jmp Posted December 24, 2007 Share Posted December 24, 2007 Hi, and Happy Christmas! I am wondering if any one else out there has had a catastrophic failure of their diesel heater? Ours blew up, smoke and foul smell after 2 1/2 years. I would like to see if there is anyone else out there who has suffered the same disaster. (shortly after we lost our regulator, another story... making tea over a gas light), thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrytraveller Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Hi Imp, We had an esperspacher heater on the last MH, we liked it with some severe reliabity reservations. I wouldn't have another one because of limited repair centers, even though I feel competent to service and repair a faulty unit myself, you still need stockists for spare parts. Try a forum search on Motorhome Matters, eberspacher and all posts. Just a taster of what you will find there, is a contribution I had made a little while ago ;- I have experience of the D5W heater and found it super with two Fan assisted exchange units delivering around 3500watts heat output. Getting into a defrosted nice warm van, no problems with fuel like you have with gas, it can be kept going whist driving - smashing. The down side for me anyway, was the amount of electrical power consumed, 10Amps for start up and around 5amps whilst running two fans and the unit. Routine service every two years, replacement exhaust system needed every two years, as when they strip down the unit it always damages the now brittle exhaust. Cost of a new glow plug (£50 yes £50), overall cost for the service and replacement bits, just short of £400. My second service I did myself, easy to do but fiddly, you have to be careful to bleed the system, there is a bleed screw on top of th unit, be sure that it is used whenever you change the engine coolant, otherwise you will crack the heat chambre. Another fault I had to trace and repair was a connectivity issue on the two or three multiconnector plugs and sockets they use. I found in the end I had to remove the plugs and sockets, solder and sleeve the wires to get a good reliable continuity. I still like the idea, especially getting free hot water as you drive, but if you camp off site without electrical hookup, you do need two 110 amp batteries to run the unit, if you are on site with electrical hook up, why use your expensive diesel? Regards Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 We have an Eberspacher heater and although, thankfully, it hasn't blown up yet, we did find that after about a year our two 90 amp batteries will no longer start it. The batteries have been regularly maintained and kept charged up. Consequently we have hardly ever used it for heating although it's great to have hot water available during and after travelling. (We have to start the engine to start the heater - not acceptable on a quiet site !) From what you say about servicing charges I doubt if I would have another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icelander Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Hi and seasons greetings, We had a esperspacher heater for nearly 3 years. No breakdowns but hard to control, noisey and soon sapped the the battery. Cost a fortune to service them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 They were never originally intended for the leisure industry, more for industrial applications like big tower cranes etc. What makes them attractive is their small space profile and ability to be installed under the floor. However their noise and battery power issues are well documented. There is no reason why motorhomes cannot have an engine heat exchanger with other forms of water heating. Frankia and Niesmann for example offer this as one of the options, others most likely as well. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Madge Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 icelander - 2007-12-27 12:57 PM Hi and seasons greetings, We had a esperspacher heater for nearly 3 years. No breakdowns but hard to control, noisey and soon sapped the the battery. Cost a fortune to service them. Had an Eberspacher for four and a half years. No problems, very easy to control, no battery drain (two 100AMP) don't find it all that noisy and it's never been serviced. It gets a lot of use in the winter, maybe it's like a lot of motorhomes not used enough. 8-) Use it or loose it I think the saying is. :-D Safe travelling in the New Year. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Don Madge - 2007-12-27 6:57 PM icelander - 2007-12-27 12:57 PM Hi and seasons greetings, We had a esperspacher heater for nearly 3 years. No breakdowns but hard to control, noisey and soon sapped the the battery. Cost a fortune to service them. Had an Eberspacher for four and a half years. No problems, very easy to control, no battery drain (two 100AMP) don't find it all that noisy and it's never been serviced. It gets a lot of use in the winter, maybe it's like a lot of motorhomes not used enough. 