Eberspacher D2 installation in First 33.7

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CraigBradley

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Has anyone had a D2 - 2 outlet installed in a Beneteau First 33.7 or 31.7. The manual suggests installation in an aft cockpit locker but those may not provide enough protection for the heater. Any ideas ? Possibly alongside the rudder stern tube accessed from within the boat / aft cabins ?
 
Hi Craig, As a marine engineer I have by coincidence just installed a Wallas D300 in a First 31 for one of our customers. I installed it on the aft of the rear s.board cabin bulkhead. Access was a bit tricky but once you are in the hole its OK, I mounted it transversely with the two heater outlets towards the centre of the boat, then led the hoses through the bulkhead and under the bed with one hose led forward under the navigators station and exiting in the base of the seat,and the other exiting in the front side of the bed base so that it could heat just the owners cabin(with door closed) or assist warmup of the saloon with door open. You of course only have one hose so you can install a 'Y' piece somewhere under the bed. I mounted the control panel at the navigator station, and led the control cable aft through the channel which runs along the hull to the aft locker.
The fuel tank was a 5 litre jerrycan as they recommend that the fuel pipe is a short as possible it was mounted next to and slightly below the heater unit. Although the Eberspacher has a more powerful pump which is external so you could mount it nearer the tank and it will push the fuel up no problem. And the power supply was taken directly from the battery NOT via the main switch as these must have an uninterrupted power supply via the supplied fuse. This is so that no one can turn off the power by mistake while the heater is running which will cause it to overheat and it may be damaged. They have a special shut down sequence which enables its flame can to cool down before switching off the fan. Maybe you are already aware of this, but I hope it helps. Good luck, Steve
 
Steve,
Good post, but don't quite agree with you about connecting directly to the battery. I would be unhappy leaving ANYTHING connected whilst away, not least an Eberspacher. Surely an owner would realise it had to shut down properly before abandoning his precious boat?

BTW have you worked out the dodge that enables a sensitive owner (at least of a DIL) to start it up with a fraction of the usual glow-plug consumption? . PM if your want details. (anyone).
Vic
 
I agree in principal with you about the battery connections, If you are savvy you will shut down your heating before you leave the boat, and check it is shutdown however you have connected it. But there are a lot of wallies out there who don't read operating manuals, I know cos they always ring up to find out how to change the range on their radar or put in a waypiont on the GPS I have just installed, even though I tell them to go home and read THE BOOK! Its interesting however that both Wallas and Eberspacher recommend direct connections, perhaps they have had too many overheated units returned under warranty so they are playing safe.
Yes I would be interested to hear about your tip on saving power on start up. Thanks Steve.
 
Lots of well considered advise, but what about the diesel connection? The D2 comes with a standpipe to be tapped directly into the fuel tank. I was considering T'ing a connection off the main fuel line to the engine but am worried about air ingress. Has anyone successfully fed fuel without drilling holes in the tank?
 
go back to basics, if you think about it, as long as you dont get a blocked suction line in your tank so that the lift pump tries to suck thru the eber, and your fuel line is of sufficient size why not tee it off just as you thought? as long as you make good connections no air should get in the line.
i suspect that the eber has a gear suction pump which will be relatively non return and so you shouldnt have a prob, to be on the safe side put a ball valve in both lines after the tee so that you can positively shut off either supply in the event of any probs.
s
 
Hi Craig, yes you can try connecting directly into the main line, do you have a prefilter, the type with a glass or aluminium bowl? If so there should be a couple of spare connections next to the existing in and out pipelines. You may have to bleed the system after breaking into ït at this point.
If you use this method, run the engine at full speed with the heater on to check one doesn't interfere with the other. I tried this on my boat and the main engine pump exerted a stronger suction than the heater pump causing the heater to flame out due to starvation. So I was forced to use the standpipe in the end. However my engine is a 5litre V8 sucking about 15 gph, whereas yours is a diesel using a lot less so maybe you will be lucky. Give it a try before getting the drill out!

Regards Steve
 
Thanks again Steve. Yes, there is a pre-filter / water separator alongside the tank with a spare in and an out. I'll have a go with making a connection from the out.
Thanks too for the guidance on removing my prop.
Best wishes
Craig
 
Re: Wallies

As an owner of a 31.7 I was delighted to read your excellent post and save it for future reference should I need to fit this type of heating.

However your reference to customers as Wallies is a little concerning.

I am sure that you are more than competent, but, if my own experience of the marine trade is anything to go by (and in this I include experiences of others I have spoken to and those on these forums) then there are probably as many if not more Wallies working on boats than owners of them.

Advising someone to read a manual might be good advice but doesn't guarantee that they will understand what they have read, and because someone doesn't understand it does not neccessarily make them any less intelligent than another who might. It could be that they don't want to understand it which is why they pay someone else to do it for them.
 
Re: Wallies

Hi David, thanks for your input, perhaps I should add that I live in Norway and maybe the locals here aren't so technically minded. But when I do an installation I always do a run through with them on what the knobs and buttons do, but I know from experience a lot of the equipment people here buy is just for show, its hardly ever used and thats why they call me to remind them how to operate it. I am sure if I had spent £6-7,000 on a colour chart plotter with radar overlay and split screen depth sounder I am certain I'd familiarise myself with its features and functions. Then again we are not all the same, but it is amazing at the poor standard of navigation expertise out there even with all the gizmo's, a la the semisubmerged wreck in the channel with a guard vessel that is moored next to it and has been hit by 3 commercial ships with " qualified " crew onboard.
I agree with you about incompetant people working on boats there are a lot of cowboy mechanics with a box of rusty spanners out there, we know as we get to fix their mistakes.
However I take issue with your last comment about "not wanting to understand something, therefore paying someone else for their knowledge", thats fine in principle, thats why we go to our dentist or docter. But if you are going to take to the high seas, who are you going to call when it turns nasty and you have to come home using your new radar and plotter that you haven't bothered to familiarise yourself with, I think we all have a responsibility to be able to operate our chosen vessel, and its equipment so that we don't become a hazard to others, or we shouldn't be out there as we obviously operating well outside of our own personal envelope. Don't you agree.

regards Steve
 
Re: Wallies

Well I kind of agree with plotters etc except that wisdom says don't rely on them so your man should be able to get back when it turns nasty anyway, but we were talking about heaters. The general point is about these forums, is not to get personal. As a boat owner and a qualified (but not practising) Aircraft Engineer I cringe at the thought of some half baked spannermonkey being let lose on my boat, but it is new and under warranty and if anything needs doing, they can do it, I don't have the time. Because I don't bother to do it they, I suspect, think I am a Wally, but this is not the case and no more am I going to put up with jobs being half done, not done at all, done wrong, not done on time, shortcuts taken, wrong parts fitted, boat left dirty, boat left damaged, overcharged etc etc etc.

Well not without a good excuse!
 
Re: Wallies

Well David , it seems we have a bit in common, as I have worked on cars,trucks, also light aircraft, and now boats. And I am terrified at the thought of entrusting my car to a dealership, I worked foe 8 yrs training mechanics on using SUN engine testers that I used to sell in the southwest and I can tell you the standard of competance is not very high these days. I used to have a couple of SAAB turbo's (built by an aircraft company , sound engineering) and the two times I took them into dealers for jobs I didn't have the special tools for it was a disaster, so I know how you feel, a good technician who is genuinley interested is hard to find. So I withdraw my general comment regarding Wallies, lets just say there are some incompetent folks afloat!

Steve
 
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