Ardic heating in nimbus

[stuartwineberg]

Most of the Nimbus I am looking at have Ardic hot air diesel heating. I can't find a good word about these on the internet and it sounds like Eber took them over and phased them out. Am I correct that they are rubbish and can you slot a modern Eber unit in using the same ducting, skin fittings and other bits?

 

[brainstorm]

Like all heaters you need to run them once a month or so just to keep them in commission. If you can access the Nimbus Owners Association you will find much more info, but don't write them off. If you are alongside with shore power it is probably better to have a small ceramic fan heater, and in winter a greenhouse tubular heater which consumes very little power along with a small dehumidifier with constant drain to keep the damp away.

 

[Firefly625]

We had an ardic heater in our hardy, ran off a matrix heated by the engine therefore unless engine on and up to temp, no heat. Simple and reliable, and worked well for what it was, but not a Diesel heater as such.

 

[scubaman]

My only experience with Ardic is from our first boat which had one. They have probably gotten better over the years (our boat was built in 1991) but the heater we had wasn't very good. It was smokey, loud and the thermostat only had on/off so either it was just about warm enough, or too cold.

We replaced it with an Eberspacher and if my memory serves me right, we used the existing ducting and vents. The exhaust was obviously new but I'm 99% sure we used also the existing skin fitting. This was all 15 years ago and the work was carried out by a contractor so the details are a bit hazy.

 

[David2452]

Most of the Nimbus I am looking at have Ardic hot air diesel heating. I can't find a good word about these on the internet and it sounds like Eber took them over and phased them out. Am I correct that they are rubbish and can you slot a modern Eber unit in using the same ducting, skin fittings and other bits?

Nothing wrong with Ardic heaters at all. The only people who have real in depth experience of them and spares back back up though are Espar in Plymouth, there is certainly no way I would replace an economically recoverable one with an Eber. Much better to have it properly serviced and continue to use it.

 

[stuartwineberg]

We had an ardic heater in our hardy, ran off a matrix heated by the engine therefore unless engine on and up to temp, no heat. Simple and reliable, and worked well for what it was, but not a Diesel heater as such.

Yep - I have the same unit - useless - gives you loads of hot air when you don't need it and none when you do - like in the evenings on the anchor or first thing in the morning - really a demister that was also ducted into the cabin. My Hardy 36 had this as a demister and a separate eber unit for real heating.

 

[stuartwineberg]

Nothing wrong with Ardic heaters at all. The only people who have real in depth experience of them and spares back back up though are Espar in Plymouth, there is certainly no way I would replace an economically recoverable one with an Eber. Much better to have it properly serviced and continue to use it.

Thanks David - I was hoping you would come in on this - much appreciated. There are loads of horrible stories about them on the internet but I think a lot relate to their equivalent of the eber hydronic where there was a problem in that they were plumbed so that they had to heat up the fresh water in the engine before they started to heat the boat causing all sorts of problems in both the boat and engine as well as very little heat. Good to know they are still supported. That said - if it was necessary can you fit an Eber to the same ducting etc?

 

[Divemaster1]

Some info here on part of the history about these heaters ...

http://www.espar.co.uk/espar-plymouth-products-ardic.html

 

[stuartwineberg]

Some info here on part of the history about these heaters ...

http://www.espar.co.uk/espar-plymouth-products-ardic.html

Thanks Alf - I saw that - interesting the connection between Ardic, Volvo and Nimbus. If you look at Nimbus history they were a brand essentially created to provide a platform for the early Volvo Penta engines so not surprising the Ardic heaters are fitted to most of them. Still edgy about an obsolete brand though - we shall see

 

[David2452]

Thanks David - I was hoping you would come in on this - much appreciated. There are loads of horrible stories about them on the internet but I think a lot relate to their equivalent of the eber hydronic where there was a problem in that they were plumbed so that they had to heat up the fresh water in the engine before they started to heat the boat causing all sorts of problems in both the boat and engine as well as very little heat. Good to know they are still supported. That said - if it was necessary can you fit an Eber to the same ducting etc?

The air duct shouldn't be a problem as there are plenty of adaptors availabe (subject to it being at least the minimum specified for your chosen heater) fuel supply should be OK too but I would strongly advise renewing the exhaust components regardless.

 

[Harri.vierimaa]

Most of the Nimbus I am looking at have Ardic hot air diesel heating. I can't find a good word about these on the internet and it sounds like Eber took them over and phased them out. Am I correct that they are rubbish and can you slot a modern Eber unit in using the same ducting, skin fittings and other bits?

Wondering if anybody here would now answer for this one:

- I have 2 x 1012 WA Ardics side by side, one for Defroster and another one for cabin heating
- These units are actually coupled together i.e. engine heated cooling water flows thru both of them
- I will remove, replace both of these Ardics -> the plan

Problem: I do not know which 16mm cooling hose brings IN water and which hose is used for Return flow to engine direction
= Ardic installation instructions do not define In / out water flow direction or unit chassis inlet / outlet pipe to be used

When I look brand new heat exchange units, there is clearly In / out water flow defined in installation manual

Does anybody know this ..

 

[penfold]

It doesn't matter on the Ardic as it's a crossflow heat exchanger, I'd be surprised if it is different with any replacement. Could you post the diagram for the replacement? What's wrong with the Ardic units, there's not much to them, just a heat exchanger and a fan?

 

[Croftie]

Can't you start engine, hold the two water pipes and see which gets hotter first?

 

[MoodySabre]

My Ardic needs a big service and hasn’t been used for years. I asked Espar about it and they gave me an estimated of over £400 eight years ago for the necessary service and bits. Not economical at that price. I just use a fan heater in port. No long distance winter sailing.

 

[Harri.vierimaa]

Most of the Nimbus I am looking at have Ardic hot air diesel heating. I can't find a good word about these on the internet and it sounds like Eber took them over and phased them out. Am I correct that they are rubbish and can you slot a modern Eber unit in using the same ducting, skin fittings and other bits?

for example this isotherm air heater manual defines in out water flow

 

[Harri.vierimaa]

Can't you start engine, hold the two water pipes and see which gets hotter first?

not bad idea, thanks