Diesel Heaters

Little Dorrit said:
A friend of mine has just fitted a £130 Chinese heater and he told me the final cost was about £500 as he needed to replace most of the fittings (exhaust air ducting etc which were useless) it made me wonder what was inside the bit he couldn't look into! Perhaps the old adage you get what you pay for applies?
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In addition to wanting better quality than the included for some parts, you may have to replace fittings, ducting et al when replacing a heater - regardless of brand. Different ducting diameters and specifications for e.g. air flow resistance could require some alterations to existing setup
 
I am making some good progress and actually think I will buy a second hand Eberspacher. The main benefit for me is that it will be easy to source spare parts and I am assuming they are a superior build to the Chinese cheaper versions? Since any installation is going to mean replacing most of the installation parts ducting, silencer etc with superior quality components, the net cost difference is going to be negligible and I like the idea of having a superior product. On the other hand, perhaps I am just a snob and like the idea of dropping the brand of my heater into a casual conversation!
 
A secondhand eber might well need some money spent on it in servicing.
Why is it being sold?
A lot of wet heaters come from 'end of life vehicles'.
Air heaters, not sure who's selling used ones, other than people who are replacing a troublesome unit with a new chinese heater.

I'm not sure the eber is 'better'.
 
Spares are not hard to find for the Chinese heaters, and much much cheaper than Eberspacher spares. E.g. a glowplug for £10.
 
Wing Mark said:
A secondhand eber might well need some money spent on it in servicing.
Why is it being sold?
A lot of wet heaters come from 'end of life vehicles'.
Air heaters, not sure who's selling used ones, other than people who are replacing a troublesome unit with a new chinese heater.

I'm not sure the eber is 'better'.
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The jury is still out and I haven't yet made my mind up but thanks for your input.
 
Kelpie said:
Spares are not hard to find for the Chinese heaters, and much much cheaper than Eberspacher spares. E.g. a glowplug for £10.
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An Eberspacher d2 diesel heater glow plug is £20, fuel pumps and wiring looms are all available at sensible prices, temperature controllers can be found for about £10 without all the bells and whistles of the Chinese controllers but perfectly ok. I might yet go for a Chinese alternative...
 
Little Dorrit said:
An Eberspacher d2 diesel heater glow plug is £20, fuel pumps and wiring looms are all available at sensible prices, temperature controllers can be found for about £10 without all the bells and whistles of the Chinese controllers but perfectly ok. I might yet go for a Chinese alternative...
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I'd fit an Autoterm (Planar) heater. Not to be confused with some of the Ebay ones that claim to be "Planar".

Marine heater kits

A new, complete kit is in your budget and you won't need to replace half of the parts. The silencer is fully welded and the exhaust through hull is very nice quality. The only things i replace are, sometimes the exhaust, if it isn't long enough and i always bin the exhaust lagging and use the Eberspacher style "sock", also available from the site above.

I have no connection to Autoterm, just a satisfied "customer". I have fitted several of them for my customers and have never had an issue with any of them and some have been in daily use on small commercial vessels.
 
Little Dorrit said:
An Eberspacher d2 diesel heater glow plug is £20, fuel pumps and wiring looms are all available at sensible prices,
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I have an eberspacher d2 in my van. Genuine glow plugs are £70, cheaper made pattern ones are £20. A genuine eberspacher fuel pump is £100. I’ve no problem with my D2, but don’t delude yourself that’s parts prices for Chinaspacher heaters and Eberspacher are comparable.
 
PaulRainbow said:
I'd fit an Autoterm (Planar) heater. Not to be confused with some of the Ebay ones that claim to be "Planar".

Marine heater kits

A new, complete kit is in your budget and you won't need to replace half of the parts. The silencer is fully welded and the exhaust through hull is very nice quality. The only things i replace are, sometimes the exhaust, if it isn't long enough and i always bin the exhaust lagging and use the Eberspacher style "sock", also available from the site above.

I have no connection to Autoterm, just a satisfied "customer". I have fitted several of them for my customers and have never had an issue with any of them and some have been in daily use on small commercial vessels.
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My son Owen is the UK and France importer for Autoterm. What you get in particular is unprecedented technical support from him. It is unusual for a query not to be answered within an hour.

Not that there are many issues with the heater, the vast majority of queries are due to installation problems.
 
vyv_cox said:
My son Owen is the UK and France importer for Autoterm. What you get in particular is unprecedented technical support from him. It is unusual for a query not to be answered within an hour.

Not that there are many issues with the heater, the vast majority of queries are due to installation problems.
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I bought a 2kw Planar kit from Owen Cox about four seasons ago to fit myself and it has been faultless. There is now a Facebook Group for owners set up by Owen where queries are dealt with very quickly. I had some concerns about whether 2 kw would be enough to keep our 32 footer warm. In fact there has been no problems at all and I think it best to not oversize otherwise you have to run on too low a setting for too long with the dangers of sooting. Without doubt it is one of the best modifications we have made to the boat.
 
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Webasto and Ebespacher are fine heaters, of that there is no doubt, but bugger me they are expensive plus their spares prices are out of this world.

The chinese are doing well for one reason and one reason only, they are cheap, they will get better quality wise as time goes on, and eber/webby will have to tighten their belts.
 
lynallbel said:
Webasto and Ebespacher are fine heaters, of that there is no doubt, but bugger me they are expensive plus their spares prices are out of this world.

The chinese are doing well for one reason and one reason only, they are cheap, they will get better quality wise as time goes on, and eber/webby will have to tighten their belts.
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Eber/Webasto are expensive because they colluded on their prices at a time when there was no serious competition in the market. And they were eventually fined by the EU for doing so.
 
You need a modified socket to get the eber glow plug out, can make it yourself by grinding a slot in one or, of course, buy it as a special tool! I wouldn't have another Eber...
 
Kelpie said:
Eber/Webasto are expensive because they colluded on their prices at a time when there was no serious competition in the market. And they were eventually fined by the EU for doing so.
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That we know, but I am not sure i have noticed their stuff getting any more reasonable, which kind of suggests to me they are carrying on as before?
 
V1701 said:
You need a modified socket to get the eber glow plug out, can make it yourself by grinding a slot in one or, of course, buy it as a special tool! I wouldn't have another Eber...
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Iirc the slotted socket used to come with the new glow plug? we used to just cut the wire off the top of the plug then use a normal socket to remove the glowplug.
 
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