Dangerous diesel heaters impounded

You have me worried now as I can't find the instructions to my central heating control, I'm going to have to shut the heating down for winter and get a new boiler in case it kills me....
The only bad thing about them is the word "boat" used to sell them, the rest of the bits supplied are fine in a vehicle, most fuel pipes in a new car would fail a boat safety scheme check.
 
Boat2016 said:
I really don’t care how many people have them or not, the fact that they’re illegal to sell (proven by the fact the latest batch have been seized) confirms what I already knew. I have no intention of buying one and don’t support manufactures that steal designs from others to flood the market with cheap cr** that’s not fit for purpose.
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No one suggested you should buy one.
I don’t like that you call me a “chancer” when you don’t know what you are talking about.
 
Elessar said:
No one suggested you should buy one.
I don’t like that you call me a “chancer” when you don’t know what you are talking about.
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Itks another example of the sort of conversation that only takes place on the internet. I too have a Chinaspacher heater, I could by a new one every year for 15 years before approaching the cost of the supposed real deal, which, tbh, is why it was chosen. I’ll take no notice of being called a chancer by a random stranger. Mine was transplanted into a previous Eberspacher installation. I’m done for if the Eberspacher exhaust isn't up to par.
 
Rappey said:
Please tell us why they are they cr*p or, is this your uneducated opinion ?
I saw a moody go up in flames caused by an eberspacher yet I can't find a single case online of a Chinese parking heater doing the same ?
Mine is 4 years old and runs as it should.
Watched a "van life" guy take his heater apart for its first service where its spent nearly all its run time on low and after 2500 hrs it was still really clean inside and just needed new fan bearings.
He had power failure one day when it was running at full power and it didn't go up in flames or melt. It fired back up when power was re supplied.
Another event was when he was maneuvering in deep snow which plugged the exhaust causing a shutdown.
Unless you have first hand experience with one of these heaters then how can you possibly make judgement ?
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Suspect that Eber might have come out of this better if they had not tried to maintain their monopoly RRP system of prices.
The only real source of heat affordable for aftermarket installation for 90% of boatowners in UK would have been via ex GPO D2 or similar.
A new eber installation would have doubled the value of many boats.
In the good old days "BB" when we were friends with Europe, some rascals in Turkey advertised Eberspacher bits on Ebay, complete heaters plus bits and spare parts at prices well below UK dealer RRP prices even taking into account P&P from halfway across EU.

Rumours that Eber UK had a hissy fit and put it about that this was not fair and anyway warranties would not be honoured...so there.

OG bought some stuff from Turkey to complete his ex GPO D2 installation in a Princess 33, it arrived only 4 days after ordering.
With all this out sourcing of stuff from China, one might also wonder where Eber get their heater components ?
 
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oldgit said:
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Interesting. I don’t doubt things like bearings etc are lower quality than the German ones. But at ten times the price you can just swap the whole heater out. If you have the patience to replace the bearings like this chap even better.

My boat came from the med and I needed to install heating from scratch.
The ductwork, exhausts, lagging etc cost just short of £2000. The two heaters cost £180.
I replaced their CPUs but that’s all.
I could have spent an additional £2000 on German heaters but I’d have still had to buy the ducting and install accessories.
And I refuse to pay the premium to companies that have been found guilty of price fixing but don’t seem to have adjusted their prices.
 
Elessar said:
Interesting. I don’t doubt things like bearings etc are lower quality than the German ones. But at ten times the price you can just swap the whole heater out. If you have the patience to replace the bearings like this chap even better.
And I refuse to pay the premium to companies that have been found guilty of price fixing but don’t seem to have adjusted their prices.
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New boat has an unsilenced Eber , it dont half make an awful row , tempted to fit one of those aftermarket silencers that chap in the video installed.
Those bearings.
The bearings on the Princess 33 raw water pump are identical to those fitted to just about every skateboard on the planet.
 
Regardless of other considerations I wouldn’t put something potentially combustible in my boat which didn’t have the relevant CE, or whatever marks are applicable these days, due to the certainty that the insurance company would refuse any claim associated with said equipment should an incident occur.
 
I’ve got a CE marked ‘Lavaner’ chinaspacher. Also has a TUV certificate (the actual cert was included - not just a logo on the box). The build quality is also impressive. They’re out there - just cost a bit more.

You still throw away the supplied under-vehicle exhaust. That info is included in the full English instructions.
 
henryf said:
I’ve read of several instances where people died from carbon monoxide poisoning on boats.

clearly there is a concern otherwise trading standards would not seize the items or do you think there’s some conspiracy going on between the brand names and trading standards with brown envelopes being passed in pub car parks?

People freely admit elements of the kit are scrap as supplied.

I’m currently driving round Thailand where hundreds and thousands of motorcyclists seem to think it fine not to have working lights at night. Their argument, like many on here is they haven’t been hit so all is well. Common sense and logic would suggest that having working lights will lessen your chances of dying.
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I wasn't referring to carbon monoxide poisoning, rather that they burst into flames. ( Which they don't but I'd be interested to see firm evidence if one has....)
 
Problem with CE marked being the Chinese copied the ebersp. and just copy the CE letters.
I have both a genuine and copy, they look fairly identical but the exhaust that came with the copy went straight in the bin. Copy hasn’t missed a beat though but is used in the workshop

the instructions with the copy said on one of the early pages no not use when sleeping
 
Elessar said:
No one suggested you should buy one.
I don’t like that you call me a “chancer” when you don’t know what you are talking about.
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Except i do know what I’m talking about, you clearly don’t and have no idea about compliance (its a big part of my business so i do understand), people like you are the reason why we have to jump through so many hoops to do anything now.
 
Boat2016 said:
Except i do know what I’m talking about,
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So I ask again . Please explain using your expert knowledge why you say the Chinese heaters are cr@p ?
The original article only describes them as dangerous due to very poor or lack of literature.
 
Rappey said:
So I ask again . Please explain using your expert knowledge why you say the Chinese heaters are cr@p ?
The original article only describes them as dangerous due to very poor or lack of literature.
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You have just answered your question…if the importers are so confident about the quality why don’t they have them correctly certified ?
they would then be legal to sell in the uk.
I haven’t yet found a boat builder who will fit on as factory fit, why do you think that is ?
 
Jamie Dundee said:
Regardless of other considerations I wouldn’t put something potentially combustible in my boat which didn’t have the relevant CE, or whatever marks are applicable these days, due to the certainty that the insurance company would refuse any claim associated with said equipment should an incident occur.
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Nonsense.
And no installation is CE marked.
 
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