PaulRainbow
Well-known member
Despite your recent holiday from the forum, you remain as rude and obnoxious as ever.
Diesel heaters now £75
- Thread starter Bigplumbs
- Start date
QBhoy
Well-known member
100% agree with the most of that.
Will absolutely need a proper stainless exhaust skin fitting, of the highest quality. Will require better and/or lagging on the pipe from unit to the skin fitting too.
Better fuel pipe for certain.
I’ve also been witness to a cheap outlet piece melting too.
Will also require a L shaped stainless mounting bracket too. Will all add up, but still be a fraction of the cost, compared to the usual.
I have a model based on a Chinese unit. It’s now done over 1000 hours for sure. Haven’t yet had a problem…touch wood.
The installation, fixtures and fittings are no doubt the thing to get right..and without compromise or cut corners.
Details like pump, heater, exhaust location and routing…ducting run, angle of bends and outlets etc etc, are extremely important.
I even used a remote outboard fuel tank, for the fuel supply. Didn’t fancy the alternative options. (Boat is petrol outboard)
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Old Sealey is not the same as new Sealey. More and more of their products are generic cheap Chinese items rebranded alongside the likes of Hilka, Machine Mart, Draper etc.
A welder for £60 might be worth a punt to get a job done but the time taken to install a diesel heater on a boat for it to fail a few months later probably isn't.
petem
Well-known member
I have some Sealey tools (multimeter, wire cutters and crimpers) and am happy with the quality / price.
oldgit
Well-known member
Going to suggest that many of the chinese clones are purchased to replace a defunct eber or webasto which has done good service over the previous 10/20 years, however the sheer effort of getting the thing out of its lair, self diagnosing the problem , then finally sending/dropping it off at the menders and being told that the bill will certainly be approaching the hundreds ££££ might suggest its time to give up on the old unit.
It may well then have a new gubbins in there but its a new gubbins in a 20 year old unit.
Folks who in the past would normally have picked up the telephone and had the local authorised Eber dealer pop round to sort a problem become reluctant to "invest" any more money.
The experience of a "repaired heater" failing again shortly afterwards with several hundred quid already spent may be the final coupe de grace.
On one fairly new modern boat it took three visits and three goes to persuade a Eber to work and this long established Eber dealer knows his business and has a very good reputation.
No prizes for guessing whats going to happen if it fails again.
When simply a heater unit replacement, all the original exhaust and warm air ducting etc are retained with only the new heater and pump installed, you might need a reducer of some description to connect new heater outlet to warm air ducting.
Existing heater mounting brackets seem be compatable with new heaters.
Would definately recommend the fitting of a decent non asphyxiating ** silencer if you do not already have one.
It can reduce the roar and banshee wail of the exhaust to a quiet little whisper, allowing you and any surrounding boats to sleep at nights.
On our moorings and from anecdotal evidence a considerable number of these heaters are now installed in boats and in various garages/workshopa over the past decade.
Still waiting for anything for anything other than the odd heater element failing, to surface and as most know the only thing that can travel faster than light is bad news ?
** at your own risk.
It may well then have a new gubbins in there but its a new gubbins in a 20 year old unit.
Folks who in the past would normally have picked up the telephone and had the local authorised Eber dealer pop round to sort a problem become reluctant to "invest" any more money.
The experience of a "repaired heater" failing again shortly afterwards with several hundred quid already spent may be the final coupe de grace.
On one fairly new modern boat it took three visits and three goes to persuade a Eber to work and this long established Eber dealer knows his business and has a very good reputation.
No prizes for guessing whats going to happen if it fails again.
When simply a heater unit replacement, all the original exhaust and warm air ducting etc are retained with only the new heater and pump installed, you might need a reducer of some description to connect new heater outlet to warm air ducting.
Existing heater mounting brackets seem be compatable with new heaters.
Would definately recommend the fitting of a decent non asphyxiating ** silencer if you do not already have one.
It can reduce the roar and banshee wail of the exhaust to a quiet little whisper, allowing you and any surrounding boats to sleep at nights.
On our moorings and from anecdotal evidence a considerable number of these heaters are now installed in boats and in various garages/workshopa over the past decade.
Still waiting for anything for anything other than the odd heater element failing, to surface and as most know the only thing that can travel faster than light is bad news ?
** at your own risk.
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Bigplumbs
Well-known member
Spot on. Three visits from a man to fix the Eber would have bought you at least 5 of these complete units....... Mine arrived today by the way
penberth3
Well-known member
Never assume. Have you read any of reports about CO fatalities, fatalities caused by faulty installation and operation? People don't have brains, people aren't as competent as they think they are.
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This very thread quod erat demonstrandum
mrangry
Active member
This could apply to fitting any brand really and not just to these heaters
penberth3
Well-known member
Of course, but comments above suggest cheap heaters are supplied with poor quality accessories, exhaust in particular.
Bigplumbs
Well-known member
Buy one and see for your self perhaps. I have 5 in total and received a new one today. Amazing they are
Rappey
Well-known member
8kw Diesel heaters on ebay at £60 with free postage.. £60 for a heater !!!!!!!! Amazing.
Shifty
Member
I’ve refrained from commenting on this endless thread and the previous. However I accept both sets of opinions, but having invested a fair chunk of money in my boat I’m not going to start cutting corners by bolting on cheap Chinese bits with the outside risk it could go t**ts up.
mrangry
Active member
Its only three pages so hardly endless.
Shifty
Member
I think if you do a bit of research you may find it may have cropped up previously.
mrangry
Active member
Yes there have been many posts repeated, generally how forums work. If you do a bit of research you will also discover that one of the more recent heater deaths were not due to a Chinese one
Shifty
Member
Each to their own, merely stating my view.
Bigplumbs
Well-known member
That’s how you get caught. Buy one fit it in the shed and give it a huge test. It is £60 after all
ylop
Well-known member
AFAIK they don’t actually put out 8kW they are just misleadingly labelled 5kW units. Like batteries, lights etc where they just make up numbers to try and sound better than the competition - which tells you how they value their reputation.
A false sense of security about a shed installation might lead a naïve diy installer to make a “shed” style installation on a boat.
Fire99
Well-known member
There are basically 3 Chinese sizes. The 2KW, the 5KW (which I think kicks out around 3.8KW) and the HCalory 6-8.5KW (Which is an actual around 4.8KW) with a larger burner chamber.
Reputation? There is no reputation protection going on here. It's 'stack em high, sell em cheap'.
We are massively over-analysing here. They are what they are. A very simple product, copied from a long-standing design. They are very cheap and as most people with half a clue realise, means the boat install wants some better 'accessories'. but the internet has a deluge of info on this so it's unlikely too many regular folk won't know this. And those who don't know, probably would never buy an Eberspacher / Webasto in the first place. Cheap means more people have a go, but you can't restrict the market to 2 grand heaters to try and guarantee only 'clever' installers will fit them. Only the rich folk are allowed to heat their boats?
One other quick observation. I've seen plenty of premium boat gear that to me is cr@p quality. I think a lot of boat folk are hoodwinked into believing just because it's expensive, it's good. Too often, it's not.