Parked next to a jet aircraft...

[Deleted member 5816]

I have 2 Exhaust silencers and 2 intake air silencers previously as we changed vans I removed 1 exhaust silencer and both intake air silencers to move on to the new van these make a tremendous difference to the noise output as will the correct use of the thermostat, the sensor for the thermostat is in the heater return air duct its Not a Room thermostat, setting the thermostat to the lowest possible setting will give full heat output but turn on to the medium and then low heat output. The low output can hardly be heard inside never mind outside

Alf

I’d like to apologise in advance to anyone I park next to. I only put it on when I’m cold so please bear with me! ps, I asked about fitting a silencer but was told there was already one fitted ...

 

[Deleted member 12539]

We used to have an Erbespacher diesel heater fitted to out previous van, it sounded like a jet aircraft warming up to take off.
Once it was up to 'speed' it got quieter and not offensive at all (to us anyway)

 

[barryd]

Can someone explain to me what the advantages are with a diesel heater? Isnt diesel twice the price of LPG? Are they better? More efficient?

I have once or twice heard them running. Took me an age to figure out what it was the first time. Clearly some are quieter than others. Is there a safety element in that you cant gas yourself if your fire goes wonky? Mrs D refuses to have our gas fire on at night if we are off grid in winter as she reckons she gets all bunged up whatever that means. If Im ever on my own I just leave it on low all the time.

 

[mistericeman]

Can someone explain to me what the advantages are with a diesel heater? Isnt diesel twice the price of LPG? Are they better? More efficient?

I have once or twice heard them running. Took me an age to figure out what it was the first time. Clearly some are quieter than others. Is there a safety element in that you cant gas yourself if your fire goes wonky? Mrs D refuses to have our gas fire on at night if we are off grid in winter as she reckons she gets all bunged up whatever that means. If Im ever on my own I just leave it on low all the time.

Diesel is more expensive BUT an eberspacher uses very little

They're also room sealed and installed properly very safe.

 

[Deleted member 69467]

Advantages

Can someone explain to me what the advantages are with a diesel heater? Isnt diesel twice the price of LPG? Are they better? More efficient?

I have once or twice heard them running. Took me an age to figure out what it was the first time. Clearly some are quieter than others. Is there a safety element in that you cant gas yourself if your fire goes wonky? Mrs D refuses to have our gas fire on at night if we are off grid in winter as she reckons she gets all bunged up whatever that means. If Im ever on my own I just leave it on low all the time.

The main advantage of an eberspacher is it heats air and exhausts all fumes, gas fires even with a flue emit carbon dioxide or monoxide, gas blown air heaters like the Truma vario heat work the same as an eber, they exhaust all fumes outside of the vehicle

My D5 eber is 25 years old and still working perfectly, I’m not sure of the reliability of gas blown air heaters.
And I would bet my house on it that none of these Chinese copy’s will ever see a service life within a tenth of that, mine was used daily for 20 years heating a mobile library.

Yes, lpg is half the price of diesel from a forecourt, but I run mine on red diesel which is free if you know who to get it from.

my D5 uses approx a litre every 3 hours, dependant on settings.

I toyed with the idea of replacing my D5 if it ever becomes unserviceable due to age/ parts availability,with a gas blown Truma,I would never install a flued gas fire as 50% of heat goes out of the flue, but they are obviously very quiet in operation..

Eberspacher D5 Airtronic new from uk is around £3k, or from turkey, £1150.

 

[wildebus]

Can someone explain to me what the advantages are with a diesel heater? Isnt diesel twice the price of LPG? Are they better? More efficient?

I have once or twice heard them running. Took me an age to figure out what it was the first time. Clearly some are quieter than others. Is there a safety element in that you cant gas yourself if your fire goes wonky? Mrs D refuses to have our gas fire on at night if we are off grid in winter as she reckons she gets all bunged up whatever that means. If Im ever on my own I just leave it on low all the time.

You could still get CO poisoning from a Deisel heater if something went bad (which is why I have a CO detector despite having no gas appliances).
If installed right, they are no noisier then other heaters. I had mine running overnight for 2 of the last 3 nights. Last night used electric heating and the fan heater was probably louder than the Diesel heater.
Turned out I am overpaying a bit on my fuel but even then it costs around 12p/hour to run (assuming 0.2L/hr @ 60p/L) so actually maybe cheaper then standard electric on household tariff.
Silencers are key. Without them, very noisy. Needed on Both on inlet and exhaust.

