all cars have them.

They come on automatically, but some have a manual override.

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by Clickernick

I know a very 'agricultural' mechanic who always goes for this way of doing things and 75% of his work always needs a second look because of some minor penny pinching exercise like cutting out a paper gasket by hand!

If the home made item is as good or better than the original, why not?

I have never bought a paper gasket, if all I need is the paper gasket, because they are as good and certainly quicker to make than to source. Ability to make paper gaskets was standard practise for ALL mechanics, back in the day, which was when I learned to make them.

When doing any job where you mix old and new, a crucial part of the job is assessing what can be reused and what must be replaced. It is just as crucial when rebuilding something like an FBH. My aim when working on such things, is to simply bring it to a standard where my work will 'see out' the rest of the unit.

When I rebuilt my FBH, I found the gaskets were fine for reuse, but the paper gasket had a split. As the joint wasn't under any pressure, I decided to just push the split together and reassemble. My decision must have been the correct one, for five years later, mine is still functioning perfectly.

Taking this argument a stage further - how many of you are doing the sensible thing and fitting good used parts for none critical replacement parts for the car?

I doubt there is anyone on this forum who doesn't. The same principle exactly.

You want new, buy a new car - not a 10+ year old one, then start replacing everything with unnecessary new parts.

Some 30 years ago, I was tasked with rebuilding the engine revolution counter for a Hull Ferry which was undergoing refurb.. Not part of my usual duties, the company were mechanical engineers, I was the electrical engineer, but with time on my hands and a reputation of being able to fix almost anything. The gearing was shot, the casing was shot, its bushing were shot. There really was nothing to be done with it, yet that ferry had to sale on time in two weeks. I made clear it was completely shot, but the maker was long gone. All I could do was clean it out, put it together and hope for the best. That ferry sailed, but I doubt the revolution counter survived its first trip.

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by doopydug

How does an FBH work - does it come on automatically when the temp drops far enough? I cant say I have ever noticed mine working

Click the link in my sig, to read the full explanation, but...

It should start up when the engine is started and the ambient outside temperature is below +5C and the coolant is below 77C.

My write up (in the link) suggests how you can test it, by bypassing the above automatic start system.

[trebor]

My FBH was blowing lots of white smoke, so decided to use this excellent how to and set about servicing it using the gasket set referred to, and glad I did as the combustion chamber gasket disintegrated when I took the FBH apart so needed the one in the set.

Anyway all back and working fine with clouds of white smoke gone, removed lots of carbon from the heat exchanger in tbe process and washed out the sponge in the air filter pipe.

I only had one issue and that is there was some smoke coming from the air filter whilst i tested the FBH as a parking heater, not all the time but thought it unusual, does anyone know if this is anything to be concerned about ?

[rich17865]

The fan should run to blow any smoke out of the unit once it has stopped burning.

Are you sure it was smoke and not steam as you have cleaned the inlet foam?

[trebor]

Originally Posted by rich17865

The fan should run to blow any smoke out of the unit once it has stopped burning.

Are you sure it was smoke and not steam as you have cleaned the inlet foam?

Thanks Rich I did think about steam as the sponge was still damp when it went back in, so will keep an eye on it and test it again tomorrow