Eberspächer heater reliability...workshop

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gary3029

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I have a nearly new Eberspächer heater in my boat which I don't use a lot. I have a small workshop where I need to get some safe..(non fumes) heating installed. How robust is the Eberspächer heater? Will it stand up to some hard use?
 
IMO Please please do not buy an Eberspächer! We have lived on board on several boats with several Eberspächer heaters over the years. The early ones were very reliable. They have become more unreliable in recent years, the servicing is very expensive, there is little you can do yourself and Eberspächer themselves very very unhelpfull.

I regret purchasing an Eberspächer when I upgraded my heating 2 years ago and have had nothing but problems with the reliability of the unit, the agents and Eberspächer themselves. I had it professionally fitted by the exclusive and unreliable Eberspächer south agents. It spends more time broken that working. I know I am not alone.

I have several liveaboard friends (in this country and abroad) that have moved away from Eberspächer over the last couple of years for these reasons and I regret I did not listen to them.

IMO any other heating system has to be better than an Eberspächer! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
They always run well on the workshop bench!

Get it to the boat, then it doesn't /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Im a liveboard, and I have one installed. I rarely get a problem with it, and if i do, its guaranteed to be the glowplug.

As for not being able to do much yourself, there are extremely easy to take apart and service yourself. You can usually buy service kits off ebay which contain everything you need. 9 times out of 10, a poor installation is what causes the problems, not the heater itself.
 
Exactly,

Had mine serviced in preparation for the winter. Paid the bill and last week it gets cold and guess what - it's not working - well actually it is pushing luke warm air out and eating curent - I had to get the fan heater going.......
 
Ive had that problem twice with my one.

Once was because the diesel filter became blocked, so heat output was poor, and eventually it shut itself down due to the lack of fuel getting into the unit.

The other time was because the duct fell off the back of the outlet /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Some things worth checking prehaps. Any carbon in the glowplug chamber or on the glowplug itself? Which heater do you have? And silly question, but is the thermostat turned up?

As to the original question, it would work in a workshop, but would it be powerful enough? A dedicated space heater may be better. Depends on the size of it.
 
I installed my eberspacher myself, and have only had problems with the fuse box (crap design) otherwise works perfectly.

IMHO most of the reported problems are from old systems ripped out of gpo vans and sold on.
 
I just replaced our 17 year old eberspacher with a new one. Works fine, excellent support during my installation from Krueger Marine and a very happy customer
 
I've only had one call to the techie guys in the UK. My control unit wasn't listed on the web site, and I couldn't guess the key strokes to program the timer.

I got an instant reply with a manual .pdf.

On the other hand, I can't get the thermostat to cut the heating off.

It also cuts out if the battery goes any lower than more or less fully charged.

So far so good I'd say - ask me in the Spring :-)

Jeff
 
[ QUOTE ]
It also cuts out if the battery goes any lower than more or less fully charged.

[/ QUOTE ]
Have you checked the voltage of the battery whilst it is running - our D1LC takes 20 amps on startup and blew the fuse in the charger we were using to keep the (nearly dud) battery alive - and the startup sequence stalled as the Eber has a low/High voltage cutoff. Subsequent startups show the battery diving to 8V during the startup sequence due to this massive draw - but this was just enough to keep the heater going and soon recovered (at which point we put the charger back on!)
 
Firstly there is no difference between Red and normal diesel. The main difference is the cleanliness of boat fuel. The filter in the pump is tiny and will soon block with dirty fuel.
Main issue with eberspachers's is the quality of the installation. They are very difficult to fit properly particularly so on sea boats and even more so on yachts. It's really a question of clean fuel, fuel supply in general, providing an adequate power feed and protecting the heater and wiring plus controls dry and clean.
 
If there is a difference at all I couldn't see it being significant compared with the c**p you see in most boat fuel tanks
 
[ QUOTE ]
Apparently, most Eberspacher problems result from running them on red diesel. It seems to be a well documented fact in the canal boat world, where a separate fuel tank for the eberspacher is recommended.

[/ QUOTE ]

Somewhat negated by the fact that many of us have had Eberspachers running on red diesel for years without problems. I'm with savagedog - installation and a decent voltage are key.

Rick
 
I had no problems with mine - installed it myself a few years ago and tried to follow the installation recommendations to the letter. I got a big Boat Show discount, plus self installation meant it wasn't too expensive.

Except that is for the recommendation about annual servicing - I haven't had mine serviced yet, but probably will this year on the basis that prevention's better than cure.

From what I could work out, the system is more economical than the Mikuni one since Mikuni go through a whole start up/close down procedure every time the thermostat cuts in, which is very amp hungry. The Eber by contrast works by regulating the power of the heater.

So far I'm a very happy customer.
 
Where is the diesel filter please ?? Is it contained within the pump and how easy is it to clean and/or replace ?? Mine was working well last year on the hard then suddenly packed up. The lights on the controller come on but the fan never starts etc.
 
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