Diesel Heater

[goeasy123]

Does anyone know of a Chinese diesel heater that is a direct replacement for an old Eberspacher D5LC? I.e. the mounting holes and pipe position are in the same place. It's the same length and the ducting diameters are the same.

 

[Rappey]

The chinese heaters are supposedly clones of ebers, but often are a little larger as a 2kw can also be a detuned 4kw , a 5kw can also be a 8kw etc.
The good news is the chinese now make the elbows, y pieces and outlet vents so no more getting totally ripped off by the german manufacturers ( ie. £3.30 v £35 for eber ) and adapter rings are available to enlarge or reduce the pipe diameter at a sensible price.
The exhaust is the same size and they come with one meter of each bit of pipe (usually) The combustion air inlet and exhaust outlet are very very similar to size and location of the ebar.
75mm seems to be the prefered chinese heater pipe size for the hot air ducting.
The chinese displays are the best.. they look good with many coloured leds showing what its doing and it displays fault codes if something is wrong so no having to pay someone to diagnose.

This youtube guy has tested every aspect of the chinese heaters, including sawing one in half to prove they are not made from wafer thin aluminium and to show what the inside looks like when running.
He has many heater videos.

 

[Kelpie]

Are all the Chinese heaters essentially identical? I.e the 2 and 8 kw versions are just 5kw ones with a different label on them.
I did a straight swap from an old Eber (D4?) to a Chinese heater and it couldn't have been easier.

 

[boatmike]

No. The 2 KW are rip offs of the smaller Wabasto I believe. The 5KW and 8KW are identical and will replace a D4 and give the same or similar output. The controls on the chinese heaters enable you to set a higher pump rate and get near to the output of a D5 but there is no way you will get near 8KW with any of them! I have a so called 8KW and have measured the output at "normal" settings and it is approx 4.6. Overriding the pump settings can give about 5 but it gets near to the cut out temperature of the override sensor so frankly I would not do it. All mountings are the same as an Eber.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

No. The 2 KW are rip offs of the smaller Wabasto I believe. The 5KW and 8KW are identical and will replace a D4 and give the same or similar output. The controls on the chinese heaters enable you to set a higher pump rate and get near to the output of a D5 but there is no way you will get near 8KW with any of them! I have a so called 8KW and have measured the output at "normal" settings and it is approx 4.6. Overriding the pump settings can give about 5 but it gets near to the cut out temperature of the override sensor so frankly I would not do it. All mountings are the same as an Eber.

Given the increasing popularity of these heaters perhaps the word "replica" would be more apt than "rip off"

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I have a rip-off Eberspacher D3 which is due for a maintenance and most likely it would need some money spend on it. Its very tempting to buy a decent Chinese heater at ordinary price to replace the unjustifiably expensive and no-value-for-money Eber. Lets hope the Chinese will start making Autopilots and China-Hydrovanes at "normal" prices.

 

[boatmike]

Given the increasing popularity of these heaters perhaps the word "replica" would be more apt than "rip off"

You think? The Chinese are masters at stealing technology and copying products. They have no respect for copyright or patents and misrepresent their products to a brazen degree. The BS that is published is mindblowing. My heater was described as 8KW. Its totally impossible to get anything near 8KW out of the design without raising the temperature to a dangerous level. The fan just does not produce enough air throughput to keep it within reasonable temperature limits and they also quote "100% combustion efficiency" That's a good trick! They would have to invent something revolutionary to achieve that! The casing is not just similar to an Eber. Its Identical! Perhaps knock off would be more accurate than rip off though. The rip off is the price of Eberspachers. Frankly they deserve the Chinese copies for dishonest profiteering! I recently also bought a monocular telescope from China. Described as a 16x50. The magnification is a maximum of 7 and the lens is 40. Is is marked on the side as 16x50 but is clearly a 7x40! God help us if we let these buggers produce the hardware for G5 internet. You simply cant trust them!

 

[Rappey]

Even if the 8kw does not produce 8 kw what is there to complain about when you get a whole heater and associated bits for around £100 ?
At the prices they sell for its worth buying 2 so you have one for spares.

 

[oldgit]

My Russian clone dropped straight into the original eber mounting bracket.
All drillings were indentical.
Used the old existing fuel piping but fitted the new pump.sold the old pump for £45.00 on ebay.
Best of all the supplied silencer made the system whisper quiet as compared to the banshee roar of the old unsilenced Eber.
2nd best it starts when you want it too.

 

[boatmike]

Even if the 8kw does not produce 8 kw what is there to complain about when you get a whole heater and associated bits for around £100 ?
At the prices they sell for its worth buying 2 so you have one for spares.

I was not complaining. Just facing facts and answering the original post.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

God help us if we let these buggers produce the hardware for G5 internet. You simply cant trust them!

G5 must not be given to the Chinese for security reasons. People are naive to think that Huawei is independent from the Chinese government.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

I would have thought 8Kw somewhat excessive for the average sailing boat with the internal volume of the average dining room. It's equivalent to using four 2-bar infra-red heaters. I am considering installing a 4Kw in my 30ft boat (of relatively modern, 1990s design) and was wondering if I was overspecifying?

 

[Rappey]

If you had say a saddler with its buoyancy foam filled hull then would think you dont need a super powerfull heater but a non insulated boat may need a little more power?
A newer boat with foam/balsa core has a good degree of insulation so less power needed?
I heated my boat on a very cold evening to 24c then went outside with a thermal imaging camera. I was surprised at how little radiant heat went through the hull and decks but the heat loss through 10mm acrylic in hatches and windows was frightening !
I have some 28 cubic meters to heat, a cold boat and a 5kw takes a good 3/4 hr to reach say 21c on a cold night, but once there needs only 2kw to hold the temp.
My friend has a 5kw which is overkill for his boat so its on low over 90% of the time but after nearly 2 years and quite a lot of use his heater still works absolutely fine.
For a carbon free clean running heater kerosene is by far the best fuel.
I read about one guy whos eberspacher was badly coked up but he managed to coax it into life and ran it on kerosene for several hours. He then took it home to decoke, only to open it up and find it spotless inside .