Eberspacher

[Soundings]

Got the boat up and running today. She seems to have wintered well apart, that is for the heating. Tried to fire it up with engine running and recently charged batteries but nothing, just a fan full of cold air! What I did notice though was that the ticking noise the pump normally makes was noticeable by its absence. Does the pump cut-out once the heating decides it cannot fire up?

To be honest the system has not been running as hot as it might anyway so it probably needs a service. Any recommendations out there and ideas as to cost?

Many thanks

[MBA Marine]

Hi colin,

Was the fuel tap open?

did the pump click at all?

If it clicked a few times and then stopped, its most likley that it cant fire proberbly due to a very coked up gauze inside, if it cant fire it will stop trying after a couple of goes then run the fan to clear combustable fuel/gasses.

If the pump did not click then first look at if the wires are attached and no fuses blown.

As you said its been running cold then i would go back to being coked up, and yes its needs a good service. either remove unit and take to Panks or get one of their guys out.

Mark

[Antares_9]

These heaters (all of the relatively moden ones anyway) run through a diagnostic check of all the components before the fuel pump starts or the glow pin takes any power despite the fan running so if the pump does not tick it is reasonable to expect a component failure. If it was in need of a decoke it would at least tick and blow out some white smoke prior to giving a flame failure during operation or failure to ignite code on the control panel. What if any is the sequence of flashes on the panel and what model is it as without that even I am stabbing in the dark. Early Ebos are a bit voltage sensitive so worth making sure you have tight & bright connections and a well charged battery too.

[Soundings]

Thanks Antares. I was not aware there was a control panel. All I have is the on/off switch in the cabin that shows a red light when on, as it always has. This remains on throughout the cycle which is fan running for quite a while before stopping altogether.

[Antares_9]

If you have the standard switch on off type then it is probably a very old unit with no self diagnostics, even the water heaters with only a switch have a light which will give fault codes, do you know the model and year at all?

[Soundings]

I have no idea, but will have another look when at the boat tomorrow. Maybe there is some writing on the case I hvae missed!

[Mowjo]

Ok! Question from Me, I picked up my new boat today and it has the Eber airtronic M-D4 heating fitted, it was fitted in 2007 and was serviced a few weeks ago, I fired it up and it works just fine and fires out hot air after a couple of minutes, it only has the on/off/fan switch, but here's the question, the guy at the brokers said I have to turn the ignition on before I switch it on then once it's going turn the ignition off, is that the case of can I just switch it on at the switch, Next question! the manual says it has a fuel shut off do I need to turn this off or can I leave it on? because I had a quick look and can't seem to find one, I pressume it would be somewhere for easy access but I have no idea where to look,,

Regards Frank,,,

[Antares_9]

Frank, the manual might say a fuel cock should be fitted but that doesn’t mean there is one, BSS does touch on fuel cocks but it can be easily argued that once powered down the fuel pump (solenoid type) is in effect a fuel cock just like any solenoid fuel shut off. However it is best practise to have one and use it when leaving the boat for more than a few days. Preferably it should be fitted directly onto the fuel standpipe at the tank. There is no reason why the ignition should be on when starting one of these at all unless it’s wrongly fitted and not a proper marine unit. It is possible that the broker has misunderstood (not an unusual occurrence) the old chestnut about running the engine to increase the voltage to the glowpin during start up. I use the word chestnut as that should never be necessary unless there is a fault in either the heater or the battery maintenance regime and that should be addressed rather than living with the engine running procedure. The comment on the ignition leads me to remind about these heaters that they should never be fitted other than to a permanently live feed, if the feed is accidentally switched off by a guest or meddling child when in full flow it can result in heat damage to the internal components especially the expensive ECU and in extremis a fire, though I do not know of any instance of that. The one exception to that rule is TRS vehicles which require the ignition on and when it is switched off they go through the cooling cycle and shut down but that requires signal wiring modification and the main feed is still always live. As the heater is reputed to have been serviced ask the broker for the diagnostics and exhaust CO2 print out from the calibration check during the service, I’ll have £50 with you that there is not one.

[Mowjo]

Thanks Antares! Now I know I'll try it without the ignition switchted on, I did accidently turn it on and and the light came on but turned it of quickly because I didn't know if I would damage it, I'll also check to see if it has a permanent live feed, I have the Warranty Cert and it says boat installation so it was a Professional installtion and I must say it all looks a very neat job, I have all the paperwork for it but I think you might win that £50 as there is nothing about it being serviced, so it was probably switch it on, yes that works, service done,

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

I know when we hire boats, the yard always tell us how to operate the unit, and also tell you to start the engine to fire it up if the batteries are low, but if you have reasonable charge in them, you should`nt need the engine running at all.