8-) Use it or loose it I think the saying is. :-D Safe travelling in the New Year. Don You've cheered me up a bit Don. I must say that the heater is very effective when we do use it. Maybe I just need more powerful leisure batteries. All the best for your travels in '08. :-( :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmp Posted January 3, 2008 Author Share Posted January 3, 2008 Happy new year! Seems the motto is use them a lot. However it looks as though our experience is 'unique' - certainly the engineer thought so, melted black box and failed fan! Of course eberspacher merely say out of warranty!! I guess I have to go for the dealer according to the sale of goods act etc, what a pain. Still, worse things happene a t sea and thanks for everybodies input. Cheers! (note bill £600 without labour) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 We had one in the Starspirit. It worked well but was noisy and power hungry and one cold January day it failed. After two days without heat I took it (60 miles) to the nearest repair centre who quickly fixed it at a cost of over £100. The mechanic's advice, based on his experience, was to use it at least once every couple of weeks as these things do not like not being used. He said that he gets lots of motorhomes in for repair but very few trucks and bearing in mind that many more trucks have them than motorhomes I tended to believe his advice. The Tracker has gas which I tend to prefer as it is quieter and less power hungry but the drawback comes when abroad for long periods and alternative gas supplies need to be sourced - either refillable or a 'local' exchange cylinder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry1956 Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Hi. fitted the eberspacher water system DB5 I think, it lockeds out when the current is to low to start the heater, and needs resetting by a main dealer after 10 times. I found that fitting a gas low system of refillable cylinders was a better bet in the end and we just run the gas heater. As to the eberspacher, its in a box in the garage. terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ike Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Happy New Year to all of you. We have a Webasto diesel heater, as fitted to ambulances, and so far have had no problems with it. Very toasty hot and economical. A wee bit noisy outside but so far no complaints from neighbouring rigs. Having said that we tend to use a little convector heater when we're on site and hooked up and use the diesel when we're "wild". Cheers ike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snobbyafghan Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Our eberspacher is a bit smelly in use (diesel smell). The heater and van were new in August so not terribly old. Is this diesel pong normal? Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrytraveller Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Hi Doug, Regarding diesel fuel smell, you should only get the smell of raw diesel on startup outside vehicle near the exhaust, after running for a few minutes the smell of diesel should dissapate. There should be no smell of diesel or exhaust fumes inside vehicle. If there is a smell of diesel or exhaust fumes in vehicle, then look for openings and gas drops in the floor which might account for exhaust fumes penetration. Also check the eberspacher diesel feed pipe and connections underneath the vehicle, from main tank to heater, looking for damp patches which might indicate a slight weep of fuel. There are other fuel pipe connections inside the eberspacher box which might also weep diesel fuel, its not unknown for the walls of metal pipes through faulty manufacture to be porous. Most of these systems will have been added by the manufacturers without too much thought regarding the types of problems which can occur by a badly thought out and carried out installation. The gas drops in the floor of the vehicle are probably for a gas installation and MAY not be necessary for a eberspacher installation, rather than block the gas drops, it will be possible to fit an extension tube taking the gas drop opening away from the exhaust fumes, making sure that the tube is always falling to allow any gas to be discharged. I had an Autocruise Starfire with eberspacher heating factory fitted, a right old mess they made of the installation, basic DIY and engineering techniques where completely ignored, the excuse from Autocruise was - eberspacher had only just trained the factory fitters and were still learning!!! So just because its factory fitted doesn't mean its right. Regards Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snobbyafghan Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Thanks Terry - I'll have a good crawl round and check it out. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trigrem Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 We have an eberspacher combi , when we first used it it sounded like a jet taking off, during the initial start cycle. Fitted a silencer to the input pipe and it made a great difference, not had any adverse comments from units close by, and it is nice to arrive at destination with a warm van and hot water if we need it. Using it that way does not deplete the charge in the leisure battery as we are on the move and its being charged. Still have 2 x110 amp hour battery's for use in summer when we may be on site for over a week but then we are not using lights and we do not take TV in summer. Too many interesting things to do. Doug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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