Diesel air Heater

[Dowel]

so without looking through all the replies....

I am at a similar stage as you, want a heater but still weighing up the pros and cons. I have been following this and similar threads including the boaters ones.

The general view on size is small is better than overlarge as running them on a low setting leads to sooty deposits and running problems. My van is a high top but only 5.2m long and insulated so I would be looking for a 2kw heater. From what I have seen a 5kw heater should be ok for you although in addition to size you should consider how well it is insulated etc. There is a rough table of heater sizes at this Webasto page:
Webasto: Heating solutions for motorhomes and caravans
Running on kerosene or paraffin is reported to give cleaner running but you would need a separate tank rather than feeding from the vehicle fuel tank.

If properly installed they are very safe. They have been used in work vans, welfare vans and truck sleeper cabs for years. The combustion intake air and exhaust are discharged externally and are completely separate from the hot air circuit which heats the van. If needed or preferred the heater can be fitted outside of the body, commonly hung underneath.

Safety concerns have been aired elsewhere and one person reported they had obstructed the heating air flow to simulate an accidental blockage and the result was that the heater shut down rather than bursting into flames.

Diesel fuel is safer than LPG, it doesn’t light easily and does not easily form an explosive mixture.

You are more likely to find discussion of good vendors on the facebook page than here.

Hope that encourages you to read through all the posts and form your own opinion as I have to nip back to the dementia ward before they notice I am missing, caveat emptor!

 

[wildebus]

To give a feeling of heater abilities...
My van is a LWB High Roof VW LT - so 6.3M long externally. It is 'open plan' inside with full windows (single glazed) all around and I have no coverings on them right now so thermally very inefficient.
I put the heater on today when the internal van temp was 11 Deg C. (I planned to do some work inside and wanted it warmer!)
about 3-ish hours later, I went out to turn the heater off (never did the work :rolleyes2 and the internal temp was 24 Deg C.

Heater is nominally a 2kW model. It wasn't running at full.
Fuel Use - been running the heater quite a bit over last few days just checking it is reliable after installing. Don't know how many hours for sure - maybe 15? - and my fuel tank is now coming close to half full - but having said that it is only 4L in size!

 

[wildebus]

Had a bit of fun yesterday with the Chinese Heater I installed in the T5 a few months ago now. Added a Remote Control (via SMS Text Messaging) so can turn on and off from anywhere (and this is a proper on and off, so will carry out the correct warm-down process).
Next step will be to add a proper Temperature Control Feature (the lack of the heater to respond to temperature settings is maybe the biggest operational flaw of these heaters so adding this will be a bit of a game changer)

 

[vwillow]

diesel heater

hi, i have been using a chinese heater for a couple of months, read all the scare stories but decided if they can land on the moon they can probably heat my T4.
It was easy to fit and despite the strange grammar, simple to operate. 2kw would probably have been adequate as 5kw is used mostly on min. setting. It will heat a frozen windscreen van to 20'c + in 15 minutes with one push of a button.
Long term, who knows but on paper and initial impression all good ! and with a saving of around a grand on a new germam item I'll keep you posted

 

[Deleted member 79302]

Noise

Can anyone tell me are these heaters noisy thanks

 

[Fisherman]

The one in my Chausson 510 sounded like a jet taking off for about ten minutes. then it did quiet down a fair bit.
Also I found that it took a good charge from my battery when wild camping.
I used to run the engine for ten minutes adding to the noise.

 

[mistericeman]

Not IF correctly fitted AND fitted with inlet/exhaust silencers...
Setting to a sensible temp (they go through a initialisation run from cold ramping up to full speed... Set sensibly they just modulate rather than taming up and down)
Ours is almost inaudible from more than 1m away.

 

[Fisherman]

Not IF correctly fitted AND fitted with inlet/exhaust silencers...
Setting to a sensible temp (they go through a initialisation run from cold ramping up to full speed... Set sensibly they just modulate rather than taming up and down)
Ours is almost inaudible from more than 1m away.

I am probably spelling this wrong, ours was an esbarcher.
my mate has a V6 Camper and like yourself his is not as noisy as ours was.
He had it fitted only last year and swears by it.

 

[mistericeman]

I am probably spelling this wrong, ours was an esbarcher.
my mate has a V6 Camper and like yourself his is not as noisy as ours was.
He had it fitted only last year and swears by it.

They are IMHO... The best form of heating in a van/motorhome in terms of reliable push button/clean/safe/reliable and cheap to run comfort.
Having had one in the transit and having a gas convector fire (with blown air)
I find the fuel consumption of the eberspacher far better.

 

[Nabsim]

Not IF correctly fitted AND fitted with inlet/exhaust silencers...
Setting to a sensible temp (they go through a initialisation run from cold ramping up to full speed... Set sensibly they just modulate rather than taming up and down)
Ours is almost inaudible from more than 1m away.

