Eberspacher or similar and red diesel.

[rex_seadog]

Having recently stripped down our elderly Ardic 041-D diesel heater and found that it is beyond economical repair, we are thinking of replacing it with an Eberspacher D2 Airtronic or similar. This leads to the following questions:

Are there any suitable alternatives to the Eberspacher?

Does anyone have experience of the second-hand ex-van units on sale?

The Eberspacher web site states that only low sulphur gas oil ( to BS EN 590) should be used. According to the supplier to my local fuel barge on the Dart they supply the low sulphur grade and believe that this is fairly normal now. Do any fuel expert forumites know if this is the case? Although we normally fill up on the Dart we would obviously sometimes fill up elsewhere especially when going cross Channel. Is low sulphur diesel the norm on the other side?
One option would be to fit a separate fuel tank for the heater and use only white diesel but this would detract from the convenience of having a common fuel source.

 

[Refueler]

If you proceed to La Belle France ... note that many diesels are now 7% Bio.

IMHO and this is opinion and not based on my blend work - use only road diesel in your heater.
Marine / Industrial / Agricultural is to BS-2869 vers. xx depending on final spec and use ... and often has various low quality components in it blended to bulk out.
Road is to BS-EN 590 vers. xx depending on use again - but is to lower sulphur levels and less likely to have lower quality components in the blend.

A small separate tank is a good invetsment IMHO.

 

[Gordonmc]

A buddy has just fitted a Webasto in favour of an Eber on grounds of cost. The workings of the two are roughly the same, as they are for the Mikuni.
As with all these heaters the cost of ducting, exhausts, skin fittings etc can mount up to almost equal the cost of the heater itself, so its a good idea to find out if the bits used with your Ardic will be compatable.
I have a second hand ex BT van Eber on my own boat and it works, but its a case of pot luck buying off ebay. Mine was running rough until I replaced the fan bearings. Some come with very low running hours
I have been running mine on high sulphur red from a commercial fishing boat supplier for a couple of years. If you are installing a separate tank ebers run even better on paraffin. Best of all Avtur if you can get it.

 

[vyv_cox]

My Eberspacher has been fitted for something like 10 - 11 years. Although we are now in the Med and it is used rarely, for its first 7-8 years it was used quite heavily. Throughout this time the boat has been in continental Europe (mostly in Holland) and has consequently never been run on anything other than white road diesel. Sulphur content of Dutch road fuel is low. It has been faultless throughout, has never had any service activity nor shown any need for it.

It seems to me that not running it on red diesel may well have contributed to its reliability.

 

[Cliveshep]

I've now fitted two Ebers both s/hand from vans. One was a 7kw, far too big for the boat at the time, it had a minor problem of loose or dry joint on the pcb which I eventually found and soldered. My current one is an Airtronic D2 also s/hand and which lay in the garage for about 6 months before I got around to fitting it. I had problems getting it to go due to using the wrong size copper tube on the pick-up to the pump and as lay-up time came never finished the job until the next March. Consequently, the fault with the PCB wasn't aparent until some 12 months after I bought the thing and it cost me almost as much as a new one to get it fixed. Moral of story, nothing wrong with second hand units so long as you get them installed pdq and make sure they have no problems BEFORE the seller's 3 month warranty runs out!

My D2 now runs like a dream on 30 second heating fuel (red diesel) from the main tank which feeds the engine (I'm using up a stock of heating fuel as propulsion fuel, got another year's worth to go), I've installed twin walled flexible air duct under bilges to give a return air system, this saves pumping fresh cold air in and warms the boat far faster as you are re-heating progressively warmer air. Its installation passed BSS inspection, although I changed all the flexy pipes for 1/8" copper tube (you have to cut of the knobbly bits on the pump and inlet spigots to fit a compression fitting, and the home made isolated exhaust stainless steel skin fitting and copper tube exhaust pipe are twin layer glass wrapped 'cos they get very hot indeed.