Eberspacher (D2 Airtronic) died on me last night...

[V1701]

Morning all,

I switched the heater up to full just before going to bed last night (am in the habit of running it on full for 10/15 minutes last thing before switching it off). The roaring from the exhaust went quiet, the heat quickly got less and less so I switched it off straight away. There weren't any error codes on the timer/diagnostic, all appeared normal on there. This morning I checked the air intake was clear, there's plenty of fuel in the tank and plenty of charge in the batteries. When I switched it on it produced quite a lot of white smoke, for about 30 seconds. I think it took a bit longer than normal to get up to temperature, but white smoke aside seems now to be working as it should. I have seen some white smoke before a few times, this has been when I've restarted it when it's only just switched itself off on the timer, concluded from that that it doesn't like to be restarted just after it's shut down so no longer do that.
Any ideas what could have caused it to shut down and what caused the white smoke on start-up this morning? Should I inspect & clean the gauze, have a look at the glow plug? I don't have any experience of maintenance/servicing with these heaters so any help/advice gratefully received, the boat's going to her new owners early next week & I don't want for them to have problems with anything...

EDIT: It's just died again, after 50 minutes running, in a puff of white smoke, exhaust noise gone, pump not pumping, help!

 

[agurney]

is it possible that the air was simply warm enough? My D2 has a sensor and when warm air reaches it the burner stops.

Don't switch it off straight away, let the fan run to cool the furnace otherwise you might fry your controller (been there, done that).

White smoke and sudden cutout might be a sign of a failing glowplug, however as you pulled the power "straight away" there was probably quite a bit of unburnt fuel left over which might have produced the smoke.

 

[pcatterall]

White smoke will indicate the purging of unburnt fuel as suggested.
Sounds like your heater is just a bit poorly. Certainly removing and cleaning the gauze usually helps ( but have a spare gauze to hand as I always damage mine on removal).
Running for a day on parafin will work wonders to the insides ( as proven on this forum!!) so if you can temporally detach the fuel line and feed it from a can of parafin this will help.
Overheating could just be an issue, have your socks got pushed into the ducting etc etc. Come back if you cant resolve it quick.

 

[fireball]

We've just installed a D3LC and have been test running it with all the pipework installed - found that after 10 -15 minutes it cycled down - it certainly wasn't warm enough in the cabin (it was comfortable with a jumper on though) ...
I think the cause may be to do with heating air (not combustion) input as we have the pipe temporarily poking into a locker under the cooker - it's not overly large and although there are vents to other lockers, with the throughput of air I think it could quite easily create a small vacuum ?
Ran out of time, but we will try it with the locker door open

 

[pcatterall]

Fireball, unless you have fitted a seperate thermostat your heat output will be governed by the thermo in the heater ( near the cabin air intake) if the heater is warming the heater space then the thermo may be fooled into thinking you are nice and toasty. A bit of ducting which forces the heater to bring air from a cold spot in your cabin may sort it out.

 

[Martin_J]

Hi
A quick shutdown.. and a little more smoke that you'd normally expect.. I would be looking at a decoke and a replacement gauze (screen). It sounds like the flame fail device is detecting that the flame has gone out. If you've not done a decoke before and have been using the heater all winter then you have done well to get this far..

Before you take it to pieces I would get (as a minimum) a new gauze and a new burner gasket. The motor gasket is generally re-usable but the burner gasket will break into a dozen pieces soon after it is removed. It is never re-usable.

If the glow pin had failed then the burner would not even start up. Glow pin resistance and flame fail devices are checked in pre-start sequence.

Examples of parts shown here... They will take phone orders and can deliver by next day!
http://www.pfjones.co.uk/eberspache...eberspacher-airtronic-d2-12v-spare-parts.html

Oh - and you will need a special slotted socket to remove the glow pin because the power lead is physically attached to it. The socket comes with a new glow pin but at £80 it's an expensive 'spare'.

 

[double_ender]

As far as guidance on a routine serviice for the d2 is it a DIY possibility? Do you need to extract it from the boat to the workbench? Are there any links to detailed advice please? I've looked on Youtube to no avail.
Any help appreciated ; Mine is 2yrs old and untouched so far but working perfectly; a vital bit of our kit in Scotland sailing March till late on. My last Eber was a D1LC which was fine for 10+yrs.,but I'm new to the D2.
Many Thanks
Malcolm

 

[Martin_J]

djbreeze...

Here is a link to a previous post showing pictures both before and after a recent decoke on my D4. I'm not sure where you are but if you're in the vicinity of Portsmouth or Littlehampton then you're welcome to borrow a slotted 12mm socket..

