Hardy19 Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 About to buy first 2 berth motorhome . Are diesel heaters noticeably noisy as we are light sleeper ? Any advice appreciated . Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtisden Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Hardy19 - 2015-08-25 12:00 PM About to buy first 2 berth motorhome . Are diesel heaters noticeably noisy as we are light sleeper ? Any advice appreciated . Thanks. My PVC has a Wabasto Air top and when I first got the camper I did find it noisy, mainly the pump klicking as it fired up. In my case the blower was also loud when powering up. They are more noisy than the usual Gas caravan systems most coach build campers use. But the convenience of a diesel rather than gas is worth the slight problem as I see it. As time has gone by it is less noticeable and we even in winter tend to turn off the heating and get a good duvet and only turn it on prior to getting up. They are quite efficient powerful and require little maintenance. For water heating it only takes a few moments for hot water so another plus. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 We had the Eberspacher diesel heater in our Starlet for qyuite a few years and never noticed any noise at night, although you did sometimes hear it fire up for a few seconds if you are a light sleeper. Vans parked close sometimes did hear the jet engine like roar though, particularly on Aires where you sometimes have to park quite close and we would often try to park either with space or diesel outlet away from neighbours when possible. Reliability wise - when they are good they are super and much better, in my view, than gas heating - but when they are bad they are horrid and sometimes need an expert to fix them and with Eberspached the best place to get problems resolved was very ogten an Eberspacher truck agent rather than a caravan or motorhome dealer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HymerVan Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 We have a Fifer M (same webasto system as Curtisden). We agree with his comments. Because the system can generate 7Kw of heat (I think) it doesn't need to be on for long periods We never use it through the night even in very cold conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry1956 Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 We have diesel heating in our globecar.to be honest you need to try very hard to hear it.yes there is a low start up sound and then nothing. This is the truma water and air heater.michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 All the above matches our experience, but I will add one other point and that is that the Eberspacher heater is quite noisy when run on electric (assuming that you have the Airtronic heating element fitted). When run on diesel the heater shuts down / goes very quiet when it has reached the set temperature. When run on mains, the fan operates at full blow all the time and the heater element switches on and off as required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave C Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 spospe - 2015-08-25 4:30 PM All the above matches our experience, but I will add one other point and that is that the Eberspacher heater is quite noisy when run on electric (assuming that you have the Airtronic heating element fitted). When run on diesel the heater shuts down / goes very quiet when it has reached the set temperature. When run on mains, the fan operates at full blow all the time and the heater element switches on and off as required. The fan on mine shuts off when the required temperature is reached, not sure why yours keeps running. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Mine was fitted on a 2008 A-S Duetto and the fan (on mains electric) ran constantly, with the heating element switching on and off as needed to maintain the set temperature. The electric heater was only rated at 900 watts, considerably less that the diesel output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardy19 Posted August 25, 2015 Author Share Posted August 25, 2015 Many thanks . The response by everyone has been much appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna miller Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 We got accustomed to Eberspacher diesel heaters by spending years in sleeper cabs in our trucks. We've now got the same in the Autocruise. Very efficient and never really notice any noise after initial fire up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebeaches Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Our current van, which we've had for five years, has diesel heating. Can be a bit noisy on start up, but very efficient and convenient. Doesn't appear to consume much fuel either. On balance, certainly prefer it to the gas heating in our previous van. Touch wood, never had any operational or maintenance problems. