Warm Air Heater Conundrum

[oldgit]

OGs latest money pit has a Eberspacher D5LC fitted which actually works even during the months of winter.
The problem is, it works a bit to well.
The controller is a bit stone age, some sort of rheostat with an adjacent weeny heat sensor ?
Once the heater fires up it blasts away at full throttle without any sign of stopping when a certain temp is reached.
Assume that the sensor is faulty and thought to simply change it, after all how expensive can 50P s worth of plastic and component be ?
An ebay search suggests that a mere £70.00 quid will buy a new genuine unit.
Any cheapo alternatives or does one simply drink more beer to keep up fluid levels.

 

[Nauti Fox]

Suggest you remove your winterwear and don your summer string vest and pants and listen to the gasps of admiration from fellow boaters as they pass along the pontoon.

 

[oldgit]

Suggest you remove your winterwear and don your summer string vest and pants and listen to the gasps of admiration from fellow boaters as they pass along the pontoon.

There are probably laws against this somewhere !

 

[Nauti Fox]

Only if there are small children

 

[rotrax]

Working on the oft mentioned fact from posters on the subject that flat out keeps them clean, we keep our Webasto at 'full Hole' to plagarise a motorcycle racing term.

When its getting to shirt off time I close the two upper vents - the big ones in the pilothouse and at the pilothouse end of the galley, and open the lower two in our cabin and the heads. The one in the guest cabin remains shut unless guests are staying aboard.

This requires doing a little earlier than before since I modified and insulated the pipes and junction box.

A significant difference for 50 quid-and a couple of bean cans.......................................

 

[Refueler]

Would a Universal Controller be any use instead of buying Eber OEM ? I know that many YT vids talk about controllers and that some are just useless ... so get swapped out for 3rd party Universals ...... ??

 

[PaulRainbow]

OGs latest money pit has a Eberspacher D5LC fitted which actually works even during the months of winter.
The problem is, it works a bit to well.
The controller is a bit stone age, some sort of rheostat with an adjacent weeny heat sensor ?
Once the heater fires up it blasts away at full throttle without any sign of stopping when a certain temp is reached.
Assume that the sensor is faulty and thought to simply change it, after all how expensive can 50P s worth of plastic and component be ?
An ebay search suggests that a mere £70.00 quid will buy a new genuine unit.
Any cheapo alternatives or does one simply drink more beer to keep up fluid levels.

Those old Ebers only have 2 settings, flat out and half of flat out. It won't do anything else, even with the rheostat, once it reaches set temp' it just shuts down to half heat.

 

[LittleSister]

Before you splash out on a replacement thermostat (genuine or otherwise) it should be fairly simple to connect and disconnect the wires to it to establish whether it is actually the thermostat that is faulty. A dodgy connection is more likely, I suspect.

Those old Ebers only have 2 settings, flat out and half of flat out. It won't do anything else, even with the rheostat, once it reaches set temp' it just shuts down to half heat.

They can be wired to either be switched between full and half heat by the thermostat, or be switched on and off (via proper shutdown) by the thermostat (in which case switching between full and half heat has to be done manually).

My ancient D3 (D3L?) is wired up to the 'switch on and off' mode. I've always intended to change this to switch between full and half heat (as restarting uses up too much battery power), but it has never quite reached the top of the to-do list.

The thermostat doesn't need to be anything specifically Eberspacher (at least on my early model). My cabin thermostat is Danfoss brand (and presumably just a bimetal strip type?).

 

[PaulRainbow]

Should also be simple enough to knock something up, some information about that here: Controllers 3

Basically, an off-on-on switch can be used to turn the heater off-half heat-full heat.

Add a thermostat, connected between +ve and full speed will switch between half and full heat, depending on temp', assuming the switch is set to half heat.

Add a cheap 7 day timer, connected between +ve and half heat and you can have the heater come on before you wake up.

 

[snowbird30ds]

The actual component is only a thermister so if you can get to the offending component without too much damage disconnect it and run a multimeter across it at verying temps and see that readings you get and if it corresponds to available items, they are >£1 to buy, I would guess it's a 10k one.

 

[oldgit]

Going to leave things well alone.
The little sensor is soldered to a couple of wires which vanish into the bowels of the boat.
The heater itself is hidden away under the floor of the saloon only access via a underfloor storage locker .
None of the wires going to the heater resemble anything that the sensor is connected to.
On the upside will be warm and toasty while mending all the other stuff on the boat currently broken or not working.

 

[oldgit]

The actual component is only a thermister so if you can get to the offending component without too much damage disconnect it and run a multimeter across it at verying temps and see that readings you get and if it corresponds to available items, they are >£1 to buy, I would guess it's a 10k one.

OK will try that,the little plastic casing comes off !

 

[PaulRainbow]

Going to leave things well alone.

Coward

 

[oldgit]

Coward

My middle name

 

[harvey38]

Got one of these on my D5, no need to run it flat out, it has variable temperature

https://www.butlertechnik.com/eberspacher-7-day-timer-with-diagnostic-70110005-292100710005-

 

[PaulRainbow]

Got one of these on my D5, no need to run it flat out, it has variable temperature

https://www.butlertechnik.com/eberspacher-7-day-timer-with-diagnostic-70110005-292100710005-

Link doesn't work.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

Link doesn't work.

Try this!
7 Day Timer with diagnostic | 70110005 | 292100710005

 

[fredrussell]

…An ebay search suggests that a mere £70.00 quid will buy a new genuine unit…

By Eberspacher standards that is breathtakingly cheap and I suspect it has a zero missing. Buy it quick-sharp before seller realises their mistake.

 

[Graham376]

Try this!
7 Day Timer with diagnostic | 70110005 | 292100710005

We have one which looks the same as that, with the sensor shown in #12, controls temperature OK on our D3LC Compact. Shows any fault codes and allows them to be cancelled.

 

[PaulRainbow]

OK will try that,the little plastic casing comes off !

@oldgit Having a locker clearout this weekend, all sorts of odds and ends seem to have accumulated from refitting this, and the last, boat. Guess what just turned up ? If you want to PM me your address, it's yours, FOC