# Chinese diesel heaters ?



## andyjanet (Jan 19, 2020)

Does anybody have any recommendations! I don’t want to burn my fingers and get the wrong one, haha
It needs to be 2 kw and 24 volt please 
Tia andy


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## GreggBear (Jan 20, 2020)

Not sure if there's much difference between them all, looking into them myself at the minute too....


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## jeffmossy (Jan 20, 2020)

Can't help you with the model Andy , but all I can say is that we are in the 3rd year with ours and very very happy with it . Good luck


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## andyjanet (Jan 20, 2020)

Read on previous threads there was plastic body and aluminium body and the alt body was best but how do I know which is fitted


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## jagmanx (Jan 20, 2020)

Chinese Diesel heaters..
Same as Chinese meals..
Having had one you need another !  
Now where is the MSG and salt ?
Flied Lice ? Yes Prease !...Benny Hill re-invented !


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## mistericeman (Jan 20, 2020)

andyjanet said:


> Read on previous threads there was plastic body and aluminium body and the alt body was best but how do I know which is fitted



Look up the Chinese heaters page on Facebook.... Theres plenty of info and recommendations regarding trusted sellers on there.


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## andyjanet (Jan 20, 2020)

Do you have a name or model Geoff and do you have a separate tank


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## trevskoda (Jan 20, 2020)

£100 will buy one,test it as soon as pos,lots of UK sellers and that would be my place to buy.


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## tailgate (Jan 20, 2020)

I'm more concerned with insurance issues....and 
Spend lots on a camper and then stick a £100 Chinese heater in it.!


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## jagmanx (Jan 20, 2020)

*YES Check what happened in Wales !*


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## mistericeman (Jan 20, 2020)

jagmanx said:


> *YES Check what happened in Wales !*


 Missed that.... Was it a cheap diesel heater to blame?


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## jagmanx (Jan 20, 2020)

There is no reason given as yet.
It was suggested I get (no doubt a good quality) gas heater (LPG) maybe this one
Camco Olympian catalytic heater
No thanks
1 CO emissions possible
2 CO2 definite
3 Fire ( as John Cleese might say) Fire Fire
4 Ventilation certainly necessary
5 We have a perfectly good TRUMA unit which vents outside
Each to their own but remember the deaths in Spanish flats due to faulty heaters

GAS safe
FIRE Safe
CO safe
CO2 safe
AND I do not work for H&S or the Fire service
OK Truma can go wrong (as can anything)
IPhone charges can cause a fire if left on

I HATE the phrase but RISK ASSESSMENT should rule.. as with Driving
Here endeth todays lesson !!!
As they used to say on "Hill Street Blues" ..Take care out there !
This being written by a man who nearly drowned  whilst "White Water Rafting on The Zambezi"
AND more


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## Dougr1411 (Jan 20, 2020)

My son has just fitted a Chinese 8kw heater in my motorhome.  So far so good . Run it for between 4 and 5 hours off of separate tank . It used aprox 1 ltr of diesel . I'm happy with it so far


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## wildebus (Jan 20, 2020)

The trickiest bit might be to get a 24V model as the great majority are 12V - check the details carefully as most sellers include every possible word to get included in a search so will state 12V AND 24V in the initial description, as well as all the various powers  (2KW, 5KW, 8KW, etc).

Once you get one, you should also invest in better quality fittings  (Jubilee clips supplied are usually pants) and a silencer for the inlet (and maybe another for the exhaust if not supplied - some do, some don't).


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## R0B (Jan 20, 2020)

andyjanet said:


> Does anybody have any recommendations! I don’t want to burn my fingers and get the wrong one, haha
> It needs to be 2 kw and 24 volt please
> Tia andy


I believe the 2kw are comparable to the webasto brand where the 4kw are more like the eberspachers - I think structurally it comes down to ease of access to the glow plug. 
If you're thinking of fitting it yourself this might help/be of interest:-


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## andyjanet (Jan 20, 2020)

