Planar Heater Fuel Pump Location

tnmarm · 03-26-2019, 07:30 PM

Just recently bought this SMB:
http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...ile-23506.html

It had a Planar Aux Diesel Tank in the back of the cabin. I was not a van of having the fuel in the cabin so i wanted to connect the heater to the main diesel tank.

There was a fuel line that was capped coming out of the floor, i traced it under the vehicle and it does in fact go to the top of the diesel tank. Jackpot.

So i removed the Aux tank, and connected the heater line and fuel pump (fuel pump is right next to the heater, heater is located in the back 3 ft of the E350 EB, in the bottom of a cabinet).

The heater turns on, the fuel pump clicks (it had never done this before, but is apparently normal), the turns off with error code 13. That code has many meanings but "no/low fuel" is one.

So I am guessing the fuel pump may not be able to pull all the way from the main tank (about 6 ft of hose from heater to diesel tank). Also, good chance the line is full of air.

So questions:
Is my line run too long? (note it was installed this way before then disconnected and the aux tank installed)
Do i need to prime the line/pump?

Everything worked fine and dandy before i pulled the aux tank. So I know the heater, controller, etc are good. But like I said, wasnt loving the idea of a diesel tank inside the van.

Thoughts, or ideas?

86Scotty · 03-26-2019, 07:41 PM

If I recall the pump needs to be within a couple feet of the tank and yes, your error codes are most likely from it not priming correctly. Also, I think the pump has to be situated at an angle to draw/stay primed correctly. Do you have the instructions from Planar with your rig? There is a Planar dealer in the US now selling these and should be able to get you what you need. I no longer have the instructions to offer as they were sold with my van. The buyer is not on this forum that I know of.

Just for future reference, I KNOW for a fact that all of these type heaters can be hard to prime the first time no matter the brand and you have to restart and restart them to get them going and once they prime you're usually good. I never had to prime mine after the first time, took about 3 or 4 restarts to get it going.

tnmarm · 03-26-2019, 08:01 PM

Yeah i have the manual. We had to use it to figure out how to operate it. Previous owner showed us how it worked, but we wanted to know what all the buttons did lol.

I only turned it on twice, so ill just keep turning it on till it gets happy lol.

tnmarm · 03-26-2019, 08:37 PM

I may have angered it. I went out and started/restarted it 3 times (and it does 2 attempts), and now i get code 09, which is a glow plug fault. Hope i didnt mess it up by turning it on and off a bunch.

Leaving it overnight and will see what happens.

tnmarm · 03-27-2019, 11:56 AM

Well hell. I still get the 09 error code today. Guess I messed up the glow plug. Where does one get parts for a Russian heater in the US lol

tnmarm · 03-27-2019, 07:09 PM

Took the glow plug out and tested it. Ohm test was fine, but we connected it directly to the battery and it didnt glow. So it dead. But yeah even Planar US doesnt have my glow plug on their site (emailed them though). Found the plug but it was a site in Latvia lol.

86Scotty · 03-27-2019, 07:45 PM

I still think your fuel pump is too far to draw. I didn't mean the user manual, I meant the installation instructions. It has all of the specs on how/where to mount everything.

tnmarm · 03-27-2019, 07:51 PM

Yes, Im gunna move the fuel pump under the vehicle. When i was messing with it today I saw i had a lot of cable for the fuel pump. So just gunna move it. But the glow plug is definitely dead.

Installation instructions said 1m before the fuel pump. Easily 2-2.5m to the fuel pump now.