Mickydripin Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Hi All, I have a Fiat trigano tribute campervan and while away I used the fitted space heater and I noticed that it used a lot of diesel does anyone have one of these and noticed how much there van uses, I do not know when it was serviced or even if it needs a service or where to go to to get it checked out any help would be useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgnbuk Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 I have had 2 Chaussons with the Webasto Evo 55 air heaters & didn't think they were too bad on fuel consumption. Initially, on the first one, there did seem to be a big discrepancy between the reported consumption on the Transit's on-board computer & my calculated consumption that seemed to point to high Webasto consumption. But further checking found that the Transit reported value & actual calculated value when not using the heater were still on average 3mpg adrift (the on-board value was always very optimistic !). IIRC these heaters use around 0.1 litres of fuel per kilowatt hour, so around 0.5 litres an hour when an Evo 55 is running flat out. I don't think I ever had it running flat out for an hour - normally not more than 20 minutes to bring the van from low single figure temperatures up to 21-22 degrees C. The internal fan noise, ticking fuel pump & poor heat distribution were more of an issue than fuel consumption for me. Be wary of where you park WRT the heater exhaust outlet - they run very hot . I measured one of mine & the tip of the exhaust was around 180 degrees C & it was only 7 or 8 inches from the ground. One one occasion, on a very wet site, I moved off to find the grass burned right down to the earth directly under the outlet & a scorched brown ring about 18 inches diameter around that. Webasto should be able to put you on to your nearest franchised dealer - there is one in the Manchester area that my second van was sent to when the heater failed completely on my second outing (Chausson installation error). I could look & see if I have any details when I get home if that would help ? Nigel B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rael Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 I'd certainly get it looked at/serviced. We currently have a Webasto on a Challenger Vany. We've also had a Chausson with Eberspacher diesel heating. We found both to be incredibly economical compared to LPG and less hassle. In terms of noise, we don't notice it at all once the system is 'up to speed'. Ours is only a year old so possibly modifications have been made to cut down on noise? Webasto dealer/service information can be found here https://dealerlocator.webasto.com/en-int/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Exhaust temperature is 80 degrees on my webasto airtop 2000 TCT. Not 180. In that case it should a thermo shut off. I have a thermostat setting problem. Having the std rotary potentio. called Rheostat. just turn. I put pseudo Algorithm this way. if the target is 20 degrees room. On switch on phase: at 3 lower turn max. at 2 lower turn 75 percent, at 1 lower turn 50. Running phase: check every 5 minutes the room temp. if it drops 0.8 degrees pull op 10 percent.If it is up 0.8 lower 10 percent. In this case it runs on min power. And no wake up at night too cold or hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Michael owns a 2004 Trigano Tribute and I’m pretty sure its Webasto heater will be an Air Top 2000 model. The output of an Air Top 2000 is relatively low (2kW maximum) but this should be adequate for a Tribute panel-van conversion. For a current diesel-fuelled Air Top 2000 ST heater Webasto quotes a fuel consumption of 0.12 litres per hour at the heater’s low setting and 0.24 litres per hour at the heater’s high setting, but the 'real-world’ consumption will depend on how warm the motorhome owner wants his/her vehicle to be and how cold the weather is outside. I don’t know if fuel economy significantly falls off if a Webasto heater is not serviced regularly. I get the impression that, if the heater works with no obvious sign of malfunction (eg. being difficult to start or emitting smoke from the exhaust) it’s best left alone. It might be helpful if Michael explained how he noticed that his Webasto heater used a lot of diesel and how much ‘a lot’ is. If Michael is certain that a LOT of fuel is disappearing when the heater is running, there is the possibility of a fuel leak in the heater’s supply-line - though I would have thought that such a leak would be noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Crucial is where temp feeler sits in your Vehicle. In a compressor fridge or adsorption or at home it sits inside the box. The thermostat knob is not in degrees like your fiat auto climate. alde has it. The webasto in my van sits in the cold van wall. and runs forever. My vitrofrigo is too cold at the bottle rack always 3 degrees. I test now by putting perpex blocks in the ice block compartment to higher the temp there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickydripin Posted October 24, 2019 Author Share Posted October 24, 2019 Derek Uzzell - 2019-10-23 6:24 PM Michael owns a 2004 Trigano Tribute and I’m pretty sure its Webasto heater will be an Air Top 2000 model. Hi Derek, Yes it is the Air top 2000 and it works very well for our van I only put it on the low setting and the van gets warm quite quick and I did not use it until we got into bed about 11pm until 0800 the next morning. I have not noticed any leaks or smells of diesel when I was parked up for three nights the fuel gauge dropped from half a tank to just above a quarter I could do a lot of miles with that much diesel do you think that this is OK or just normal It starts with no trouble with no smells and no smoke. Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 The critical question is how much fuel is represented by your Tribute’s fuel-gauge dropping from a half reading to a just-over-a-quarter reading. If the gauge is accurate and (say) the tank holds 90 litres of fuel when full, that means it will have 45 litres in it when half-full. If just-over-a-quarter equates to 30 litres of fuel in the tank, then - over 3 nights - your heater would have drunk 15 litres of fuel. So each night the heater would have consumed 5 litres of fuel. That seems like a lot to me, but I’ve no hands-on experience of diesel heaters’ fuel consumption. I’m very wary of the accuracy of fuel-gauge intermediate readouts, so your heater may have used considerably less than 15 litres over the 3-day period. But if no fuel is being lost through leakage and the heater is working well, you either leave it alone or have it serviced and hope this will reduce its fuel consumption. You might try contacting H Bowers Ltd (at Longton, near Stoke-on-Trent) about the fuel consumtion and servicing costs. https://www.bowersautomotive.co.uk/Heating_Webasto.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickydripin Posted October 25, 2019 Author Share Posted October 25, 2019 Hi Derik, Thank you I will contact H Bowers and see what they have to say and get back to you. Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 Hi Perhaps an experiment to test how much used. Brim tank near home. Leave heater on for a few days ( recording night temps if possible, them brim tank again. Deduct average mpg for distance to and from fill ups and you have an indication of how much used. It will depend on how cold and heater temp setting but it will give you a baseline to monitor. I had a diesel heater some years ago and it was effective and used little fuel. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickydripin Posted October 25, 2019 Author Share Posted October 25, 2019 Hi Derek, I have contacted H bowers to ask them what they think about my Air top 2000 S heater and they have confirmed more or less what you have said, now what I have to do is check that no unburnt Diesel is leaking from the exhaust when I have it on, they also said that I should have it serviced at least every two years but they could not tell me how much it should use. With regards to mine they said that if they serviced it they would proberly have to put in a new burner as the old one may be coked up this unit is about £120 plus the service charge of about £100. I can buy a lot of diesel with that money. The first thing that I have to do now is to check the exhaust when I get my van back from the (undertakers) Repair shop after my accident to see iff there is any unburnt diesel dripping out if not I think that I may leave it alone and keep an eye on it. Thanks Very much all of you for your comments. Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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