Dangerous diesel heaters impounded

Can't help thinking (as I'm sure many are/have before) that the hysteria commonly accompanying these threads stems from some sort of misplaced Sinophobia.

Is there anything wrong with a bunch of uncertified heaters being confiscated by customs? - of course not.

Are all non-Weberspacher heaters uncertified, dangerous, illegal, etc.? - of course not, too. I own one that is CE and TUV certified from a known factory. As I posted above, a paid a little more (around £200 inc.) and was happy that the quality of the unit more than compensated for this.

Otherwise there's never been an equivalent competent persons scheme for boats and I for one am bloody glad there isn't (I can barely afford to run the thing at present with doing everything DIY). An incorrectly installed Eberasto is just as dangerous as any other CO emitting device.

Our marina has a high % of narrowboats and at present a trend among them is to fit Webasto diesel water heaters removed from scrapped large SUVs. Presumably those come with zero parts or instructions for safe installation in a boat (they were OEM fit in a vehicle engine bay) - so should we ban them too?

Otherwise, the wrath provoked on here by the 'workshop of the world' reverse engineering versions of what we now know was a product with a disproportionately high price set by a monopoly/cartel (said wrath including slandering of well-known, knowledgeable, posters - by names rarely heard from, apart from in 'political' debates) can only be explained by underlying prejudices and 'trolling' IMHO.
 
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Most of the eBay ads do mention boats which is where they fall foul in my opinion, the heater is perfectly good in a boat but the kit is not, at least if they dropped the boat bit idiots might think about the differences between boats and vehicles.
But for inland boats at least the installation standard is still set by bss, I don't believe the rubber joiners that come with ebers are iso7840.
 
I am actually looking at buying one, not for my boat but for my workshop. How do you identify the good ones from the bad ones, and would the exhaust and fitting be ok for a workshop or should I look at better quality ones ?
 
Lightwave395 said:
Who did you buy it from ?
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Only sold via AliExpress (but not random sellers - the manufacturer use it as a platform to sell direct). A Google search turns up the links. Mine came after a few days from UK warehouse stock. They're often out of stock, when I was looking. Apparently there's a FB page with more up-to-date info on availability, but I'm not into that sort of thing!
 
Flyingspanner said:
I am actually looking at buying one, not for my boat but for my workshop. How do you identify the good ones from the bad ones, and would the exhaust and fitting be ok for a workshop or should I look at better quality ones ?
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You could mount it outside a shed and duct in then exhaust wouldn't matter, it's only in a sealed boat hull it's an issue.
 
dankilb said:
Only sold via AliExpress (but not random sellers - the manufacturer use it as a platform to sell direct). A Google search turns up the links. Mine came after a few days from UK warehouse stock. They're often out of stock, when I was looking. Apparently there's a FB page with more up-to-date info on availability, but I'm not into that sort of thing!
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Will take a look on FB and Google ?
 
Keith 66 said:
Maybe, Try finding a Hetas installer to sign off someone elses installation, Or ask them to fit a secondhand stove. No money in that when they can sell you a new one & fit it themselves.
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True even before the energy crisis. Now there's a shortage of fitters and stoves, fully booked into next year and many are on power trips.

Fortunately building control to the rescue but not for folk living in areas where they force self-installers onto HETAS by charging unreasonable (£1000+) fees.
 
Flyingspanner said:
I am actually looking at buying one, not for my boat but for my workshop. How do you identify the good ones from the bad ones, and would the exhaust and fitting be ok for a workshop or should I look at better quality ones ?
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Bin the supplied exhaust. This is for external spaces only.

Purchase a quality one from Southern Lasers in Wiltshire. Use gun gum or similar exhaust gasket paste. Fit a co alarm in the area where's you install the heater.

I've just bought an all in one unit whereby the fuel tank pump etc are in a metal box. Just need to connect exhaust pipe, air inlet and a 12 supply. Very pleased and it's quiet too...
 
I spent 2 years researching these heaters - I bought one binned everything that came with it except the controller and heater everything else I bought seperatley and more uprated - jobs a good un.
All I can say is do your research and be prepared to spend a bit more cash dont expect for £80 its going to be sing and dancing because all diesel heaters regardless of make are lethal if installed wrong.
 
Hot Property said:
Bin the supplied exhaust. This is for external spaces only.

Purchase a quality one from Southern Lasers in Wiltshire. Use gun gum or similar exhaust gasket paste. Fit a co alarm in the area where's you install the heater.

I've just bought an all in one unit whereby the fuel tank pump etc are in a metal box. Just need to connect exhaust pipe, air inlet and a 12 supply. Very pleased and it's quiet too...
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Which all in one did you buy - the ones I have seen on Ebay and Amazon look like They will fit the bill -
 
To help make your mind up there is very good vid on youtube where a chap takes both a W/eber and a chinaspacher to bits at the same time and reveals the gruesome shortcomings of the knock off, lack of weather sealing on the internal electronic connections, less sturdy construction of the combustion chamber and the exhaust hose being made out of tin foil etc etc
And as for that horrid silencer !!! , however no actual proof that his one actually leaks.
The conclusion ...................he is going to fit the Eber to his motorhome.


On the other hand you could buy 7 knock offs for the price of one eber and $1000.00 dollars buys a lot of exhaust pipe and silencers ?
As for the longevity of the knock offs , most boats do less than 50 hours a year and doubt that more than an hour or two of that is in the winter.
Those bearings will probably last ?
 
It’s the lethality of CO if things go 7its up . Colourless , odourless , heavier than air so sinks to the bottom and unlike a RV a boats a sealed tub with the bottom immersed in water so the gas is trapped can’t get out naturally.

I think we all take it for granted most Chinese stuff rubbish in terms of quality, screw threads , metal thickness , gasket integrity, bracket fixation , weight = you name it .We have been there taken the 1/ 10 price difference or 1/2 price ( or what ever ?) and gone for it .But in most circumstances like the one I illustrated ^ a car electric window regulator , or like for like carb body for a 2T garden tool it’s gonna be ok .Even after a bit of sorting by an keen DIY er and loadsa u tube watching “ how to …….”

2 hrs is a plenty to emit a lethal dose of CO btw .

This thread is the most polar I seen for a while .There’s no in between .Odd really as get it wrong = death .
 
Portofino said:
Colourless , odourless , heavier than air so sinks to the bottom and unlike a RV a boats a sealed tub with the bottom immersed in water so the gas is trapped can’t get out naturally.
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Wrong.

Carbon monoxide is slightly lighter than air and diffuses evenly throughout the space it is released into.

A carbon monoxide detector is cheap and easy to unstall. The ultra cautious can easily install two.

- W
 
Accounts of these heaters proven to have caused fatalities in a marine installation should be easy to find on the interweb.
Must have been tens of thousands of these things sold and fitted by now !
 
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