Thanks for all the responses,
We are having Alde fitted to the habitation pod on the new overlander but I was looking for an alternative heat source for in the driving cab,
We are likely to be heading into lots of snow and wet conditions so instead of relying on the cab heater I would fit a diesel heater under a seat to warm the screen and also swivel a direction nozzle into the pod if we get a problem with Alde system,
The truck is 24volts and only as big as an LT cab so a 2kw should sort it out, have joined chinese diesel heaters Facebook page so with 60 posts a day and been going for a number of years I have some reading material


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## trevskoda (Jan 20, 2020)

Dougr1411 said:


> My son has just fitted a Chinese 8kw heater in my motorhome.  So far so good . Run it for between 4 and 5 hours off of separate tank . It used aprox 1 ltr of diesel . I'm happy with it so far


They have been tested and only make 5kw at best.


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## Fazerloz (Jan 20, 2020)

andyjanet said:


> Thanks for all the responses,
> We are having Alde fitted to the habitation pod on the new overlander but I was looking for an alternative heat source for in the driving cab,
> We are likely to be heading into lots of snow and wet conditions so instead of relying on the cab heater I would fit a diesel heater under a seat to warm the screen and also swivel a direction nozzle into the pod if we get a problem with Alde system,
> The truck is 24volts and only as big as an LT cab so a 2kw should sort it out, have joined chinese diesel heaters Facebook page so with 60 posts a day and been going for a number of years I have some reading material



Certainly don't believe most of what you read on there, as there is a awful lot of bad/wrong information on it unfortunately. Worth a look at some of the installations though as some are appalling, it makes one wonder what the rest of the van conversion must be like.


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## Sharpie (Jan 20, 2020)

1 litre of diesel contains 10 kWh of energy. Even if burned with 100% conversion efficiency, 5 hours running on 1 litre would be a maximum of 2 kW output. A real 8 kW output would probably take 1 litre per hour. But, as said, they don't do that, 5 kW realistically. Which is plenty of heat for many, more than enough for me. If not, fit two, some do.

The smaller 2kW ones based on the Webasto design are usually a genuine 2 kW, they don't seem to make false claims for that one. You can choose a big one based on the Eberspacher, 5 kW, and run it throttled back, or a small one based on the Webasto turned up fully, different opinions on which way is best. My opinion is that the smaller one running hard may be less likely to need attention, but I haven't fitted one myself yet so this is just my speculation. In my case the physically smaller one is more attractive, I have limited room.

By most accounts they do appear to be to be pretty reliable, running on good European diesel, maybe less so on different stuff in on an expedition elsewhere. There's not really much to go wrong, but as a minimum the glow plug screen will need periodic replacement if only as a precaution, they are not quite "fit and forget". So many choices of packages, what's included, what's not, and a variety of controllers from the simplest to the most sophisticated, changing all the time. 

You could fit the original German ones for approaching £1000, but even basic spare parts could cost more than a brand new Chinese one, nevermind paying someone to repair it, so I intend to take a punt on a £100 job and see how it goes..


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## andyjanet (Jan 20, 2020)

This Scottish company have a good rep from a buy and fit point of view. I realise you will probably do your own install, here is there site link, you may get good info from site?






						Diesel Air Heating Specialist
					

Challenger, Eberspacher, Webasto, Autoterm diesel heating specialists for sales and repairs.




					www.aclsretail.com
				



[/QUOTE]
Thanks


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## mistericeman (Jan 20, 2020)

Fazerloz said:


> Certainly don't believe most of what you read on there, as there is a awful lot of bad/wrong information on it unfortunately. Worth a look at some of the installations though as some are appalling, it makes one wonder what the rest of the van conversion must be like.



I got banned from there after pointing out that fitting a heater with the exhaust running through (and in contact with) the rubber insulated matting AND plywood floor was possibly a bad idea.... 


Can't cure stupid sadly.


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## gipsy_jo (Jan 20, 2020)

if you want a trusted instaled diesel heater I can recomand Owen cox on face book under, Planar Heaters UK


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## Fazerloz (Jan 20, 2020)

mistericeman said:


> I got banned from there after pointing out that fitting a heater with the exhaust running through (and in contact with) the rubber insulated matting AND plywood floor was possibly a bad idea....
> 
> 
> Can't cure stupid sadly.



