WARNING near death experience with Eberspacher

[superheat6k]

Glad the OP and his Wife are OK. However, clearly not the Eberspacher, rather the nasty exhaust elbow.

One regular report of the Chinaspachers is the propensity of the very cheap and thin exhaust to leak, which is why I was pleased to have an original Webasto sealed silencer and length of Eberspacher exhaust pipe in my workshop. I have had some criticism for not having a rise in my exhaust, but as the outlet is higher than other topside openings e.g. from bilge pumps, plus the heater sits further uphill from the outlet I am satisfied not having a rise is better at least for me - no sulphurous seawater gathering in the pipe can only reduce corrosion.

 

[PetiteFleur]

Thanks for the info and glad everyone is ok. I was considering fitting one of these to my heater which I'm installing at the moment - mainly to keep the outlet as high up the transom as possible and still have a downward slope. I'll have another look when I visit the boat on Thursday. I see there a couple on ebay, one by southernlasers which look nicely finished and others by a supplier in Turkey which still show the visible weld line. Perhaps the southernlasers one had the weld cleaned off too much??

 

[pvb]

I was considering fitting one of these to my heater which I'm installing at the moment - mainly to keep the outlet as high up the transom as possible and still have a downward slope.

You don't have to have a downward slope!

 

[Scotsailor]

Near death experience seems a little bit melodramatic description

 

[JimC]

Near death experience seems a little bit melodramatic description

If we had left the heater running all night, which we had considered doing, then the consequences could have been unpleasant. People have suffered monoxide poisoning in boats with heating faults as referenced in previous posts. What one considers dramatic is a personal thing.

 

[LittleSister]

Installations differ: in my case the exhaust needs to turn through 90 degrees quite close below the heater. I think this can be better achieved with a (serviceable!) elbow rather than by forcing the ribbed exhaust tube into a tighter curve than it wants to go round.

Is there perhaps space to do a looser curve through 270 degrees in the opposite direction (i.e. a loop round in a forwards direction first and then turning back, crossing the outlet near the heater, to the final fitting)?

 

[JimC]

Is there perhaps space to do a looser curve through 270 degrees in the opposite direction (i.e. a loop round in a forwards direction first and then turning back, crossing the outlet near the heater, to the final fitting)?

It's an idea and I'm sure it would work, but I want to keep the hot pipe in the upper part of the locker clear of the fenders etc, this is the reason for wanting an abrupt turn. Actually I think all will be well if I change to a one piece elbow like this.

 

[CLB]

If we had left the heater running all night, which we had considered doing, then the consequences could have been unpleasant. People have suffered monoxide poisoning in boats with heating faults as referenced in previous posts. What one considers dramatic is a personal thing.

Although not pleasant, I don't think there has ever been a diesel heater related CO death onboard a boat. The one referenced earlier was fumes from the petrol engines, being circulated by the heater. The heater itself was not faulty and not emitting CO into the cabin.

 

[JimC]

I'm sure you're right and I don't want to drag this thread on endlessly. My only purpose in starting it was to warn people that welded exhaust elbows can fail and to suggest that they replaced them with seamless ones. As regards the toxicity or otherwise of diesel exhaust fumes I took my information from the study which I referenced in my original post.

 

[NormanS]

It's an idea and I'm sure it would work, but I want to keep the hot pipe in the upper part of the locker clear of the fenders etc, this is the reason for wanting an abrupt turn. Actually I think all will be well if I change to a one piece elbow like this.

View attachment 76034

Yes, that would be much better than the cheap fleabay right-angled thing that failed. I wish that you hadn't introduced it as an Eberspacher fault, as it clearly wasn't.

It's like complaining that a CQR anchor has dragged, and then it transpires that actually it wasn't a CQR, but some cheap copy. There you are, I've "dragged" anchors into your thread.