It needs to be cleaned out. You can buy the kit that includes a new screen.You may need to use an easy out to remove the old.You will also have to remove the unit from the housing and disassemble it and clean the carbon out of the burn chamber with a pick and brakleen.You will need to replace the 2 gaskets as well.Depending on the location of the heater the hardest part of the job is usually removing it and putting it back in place.
I have the China made one from eBay. Cost about $125 US dollars. Had it little over a year. Best $125 I have spent. If it quits I will get another one. So far I am happy with it. Do believe that running them during the warm months for an hour or so helps to keep them working.
Two things, first is you need to run these heaters every month for a little bit, don’t let it sit for months at a time. Espar, wabesto, Chinese heaters ... all the same. second is I’ve been buying those cheap Chinese heaters for the past year and the failure rate is one in fifteen. The ones that fail are easily fixed. They are cheap enough to keep new ones in inventory to repair the ones in the trucks. however, if you belong to Facebook, go to the Chinese heater groups and join a few, especially the repair groups. They can source you parts and tell you how to set your heater up to work better.
thank you for the help and your feedback guys. im going to do the maintenance on my espar. i know i need the the glow pin for sure. the wiring is messed up in that. i will also buy the screen and clean the carbon. do you think i need to replace the fuel pump screen too? anything else needed fir the service.
It comes in the kit but I never used to bother changing it.Make sure you clean the burn chamber good or you put er all back together and it ll still blow white smoke.Good luck.
Disconnect your fuel to the diesel tank put it into a container filled with kerosene . Fire up heater run on max with a few windows partially cracked so it runs hot . 8 outta 10 times that’s fixed my smoking on bunk heaters. If you can run it 4 hrs or more it helps.