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chudders Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 I have a webasto dual top (water and heating) mounted underneath the van. I used to have another van with a Truma system The Webasto is diesel and electric in any combination. I can hear it when I first start it but after a little while the fans etc slow down and on electric I can hardly hear it. Certainly not enough to bother me. I do like the efficiency of it though, especially if run on diesel/electric for a few minutes. Van gets warm very very quickly then I revert to electric only if available. When I had the Truma on gas heating at first starting it was very noisy. The fans sounded like a jet taking off for a while. On electric only the fans did not seem to circulate the air well enough, certainly not the further from the heater the pipe work was. I think you pays your money and takes your choice. Both have good and bad points . One obvious plus is that as the heater is mounted underneath it frees up room inside in my case the Truma was in the wardrobe. On balance I prefer the Webasto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 I had a Webasto diesel heater in the first van i had which actually came as a bonus as the seller never knew anything about it! Noisy on start up but always amused me as it was similar to a jet aircraft powering up and often drew curious looks! However once up to power it quietened down. The efficiency of them is superb and i rate them better than any gas powered heater, plus cheaper to run too. They are an expensive bit of kit which certainly adds to the value of a van. Can't really say that for a gas system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 No-one has mentioned battery capacity. I had understood that diesel heaters are much heavier on 12V power (mainly to atomise the fuel) than gas heaters, and are more sensitive to battery charge state. Is this no longer the case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtisden Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Brian Kirby - 2015-08-26 12:29 PM No-one has mentioned battery capacity. I had understood that diesel heaters are much heavier on 12V power (mainly to atomise the fuel) than gas heaters, and are more sensitive to battery charge state. Is this no longer the case? Brian that is so. But its the initial Glow plug firing that takes the amps and can cane a battery. But my camper also has a power integrator that enables the charge to the leisure battery to be topped up from a overnight use in under an hour of driving. My camper has a 230amp Banner battery and 95 amp solar panel. We also have a 12 volt condenser fridge so the drain can be large. But over three years we have wild camped 90% of the time and have so far never had a battery supply problem. Never dropped below 12 volt yet? What it would be like in a overcast 2 week in winter we have yet to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Curtisden - 2015-08-26 12:40 PM Brian Kirby - 2015-08-26 12:29 PM No-one has mentioned battery capacity. I had understood that diesel heaters are much heavier on 12V power (mainly to atomise the fuel) than gas heaters, and are more sensitive to battery charge state. Is this no longer the case? Brian that is so. But its the initial Glow plug firing that takes the amps and can cane a battery. But my camper also has a power integrator that enables the charge to the leisure battery to be topped up from a overnight use in under an hour of driving. My camper has a 230amp Banner battery and 95 amp solar panel. We also have a 12 volt condenser fridge so the drain can be large. But over three years we have wild camped 90% of the time and have so far never had a battery supply problem. Never dropped below 12 volt yet? What it would be like in a overcast 2 week in winter we have yet to find. But that may not reflect the installation in the OP's camper, so it seems he should be made aware of the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebeaches Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 We have the standard single original leisure battery, and no solar panel or any other clever electrical equipment - just what our (budget) van was supplied with. Yes, the interior lights flicker a bit when the diesel heater is first switched on - no doubt for the reason described above. But once it's going we haven't noticed any serious battery drain, for example compared to the gas blown-air heating on our previous MH. However, we do move on quite frequently, so the leisure battery is regularly re-charged. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chudders Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Brian Kirby - 2015-08-26 12:44 PM Curtisden - 2015-08-26 12:40 PM Brian Kirby - 2015-08-26 12:29 PM No-one has mentioned battery capacity. I had understood that diesel heaters are much heavier on 12V power (mainly to atomise the fuel) than gas heaters, and are more sensitive to battery charge state. Is this no longer the case? Brian that is so. But its the initial Glow plug firing that takes the amps and can cane a battery. But my camper also has a power integrator that enables the charge to the leisure battery to be topped up from a overnight use in under an hour of driving. My camper has a 230amp Banner battery and 95 amp solar panel. We also have a 12 volt condenser fridge so the drain can be large. But over three years we have wild camped 90% of the time and have so far never had a battery supply problem. Never dropped below 12 volt yet? What it would be like in a overcast 2 week in winter we have yet to find. But that may not reflect the installation in the OP's camper, so it seems he should be made aware of the issue. Never really thought about it from that angle but never had a problem when staying for a day or so and when used carefully.However most of the use for me is on electric hookup. I only have a 95Ah battery. On my previous van I had a Truma system and that did seem to use battery power when fans etc were running but perhaps that was to do with the state of the battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Curtisden - 2015-08-25 12:48 PM My PVC has a Wabasto Air top... I think your East Neuk motorhome actually has one of these http://butlertechnik.com/latest-news/2013/10/the-benefits-of-the-webasto-thermo-top-c300-diesel-camper-heating-kit-2/ Webasto's “Air Top” range of heaters just heat air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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