ESPAR HEATER

[AndrewJ]

I'm thinking of purchasing an espar diesel heater and installing the unit in a
locker in the cockpit. questions are: what is the operating temp of the unit. will I have to enclose the unit itself in an insulated box to keep from cooking my fiberglass. The present ducting I have on the boat is a combination of PVC piping (4 inch) and some stuff that looks like clothes dryer hose (aluminum foil with wire reinforcing spirals). will this take the heat output of the espar or must I replace this ducting. (this ducting is for a reverse cycle ac (16500 BTU)). I would like to run the exhaust of the espar out the existing exhaust pipe from the diesel engine with the use of a "Y" valve, would there a problem with the cooling water (it's a wet exhaust) backing up into the espar heater (the espar would be physically higher than the exhaust pipe). Any comments would be appreciated.. thank you.

<hr width=100% size=1>The only easy day was yesterday

 

[Trevethan]

Not an expert at all, but have installed a similar webasto unit.

I'd replace the plastic ducting with metal. The air gets opretty hot especially near the heater.

Regarding teh exhaust, my instincts say bad idea, not so much for the risk of filling the heater with water, but more to with using "wet" hose dry and also wonder what effect having hot, water laden exhaust gasses circulating back to cold engine block and condensing etc.

Better to bite the bullet and do the job properly.

Don't pay for espars exhaust fitting, I think plans for them exist on the web or from the forum that you local steel fabricator can knock for £30





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[PGD]

Try talking to Jason down at Espar in Marlow, they fitted my Ebbersp..... two yrs ago, 01628 471368.

Hope this helps

Peter

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mssa.org.uk>http://www.mssa.org.uk</A> Marine Service Standards Assistance

 

[robbieg]

Have just fitted a D4 unit to my boat. The instructions are emphatic about not running the exhaust for the heater into the boats wet exhaust. Not sure why but an espacher dealer may enlighten you.

As regards heat the unit itself does not get too hot but the ducting does-up to 100c I believe. If your existing ducting won't take the heat you'll obviously have to replace. Need to think about where you are going to route the ducting to avoid scorching anything!!



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[sailorman]

sounds like u need to carry out a lot of boning-up

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[Chris771]

The Eberspacher heater has a special exhaust fitting which has a 1" stainless tube welded inside another tube of larger diameter at a point about 4" inside the hull.
This leaves an air gap around the exhaust tube which keeps the skin fitting cool. Any heat transfer around the weld in dissipated along the length of the larger tube and skin fitting flange.

I fitted an ex Post Office 12v D1L to my boat last spring. As I did not have the whole kit it took a bit of figuring out, especially the wiring as I wanted to change a simple rheostat to a thermostatic control.

I did find a manual for the D1L on the Canadian Espar Site and after much poring over the plethora of wiring diagrams for the various models managed to sort it out.
It works perfectly.

I went to my local Eberspacher dealer Ribblesdale Auto Electrics in Preston, where the local expert was extremely helpful as I was buying quite a lot of extra bits.

The basic advice is that the inlet and exhaust hose lengths and diameters are quite critical as the unit works in a similar fashion to a gas central heating unit with a balanced flue.

It is necessary to use the correct combustion ducting and keep the lengths within about 10% of each other. As for the heater ducting, he insisted that it is vital to use the correct material for two reasons. Firstly the temperature near the heater is pretty hot and without the correct ducting radiation losses along the length become excessive. Although quite expensive (the 75mm ducting cost me about 17 quid a metre and the 50mm about 13 quid) it is quite a complex structure with a thermal insulation within the layers and thermally reflective inner lining and black thermally radiating outer layer to keep it from burning nearby materials.

Afraid that I will not be immediately able to help with detailed advice as I am presently on an oil rig off Angola for a few weeks, but I do have a lot of information at home.

Chris

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