A lot really do beggar belief don't they. How they can possibly think what they have done is ok, I just don't know. Not only that but they put pics up proud of the standard of their work. I look now and then but don' comment.
Can't educate pork.


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## Fazerloz (Jan 20, 2020)

gipsy_jo said:


> if you want a trusted instaled diesel heater I can recomand Owen cox on face book under, Planar Heaters UK



Does he install Chinese heaters or just Planer.?


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## wildebus (Jan 21, 2020)

Fazerloz said:


> Does he install Chinese heaters or just Planer.?


He is a Planar supply and fit only I believe and the Chinese Heaters are the work of the devil as far as he is concerned   (I think that means less profit?)


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## Sharpie (Jan 21, 2020)

Well Planar are just (Russian ?) copies of the originals, so perhaps he is a little hypocritical. But I am sure that there is a big home market to keep them busy, it does get very cold there.


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## wildebus (Jan 21, 2020)

Sharpie said:


> Well Planar are just (Russian ?) copies of the originals, so perhaps he is a little hypocritical. But I am sure that there is a big home market to keep them busy, it does get very cold there.


I am similarly minded.
The unit price of a Planar and a Eberspacher are close enough to make a Eberspacher a better (IMO) option.
A Chinese Heater is cheap enough to be a disposable item.  The buy price of one of those is less than an annual service of an Eberspacher or Webasto and once installed, the actual heater itself can be swapped out quickly if need be  (I can - and have - swapped out my own one in around 40 minutes or so, including taking out the drivers seat to gain access and then putting the whole lot together again).

The company mentioned in Lanarkshire .... their price is very hard to beat as it includes supply and fit plus a 2 year warranty on the unit.  A friend of a friend had them fit one in his Vauxhall Vivaro a couple of weeks ago and he is vary happy with the work.


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## GreggBear (Jan 21, 2020)

Think I read recently that Webasto & Eberspacher have received very large fines ( millions!) for market manipulation & price fixing. They deserve to have the market flooded with competitors if that was true.....


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## jagmanx (Jan 21, 2020)

General comment
Get something reliable that will last and not require too much servicing or replacement.
Especially given your likely travel plans.
Get something with easily available parts that you (given your skills) can repair

Buy once Buy Good !
How much did you spend on the vehicle ? etc etc
Ship and halfpenny of Tar etc etc


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## R0B (Jan 21, 2020)

GreggBear said:


> Think I read recently that Webasto & Eberspacher have received very large fines ( millions!) for market manipulation & price fixing. They deserve to have the market flooded with competitors if that was true.....











						Current, former executives from Eberspaecher unit indicted in U.S. for price-fixing
					

One current and two former executives of Espar and its German parent company Eberspaecher have been indicted in the U.S. for conspiring to fix the prices of heaters used in trucks to keep drivers warm.




					europe.autonews.com


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## Sharpie (Jan 21, 2020)

It was true, well I think Webasto squealed on Eberspacher, or maybe it was the other way around, only when they realised they had been found out, either way one had to pay many millions in fines for their cosy illegal cartel. Which of course are simply added to the price that they demand for something really not too different from the Chinese copies and nothing intrinsically costly in there to justify the price of something that they have been churning out for many decades with little development. But they will still have a steady market from e.g European truck manufacturers, who I'm quite certain do not pay anything like what is demanded from we little people.


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## trevskoda (Jan 21, 2020)

jagmanx said:


> General comment
> Get something reliable that will last and not require too much servicing or replacement.
> Especially given your likely travel plans.
> Get something with easily available parts that you (given your skills) can repair
> ...


You could buy two chinese heaters and still have saved a lot,then you have spares.


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## Deleted member 5816 (Jan 21, 2020)

__





						Eberspaecher fined 68 million euros over parking-heater cartel
					

The European Commission has fined Germany's Eberspaecher Group 68 million euros ($76.6 million) after finding Eberspaecher and fellow supplier Webasto had fixed prices of heating systems in cars and trucks.




					europe.autonews.com
				






Sharpie said:


> It was true, well I think Webasto squealed on Eberspacher, or maybe it was the other way around, only when they realised they had been found out, either way one had to pay many millions in fines for their cosy illegal cartel. Which of course are simply added to the price that they demand for something really not too different from the Chinese copies and nothing intrinsically costly in there to justify the price of something that they have been churning out for many decades with little development. But they will still have a steady market from e.g European truck manufacturers, who I'm quite certain do not pay anything like what is demanded from we little people.


