Another Eberspacher dilemma. Old D5

Fire99

Fire99

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Afternoon all,

I have a fairly old Eberspacher D5 on my boat. Estimated early 2000's model as the boat I think was specced with it.
Anyway, I have a 701 controller and the ol Eberspacher when I first got the boat did nothing at all. Now it just blows cold air when switched on.
Much of the electronics of this model appear to be on external modules which appear to have had some 'playing with' over time.

So here is my little dilemma if you won't mind offering an opinion. Should I just rip the thing out and replace with something like a Planar 4kw heater (which seems to have good review) or I have seen someone on Youtube use a chinese ECU with an Eberspacher with cheap / good results..?

Any thoughts on the common Eberspacher issue?

Many thanks,

Nick
 
Minchsailor said:
I replaced my old Everton with a 4Kw Planar for about the same cost of a repair for the Eber.

Very pleased so far (3 seasons)
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Thanks mate.. I am a little torn on the subject. The Eber could maybe be repaired but I still wonder if admittedly about 500 quid, would be better spend on something new like the planar and be done with it. Everything with the Eber does seem very expensive for what I see as not very good value for money..
 
Fire99 said:
Good stuff.. Thanks.. Any recommendations for where to get the service kit from?
Click to expand...

I have bought from both PFJones and from Butlertechnik in the past. The glow plug is the expensive part though so if you don't need that, then perhaps just get the glow screen (gauze) and the gaskets (so you can clean all the soot/carbon from the combustion chamber). PF Jones seem to include the glow plug in the 'kit' whereas Butlertechnik include the combustion chamber gaskets in their kit instead.

PFJones - Eberpsacher Spare Parts

Eberspacher Parts | Eberspacher Heater Parts | Butler Technik

The Butlertechnik site has a nice exploded diagram with dots/info for each part overlaid, but it only seems to show if you choose "Select Eberspacher Air Heater Repair Parts" drop down then click on "D5L".. All the other model choices just seem to list the parts with pictures :(

I have kept my D4 (I think ) running with the occasional new plug gauze and a run on paraffin to clean it out. The Chinese version has not been on my shopping list just yet.

At least these glow plugs don't need the split socket to take them out like you used to need on the D1LC heater (when the glow plug had a power lead that was not removable).
 
Thanks a lot Martin. That's helpful. Well I will take a look. Disposable money isn't too strong and I do like to fix things if I can.. But obviously I do want working heating over winter :D
 
Check your wiring as a first step. Many Eber problems come from corroded wiring on the boat, and since this would need replacing if you swap the heater anyway it's a good place to start. There are several places this might be, there is a Y shaped harness next to the heater but it's also quite likely there are connectors elsewhere. On mine there was a second power connector about a foot down from the harness hidden in the bilge which had corroded. I replaced this and moved it to somewhere more accessible and all working perfectly again.

I know it's obvious but I'll ask anyway - If it's blowing cold air do you have it on ventilation mode? The lowest setting is designed to ventilate for an hour on fan only, and if you're not getting an error seems a reasonable guess.
 
Been down this road, even after spending money getting that wheezy old eber going you still have a worn 20 year old heater surrounding your expensive new bit (s.)
What going to die next. ?
Junk it and buy a China or Russiaspacher.
The sheer joy of hearing your new heater instantly fire up on a cold day (not when it feels up to it) will be worth the faff of fitting.
In my case the heater fitted onto the existing bracket and couple of cheap simple adaptors connected the ducting already in the boat.
The reduction in exhaust noise due to the supplied silencer was worth the money alone.
 
lustyd said:
Check your wiring as a first step. Many Eber problems come from corroded wiring on the boat, and since this would need replacing if you swap the heater anyway it's a good place to start. There are several places this might be, there is a Y shaped harness next to the heater but it's also quite likely there are connectors elsewhere. On mine there was a second power connector about a foot down from the harness hidden in the bilge which had corroded. I replaced this and moved it to somewhere more accessible and all working perfectly again.