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=258433

 

[double_ender]

Martin J
Just read your post and the info about running on Kero to clean it up.
will do this now and run mostly on Kero for good measure!

Well done for your work and photos in that post

Many Thanks
Malcolm

 

[Martin_J]

Changing the glow pin and gauze and cleaning it out.... Probably much easier doing it whilst the unit is not mounted in some inaccessible corner of the aft locker.. It all depends how easy yours is to remove.

The electrical connection might have a slide that needs to be pulled one way or another before the connectors come apart. Don't just pull the connector... I usually plug the diesel line to stop it spilling.. and the hardest part is sometimes pulling the flexible exhaust hose off. If it's more than a few years old it can be worth replacing - small hairline cracks appear in the corrugations.

I have then used a small smearing of gun gum to help with resealing that exhaust back on.. it was only a few weeks ago that I realised that if the gun gum is nearly frozen (air temp!) then it seemed to be much more workable then when it was at room temp - strange.

The actual taking apart and putting back together of the unit is relatively straighforward.. Just have the spare burner gasket, the new gauze and the glow pin removal tool (12mm slotted socket) to hand. The gauze on the D1LCc needed to be put in the correct way - part of it had to line up with the fuel hole.. but on the D2 you just need to use the plastic tool (provided with the new gauze) to push it in the correct amount.

The fuel filter is easy to replace as well - it's on the inlet side of the pump - but it's just a coarse metal gauze so unlikely to be blocked.

 

[double_ender]

Many thanks Martin for all the info; really helpful, though I will start by running on the Kero system. Did you ever find a suitable changeover valve so as to go between Kero and Diesel according to availability?
thanks a lot
Malcolm

 

[Martin_J]

Hi..

I only ran the 5l of Parasene through the heater on that one day. Nothing sophisticated - I had a spare plastic cap for the Parasene container through which I mounted a fuel pick up line. I then just clamped the fuel pump to the top of this... temporarily tie wrapped the fuel pump to a firm upright... and left it like that for the evening. I'll probably do the same again some time in the spring... You can tell when the Eber is getting coked up by extra exhaust smoke and more of a splutter on start up.. When you've a unit that shuts down.. it's probably in more desperate need...

 

[fireball]

Fireball, unless you have fitted a seperate thermostat your heat output will be governed by the thermo in the heater ( near the cabin air intake) if the heater is warming the heater space then the thermo may be fooled into thinking you are nice and toasty. A bit of ducting which forces the heater to bring air from a cold spot in your cabin may sort it out.

Ta - that might explain it ....

 

[varnishman]

Morning all,

I switched the heater up to full just before going to bed last night (am in the habit of running it on full for 10/15 minutes last thing before switching it off). The roaring from the exhaust went quiet, the heat quickly got less and less so I switched it off straight away. There weren't any error codes on the timer/diagnostic, all appeared normal on there. This morning I checked the air intake was clear, there's plenty of fuel in the tank and plenty of charge in the batteries. When I switched it on it produced quite a lot of white smoke, for about 30 seconds. I think it took a bit longer than normal to get up to temperature, but white smoke aside seems now to be working as it should. I have seen some white smoke before a few times, this has been when I've restarted it when it's only just switched itself off on the timer, concluded from that that it doesn't like to be restarted just after it's shut down so no longer do that.
Any ideas what could have caused it to shut down and what caused the white smoke on start-up this morning? Should I inspect & clean the gauze, have a look at the glow plug? I don't have any experience of maintenance/servicing with these heaters so any help/advice gratefully received, the boat's going to her new owners early next week & I don't want for them to have problems with anything...

EDIT: It's just died again, after 50 minutes running, in a puff of white smoke, exhaust noise gone, pump not pumping, help!

Probably just needs a service, usually done every 2000 hours.
white smoke is unburnt fuel
www.letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk has several pages on DIY servicing instructions, fault diagnosis etc

 

[phanakapan]

Hi- just in case you didn't already know, the man to talk to if you end up needing a 'professional' to sort it, is Bob at Felton Marine, he fitted our Eber and seemed pretty knowledgeable

Cheers

 

[V1701]

Hi- just in case you didn't already know, the man to talk to if you end up needing a 'professional' to sort it, is Bob at Felton Marine, he fitted our Eber and seemed pretty knowledgeable

Cheers

Thanks, this is an old thread (feb), resurrected in post 14! Bob in fact very kindly lent me his special tool for extracting the glow plug so I could get to & replace the gauze...