A Short History Of Chinese Diesel Heaters

Available for less than $150, the venerable Chinese Diesel Heater ("CDH") has been the go-to solution for fleet operators, farmers, RV'ers, or anyone who needs quick heat to take the chill off their seat covers. From Point Barrow, Alaska to the South Pole, diesel heaters have gained a well-deserved following due to their low cost of acquisition, installation flexibility, and parts availability.

The base technology of the mobile diesel heater evolved from a respected German design. This design was further refined by companies such as Webasto and Eberspacher. Low-cost versions of these units quickly evolved and became available from internet and mail-order sources in Taiwan and the People's Republic of China, hence the name "Chinese diesel heater" (CDH).  

The difference between a high-end German heater and a commodity-grade CDH is a subject of debate. In many instances, CDH retailers use substantially the same (or very similar) castings and hardware components as the higher-end players. However, virtually all CDH's suffer from a serious shortcoming: in the race to build a cheaper product for the masses, an inferior controller was developed.  The stock CDH controller can not produce the fine level of control desired by many users. Indeed, the stock CDH controller exhibits a wholesale absence of user-friendly features and even requires the user to learn a non-intuitive machine interface. To put it bluntly, these "old dogs" need to learn some new tricks, and this is where the Autumn Controls story begins.

Autumn Controls did a deep dive into the world of the CDH. The more we studied these units and listened to our customers, the more we came to realize the basic heater design was really quite good. The only thing holding the heater back was a poorly engineered controller. These controllers used sub-par commodity parts, often obtained from grey-market sources, and assembly methods that made real quality control impossible. Indeed, we found these controllers had been "value-engineered" to the point of being almost useless.  Yes, they would light and run a heater. But fine mixture control, combustion stability, and reliability were beyond their capability.  We sat down and set our sights on radically improving the user experience.  

Here is what our customers want:

1). Fine-grained, infinite control of heat output. No more long nights alternately sweating and freezing! The user must be able to set a temperature and let the controller track it. 

2). Multi-stage firing. The ability to set hi-fire and low-fire operation in order to more closely track a narrow comfort level even if the heater is used in a small, poorly insulated space.

3). Simple, intuitive user interface. Customers should be able to operate the heater without ever consulting a manual.

4). Advanced diagnostics. No cryptic error codes.  All errors, warnings and user feedback must be done in meaningful "plain-English".  

5). Automatic altitude compensation from 2000 feet below sea level to >11,000 feet. A user should never have to fiddle with changing the mixture or air/fuel ratios once the unit has been installed. 

6). Upgradeability. Customers should not be locked-in to whatever firmware version was shipped with their controller. Corrective upgrades should be free, and downloading the latest code base should require just a few mouse clicks.

7). World-class technical support. There should be a real, live, human available to help if you encounter a problem. 

With the advent of the Autumn One controller, these goals have been met. We hope you will consider teaching your "old dog" some new tricks with an Autumn Controls controller.

Autumn Controls designs, tests, sells and supports the worlds best diesel heater controllers. These controllers let you tame the CDH beast, give it better manners, and ultimately result in a much more pleasurable user experience.