Mister E
Well-known member
No telling the truth.Is that an unbiased opinion, or are you simply advertising?
Eberspacher D3LC vs Chinese brand vs Planar Russian ( Latvian)
- Thread starter Nina Lucia
- Start date
vyv_cox
Well-known member
As I said previously, I have watched Owen answering tech queries day and night, including bank holidays. I doubt very much that this support is available from anybody else.Is that an unbiased opinion, or are you simply advertising?
Don't take my word for it, as I am certain you will not, just look at their FB page.
NormanS
Well-known member
You may well be correct, but I understood that blatant advertising was frowned on in the forum.
B27
Well-known member
Especially for what is basically a Russian company?
PaulRainbow
Well-known member
Never let the facts get in the way of a forum post.
colhel
Well-known member
I don't see any complaints about the Chinese ones being advertised.
Someone with knowledge corrects a few posts and gets accused of advertising
Someone with knowledge corrects a few posts and gets accused of advertising
ChromeDome
Well-known member
Nice and hot in this thread, so I'm treading carefully and have an escape route ready 
I've had a variety of air heaters from the early 80s when I started a fleet of lorries, and some 20 years after. Back then there were no Chinese copies, so Webasto, Eberspächer and Mikuna were big on the market, - and that was before the Germans were fined a huge amount for forming a price cartel. Prices were high, authorised workshops everywhere.
In recent years, I have installed a dozen Chinese copies and my (very personal) experience is that you get a box with the necessary parts to get the heater up and running. Just.
You have no idea which controller, harness or ECU you're getting until you open the box.
And note that these parts are not compatible between variants - and don't have numbers or anything else for safe identification. Buying as spares usually ends up with you having to order all three components.
The Chinese provide no useful instructions and very rarely anything that matches what you found in the box.
So this is where the FB army enters the scene and you spend days and nights trying to find something that can be used for your current situation. You're amazed at how many truths you find - and how many places you find bits of info that you can try to piece together.
Then you need to buy fittings that make the installation safe for your boat/car/trailer/camper/shed (Ebers' manual is very good at explaining how to install, so download before starting!)
Usually the devices works OK out of the box, but if you're not adventurous and love to experiment, avoid sellers who can't even spell the word "support".
When dealing via eBay or Amazon they are obliged to respond etc., it just takes ages and usually ends up with a few emails with no concrete results.
Whether someone wants to buy A or B is up to them - just wanted to share the view & experience and perhaps enable others to make informed decisions.
Sneaking quietly out the back door
I've had a variety of air heaters from the early 80s when I started a fleet of lorries, and some 20 years after. Back then there were no Chinese copies, so Webasto, Eberspächer and Mikuna were big on the market, - and that was before the Germans were fined a huge amount for forming a price cartel. Prices were high, authorised workshops everywhere.
In recent years, I have installed a dozen Chinese copies and my (very personal) experience is that you get a box with the necessary parts to get the heater up and running. Just.
You have no idea which controller, harness or ECU you're getting until you open the box.
And note that these parts are not compatible between variants - and don't have numbers or anything else for safe identification. Buying as spares usually ends up with you having to order all three components.
The Chinese provide no useful instructions and very rarely anything that matches what you found in the box.
So this is where the FB army enters the scene and you spend days and nights trying to find something that can be used for your current situation. You're amazed at how many truths you find - and how many places you find bits of info that you can try to piece together.
Then you need to buy fittings that make the installation safe for your boat/car/trailer/camper/shed (Ebers' manual is very good at explaining how to install, so download before starting!)
Usually the devices works OK out of the box, but if you're not adventurous and love to experiment, avoid sellers who can't even spell the word "support".
When dealing via eBay or Amazon they are obliged to respond etc., it just takes ages and usually ends up with a few emails with no concrete results.
Whether someone wants to buy A or B is up to them - just wanted to share the view & experience and perhaps enable others to make informed decisions.
Sneaking quietly out the back door
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fredrussell
Well-known member
Chromedome’s summary seems pretty accurate to me. I’ve bought a few Chinaspachers over the years and they’re all still working. The one on my boat has been working hard for three winters, on most of the time and chugging away happily. That said, if you think there’s no difference in quality between the cheap Chinese heaters and the expensive ones you’re deluded!
Rappey
Well-known member
My China heater was £80 when i bought it 5 years ago. Cost around £300 for all the ducting, insulation and everything else to install.
At year two the glow plug failed, £10 for a new one. Other than that it's been amazing.
I know a guy who uses a Chinese in a box heater to heat his factory unit. Has clocked up some serious hrs and still going strong.
Personally i would avoid planar due to the current Russian situation . Many are marketed as made in latvia yet from video and photos it seems its just a forwarding depot with no sign of manufacturing . Deception ?
At year two the glow plug failed, £10 for a new one. Other than that it's been amazing.
