Fitting Eberspacher. DIY job?

[SimonA]

All this talk about Eberspacher has made me think about replacing the horrible Catalytic gas heaters I have with a decent heating system.

How easy is it to DIY fit an Eberspacher? I guess the difficult bits are fitting the exhaust and installing the fuel line into the tank?

 

[Aja]

I fitted a webasto system 2 years ago.

Half the time was spent measuring everything - from the position of the 'boiler' to the run of feed from the fuel tank - to the actual run of the hot air pipes to the outlets.

I took my fuel supply from a spare outlet on the water separator.

Once I was sure that i could get everything where I wanted it - the actual installation took a weekend - I could have done it in a longish day.

Well worth the effort.

Donald

 

[Guest]

Mine took me two days, not being a very DIY-y sort of person. As Donald implies, it was really critical to think through the ins and outs of absolutely all the pipe/cable runs etc. before determining the optimum position and starting to drill any holes.

But I found it really satisfying to do, and am really glad I did - if it had been professionally fitted I would have had no idea about how the whole thing works, and there would have been cables and pipes running all around the stern of the boat with mysterious functions, which would bother me. I think that I ultimately achieved a very unobtrusive installation - I'm not sure a professional eager to get home wouldn't have put it in a more accessible place, but at the loss of locker space etc.

 

[duncan]

I would echo both of the previous comments.

I bought mine from John at Eberbasto (D2 airtronic marine kit with 2 outlets for under 900) , after a recomendation here, and was delighted with the support (calls both before and during installation)

It really is down to where and how many inlets / how they can be accessed etc etc

I treated myself to a new reasonable quality holesaw set that included the key sizes for my installation and this made a huge difference in speed and quality to the installation.

I actually spent more time discussing the drilling of my fuel tank than the whole instalation eventually - again thanks to Cliff pvb etc for their contributions. The actual drillling and installation of pick up pipe took 2 mins!

Get an installation manual (online) and consider the installation

Get a feel for how they are installed and where on your particular boat

Get on with it!

 

[Janpierce]

I was advised by a marine engineer that the heater requires its own fuel line. If its shared with say the engine it can starve the heater unit.
I also found that the flexible aluminium hot air duct gets very hot at the heater end (burnt thro a plastic pipe) and almost cool at the longest run outlet so additional insulation over this part will save a few problems.

 

[claymore]

It took me two years to decide where it should go and where the piping should run!

 

[Aja]

I have heard that some engineers advise this. I fitted a two outlet Webasto (can't remeber the power rating) in tandem with a Yanmar 2GM20 and never had a problem. I would assume that the water separator would easily feed both.

As for insulation - as part of the deal I got with the Webasto was 'thinsulate' lagging - enough to do the whole pipe run.

I even had to run the hot air piping past a flexible water tank. To do this I fed the aluminium piping through a plastic downpipe (very tight fit - used Fairy liquid) and it was cool to the touch. The flexible water tank sat on top of the plastic downpipe will no ill effects.

As I said.. Spend most of the time planning before you cut any holes. And unless you have an extremely thirsty engine - or heater consider using the extra take off on the water separator - although I'm sure others on this forum will talk you through the alternative of a direct feed from the fuel tank.

Regards

Donald

 

[rwoofer]

Took 3 weekends to fit mine, but most of that was fretting about where to put it, pipe runs, cable runs and fuel line runs.

Only thing to watch out for is when you first start it up there will be a lot of smoke inside as the manufacturing oil is burnt off the exhaust pipe etc.

 

[stevebirch2002]

Having installed an Eberspacher system this year on a friends boat have found it is pretty basic DIY skill. With two of us the drilling etc was not difficult but the old adage of measure twice, cut once comes to mind (had to fill on hole we drilled in the wrong place). Wanted a seperate fuel tank so asked a friend to make one which was superb - So good I asked him to make another one which I sold on Ebay, classy piece of gear (Stainelss 6 - 10 litres).

 

[Spuddy]

The second hand ex GPO stuff seems to have been damned by implication, previously. Can anyone give some specific probs encountered when using ex ebay stuff?
regards .... spuddy

 

[simon_sluggett]

I am about to fit an single outlet airtronic ebo heater myself. One thing not sure of is whether a return air duct should come from inside the cabin or from the fresh air outside or not have a return pipe and just let the air come from the locker the heater is located in. I think having the return pipe from inside the cabin allows the internal thermostat to operate properly and possibly make the unit more fuel efficient, correct?
How far from the heat outlet should any return inlet be located.

