Eberspächer...using when not on boat!!

[gary3029]

I have an Eberspächer D2 unit on my boat. Bought new...(Not an ebay special!!) Hopefullyinstalled to an high standard. My question is this: In my battle against condensation I am considering trying to use heat to help with the problem, therfore I am considering setting the timer to come on in a morning each day. Of course I will not be there, but I do live 5 mintues away from where the boat is moored. How safe are these units...from what I read they have failsafe features. Does anyone on the forum operate these units when away from the boat?

 

[duncan]

I installed a D2 Airtronic in October and have both left it on overnight and popped down and switched it on for a couple of hours before going down with the fishing gear as well.

I would have thought that any problem will be in the installation or with a faulty unit in some way so once it's been run flat out for a fair few hours (mines had 20 now) these would show.

Finally a number of people I know have either the facility to phone their boats to switch the heating on or use a pre set 7 day timer - in both cases the heaters will be on without anyone present. All of this is of course about getting the boat warmed up for use rather than long term environmental maintenance.

It's also in Poole conincidently..............

 

[PCUK]

Having the heater on for part of the day will cause vast amounts of condensation as the boat cools down.
Keep the boat cold and well ventilated.

 

[BlueChip]

IMO heat alone will not cure condensation. When the boat gets hot any water will evaporate but when the heater goes off and the boat cools down again, the same water will condense. As air for your heater is probably being drawn in from outside the humidity may even get worse.

I would suggest that you modify the air intake on the heater so the cabin air is recycled ( I wouldn't do this if I was sleeping onboard with the heater on) and also use a dehumidifier that came on just when the boat is warm. That way the interior air will be warm and dry.

 

[LORDNELSON]

Are you happy about power use by the heater if the engine is not being used? Perhaps you have good solar panel/wind charging, if not how long can you start/stop an eberspatcher without obtaining a charge into your batteries? I assume you have no shore power because, if you had, I expect you would be using electric heating. Does your heater re-cycle air within the boat? If it drags air in from outside then you may well not reduce the moisture content within the boat. I shall be interested in this series of posts because if you can crack this heating problem when absent from the boat I will start keeping my boat in the water through the winter. You are quite right to be concerned about this subject, two of the boats I have owned in the past were kept at their moorings throughout the winter by their previous owners and as a result ended up with black mould marking their teak interiors.

 

[Bejasus]

[ QUOTE ]
I would suggest that you modify the air intake on the heater so the cabin air is recycled (I wouldn't do this if I was sleeping onboard with the heater on)

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't know why you wouldn't do this if sleeping onboard, as this is exactly the way the older D1's whith the 4 position selector switch were designed to work. It had to have the cabin air recycled through the heater to use the internal thermostat as there was no external one.

 

[BlueChip]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't know why you wouldn't do this if sleeping onboard, as this is exactly the way the older D1's whith the 4 position selector switch were designed to work. It had to have the cabin air recycled through the heater to use the internal thermostat as there was no external one.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't be able to sleep in case there was any carbon monoxide leakage from the heater. With recycled air the concentration of carbon monoxide in the cabin would increase. With fresh air being drawn in from outside in the event of a leakage the chances of injury or death are reduced.

I have had three heaters professionally fitted, none of the installations recycled the hot air.

Having known someone who dies from CO poisoning, maybe I am overly sensitive to this danger, but I wouldn't take the chance.

 

[PBooth]

If it is correctly installed, there should be no problems. Thousands of truck drivers sleep with the same unit running. The important issue, in my opinion, is electrical safety i.e. correct cable and fuses, no chafe on cable looms etc. Being involved in transport refrigeration, I have too often seen the result of poor electrical installation (nearly always a fire!). Many people sleep soundly on boats with unbelievably bad wiring.
Peter

 

[Heckler]

exactly, i was going to say the same, the combustion process is kept completely separate from the circulated air, on my installation i made sure thet the intake for the circulated hot air is from the living accomodation, it never ceases to amaze me that people post with an air of authority and yet obviously dont know how the tackle works.
going on to the prob of running the eber without shore power, my solar panel gives me about 12 amps per day so a quick start, 20amp on start up and then a couple of hours at 2 amps and it should be able to cope. visit weekend and give the donk a run and all should be ok.
stu

