Mikuni Eberspacher or Webasto

[Roysie]

I am thinking of fitting one of the above, all approx 2Kw. air heaters to my 27ft cruiser and would welcome any words of wisdom /advice /experience from anyone.

Thanks

 

[pvb]

Make sure you follow the installation instructions to the letter. Poor installation is the cause of most problems.

 

[Ceejay]

I have a Webasto 3500 which I installed myself.
Thus far after a full season chartering, I'm delighted with it.
Early days yet though!
It does seem to be the case that attention to detail at the installation stage is paramount as already stated.
CJ

 

[svaha]

Hi,

I would think long and hard before investing in this type of heating. Negative points for me are that it requires electricity to run and seems to require regular expensive servicing (i'm about to have a go at servicing my mikuni my30, to have this done professionally costs £150: i really dont want to have to fork out this much every year, when i could be spending this on fuel if i had a simpler heater).

rant over...sorry!


perhaps i'll be selling my mikuni for a song in a couple of weeks

 

[sailorman]

if it were an eberwesto double the cost for service in my experence /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[pvb]

They don't need annual servicing!

 

[nedmin]

I,ve got a webasto 9kw that provides hot water for domestic and heating thro. radiators, has been brilliant for so far (7 years, bet the b-gar goes wrong now )but if I had the place to fit the chimney, I would have had a Taylor as there is nothing to go wrong.

 

[leomagill]

I had a webasto on my previous boat and eberspacher on my present boat, I think the webasto was quieter, other than that they are both very similar.

 

[earlybird]

Have you considered a Wallas paraffin heater? They are very quiet and make only low demands on battery power, useful advantages in a smallish boat. My 1800S is rated at 1.7kW and consumes 0.5amp. They seem to require little servicing.

 

[svaha]

[ QUOTE ]
They don't need annual servicing!

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope you're right, as I say in fairness to the critter I know nothing of its history so it might have been running reliably for years. I have heard others complain of deisel air heaters tendency to coke up regularly though, mainly from liveaboards it has to be said. Is yours use full time of weekends, if you dont mind me asking ?


regards
martin

 

[solar]

I still wonder if isolating my Wabesto (3500) pipes on my 38' will increase the heat output inside the boat?
Almost no heat in owner's bow cabin and needed to add an electrical heater in the living aria when temp outside gone -5C ish ...
An almost new system... profesionaly installed...works well...
Why they don't isolate those @#$% pipes from the start if so is needed I wonder...?
What do you Wabesto gurus think? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[FWB]

I have a Webasto Airtop2000 which I installed myself a couple of years ago.
It uses very little battery power and, so far, has been faultless. The boat is used year round.

 

[sailorman]

no point heating lockers but the fore cabin is @ the end of the long run of ducting
so will tend to have reduced pressure

 

[Ceejay]

Those that know, reckon that insulating the pipes reduces heat loss by 50%. It's a "no brainer"
As you say it should be done at the installation stage, probably adds about ten minutes to the job.
CJ

 

[Trundlebug]

We have a Wallas Nautic 30D, 3kw. Very reliable, uses only 1.7amps in steady running, is very quiet, and is modular so can be removed complete for servicing on a workbench at home when required. Haven't serviced it for 3 years, still works fine...

 

[FullCircle]

Welcome to the forums Roy.

I have a Webasto 3500, you will need a 2000 as a minimum.
Mine has been no problem, but do spend the extra 30 quid on a programmable timer.
This can be programmed daily, or there is a 2 hour button, which means it will run from the start of a button and go off again after 2 hours.
I insulated my pipes with aluminium foil bubble wrap, and it made a big difference. Just make sure you tape the joints,as leakage really affects the result.

I have not had mine professionally serviced, and it has never failed to light. Entering 5th season now.
Unit is fairly easily removed, and if you buy a Webasto, I will email you the workshop manual. Its a doddle.

 

[bogman]

bought a very cheap 24v DC1 eber last year and it broke my heart. I took it home to heat the garage and found the following,
it is faultless on kerosine/parrafin and it hates diesel.
I took off all controls and it now has an on/off switch.
Insulation makes a world of difference
It is super sensitive to combustion pipe inlet diameter/length and I experimented with hoses inside hoses and what works super is a 1m exhaust and a .8m green garden hose as the combustion inlet pipe.
I would not bother with another one if I was buying form new..taylors type are great

 

[Cliveshep]

I bought a s/hand Eber Airtronic D2 from a truck and fitted it myself into my boat. Modifications for marine use are very simple and are fully described on the Eber site as download documents. I even made up my own skin fitting and exhaust pipe isolated from the skin fitting using 25mm copper tube and stainless steel scrap for the fitting. Just don't use solder fittings, only brazed or compression. The proper marine exhaust is very expensive and as copper has been used for many years on marine engine dry exhausts I figured it was suitable. This is the second boat I have fitted an Eber into with a home made exhaust and no problems except making sure nothing gets near it as you can cook on it. The same applies outside where the exhaust exits the hull, make sure you don't lie with it exhausting against someone else's pride and joy. I double wound the pipe with woven glass fireproof bandage wired on to make sure I didn't start a fire down below.

I ran twin wall flexible 75mm spiral wound insulated air duct everywhere, through the engine bay, under floorboards, with a 2-way splitter on the heater outlet which also came from the old truck. I also ducted the air from the cabins back to the heater inlet (not the combustion air inlet) so it re-circulated rather than heating fresh cold air, much more efficient as I have plenty of fixed ventilation anyway. The duct is as used in commercial extract and ventilation systems in construction, i.e. over suspended ceilings from toilet fans etc, and is made of aluminium foil reinforced with thin wire coil to the inner, so it is light and cheap and easily routed. Any tears in installation exposing the insulation (easy to do) can be taped up with foil duct tape. It is insulated with glass fibre between the foil layers. Plenum chambers to terminate the duct and provide a hole over which to fit an outlet grill are easy to make with thin steel and "pop" rivets with the joints sealed with foil tape. Vents in the saloon are in the floor, elsewhere in bunk sides. I have a 30ft Ocean, it heats all cabins and cockpit to a lesser degree so that we could be clothing optional if I left it on full. It sips diesel, runs on the original rheostat, no timer etc, and we leave it on all night. It's greatest current draw is on start up, once established the current draw drops right down. We have just had a very searching BSS examination and all was fine.

We generally anchor up at night and also run a masthead anchor light, all with no serious effect on our auxilliary battery bank of 2 no. 110AH truck batteries. So long as they are charged up during the day the heater is fine all night and the other bits, water pump, lights etc still work happily in the morning. Our engine has twin alternators, so one is dedicated to our dedicated starting battery, the other to the two auxilliary batteries. The Eber is a lovely bit of kit and transforms the boat. I reccomend it and if you chose one you would also need the D2.

 

[mbay]

Hello and welcome roysie........I'm not going to suggest one particular make over another, I have used em all at one time or another (I'm a truck driver) and they have all have done exacatly what they say on the tin...........I have had probs with my own on the boat (a costly heat sensor switch) but have just put that down to the age of it.
Go for the one you get the best deal with!!

 

[cpedw]

I too have a Webasto 3500, running without trouble since 2004. The installation was a bit problematic but that's down to my limited competence.
It's my unscientific observation on here that Ebers have more troubles than Webastos. But then I believe there are more Ebers out there.
So Full Circle, having made myself a hostage to fortune, could I get a copy of the manual please?
Derek