 

[Deleted member 69467]

Knockout gas

You could still get CO poisoning from a Deisel heater if something went bad (which is why I have a CO detector despite having no gas appliances).
If installed right, they are no noisier then other heaters. I had mine running overnight for 2 of the last 3 nights. Last night used electric heating and the fan heater was probably louder than the Diesel heater.
Turned out I am overpaying a bit on my fuel but even then it costs around 12p/hour to run (assuming 0.2L/hr @ 60p/L) so actually maybe cheaper then standard electric on household tariff.
Silencers are key. Without them, very noisy. Needed on Both on inlet and exhaust.

I have two of these fitted, they can also sense the gas that thieves spray into your van to knock you out so they can break in and steal from you whilst your unconscious


Dual Voltage Gas Alarm

 

[Deleted member 12539]

One thing I did notice with the Erby was that it was thirsty on the electric on start up.
Still considering fitting a diesel heater as well as the Truma, as back up though in our current van.
The advantage of a gas fire is no noise, no electric consumption, if blown air not used (we had a gas fire/blown air combo, and could turn off the blown air if required, in our caravan).

 

[Deleted member 69467]

D5

One thing I did notice with the Erby was that it was thirsty on the electric on start up.
Still considering fitting a diesel heater as well as the Truma, as back up though in our current van.
The advantage of a gas fire is no noise, no electric consumption, if blown air not used (we had a gas fire/blown air combo, and could turn off the blown air if required, in our caravan).

Yes indeed, my D5 manual states >280watts on startup or shut down, 80w medium setting,40w low setting.

I bought one of these

Digital Monitor LCD Watt Meter DC Ammeter Battery Power Perfect Analyzer Device 701160628119 | eBay

And can state that mine uses approx 512w of power on startup and shutdown, ( I always have the engine running to negate draw from battery bank when starting or shutting down )

The 80 w medium and 40 w low are correct, within a watt or three.

I run 24 volts, so as much as 21 amps during startup / shutdown......ouch!

 

[Nesting Zombie]

The times I have moved further down a Lay-by away from a Lorries night Heater, or Away from a Neibours Van when it’s time to turn in for the night (My mate has got one) when we meet up. I use to have a Webesto 5Kw Blower on my 42ft Boat & found it absolutely brilliant, Instant heat, But Blinking Loud,,,,Hated the Rev Up, Rev Down & the CONSTANT TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC oh sorry got carried away then in a Memory loop !.
So No, Definitely Not for me in the Motorhome. If I’m at a park up now & I hear the Roar of a night Heater I just start my Genny.

 

[ChrisCross]

Huh!

They will be moaning about me running the generator to keep the Air Conditioner running next. They should do what I do and turn my music right up to drown out the noise:lol-049:

 

[Nesting Zombie]

There’s nowt as funny as folk is there !

 

[shaunr68]

I don't understand why people install diesel heaters when they could install an LPG equivalent for less money.

For a truck that has no LPG or for a boat that can't have LPG dropouts, there is some sense in it, but for a motorhome, LPG is cheaper to install, cheaper to run, cleaner, quieter, uses less 12v power and is more controllable.

So why fit a diesel heater?

Not my preference either, I'd sooner have an LPG heater as well, but those cheapo imitation Chinese Eberspacher jobbies cost a lot less than a Propex heater these days. Easy to install as well, if you run them from a dedicated tank rather than tapping into the vehicle's diesel tank. No, I wouldn't want to be messing about decanting diesel from a jerry can inside the vehicle either!

 

[Deleted member 69467]

I don't understand why people install diesel heaters when they could install an LPG equivalent for less money.

For a truck that has no LPG or for a boat that can't have LPG dropouts, there is some sense in it, but for a motorhome, LPG is cheaper to install, cheaper to run, cleaner, quieter, uses less 12v power and is more controllable.

So why fit a diesel heater?

Good point, a D5 blown air is what my van size needs, so it can run on low, even a d4 would be running at least on medium in sub zero outdoor temps
I couldn’t find a bigger gas heater blown air than the Truma varioheat comfort, 3.8kw.
Propex max is 2.8kw, and neither of them have got the lung capacity to push air around my van, so if I need to replace the 24 year old eber, it would be with another eber, and at £1150 from turkey, it’s cost equivalent to a Truma.
The Chinese copy’s.......not for me, jap motorbikes are ok, Chinese are not.
Plus I’m on 24 volt so the Truma wouldn’t work, and red diesel costs me nothing.
for people thinking of a new install on 12 volt, with an lpg tank or them self refillable bottles,? Gas or diesel.....mmmm

 

[mistericeman]

for people thinking of a new install on 12 volt, with an lpg tank or them self refillable bottles,? Gas or diesel.....mmmm

No brainer for me.... Even with the 2 gaslow bottles I've fitted...