 

[Heckler]

there are 4 ins and out on the eber, combustion air in thru a 25 mm intake and exhaust out thru a 24mm exhaust. the circulating air in is thru one end of the unit and out of the other over the outside of the combustion sealed chamber. the two streams of air are completely physically separated. if the exhaust was to be leaking into the cabin from the exhaust it would do so regardless and if the combustion chamber leaked it would go into the cabin air regardless.

as another poster said, these units are fitted to sleeper cabs in wagons specifically to warm sleeping drivers!!

 

[Guest]

It's about 4 years since I installed mine so could be remembering incorrectly, but I thought Eberspachers' instructions specifically said the air must come from outside.

Apart from safety question, if you are inside and recirculating the air don't you end up with a much wetter air than outside because of moisture from body + breathing being recirculated instead of pumped out?

 

[BlueSkyNick]

I don't like to leave ours running when we are off the boat, even for an hour or two. Nor do I like to run it at sea. I am more concerned about the fire risk from the unit or ducting overheating.

I am sure there is nothing wrong with it, just wouldn't want take any chances.

 

[Guest]

I had an incident when water got into one of the contacts and it started up without being asked to and failed to shut down when the controller told it to. We were at sea at the time. The only way we could shut it down in the end was by cutting the power and keeping a fire extinguisher handy. Obviously it couldn't go through the cool down cycle in that case, but we could find no other way. Lots of smoke/steam even though it was only on maybe 5 minutes, luckily no flames and it survived but I wouldn't have fancied it if we hadn't been there with extinguishers. Since then we made the contacts less prone to water.

 

[TFJ]

I have just fitted a timer to my heater (eberspacher) and I can now set it 3 times a day and select the days of the week, I have also set my dehumidifier to come on at selected times to take away moisture
I am plugged into mains power so leaving it for a week or two is now not a problem
I have a brand new timer to sell that was sent wrong if anyone is interested, cost £94 + VAT but does not control the heat, time only

 

[ChrisE]

Regarding CO concentrations we have a CO detector in the saloon. £10 from Homebase.

 

[steve28]

The D1LC also pulses 20 amps at shutdown to help reduce smoke as it cools down.
I set my timer for once a week and i find it makes a world of diffrence to the cabin.

steve

 

[MikeJ2]

I turn mine on when I get to the boat on a Friday evening and dont turn it off again till Sunday night, regardless of whether I am tied to the pontoon or at sea. If properly installed, these units are extremely safe and reliable.

 

[duncan]

I only installed mine about 6 weeks ago but I may also be remembering incorrectly........howver I believe that the instructions state that the unit itself shoud be installed in an area seperated from the accomadation but both the combusion air intake and air for circulation can be taken from that place - indeed the standard marine installation includes dimensions for the air intake end from a bulkhead etc.
In on sense this is sensible - ie seperate the unit and it's (potentially leaking) exhaust from the accomadation and in another it's daft - if the exhaust joint does leak the air will be picked up by the inlet and transmitted to the accomadation.........

Either way is CO a constitunt of diesel exhaust anyway? I thought it was CO2? Yes you can still suffocate from CO2 replacing the oxygen but equally the burners would die too surely.....and long before you?

Realise this had drifted (180 dgrees!) fromt eh original premise of leaving it unattended but it's interesting non the less!

 

[Guest]

Yes, that rings a bell about the instructions, my (very vague) recollection was that it was just about possible to take it from the same locker if separate from the accommodation (assuming there was a big hole letting air into the locker from the outside), but that it was really recommended to take it from a sealed dedicated inlet from the outside, so that's what I did.

 

[Heckler]

Hello
as i said in the previous post, people tend to shoot from the hip with an air of authority, it is quite easy to check, go to www.espar.com and RTFlippingM. COMBUSTION air from outside, page 7 of the manual. so quite where the safety bit comes in i dont know. as for the damp bit, when my eber is running my vion weather station shows interior humidity at least 10-15% lower than the remote exterior locker mounted slave sensor
stu