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## trevskoda (Jan 21, 2020)

Alf the internet has changed life as we know it,prices down and folk more informed.


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## jagmanx (Jan 21, 2020)

trevskoda said:


> You could buy two chinese heaters and still have saved a lot,then you have spares.


Yes But you have to do the repair
What if you are on a mega tour ?


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## Fazerloz (Jan 21, 2020)

wildebus said:


> He is a Planar supply and fit only I believe and the Chinese Heaters are the work of the devil as far as he is concerned   (I think that means less profit?)



That's what i thought too, he's put enough stuff out there slagging Chinese heaters off. Dont know why someone would suggest him on thread titled "Chinese Diesel Heaters". Quite agree you may as well buy Eber /Web as pay for Planar.


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## Deleted member 5816 (Jan 21, 2020)

Fit 4 heaters and if 1 fails start on the next heater in line ?

Alf




jagmanx said:


> Yes But you have to do the repair
> What if you are on a mega tour ?


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## trevskoda (Jan 21, 2020)

jagmanx said:


> Yes But you have to do the repair
> What if you are on a mega tour ?


Ant toy can go bang.


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## trevskoda (Jan 21, 2020)

Alf said:


> Fit 4 heaters and if 1 fails start on the next heater in line ?
> 
> Alf


I had a beetle once and kept a spare engine in the boot.


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## GreggBear (Jan 21, 2020)

Wish I'd known you when I had a beetle mate, it wouldn't start one day & when I lifted the bonnet somebody had nicked my engine!


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## st3v3 (Jan 21, 2020)

jagmanx said:


> Yes But you have to do the repair
> What if you are on a mega tour ?



Carry a spare and just swap it. Order a new one for delivery to a future destination


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## GreggBear (Jan 21, 2020)

Suppose at what they cost it would be cheaper to carry a spare than to have a quality one mended. Throwaway society wins again....


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## trevskoda (Jan 21, 2020)

GreggBear said:


> Suppose at what they cost it would be cheaper to carry a spare than to have a quality one mended. Throwaway society wins again....


Yes and thats why cars here go to breakers after there about 4/5 years old,cost of repair and things like brains makes then uneconomical to fix,ok for diy like me and others,hence my last car a seven years cost £10.


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## GreggBear (Jan 21, 2020)

Its a big problem in a lot of countries trev, unsustainable long term & gonna go bang in a big way some day soon. Still got my 1987 Daihatsu 4trak & I love the ease of maintenance etc. Parked up for now but watch this space....


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## Sharpie (Jan 22, 2020)

It's all very odd. For example Japanese cars, in the home market, are subject to some sort of inspection after a few years which requires taking parts of them to bits, a bit like an aeroplane inspection/repair, and is totally uneconomic, unless it's something exotic. Policy, to keep up demand for the home industry.

So they don't bother rustproofing them properly, it's certainly not that they don't know how to do it superbly for other markets, but that does cost extra money. 

Then they get exported to countries who also drive with the steering wheel on the proper side. Such as here. Also means they don't have to have a proper recycling infrastructure.

So my brother has a lovely little Mazda sports car import, virtually unused when he got it, but the first thing he did was to get it properly undersealed and other rust proofing, it was already showing obvious signs.

Same applies to things like Mazda Bongoes, imported from Japan. Not treated to last, caveat emptor.

A near-relative has a Nissan Skyline import, with further tweaks imported from a Japanese tuning company. It's only used for racing and track days and otherwise lives in a heated garage, alongside his other stable of exotica. It's always full up, it's a one-in-one out policy for him, and he doesn't want it weighed down with any additional treatments, which are not necessary for him. It certainly never goes out on wet salty roads, and it's full performance would be utterly unusable legally here as a road car anyway, except for posing. But my goodness it is fun to drive on a racing circuit, if you are really up to fully exploiting it. Which I am not, he is and has held a full racing licence for many many years, but it looked after and flattered me, with all it's cleverness, no offs or spins though I was still faster than anyone else, even those in their Ferraris, Maseratis and McLarens. Then he showed me what it could really do, I'm not easily scared but was a bit nervous at times.