 

[alahol2]

The only 'problem' I had with e-bay stuff is sourcing the bits that don't come with it (exhaust fitting, mounting bracket etc.). They can add considerably to the overall price. Apart from that the one I fitted has been flawless. Use BIG power cables and a separate fuel tank makes it easier.

 

[simon_sluggett]

From Ebay I got a brand new airtronic D2 (a truck one with 1 outlet) for £500, an exhaust skin fitting for 40 squid, 2 metres flexible stainless exhaust @ £13 per metre, and made a s/s mounting bracket myself.
Total = £566

 

[johna]

Fuel Supply
I have fitted two to differnt boats and in each case I have provided a separate fuel supply in the form of a jerry can. In addition to having spare fuel on board it means that heat is available even when the engine fuel system is being worked on.

 

[SimonA]

So how do you go about cutting a hole in the side of the hull for the exhaust?

 

[johna]

Use a hole saw of the type with the replaceable centre drill bit.

First drill hole with a normal drill the same size as the centre drill bit to the 45 deg angle required by the exhaust.

Replace the centre drill bit of the hole saw with a long rod the same diameter as the hole drilled.

Using the first hole as a guide for the angle proceed with care and drill the inclined hole for the fitting.

 

[Gordonmc]

Agreed. I had problems getting the SS exhaust long enough to go to where I could fit a through-hull fitting. There is a maximum length (2m ?). When I did get a source it came without insulation. I got round that by using rockwool held in place with oridinary domestic ali ducting from B&Q.
I think the biggest problem, though is that different Eber models vary in installation. Some, for instance need balanced inlet/exhaust which is why some units work fine on the bench but resolutely refuse to fire in situ. Others work happily with a six inch rubber inlet tube. Outlet ducting varies in size.
Voltage to the unit is critical. A healthy battery and clean electrical terminals are musts.
On the whole the Ebay DIY route is ok. The total cost of my installation was well under £300 which included a spare combustion chamber.

 

[duncan]

Just to add to Johna's response the 6mm plain rod came with the exhaust fitting kit as standard; as do detailed instructions.


Re the earlier points re fuel pick take off - in most cases where the engien is not going to be creating a whole lot of negative pressure - ie most small yacht engines - then taking the feed from an additional outlet on the Racor is an acceptable (even recommended) option. In my case with a 240hp Yanmar it was most definitely not recomended, although I could have got away with connecting to the inlet side of the filter; as this lost me the benefit of 'filtered fuel' and I had easy access to the top of my tank much closer to the heater I opted for that. This also gave me the opportunity to set the level of the pick up high enough to leave me a really good fuel reserve were I to accidentially run the heater for a long period without thought for engine fuel!

re air inlet - you can 'recycle' but the benefits aren't going to be that significant and you loose the benefits in summer of using the 'fresh air circulation' function ie fan alone! I found that I didn't actually have an easy option for mounting the unit that permitted me to install both inlet and outlet pipes without a 90 degree. Fitting one of these would more than offset any gain in heating effiecincy from recycling the warm air. Whilst obviously the position of the heater relative to cabin and a clean air supply will ultimately dictate your design if it is mounted in an area seperate from the engine bay and cabin but with a good supply of air then simply letting the unit collect air from it's surroundings is so much simpler...........

 

[MikeJ2]

If you buy a marine kit you get all the templates and instructions, including a through the hull rod that allows you to cut a 25mm diameter hole at a 45 degree angle for the exhaust.

 

[Heckler]

have obtained a few off a mate who converts bt vans to pickups, they are fine, i asked a bt engineer do they use them much? the answer was no, they are all fitted with a 1 hour max run timer so are not left running for a weekend like mine is on my bene. the ones you see on ebay are from the same source, check out the feedback and you will have no probs.
all the ones i have obtained fire up and run ok with no probs, the first few i opened up to see what they were like inside as far as carboning goes, v little. the one on my bene i bought off this forum s/hand and have had 3 years use with no probs. they are very robust and simple to maintain, go to www.espar.com and download the manual to give you an idea how to fit and to see how they work
the ones on this forum who knock them are imho, toothsuckers, you know the type, stand at the bar, intake of breath and the drawn out weeeeelllllll.