Eberspacher central heating question

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Bandit

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I am looking to have an Eberspacher diesel heater fitted. for general heating in the winter as well as clearing the inside of the windscreen.

I would be grateful of any views.

Do they work well.

Are they quiet.

Does the air smell of diesel.

Is it really central heating or does it only take off the chill in cold weather.

Is water heating worthwhile?
 
Hi Bandit.

We have a Targa 37 with the ebaschgerdbftere ????? how ever the %$£" you spell it thingy inside.

It does work, Yes it really does. We have vents in the main cabin, aft cabin, saloon area, and the main cockpit area. It gets so flippin hot down below that you end up having to open the vents!!

It only smells for a short while at initial start up, there after its quiet, and keeps my dearly beloved from complaining thats she's cold all the time. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Jas.
 
I have used Eberspacher heaters for many years now, and whilst they can be tempremental, and susceptable to crap fuel and low voltage, they are in the main quite efficient.

Of course performance is reliant on you getting the right size unit for your boat, but Eberspacher should be able to advise you on this.

Equally important is a good installation, as issues such as the location of the unit, angle and position of the pump, location of the first split in the ducting, can all effect performance, but again a good installer should know this.

The only times I have had issues with smell is when there has been something wrong, an unburnt fuel fumes have have got through to the cabin, but in normal operation there should be no smells at all.

My biggest gripe is with the dealer network, some of whom IMHO are crap.

I have never bothered with their water heaters as when hooked to shore power I have an immersion heater, and if not the calorifier does the job.

Neil
 
Just read your post again and realised I missed a few of your questions.

Noise is very much dependant on the size of your boat, and the location of the pump and unit.

They are certainly not quiet, you may hear the slight roar of the combustion process, the fan, and the ticking of the pump. On my boat it would certainly not be an option to leave it on all night for instance, especially if the mid cabin was occupied.

I would agree with Argo in that my unit can get the boat extremely warm (it's a D4 Airtronic on a 34 foot boat with four outlets).

Neil
 
I've just fitted one.

First thing is it's really easy to install. Very do-able for one person to install in a full day. Mines a 35' motorboat and I installed 4 outlets.

It works very well, just make sure you get the right size for your boat. Too small and you'll be wanting for more heat.

The heater itself doesn't make much noise, you can hardly hear it if it's fitted in the engine bay. Fit a silencer to the exhaust, they only cost about £20 on ebay.
The bit that does make the noise is the warm air intake, this is the bit that takes the cold air into the heater which comes out warm the other end. You could just let it pick up the air form the engine bay but they don't recommend it cause any smell or fumes in the engine bay will get circulated around the boat, also the heaters have a built in thermostat (which isn't adjustable) so if the air being sucked into the heater is too hot the heater shuts down thinking the temp is hot enough. For instance running the heater whilst you are underway the heat from the engines will heat the engine bay and make the heater shut down. So the options are to have the air intake in the cockpit which is where you'll be able to hear it or the air intake form outside the boat, but then in the winter you'll be heating freezing cold air instead of re-circulated air from the cockpit.

You can get a silencer for the combustion air (this is what gets burnt) but as it's in the engine bay you can't hear it but I've been unable to find a silencer for the warm air intake. The .com eberspacher web site isn't that great but the US Ebar site is better.

Hope this makes sense.

Kevin
 
When we had an Eberspacher, we also had the Calltronic unit - so a quick call to the boat as we left home and it would be nice and toasty when we arrived.

Personally, I would go for the water heating as we do a lot of anchoring and its very pleasant to have hot water after a night or two at anchor without having to fire up the genny to power the immersion heater. We have a Kabola now though - which is more like a combi-boiler rather than having a hot water tank.

Rick
 
To be fair, all of these heaters do smell iitially, but this is a temporary problem as the smell is actually the reaction of heat to the trunking, and as soon as that freshness has been burnt off, the smell goes away. I was recommended to turn the thermostat up to max and leave running for 20 minutes - worked a treat. I installed a 4KW one and yes , very hot.
 
They work fine and mine was very quiet installed in the engine bay of an S28. One thing to watch is the exhaust outlet. When the heating is off, it is very easy to forget the outlet is there and it makes short work of plastic fenders that have been left dangling over it....that's when it certainly does smell...
 
Exhaust outlet on our boat is just below where the guardrail ends. This being a convenient point for tying up fenders it's easy to burn one (done that once).

Smell is really up to where it picks up the air. I fitted our inlet to cockpit, so exchaust fumes don't much get there.

Also insulation of the ductings worth bearing in mind. When waters are cold, the furthermost vent may blow cooler air.

And as stated earlier, they are somewhat sensitive to low voltage when firing up. On our earlier boat with old wiring this was a bit of a problem that we could have fixed by direct cables from the batteries as we did for diesel cooker.

Very good heaters though.
 
We have it installed on our boat we bought recently although ive never used it. Is it a case of just switching it on and away it goes? Does it use the fuel from the main tank or is there a seperate one to fill?
 
If it hasn't been used for a while it may be more like switch it on and keep your fingers crossed.

Seriously though I believe they are better for being used so I make a point of running mine at least once a month throughout the year.

Neil
 
Ours is straight from the fuel tank, which is more convenient IMHO. It is worth having an extra fuel filter for the heater though. Those tiny ones will do (see below).
Kuva(26).jpg
 
If you have a look at page 12 of THIS marine istallation guide it explains that each component of the ducting has a rating and the total shouldn't (in an ideal world) exceed the maximum rating for a particular heater.

The guild will help planning your installation.

Kevin.
 
Hi - we just had a Webasto heating system installed. We researched both at the Boat Show & online. We read that Eber's aftersales service was pretty bad, except in a few regions. And as we're new to boating, wanted someone who'll help us out quickly if we have any problems. Webasto's system was cheaper than Eber's, reviews say more reliable and they're servicing is LOTS cheaper.

We had Toby from Keto Marine in Poole install it for us. He did it in less than a day, made some good recommendations on positioning outlets and even threw in some insulation pipes for free. He was brilliant, quick and very tidy!

Whatever you choose, I hope you have a happy winter on your boat!
 
I hope you found a way, anyway It will be useful for others too.
you should select a reliable and trustworthy boiler installer, because you should have a proper boiler and heating installation
Well, I would always go with Centronagas
 
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