But I digress, as usual.


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## Sharpie (Jan 22, 2020)

Further, the Skyline is actually a bit of a hindrance on the racing circuits, having the steering wheel on the right. They are almost all set up to run anti-clockwise, I only know of one which is not. My racing near-relative sets up his cars accordingly, even different suspension, tyre pressure and damper settings from one side to the other and has equipment to measure the weight on each wheel, and the tyre temperatures and pressures precisely after the practice laps and adjust. It makes a measurable competitive difference to him.


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## trevskoda (Jan 22, 2020)

Cars today last much longer but folk here dont want to be seen driving anything old,ireland is the highest rate of new car owners in europe,when i had my old car one person in our street stopped me and told me to get rid as it was bringing the street down in value,you can think what my return was using one finger.


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## Sharpie (Jan 22, 2020)

jagmanx said:


> Yes But you have to do the repair
> What if you are on a mega tour ?



If you are going on a mega tour then you must expect some things to go wrong, carry some spares, together with the tools to fit them, and have some knowledge and experience of how to use them. You can't just call out the AA. If you are in a real pickle, well a certain amount of self reliance is essential. It's not rocket science.


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## Nabsim (Jan 22, 2020)

Was with a mate yesterday and he thinks he needs an ecu for his eberspacher D4. Price he was given is £350 and he doesn’t know if it may need other bits until Ecu has been replaced.

Was I him I would be trying a Chinese heater at this point. Probably use same turret plate and fuel inlet/pump


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## Sharpie (Jan 22, 2020)

Hmm, ECU for a Chinese heater, probably £20. One screw and a few plug in connectors.


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## GreggBear (Jan 22, 2020)

trevskoda said:


> Cars today last much longer but folk here dont want to be seen driving anything old,ireland is the highest rate of new car owners in europe,when i had my old car one person in our street stopped me and told me to get rid as it was bringing the street down in value,you can think what my return was using one finger.






They must be over the moon with your ex library banger then mate....


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## mistericeman (Jan 22, 2020)

I guess some of it boils down to what your going to be doing with your van/heater too.... 

Odd weekends away mostly in season and not too bothered if it packs up ... Chinglese one will likely be fine. 

Go away often all year round all season I'd go genuine eber. 

We use the van all year (and I don't do being cold) 
And though more than capable of swapping a defunct Chinglese jobby, I REALLY can't be bothered when I'm away in the van to be buggering about. 

I'd just like it to crack on with what it's supposed to be doing KNOWING that IF I did have an issue it's got a decent guarentee with someone that will still be around IF there was an issue. 

All horses for courses as usual


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## Nabsim (Jan 22, 2020)

Sharpie said:


> Hmm, ECU for a Chinese heater, probably £20. One screw and a few plug in connectors.


They are completely different on control side to Eberspacher. With the Chinese ones I believe the intelligence is the controller, that’s why so many things can be tweaked.


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## Sharpie (Jan 22, 2020)

Nabsim said:


> They are completely different on control side to Eberspacher. With the Chinese ones I believe the intelligence is the controller, that’s why so many things can be tweaked.



I think it's the other way around. 

The controller, by by which I mean the part inside the heater, AFAIK does the basic stuff meaning taking the data sent to it from the other controller, the one you use to put in your desired settings. And can report back useful fault codes to be displayed. That's where the "tweaking" goes on. And they are also very inexpensive. 

Basically the heater gets told the pulse rate for the fuel pump, and when to start up and shut down, over a simple serial protocol, which they all use. Copied from earlier German designs. So you can mostly mix and match the components, and choose the external controller that you want, as simple or complicated as you like, and they keep bringing out new ones with even more features. You can even disconnect the two when running, and the heater will keep on running, only way to turn it off is to disconnect the power, which is not great, no proper shutdown sequence commanded by the external controller.