It'll be eberspacher all the way...

Yes lpg may be cheaper per litre... BUT having used our gas fire over a few weekends, it still seems to be thirstier than our previous fitted eberspacher.
Hence I'll be fitting a eberspacher to the Swift ASAP and piping it into the main tank for painless, pfaff free, push button, reliable, cheap to run heat.

 

[Moped]

Chausson install diesel heaters as standard on some models, or is it all models? VW campers can have these fitted also. The benefits are you gain storage space as the heating units are fitted external to the habitation area and you gain payload and further storage space as smaller lpg bottles required, or the lpg goes further giving you more time between exchange bottles or refills which allows you to stay off grid for longer. But the units are noisy for neighbours and they do consume a lot of 12v power during ignition and start up. They don’t consume much diesel though, so even factoring in the higher diesel cost they are probably cheaper to run than lpg which is possibly why the French like them!

Big downside is you cannot switch to electric heating when on hook up so heating cost is always yours not the campsite owners.

We hired a Chausson for a week to “try before we buy” and found the diesel heater experience interesting and also entertaining as I rather liked the sound inside the van. But it was noisy for outsiders. We did not buy a Chausson in the end because of layout and specification issues in the kitchen area and the diesel heater as standard specification. We felt diesel heating in the UK not practical given the extended need for heat during colder months with less daylight for solar meaning more hook up and consideration for neighbours on our tiny island.

So a tip is if you see a Chausson or a VW camper at your WC spot and you do not like the noise of diesel heaters move on!

 

[2cv]

People complain about such things as height barriers and overnight restrictions, and the general loss of locations to overnight, but whilst they continue to disturb places by such things as lighting fires, setting up camp, and running generators or diesel heaters it is inevitable and understandable that further restrictions will result. I have heard a diesel heater running at a fairly urban meet location from a fair distance away. I’m certain that local residents could hear it too. In more rural locations with little other noise residents quite far from the overnight spot could be disturbed.
I never disregard a no overnight parking sign. The reason for it may not be apparent even if it has no legal basis, but I suspect that noise from overnight stayers may well prompt many such signs.
In summary, in off-site locations diesel heaters are likely to annoy local residents and put such locations at risk for the future. On sites it’s just other campers who suffer. The present day trend towards if it suits me I’ll do it and stuff anyone else prevails, or maybe it’s just ignorance of the annoyance caused.

 

[wildebus]

I thought I would post my recent (yesterday) experience regarding noise....

I have been parked up on my brother's driveway in a residential area for last two nights. Been running the diesel (actually Kerosene) heater to stay warm as not hooked up.
A couple of times when I have been outside I have actually gone to the exhaust pipe and checked for a draft as I cannot hear ANY noise from the heater outside. General ambient noise in the area is much louder. So much so the heater is effectively silent externally. Inside I can definitely hear the fan and bear in mind my van is an ex-minibus, so lots of single-pane windows.
I CAN hear my heater when at home and outside, but I am a fair way from other houses and no cars ever pass by.

I think these heaters which people complain about must be installed very badly. I bet there are loads of vans with diesel heaters running that you guys never even notice.

 

[mistericeman]

I thought I would post my recent (yesterday) experience regarding noise....

I have been parked up on my brother's driveway in a residential area for last two nights. Been running the diesel (actually Kerosene) heater to stay warm as not hooked up.
A couple of times when I have been outside I have actually gone to the exhaust pipe and checked for a draft as I cannot hear ANY noise from the heater outside. General ambient noise in the area is much louder. So much so the heater is effectively silent externally. Inside I can definitely hear the fan and bear in mind my van is an ex-minibus, so lots of single-pane windows.
I CAN hear my heater when at home and outside, but I am a fair way from other houses and no cars ever pass by.

I think these heaters which people complain about must be installed very badly. I bet there are loads of vans with diesel heaters running that you guys never even notice.

Spot on mate.... A correctly installed diesel heater WITH silencers fitted is barely audible in most circumstances even close up....

One fitted badly is just painful....

Mind I got banned from the Chinese Diesel heater Facebook page, for pointing out that the one someone had fitted with cable ties underneath his passenger seat and exhaust running through the rubber mat and insulation was a accident waiting to happen

 

[Nabsim]

Must admit I stopped reading this thread quite early on, what an intolerant lot folks are turning into.

You are all free to move elsewhere if you ever find yourself next to me if we are cold and want to run the Eber or batteries are low and we need to run a generator.