are eberspachers unreliable and their spares overpriced?

PaulR

PaulR

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our eberspacher has become temperemental - had taken to stopping suddenly without cooldown first so having chatted to helpful bod at southampton shown on eber stand - took him up on his suggestion to drop it in for them to check (agents not eber themselves) - been called today to say they have diagnosed problem with the motor which needs replacing - costs:-

replacement motor £222
gasket set £61
wick £52
decoke liquid £12

2 hours labour £80

total inc vat £503.25

our current boat is our first with an eber and (albeit boat was secondhand when we bought it ) we have already had to have a new electronic control unit which cost £200+ so at this rate in 5 years it will have cost us more than £700 for repairs to a bit of kit that costs c £1000- by contrast (hope we are not tempting fate) the raymarine electronics have been 100% reliable - spend so far nil- the yanmar diesel has been 100% reliable spend each year on service items only - the autohelm has needed some tlc but raymarine service and pricing good - by contrast the b eber is costing me a fortune ,

am I unlucky or is this typical and has anyone found a source for competively priced spares - service bods friendly and helpful but clearly embarrased at cost of eber spares
 
Have a look on ebay .. At least you could use the old one for bits .. May even pick up bits as well .. Bought a Webasco for central heating .. Just waiting for it to warm up so i can get some time to fit it ..
 
YES YES One of the bigest problems with these units is that if you try to operate them with anything less than 12v showing on the meter it will shut down or co-kup the setings. Never use unless the bats are fully charged. Had the same problems my self untill a an honest engineer explaind this to me . since then touch wood no probs.
A
 
Not sure about reliability, but they are very pricey. There follows a long Eberspacher saga, so choose another post if you're in a hurry.

When I bought Freestyle just over two years ago, the surveyor suggested that the Ebespacher should be "serviced". Insurance companies are picky sorts, so I had to follow his advice, and asked the vendor's boatyard to arrange a service. The man they sent was some kind of general factotum who came aboard with a sheaf of job cards, one of which said "service Eberspacher". I was on board at the time. He intimated, by scratching his head and making various disparaging remarks, that the job card was, er, uninspired, and proceded to fiddle with the connections, switch it on, listen to it running, and declare it AOK. I queried the smell of burning diesel in the saloon and he said "Oh, that's normal."

I've just checked the invoice - it says "Service Eberspacher heater, including checking ducting and cleaning corroded electrical connections: £139.50". (I cannot for the life of me think what the 50p was for.) I put it down to the price you have to pay to keep the underwriters happy.

Following this, the Eberspacher performed satisfactorily for two seasons (albeit with a lingering smell of exhaust) with only a minor glitch caused by the disintegration of the exhaust tube at its attachment to the Eberspacher. However, during a cold snap last October, when I had inveigled a crew on board on the promise of a warm saloon, it failed to start. After a desultory and unsuccessful attempt to find the fuse, I removed the heater and carted it off to the local service agents, who pronounced it working, but at the extreme end of its life (20 years). They offered to write off the cost of the test plus 20% of the cost of a new one, so I bit the bullet.

Acquiring a brand new kit was only the start. To install the new exhaust would have involved taking a power saw to one of my stern flotation compartments, so I had to spend around £80 on a bend and adaptor to fit my old exhaust. All the wiring bar the thermostat has to be routed through various bulkheads to the microprocessor located on the Eberspacher itself, and all the connectors on the old wiring are different. To avoid a major rebuild of Freestyle meant cutting the connectors off the new and old looms and soldering the new connectors to the old looms. I got it running for the first time this evening, but not before the odd failure caused by my mixing up the fuses. The new control system is heaps better than the old one. It's good stuff, but it's expensive. My previous experience with the smell of exhaust makes me wonder whether I shouldn't install a carbon monoxide alarm.

Oh, and when I came to replacing the fuse mount, I discovered a plausible reason why the 20-year-old one had failed. The fuse was burnt out, but was rated at only 8 amp instead of 20-25. I've no regrets because the old one was time expired and the new one could be fitted to the same mount without modification.
 
