duppamiller
New member
Eberspacher heaters - don\'t make the same mistakes I have!
Apologies to those who know this already, but I've learnt a lot about Eberspacher heaters this week - the hard and expensive way - and it's only Monday!
I bought my 'Airtronic D2 with 7 day timer' at the boat show last year and had it fitted in late Jan. Since then it's been running at a medium heat setting 3 hours a day (to help the dehumidifier) and 3 hours a night (so nothing freezes), plus ad hoc use in the summer. Keeps the boat warm and dry all winter for around £20 a month in diesel, so far so good . . . Went down the boat yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks and fired up the heater, which resulted in clouds of white smoke and little else. Switched everything off and rang Eberspacher this morning, who sent me round the houses, eventually ending up with a local dealer.
Mistake 1 - buying an Eberspacher heater!
Local dealer warned that these heaters are designed to run on (higher quality) white diesel, not red diesel, so fixing it may not be covered by the warranty.
Mistake 2 - running it on a medium heat setting
If you're going to use red diesel then it needs to run hot to give the best chance of burning the impurities, otherwise it cokes up and you get clouds of white smoke . . .
Mistake 3 - believing the salesman's line 'you hardly ever need to service it'
If you're using red diesel and running it on a regular basis then you need to budget £300 a year on servicing, which triples the monthly running cost to over £60.
Hard to believe that Eberspacher flog these things at the boat show, where all things run on red diesel (for the moment!), but this forum backs it up:
http://www.canalworld.net/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t2238.html
How do they get away with it?!
Apologies to those who know this already, but I've learnt a lot about Eberspacher heaters this week - the hard and expensive way - and it's only Monday!
I bought my 'Airtronic D2 with 7 day timer' at the boat show last year and had it fitted in late Jan. Since then it's been running at a medium heat setting 3 hours a day (to help the dehumidifier) and 3 hours a night (so nothing freezes), plus ad hoc use in the summer. Keeps the boat warm and dry all winter for around £20 a month in diesel, so far so good . . . Went down the boat yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks and fired up the heater, which resulted in clouds of white smoke and little else. Switched everything off and rang Eberspacher this morning, who sent me round the houses, eventually ending up with a local dealer.
Mistake 1 - buying an Eberspacher heater!
Local dealer warned that these heaters are designed to run on (higher quality) white diesel, not red diesel, so fixing it may not be covered by the warranty.
Mistake 2 - running it on a medium heat setting
If you're going to use red diesel then it needs to run hot to give the best chance of burning the impurities, otherwise it cokes up and you get clouds of white smoke . . .
Mistake 3 - believing the salesman's line 'you hardly ever need to service it'
If you're using red diesel and running it on a regular basis then you need to budget £300 a year on servicing, which triples the monthly running cost to over £60.
Hard to believe that Eberspacher flog these things at the boat show, where all things run on red diesel (for the moment!), but this forum backs it up:
http://www.canalworld.net/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t2238.html
How do they get away with it?!
