Eberspachers on a Petrol Boat!

Alistairr

Alistairr

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I've been told, Eberspacher now produce a Petrol powered heater, not sure this is correct though.

Does anyone on here have an Eberspacher on a petrol boat?
And if so, what is it powered by? Petrol, Diesel, Paraffin??
Would a Petrol powered Eberspacher be a better option on a petrol boat, than a diesel/paraffin one?

I installed a D2 on my last petrol boat, we put in a seperate tank for diesel, and it was fine, the only down side was to fill the tank, we had to lift the engine cover, with it being a sports boat actually wasn't that bad.

But i am thinking about installing a D2 again, on my current boat, a petrol S24, again will probably install a custom made SS fuel tank, to supply it, the question it, how/where do i mount the filler cap, if i put it in the engine bay again, it would be a huge hassle having to move all the seats and table to lift the hatch just too fill it up, also concerned about putting a filler cap on the outside as at the moment there are 2, 1for fuel and 1 for water, and other one might look unsightly.

Anyone with a similar boat with heater able to comment how they installed there heater?

Many thanks,

Alistair.
 
Ali

they certainly did do petrol..............

go back to last October and there was a long thread (GC1........) about it that also highlightled some of the problems (dangers) of Eber's on petrol boats (not the petrol heater but because the heater can recycle engine exhaust which is smelly for a diesel but poisioness from a petrol - extreme case of poor engine condition, run at mooring, wind blowing exaust back to inlet etc quoted as a MAIB report from Medway).

So - just fit a petrol one and plumb to your main tank; mount air intake for heater air carefully but don't run heater and engine together when stationary/moored in any case!
 
Hmmm, I know a bit about the Eberspacher! Having taken a couple of them apart and put them successfully back together again! I cannot think that a petrol version would available in its current design, the think would IMHO just blow up!
But it might be worth asking if they have a re-designed version!
When I started reading your thread, I was going to say put in a separate diesel tank, but I see you already know that!

Barry
 
Didn't see that thread, but then i other wise occupied last October/November!
Will do a search for the thread, and see what was said.
Ta.

I think i'm, more concerned about the actual fitting of it on a S24.

Cheers

Al.
 
oh well, you know the doom merchants. One sight of the word petrol and a few million hectares of land just explode killing billions in the process. Inevitable I'm afraid, petrol is worse than nuclear bombs in the hands of terrorists
 
A friend of mine has a Petrol one in his 25ft Dorel, he has never had a problem, it was fitted from new by the Uk Dealer, but he generally likes to live dangerously!!!!
 
Ali

Is there a significant price difference between cost/fitting the diesel or petrol systems? If not, then cost of shore side petrol I still think I would select the diesel option. I would think you would soon recover the cost of the additional diesel tank

Glad you are looking forward to the boating season, got to keep the new first mate warm and snug.

Martyn
 
Alistair

Interested in how you original fitting went- did you do it yourself, how much etc. as this is a potential upgrade to our S23.

Simpler for us though as we are already Diesel
 
I fitted a petrol powered Ebespecher to my V8 petrol cruiser, and plumbed it into the main tank. The thing to be wary of is where the heater gets its combustion air from, it has to be from outside the boat as if its from the engine room/bilge there is the hazard of it ingesting petrol fumes from the main engine and causing an explosion, especially if its got a carb.
The other point is that its air inlet for the air to be warmed is not near the back of the boat so it can't pump carbon monoxide around the boat. Having said that mine worked fine both under way and when moored.
If you are really worried you can install a carbon monoxide alarm.
If you want a very reliable heater without the explosion risks I can recommend the Wallas 3200 which I installed when my Eberspecher finally died. Its cheap to run and you can get it with a house type thermostat where you dial up the temp and time you want it to work.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Last petrol boat i saw with an ebby had a little 1 gallon tank for diesel and he ran it on white

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you seen our boat!! Sounds like mine, We made a small SS tank, and all i used in it was white Diesel, as it supposed to be cleaner!!!

This is the tank, we had made.

Fuel_Tank_sized.jpg
 
[ QUOTE ]
Ali

Is there a significant price difference between cost/fitting the diesel or petrol systems? If not, then cost of shore side petrol I still think I would select the diesel option. I would think you would soon recover the cost of the additional diesel tank

Glad you are looking forward to the boating season, got to keep the new first mate warm and snug.

Martyn

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think they'll be much difference in price between Petrol/diesel units, we fitted last one, so can also do this one ourselves ok, also the tank pictured above cost me nothing as it was a favour owed, so don't know how much another would cost. Also wouldn't re-coup with cost of Diesel, as i would probably use White diesel again.

It is obviously best too keep all babies dry and warm, boats can be quite damp in the mornings, and we want too try and avoid that. Callum is due another major op, towards the end of April, and if that goes well, it will put him out for about 6-8weeks, so if alls well, we should be able to start our season and introduce him to boating July sometime. And we are really looking forward that!!!
As long as i have the unit installed and running well before then, it'll be fine!

Cheers

Al.
 
[ QUOTE ]
The thing to be wary of is where the heater gets its combustion air from, it has to be from outside the boat as if its from the engine room/bilge there is the hazard of it ingesting petrol fumes from the main engine and causing an explosion, especially if its got a carb.


[/ QUOTE ]

Is that not the same for the diesel unit? When we fitted the diesel unit into our last boat, we have too locate the Combustion inlet to the outside of the boat, it was specified it had too draw in clean air.

Al.
 
Its certainly the correct way to do it, however I have worked on dozens of diesel cruisers and sailboats where it drew its air locally, i.e. from the locker or engine room its installed in. The point with a petrol engine is that the fuel evaporates from the carb float chamber especially when the engine is warm which has a serious flash hazard when the heater is in operation, as its now breathing in petrol fumes and burning them.
But agree they should be plumbed externally, I guess folks are just less paranoid about diesel boats, but they burn just as well as petrol ones as recent piccys have shown.
 
True.

I've just phoned my contact at Eberspacher, and been told they have stopped producing a petrol heaters for marine use. They still produce ones for cars. Reason i was told, is they were concerned about the ventilation, and thats not as much of an issue with cars. So i was told!

Which leaves my origional question, anyone know where the best place to instal the filler cap and the basic setup and location of outlets and the unit for a Sealine S24?

Cheers

Al.
 
it was on a princess 30DS with twin petrol mercrusiers - for such a small amount it make sense to run on white diesel (you can still treat it though, just to keep those bugs at bay)

I have only seen your pictures of your boat! but a small tank should be mountable some where...
 
Re: Eberspächer on a Petrol Boat!

The diesel heaters will also run on paraffin.

£4.00 gal petrol
£2.00 gal diesel
£2.00ish paraffin


This is a no brainer IMHO.
 
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