Ardic diesel heater

[dalex]

Hi folks,
I am eploring the insides of my pretty near dead heater unit, and think I have found the problem. Inside the combustion chamber is the remains of what looks like it was once a fan of some sort. Very rusty, and lots of sharp edges. The fan motor turns freely enough, and the little aluminium scoop-type fan is intact. Is there anywhere I can get parts for this heater, or maybe access to a drawing of it's insides so I could get a firm to make a fan up for me? Or does the forum think I should leave well alone, avoid risking C0 poisining, bin the thing and buy a boaty eberwhatsit/espar or etc?
Many thanks
PS - please hurry, it's getting coooooold on board!

 

[Guest]

Maybe try round the Truck Breakers ?

Nearly all diesel heaters are based on the Truck cab heaters .... so a hunt and question round the truck breaker yards will likely turn up a unit .... or at least one with parts that can be salvaged ?

 

[heerenleed]

Hi,
On our former boat we had an Ardic.
I've had it in and out of the locker many many times. At least I knew the thing inside out before I dumped it.
You will be amazed to see wat a good cleaning will do. The machine is simple enough, that is, mine was. What you describe as the remains of a fan, are you sure it's not the device that "sprays" the diesel into the combustion chamber? If it is, it is a small cilinder (from my recollection, this is 8 years ago) mounted on the shaft of the fan motor. It has 3 holes in it. The plunger pump drips the diesel into the cilinder that turns, and the air flow from the fan pushes the fuel through the three holes, thus creating a spray that combusts easier. This thingy was often covered in a thick and solid layer of soot. Give this a good clean. Don't damage it, and after cleaning make shure it is well fixed and will turn with the fan motor. Now, if the pump, the fan and the glow plug work, the heater should work. The only thing that is often the case is bad wiring. Igniting the heater takes a lot of power. Try doubling the wiring to see if that improves things.

As long as the heater does not smell after having burnt for 15 minutes theere is no risk of CO2 poinsoning. You can cover the seam where the two halves of the heater come apart with aluminium tape to make sure. All this, presuming you have the same cilinder shaped unit I had. I know later models had a more square casing,. If you have such a unit my knowledge os surely out of date.

Good luck.

 

[dalex]

Thanks for this info. I cannot see a cylinder, the likes of which you describe inside the heater, and attached to the end of the motor inside the combustion chamber. All that is in there, is what looks to be a flat plate with sharp, jagged edges. If there ever was a cylinder in here, it has clearly disintegrated. When the heater did run, before i finally took it out, it generated hot air, fair enough, but filled the cabin with acrid, gray smoke. From this, I thought it might be the ehaust fan not pushing the fumes out, and the air intake was somehow sucking the combustion air back down the exhaust outlet. This is why I thought there might be a fan inside there, to do the pushing. I wonder if the cylinder you describe doubles up as a fan/spray combination thing giving the ehaust gasses some impetus and direction up the exhaust pipe? It would be very useful to see a working one of these to get the idea what is needed. The overall body is sort of stainless-steel cylindrical in shape, and mounted inside the square Ardic case. The electrickery also hides in here, in a square aluminium case. I do have a wiring diagram, but lack the picture of the hardware.
Thanks for the help

 

[mobeydick]

i beleive Eberwhatsis bought Ardic a while back, so contact them, or I had mine serviced by krueger@lineone.net

 

[jimg]

My Ardic was servixced by Espar, Ardic are now owned by Eberspacher.

 

[Steve_N]

From the square case it sounds like an 042D. Does it look like this?

 

[dalex]

Yep, that certainly looks like the box...