I know a guy who uses a Chinese in a box heater to heat his factory unit. Has clocked up some serious hrs and still going strong.
Personally i would avoid planar due to the current Russian situation . Many are marketed as made in latvia yet from video and photos it seems its just a forwarding depot with no sign of manufacturing . Deception ?
Geoff Wode
Active member
China or Russia… what a choice!
Geoff Wode
Active member
In my experience, the money is in the installation parts rather than the heater itself. The savings from fitting a Chinese copy were not that huge in the grand scheme of things. I’ll be replacing with a branded 2kw when/ if the time comes. I’ve always seen it as a compromise.
Graham_Wright
Well-known member
It is a (general) shame the Chinese do not realise that their reputation would greatly increase if they sorted out their translation problems.
oldgit
Well-known member
Can confirm that the help available from Planar was excellent, especially for anyone suffering from the rare "Hard of understanding" syndrome.
Deliberately ordering the very basic simple to operate how-difficult-can-it-be heater control unit, miserably failed to get my heater to fire up.
Took about a day to remove the old Eber (quoted about £350 to repair) and install the new Planar in a Princess 35.
Only little snag was to make up some sort of reducer to convert the hot air output of the Planar down to the slightly smaller ducting of the Eber install.
At the time no reducers on the market but a Ebay search produced a steel reducer designed for air extraction ducting.
Communication with Planar revealed, that reading the instructions properly sometimes helps and away we went, worked out what turned it on and off and that was enough for me.
Deliberately ordering the very basic simple to operate how-difficult-can-it-be heater control unit, miserably failed to get my heater to fire up.
Took about a day to remove the old Eber (quoted about £350 to repair) and install the new Planar in a Princess 35.
Only little snag was to make up some sort of reducer to convert the hot air output of the Planar down to the slightly smaller ducting of the Eber install.
At the time no reducers on the market but a Ebay search produced a steel reducer designed for air extraction ducting.
Communication with Planar revealed, that reading the instructions properly sometimes helps and away we went, worked out what turned it on and off and that was enough for me.
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ChromeDome
Well-known member
Reliability is close to the same, given same conditions.
Clear airways, clean fuel, completing shutdown procedure, regular use (also outside of heating season), sufficient power supply and a bit of general maintenance will keep them going for a long time. I believe regardless of brand.
BTW: The so called air filter enclosed with the Chinese heaters is a silencer only. Tests show that it doesn't silence at all as the air is forced over turns and corners inside it, hence creating noise. Admittedly it prevents larger objects from entering/blocking the combustion air feed.
14K478
Well-known member
Good enough for me; I have just committed to a 4kw Planar
ChromeDome
Well-known member
Just a note on the Chinese 5kw / 8kw conundrum:
As long as these devices are identical in metering pump capacity and frequency, burner size, heat exchanger size and design and blower capacity, they will, by law of nature, produce the same amount of heat.
So they are both either 5 or 8 kw. I'd say 5 kw... at best.
I mean they burn pretty clean and will turn the fed amount of diesel into heat so.. 5 kw sounds realistic.
ChromeDome
Well-known member
Firstly they should fix the content.
Secondly the translation.
Edit: I recommend deepl.com for translations. Tried it on one of the Chinese texts and it actually worked. Problem might be that the Chinese way of composing communication is.. different.
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PaulRainbow
Well-known member
Any evidence to support this ?
ChromeDome
Well-known member
Available info online has it that
"Autoterm Europe, one of the brands of the Russian company Advers"
supported by details on
Теплостар. Автономка. ПЖД. Предпусковой подогреватель двигателя, автоподогреватели, воздушные отопители, автомобильные подогреватели. - Главная страница
which a visit to the site will confirm.
Apart from that I don't see a link between location of production, reseller reliability and product quality.
Speculations about supporting one or the other part of the world when spending your money really can make your life complicated, if you want to walk the talk. How many of the products you buy do know the full organisation and monetary movements behind?
"Autoterm Europe, one of the brands of the Russian company Advers"
supported by details on
Теплостар. Автономка. ПЖД. Предпусковой подогреватель двигателя, автоподогреватели, воздушные отопители, автомобильные подогреватели. - Главная страница
which a visit to the site will confirm.
Apart from that I don't see a link between location of production, reseller reliability and product quality.
Speculations about supporting one or the other part of the world when spending your money really can make your life complicated, if you want to walk the talk. How many of the products you buy do know the full organisation and monetary movements behind?
gaylord694
Member
Short answer is yes there much better you've only got to see how many have failed and caught fire in campervans on various you tube channels........There's one specific video where they take all 3 apart and compare various components and build quality and after looking at that if that's not enough to put you off then yes buy a Chinese one ......True for the price you could buy a new one every year and replace but I think if your buying the better two of three then your also buying piece of mind