I don't know how say a modern Eberspacker works, but they do say that they now use CanBus between the two and several other fancy features, which allows them to be tightly integrated with the vehicle systems in carefully developed OEM installations.

I don't think that,s particularly useful for aftermarket fits, and might even be a puzzle for an Eberspacher agent to diagnose problems, hence the "well I don't really know what's going on, lets try swapping expensive parts and see what happens" approach.

I'd have hoped that a decent agent would have some spares to hand and already tried this before asking the customer to cough up for an experiment.

I prefer something that I can fault find and fix myself, using readily available inexpensive pretty much standard parts.


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## Nabsim (Jan 23, 2020)

Sharpie the controller is the part you set temperature with and turn on/off, heat or ventilation. On my Eber I have an 801 with diagnostics. The one in my mates had a timer which I think may be a 700 series. The ecu is an aluminium box mounted on top of his heater that looks like the one on the left on this link https://www.letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk/ecu_failures.html
I thought his was an early D4 but didnt see a plate handy.


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## Sharpie (Jan 23, 2020)

Thanks Nabsim, I confused myself between ECU and controller. Still it's puzzling that your friend's agent doesn't either have a spare ECU to try, or the nous or the test equipment to determine where the fault actually lies, but wants your friend to pay hundreds of £ for a new one as basically a parts-swapping experiment. I suppose he may have already tried swapping the controller and that didn't work, so then the logical assumption might be that it's the ECU. Or it could just be a fault in the wiring or a dodgy connector in between, which ought to be much less expensive to fix. Anyway, I hope it soon gets resolved satisfactorily.

So much for the supposedly superior reliability of German vs. Chinese. They are after all supposed to be dependable for many years in truck installations where they probably get far harder use, with just simple routine maintenance.


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## Asterix (Jan 23, 2020)

There was a time that Germany was known around the world for cheap,shoddy knock offs of foreign goods. China is still thought of in the same way,but I think it's time to change our thinking towards China,they have caught up rapidly and although their goods are generally cheaper,that's only a reflection of lower labour costs rather than necessarily lower standards. They've come a long way in the last twenty years and many of their products are among the best available.


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## Deleted member 5816 (Jan 23, 2020)

The link is quite interesting it points out most ECU failures down to overvoltage  now there’s a thing.  

Alf



Nabsim said:


> Sharpie the controller is the part you set temperature with and turn on/off, heat or ventilation. On my Eber I have an 801 with diagnostics. The one in my mates had a timer which I think may be a 700 series. The ecu is an aluminium box mounted on top of his heater that looks like the one on the left on this link https://www.letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk/ecu_failures.html
> I thought his was an early D4 but didnt see a plate handy.


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## Nabsim (Jan 23, 2020)

Alf said:


> The link is quite interesting it points out most ECU failures down to overvoltage  now there’s a thing.
> 
> Alf


Now you mentioned that he is often jump starting his van and his heater runs from the starter battery I believe. Wonder if that may have caused it.


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## jeffmossy (Jan 23, 2020)

We have been on the road since Monday and our Chinese heater has been on All day and night non stop ,we are now just past Le Man's and I have just checked the seperate tank of red and it has only used about a gallon , . Go Chinese is the way forward


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## trevskoda (Jan 23, 2020)

GreggBear said:


> They must be over the moon with your ex library banger then mate....


They moved out,we called them Ken & Barbie as they were always done up like two superstars,the lady who bought there house said it was like a dirty grease pit and required dedunging,i kid you not.


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## trevskoda (Jan 23, 2020)

jeffmossy said:


> We have been on the road since Monday and our Chinese heater has been on All day and night non stop ,we are now just past Le Man's and I have just checked the seperate tank of red and it has only used about a gallon , . Go Chinese is the way forward


Mez thinks you is vely cool wiz fittings ze chineeez warmerz of bottomz.


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## GreggBear (Jan 23, 2020)

trevskoda said:


> They moved out,we called them Ken & Barbie as they were always done up like two superstars,the lady who bought there house said it was like a dirty grease pit and required dedunging,i kid you not.