[Antares_9]

Your particular unit will operate on 10.5v to 16v (at the heater) and 10.5 is a pretty low battery as I'm sure you know.

[Mowjo]

Antares! I was going to ask if there's a way to fit a timer to this unit so it will come on before I get up, But I decided I'll set the Alarm for 5am so the wife can get up and switch it on so it's nice and toasty when I get up,,,

Regards Frank,,,

[Antares_9]

Timer is easy Frank, as is a temperature control unit, in fact you can get them combined, I fit one to almost every install now and I wouldn't be without mine. Not just for the morning but for next Friday night before you arrive, an absolute boon in the "off season"

[Mowjo]

Thanks Antares I'll look into that, be nice to have that bit of heat on before I get up, are the timers easy to fit? and roughly how much are they???

Just out of interest how much diesel do they use, my Mrs asked me and I told her about a pint a year

Regards Frank,,,,

[Antares_9]

A combined temperature control & timer is around £100 Frank, very easy to fit if the harness is already there which it should be. I imagine if it is ex hire that the yard fitted a simple on off switch so it ran at full chat all the time as before ULSD it was a good thing for reducing maintainance costs, not so important now with the cleaner burn of the diesel inland yards must sell. The D4 should use between .1 and .5 of a litre per hour depending on the heat setting which currently will be .5l per hour as it probably runs at maximum all the time.

[Mowjo]

Thanks Antares! I checked prices and they are about the price you say, I think the Boat has been in private hands for around 10 years, So the last owner must have had it fitted as it was done in 2007, I know it's ex Summercraft and they take good care of their boats, going by the condition of the boat I don't think the last owner used it much but he certainly should be proud of the way he looked after it, a couple of hours cleaning inside and it's spotless, I might fit one at the end of the season or before if the wife complains about the cold, neither of us feel the cold that much but now we have retired I want to do a bit of winter cruising, and I don't want to wake up and have to break icicles off my doodads, I had a shock when I saw the price of the Eber system and realised why I never had it fitted on any of my other boats, now I know why everyone checks E/bay, It was only a quick check but I found prices from £1600 up to £2600 for the D4 and I pressume there's fitting to be added to that,,

Regards Frank,,,,

[Antares_9]

You need to be a bit selective on Ebay though, there are a lot of new / used units which are actually vehicle heaters and they have a different ECU which is controlled by the CAN BUS of the car / van, particularly with water heaters, then there are the heaters from Turkey which look cheap but if you wind up paying import duty & VAT are not, also we are instructed they are not covered under warranty and as soon as we ask for the serial # we know if they are registered or not. The worst ones are the ducting fittings, loads at buy now prices which people think are cheap but are actually above proper dealer retail price.

All that said there are some real bargains, you just need to be careful.

[BuffaloBill]

Mowjo. Regard fitting a timer.....

Just done mine and it's a godsend in these mornings! No more

getting up in the cold to put the kettle on. Lovely.

Took about an hour to change over.

Cost £110. Bargain in those circumstances..

[Mowjo]

Thanks Bill! it looks like it will be an end of year job now, The wife decided she needs/wants a new cooker first and I want three new batteries, it may happen before then as the wife feels the cold more than me, problem is being a new boat to us there's a few bits I need first, I say need I mean want, including Insurance the cooker and the other bits I have ordered I'm up to £1.5k and I've only been out on the boat for three hours,,

Regards Frank,,,

[Antares_9]

Do you have a feeling of Deja vous Frank

[Mowjo]

Antares apart from the cooker and TV which is going in to keep the boss happy, the rest of the stuff is just normal boaty stuff to basically improve our stays on it, I forgot you need all the bedding, cooking stuff, like pots and pans, plus other home from home stuff, the battery's checked out ok but they are getting on a bit so I thought I'd replace them anyway as a least i'll have peace of mind, as far as I can work out we have bought everything for the boat now apart from that timer which is on the to do list, the annoying thing is we had everything for the boat up until a few months ago, when the Boss said it's just taking up space so lets get rid of it all because we won't be getting another boat, think they call that Sods law, so off it all went to the Car Boot Sale where someone got some real good bargains,

Regards Frank,,,,