I agree, our eberspacher is the same since I fitted exhaust and inlet silencers to ours.

 

[Fisherman]

They are IMHO... The best form of heating in a van/motorhome in terms of reliable push button/clean/safe/reliable and cheap to run comfort.
Having had one in the transit and having a gas convector fire (with blown air)
I find the fuel consumption of the eberspacher far better.

I can only state what I found.
I don’t think chausson fitted any silencers.
Mine was very noisy, and did take a lot out of the battery during the first few minutes.
I was advised by the dealer and on here to turn on my engine due to the high load on the battery.

I now have the truma combi 6kw system gas/ electric. With the electric on hook up there is no noise at all apart from the fan, on gas there is a slight noise, barely noticeable. I find that the new van heats up faster than my old van. Also my battery loses hardly any power when using gas whilst wild camping.

 

[alcam]

I can only state what I found.
I don’t think chausson fitted any silencers.
Mine was very noisy, and did take a lot out of the battery during the first few minutes.
I was advised by the dealer and on here to turn on my engine due to the high load on the battery.

I now have the truma combi 6kw system gas/ electric. With the electric on hook up there is no noise at all apart from the fan, on gas there is a slight noise, barely noticeable. I find that the new van heats up faster than my old van. Also my battery loses hardly any power when using gas whilst wild camping.

Had one on my chausson had to check exhaust to see if it was on ! Don't remember any battery problem .
Thought it was great , had gas bottles at the time . Meant very low gas use

 

[Fisherman]

Had one on my chausson had to check exhaust to see if it was on ! Don't remember any batteriy problem

Sorry but as I have stated I lost 20-25% charge in ten minutes and if I turned it on outside my home in winter before heading out, I could hear it from inside my home.
My mate has the same system in his v6 camper, and his is much quieter.
This was my first van, and I had nothing to compare it with.
Possibly it was not installed properly, I don’t know.

Why did maxusmicky as if it was noisy.

 

[Fisherman]

Just googled noisy Motorhome diesel heaters.
The internet is littered with posts like this.

Tried my Eberspacher heater out for first time yesterday. I have just one knob to turn it on & off and it goes up from warm to hot. No sign of any thermostat to control it. It runs of of my fuel tank. It seems very noisey from outside. I wouldn't want to upset any neighbouring camper vans. Has anyone got experience of these?

But there are also plenty who agree with comments on here about them being quiet.

 

[Fazerloz]

Start your generator and run the sog unit on your toilet and nobody will be near enough to hear your heater. :have fun:

 

[mistericeman]

Just googled noisy Motorhome diesel heaters.
The internet is littered with posts like this.

Tried my Eberspacher heater out for first time yesterday. I have just one knob to turn it on & off and it goes up from warm to hot. No sign of any thermostat to control it. It runs of of my fuel tank. It seems very noisey from outside. I wouldn't want to upset any neighbouring camper vans. Has anyone got experience of these?

But there are also plenty who agree with comments on here about them being quiet.

There are a plethora of controllers available from old and basic to more modern and complex....

And probably the same when it comes to installation practice....
I'm a little lost as to the purpose of your post regarding googling "noisy motorhome diesel heaters"

It's along the lines of googling inconsiderate motor home users /grey water etc etc.

Fit an eberspacher properly and it's not a problem.... Lash in a cheap Chinese copy and expect issues.

 

[Fazerloz]

Lash in a Eber and expect the same issues.

 

[Fisherman]

There are a plethora of controllers available from old and basic to more modern and complex....

And probably the same when it comes to installation practice....
I'm a little lost as to the purpose of your post regarding googling "noisy motorhome diesel heaters"

It's along the lines of googling inconsiderate motor home users /grey water etc etc.

Fit an eberspacher properly and it's not a problem.... Lash in a cheap Chinese copy and expect issues.

Why are you lost.
All I am trying to do is highlight that not everyone has found diesel heaters quiet.
If you think I am lying then so be it.

 

[mistericeman]

Why are you lost.
All I am trying to do is highlight that not everyone has found diesel heaters quiet.
If you think I am lying then so be it.

Take a chill pill chap.....

All I'm saying IS that correctly installed AND fitted with silencers on both the inlet/exhaust and temps set sensibly...
They aren't noisy....
That's from personal experience NOT Google expertise.

I'm so confident of that.... That when I have time ill be decommissioning the gas blown air on the Swift and replacing it with ANOTHER eberspacher.

 

[Fazerloz]

Take a chill pill chap.....

All I'm saying IS that correctly installed AND fitted with silencers on both the inlet/exhaust and temps set sensibly...
They aren't noisy....
That's from personal experience NOT Google expertise.

I'm so confident of that.... That when I have time ill be decommissioning the gas blown air on the Swift and replacing it with ANOTHER eberspacher.

I would add the Eber to the system rather than remove, but obviously your choice.