I know it's obvious but I'll ask anyway - If it's blowing cold air do you have it on ventilation mode? The lowest setting is designed to ventilate for an hour on fan only, and if you're not getting an error seems a reasonable guess.
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Thanks mate... I'll give the wiring another good going over just to be sure, but I did do a pretty thorough examination of it all. Still, that doesn't guarantee I didn't miss anything.. :)

I hear you about the ventilation mode but I'm glad to say I did double check that. I've the heat setting on full.
 
oldgit said:
Been down this road, even after spending money getting that wheezy old eber going you still have a worn 20 year old heater surrounding your expensive new bit (s.)
What going to die next. ?
Junk it and buy a China or Russiaspacher.
The sheer joy of hearing your new heater instantly fire up on a cold day (not when it feels up to it) will be worth the faff of fitting.
In my case the heater fitted onto the existing bracket and couple of cheap simple adaptors connected the ducting already in the boat.
The reduction in exhaust noise due to the supplied silencer was worth the money alone.
Click to expand...
This is a good point. The Eberspacher that is in situ certainly looks a bit rough so it is tempting to start again. Especially when one of the seemingly respected 5kw Chinese ones is only 35-40 quid more money for an entire replacement kit than just the service kit for the Eber D5. I'm sure the Chinese kit isn't the last word in refinement or long lasting quality but it's certainly tempting. My only concern with the Chinese ones is getting ducting adaptors to fit the different sized inlets and outlets. The Eber D5 seems to have very large diameter Ins & Outs.
 
Fire99 said:
This is a good point. The Eberspacher that is in situ certainly looks a bit rough so it is tempting to start again. Especially when one of the seemingly respected 5kw Chinese ones is only 35-40 quid more money for an entire replacement kit than just the service kit for the Eber D5. I'm sure the Chinese kit isn't the last word in refinement or long lasting quality but it's certainly tempting. My only concern with the Chinese ones is getting ducting adaptors to fit the different sized inlets and outlets. The Eber D5 seems to have very large diameter Ins & Outs.
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I also went down the Chinese route. Took about 6 hours to change the unit and fit the new programmer which is brilliant. Even has a remote control! Working very well. It's really a no brainer if you've mucked about doing your own tests and come up blank. It's easy as they fit all your existing connection.
 
plumbob said:
I also went down the Chinese route. Took about 6 hours to change the unit and fit the new programmer which is brilliant. Even has a remote control! Working very well. It's really a no brainer if you've mucked about doing your own tests and come up blank. It's easy as they fit all your existing connection.
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Thanks Plumbob.. Out of interest what Chinese one did you go for? I've seen decent reviews on the Triclicks 5KW one but the design seems pretty consistent on most of them..
 
Just on a slight side note I'm wondering with the Chinese (and Planer) heaters being physically smaller than the old D5LC that I have, (I've just found out it's an LC with the external control unit) whether they would be ok sending heat down the same ducting on the boat. The boat is 15m long with the heater near the centre so there is a fair bit of ducting..
 
Fire99 said:
Just on a slight side note I'm wondering with the Chinese (and Planer) heaters being physically smaller than the old D5LC that I have, (I've just found out it's an LC with the external control unit) whether they would be ok sending heat down the same ducting on the boat. The boat is 15m long with the heater near the centre so there is a fair bit of ducting..
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The Russian 'Autoterm' brand heaters (previously known as 'Planar' brand, but the Chinese unit sellers have no qualms about using that brand name for their non-brand heaters) have detailed specs, including on how much length of what diameters ducting they will cope with, downloadable from the UK dealers' websites.

The Chinese ones on Ebay that I've seen don't even have dimensions of the units and their connections advertised, but if anyone could point me to detailed specs I'd be grateful.

Fire99 said:
I have a fairly old Eberspacher D5 on my boat. Estimated early 2000's model
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Call that old? My Eber is mid 1980s, I believe.
 
LittleSister said:
My Eber is mid 1980s, I believe.
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And probably identical to the current model. It's easy to see why the alternatives are starting to do well at a much lower cost and with better features. All through this thread I've been screaming (internally!) "fix the Eber, it's quality" but a part of me also thinks Bluetooth, WiFi and full colour displays should be an entry level feature in 2021. This is the weirdest industry I know of where the market leader does almost no innovation while the "Chinese clones" do all the innovation, are cheaper, yet somehow get lambasted for it. You're probablly right that Autoterm are the middle ground with quality and some innovation, and I'm quite certain a couple of the Chinese brands are also decent enough quality, if only people would say the brand names instead of Chinaspacher we might know which they were! The number of threads on the forum suggests this is a market ripe for the taking with just a small amount of trust and innovation.
 
lustyd said:
I'm quite certain a couple of the Chinese brands are also decent enough quality, if only people would say the brand names instead of Chinaspacher we might know which they were!
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If only the sellers (or even manufacturers) of the Chinese ones would say what the brand was, or even what dimensions and power output they had! (There have been reports of people buying a 2kw heater and being supplied with a 5kw model, etc. , etc.)

I agree with the general points of your post, though.
 
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