Just goes to show you never can tell..... Hope the new neighbours approve of the bus mate...


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## harrow (Jan 23, 2020)

GreggBear said:


> Just goes to show you never can tell..... Hope the new neighbours approve of the bus mate...



Its not the bus they complain about


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## Sharpie (Jan 23, 2020)

Nabsim said:


> Now you mentioned that he is often jump starting his van and his heater runs from the starter battery I believe. Wonder if that may have caused it.


Oh dear. Does he know how to properly jump start ? And why is he having to do it often ? Time for a new starter battery I suggest, cheaper than an Eberspacher ECU, and it's not going to get any better, far from it.

Because if you do it in the wrong sequence there is a phenomenon called alternator load dump that can cause spikes of 80V or more, for quite a long time.

Same thing possible on a boat installation with the usual big battery changeover switch that either isolates, connects starter only, or starter plus habitation batteries, or hab only. Turn that around whilst the engine is running and bad things might happen. The good thing about this arrangement is that you can still start the engine from the hab. batteries if the starter has died.

Proper automotive electronics are protected by circuitry on every ECU to block this, along with reverse polarity, I used to design them myself at a very high level for motorsport. Our standard protection circuit was quite simple but very strong,  which cost maybe £2 for the components.

But by the time you have actually manufactured the ECU that adds perhaps ten times that much to the real cost. Which has to be passed onto the customer.

If eberspacher are good they should also have something like this to protect the ECU and make it bombproof. But that costs money. And, cynically there is profit in selling expensive ECUs to replace failed ones, name your price, the customer has no choice but to pay it. Do they ask for those back to do their own fault investigation, learn lessons and constantly improve them ? That would be difficult because they pot them up to make them almost impossible to take apart, never mind make it possible for other people to provide a repair service.

And will they still keep making them for the older models, or will they become unavailable, time to pay again for complete new one, start again. Well that's one business model.

Bad jump start scenario: Connect external battery, maybe not itself fully charged, with jump leads.

Crank over vehicle and get it started and running. Alternator is now running hard to recharge both starter and the jump battery.

Great, take off jump leads with engine running. Massive load dump possibly ensues.

Proper method, get it started then run engine for say 15 minutes with everything still connected together. Turn off engine. Take off jump leads and re-start with the charge that should by now have been put back in to the starter and take it for a good run.

There are other bad scenarios that can happen, e.g. connect another vehicle to jump from it, maybe a petrol car with a battery that is not capable of cranking a big diesel. So you start that one's engine to add the alternator output that might add up to enough to do the job. So you got the dead vehicle started, great, then you take off the jump leads from the donor with it's engine still running. Load dump to the donor.

Try never to disconnect the leads with either engine still running. If you do have to jump a big diesel from a modest petrol car, connect them together, start up the donor, run it for say 15 minutes to put some charge into the big diesel, maybe keeping the revs up to get decent output, not just on tickover, tun it off, disconnect, then try it again.


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## Nabsim (Jan 24, 2020)

He is a full timer in an ex welfare/community bus. They don’t care about batteries too much, if one goes they buy a second hand lorry battery (think that’s what they are). It’s because van had run too low on diesel usually. Flatten battery then trying to pump fuel through. Lives in one but has other transport so living van doesn’t move much. It’s a different world to what we do lol


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## Sharpie (Jan 24, 2020)

Prime candidate for a Chinese heater I suggest.

And isolate the other electrics before doing a jump start with ropey batteries.


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## trevskoda (Jan 24, 2020)

Welfare buses are cold with single glass windies,prob no insulation also,heater from china a good investment.


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## GreggBear (Jan 24, 2020)

trevskoda said:


> Welfare buses are cold with single glass windies,prob no insulation also,heater from china a good investment.


My bus isn't too cold but I've insulated & covered around 80% of the glass with 50mm rockwool type insulation & 8mm t&g boards. ...


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## Nabsim (Jan 24, 2020)

Well he has a multi fuel stove in there as his main heating. Probably why his only insulation is blankets at the windows. It messes with your head to see some of them lol

yes I agree a Chinese heater to swap out his faulty Eber is what I would do.


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