Erbies again

[Wiggo]

I was chatting to the man from Krueger's, the Eberspaecher people (Freddy, perhaps?) the other day.

Anyway, ours is playing silly buggers at the mo, and doesn't often want to light, and matey was saying that he can almost guarantee it will fire first time on the bench, as they run them on white diesel. He also mentioned that the only fuel additive they(Eberspaecher) recommend is Fuel Set.

So. If I put in a small diesel tank, and run the thing on white, does anyone know how much they burn an hour at full chat? It's a D4.

Secondly, anyone know exactly what Fuel Set is supposed to do? I thought it was a stabiliser, but now I think about it, I have no idea what that means...

 

[Col]

Just under half a litre per hour from memory. Mines fine on Red & Soltron but I do pick up the supply from the pre filters rather than straight from the tank.

 

[PhilF]

my brochure says .75 litres at full going down to .3 at low.
I put in some fuel set, workied for a bit and it refused to start Thurs night.
the bottles says, it removes water, dissolves funghal growth anddecarbonised combustion chambers, and shame on you for upsetting Gludy

 

[Wiggo]

Thanks, Phil & Col. So probably a gallon a day in winter, or a little over? I might just run it on white, in that case...

 

[Roy]

Don't know what mine is but it has 3 outlets and a tube for screen demist (uninstalled) Anyway, so far, trouble free. You may know this already as par for the course, but when I got the boat, I was told by engineer, to always check there was at least 11.5 volts available, to turn on fuel taps, switch on the eber and most importantly, he said to allow eber to cycle down after switching it off and before turning off fuel taps explaining that one or all of above omissions lead to problems. As for fuel set, I used it in my last boat (petrol) to prevent condensation in the tanks - at least thats what the service guy from Merc told me. If anyone else is interested theres an F37 next us for sale for £155k .. I am seriously tempted to say the least.

 

[Wiggo]

Volts no problem, he reckons the mesh round the glowplug is probably all clogged up with crud. Go on, buy the F37, you know it makes sense...

 

[Roy]

Hope you get it going good without too many lost shekels!! Would love the f37 although it has been a bit neglected - nothing that some tlc and some davits / crane could not put right. Problem is that we have just bought a house for my daughter and 2 wee ones due to her separating from partner and being unable to afford a mortgage. Anyhow, I have a great boat which will do me until I can afford to...... NO NO NO, until my missus lets me move up to the 37 or 43.

 

[rickp]

I think the red diesel thing is a bit of a misnomer. I'll bet you can find quite a few who's erbies run on red just fine (myself and col for instance).

Wasn't there a suggestion by some to run some kerosene through the Erbie to give it a clean?

Rick

 

[oldgit]

My heater(not Esp)seems very voltage dependant.Will sometimes not start from cold,but will happily cough n choke smokily into life when batteries have been topped up a bit.The heater coil needs to be red hot to fire up diesel.Have inspected coil on occasions as is easy to pull out and inspect. It will ignite fuel even when heavely clogged up with soot.

 

[Wiggo]

I'm not sure, Rick. Freddy reckoned that kerosene would do the trick, as would white diesel, both being significantly more refined than our red crap. In fact, you should have heard him go on about the quality fo marine fuel.

I'll give it a go on red after the service, cos Freddy's records indicate it has never been serviced, but if it still plays silly buggers, I might put in a separate tank. I reckon on a gallon a day, so less than a tenner a weekend in the winter is a price worth paying if it makes the thing 100% reliable.