Look on the mobo forums, there seems to be a large number of complaints about Eberspachers on there, probably because more are fitted than other manufacturers.

I found them pricey and the salesman very snotty when i was at the boat show a few years back. As a consequence I bought a Mykuni MY30 which I have been very pleased with, for a fraction of the price of an eberspacher.
 
No they are not unreliable, but major parts are expensive.

BUT.....

They are not maintenance free. They need regular stripping down and decoking of the combustion chamber and all its little airways. If you you can perform an engine oil/filter change then you have the skills needed to service an eberspacher. It is when you need to pay someone for servicing them that they become very expensive to run. Ours gets used regularly, just about every weekend, and it runs all day during the colder months. This means it needs a decoke about twice a year or it starts playing up - failing to start first time, and sometimes the flame "blows out" in "low speed mode".

These little units have a lot of safety features built in which means they fail to start or shut down if they're "not happy" with something. I think this is preferable to "carrying on regardless" and possibly either burning your boat to the waterline or killing you with CO poisoning.

Stay warm - come home to a DIY-serviced eber!
 
I must be very lucky then. Mine was professionally fitted in 1999 (when I had more money) and hasn't been touched other than re-engagement of the main fuse that undid itself one chilly day.
It's never been serviced, runs most weekends from Oct - May and apart from a slightly smoky smell when starting, seems fine.

I keep expecting to have problems but so far, so good. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Cheers
 
[ QUOTE ]
recently off loaded my 20+yr old webasto on ebay

[/ QUOTE ]

...and others suggest buying on ebay????????????????? Is this where the problem starts?

I used to be involved with Snap On Tools, we ran 7 ton Merc vans selling tools into the motor trade. many of the vans (several hundred in the UK) ran, still do, Ebers to keep the customers warm in winter. They were switched on from Oct to April, a lot of use, with no great problems.

OK so it could be said that the marine environment is the killer, maybe though it is lack of use? Who for instance runs their Eber for 1/2 hour every month summer and winter? Its in the instruction book. How many complaints about Ebers are about old (read the freestyle post) ebers?

Whilst the Mikuni unit is likely to be very good (no experience) when I bought a heater (Eber) there was a group test which showed the Mikuni as being very amp hungery.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Check ebay. There's a pletora of Ebers for sale on there at any one time, no Webasto's or Mikuni's, that's telling.

[/ QUOTE ]It tells you nothing, except that there are loads of old Eberspachers stripped out of BT vans and sold on eBay. Properly installed and cared for, Eberspachers are very reliable - mine's 18 years old and still working well.
 
In my opinion, No they are not unreliable I drive a different truck everyday and every eber in every truck has fired first time keeping me nice and toasty whilst enjoying my breaks. Having said that I've also used heaters by other manufactures and all seem very reliable.
Are the spares overpriced, yes they are, I got my fingers burnt last winter I have a Eber DL3 which failed to start on the boat so took it to the local service agent it needed a small part (can't remember what is was) the bill was £173. It’s the only problem I've had with the heater on the boat and has been fine since, but if there’s a next time it will going to my local friendly Scania or Volvo fitter.
 
The answer of course is how well they were installed in the first place. There are many pitfalls with putting one on a sea boat, there are anything up to ten critical points on installation, do any wrong and it won't be reliable.
The most common installation faults are:

1) Not having the fuel filtered
2) Losing fuel supply due to long lines and too much height difference
3) Fuel not available at all tank levels and heeling.
4) Plumbing in with plastic fuel lines
5) No stop cock on fuel line

and so on
 
My Mykuni has been run heavily for three years, no servicing, no problems (save an installation problem caused by me not reading the manual but quickly sorted out by Mikuni). Amp hungry (10 amp on startup 2-3 mins max then down to fan loads of 1 amp at high setting less on low. Installation is easy with all wiring looms fixed with idiot proof connectors, their flexi tubing is a treat to install.

The control thermostat is very simple on, off, hot or cold, temp dial and indication lights.
 
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