Erberspacher diesel heater

[Garyf123]

Hi, my camper has the above heater installed under the drivers seat. It was installed around 2 years ago as part of full camper conversion. The van only has 11000 miles on and I got it in September 2022. I have only turned the heater on once to try it (it worked) but because it has had virtually no use, will it be ok or will it need a service? Is so, any recommendations for someone near Leeds?
it’s a D4 Airtronic.

Many thanks in advance,

Gary.

 

[rod_vw]

Switch it on and run it full blast for a while (20 mins or more) if it settles down and runs slower than the initial boost speed and doesn't smoke it's good to go.

A D4 will roast you, it's overkill for a T6, a D2 is more than adequate.

 

[Gàirnealair]

I have same and the handbook says to run it for at least ten minutes every month as a maintenance thing.

 

[Mick]

I have the D2 one for 5 years. If you dont use it it will smoke badly but clears itself up. I’d run it for a few hours. I’ve just had mine serviced near Derby £300. However he told me to run it for at least an hour every couple of months. It started to smoke badly on the last Autumn camp. The glow plug was shot.

One major thing to remember is when you run it allow itself to close down on its own. Normally about 5 minutes to clear out the excess. if you switch it on use it for at least an hour, allow closedown and your good to go.

 

[Mick]

I have same and the handbook says to run it for at least ten minutes every month as a maintenance thing.

When I had mine serviced they told me that in his view the 10 minute thing doesn’t clear out the internals of diesel and 1 hour is a minimum. Takes 5 mins to get up to temp, 5 mins to close down.

He maintains the whole of BT’s local fleet.

 

[Green Giant]

Q
As these heaters are sometimes called parking heater or night heaters, can they be used when the van is being driven.., I did this once as forgot heater was on and at some point it turned off with an error on display.

 

[Mick]

Q
As these heaters are sometimes called parking heater or night heaters, can they be used when the van is being driven.., I did this once as forgot heater was on and at some point it turned off with an error on display.

I’ve used mine whilst travelling. I also know a couple of local guys that leave their’s on whilst driving about.

 

[rod_vw]

Q
As these heaters are sometimes called parking heater or night heaters, can they be used when the van is being driven.., I did this once as forgot heater was on and at some point it turned off with an error on display.

Provided that the heater is fitted with the exhaust not facing into the airflow under the vehicle when it's being driven they work perfectly at any time. Trucks, ambulances and small busses have these fitted and use them at all times.

I often switch ours on when we leave home (or before to warm the camper up) and don't switch it off until we return which may be some days later. Ours is a D2 Airtronic with an 801 control wired to use the external thermostat in the controller thus making it work just like domestic central heating. It's been in the current camper like this for almost six years and the two campers before were set up just the same.
Apart from a fan motor fault on a nearly new one which was rectified under warranty by the suppliers we've never had a problem with any of ours.

 

[Gàirnealair]

When I had mine serviced they told me that in his view the 10 minute thing doesn’t clear out the internals of diesel and 1 hour is a minimum. Takes 5 mins to get up to temp, 5 mins to close down.

He maintains the whole of BT’s local fleet.

Makes sense . . . and good to know.
Up here in the frozen North, when I do run the heater it is usually for much longer than ten minutes

 

[Garyf123]

Switch it on and run it full blast for a while (20 mins or more) if it settles down and runs slower than the initial boost speed and doesn't smoke it's good to go.

A D4 will roast you, it's overkill for a T6, a D2 is more than adequate.

Apologies, it’s a D2!
Will turn it on highest temperature and run it for 20 mins at weekend and keep my fingers crossed!

 

[Garyf123]

I have the D2 one for 5 years. If you dont use it it will smoke badly but clears itself up. I’d run it for a few hours. I’ve just had mine serviced near Derby £300. However he told me to run it for at least an hour every couple of months. It started to smoke badly on the last Autumn camp. The glow plug was shot.

One major thing to remember is when you run it allow itself to close down on its own. Normally about 5 minutes to clear out the excess. if you switch it on use it for at least an hour, allow closedown and your good to go.

Don’t know anything about these but £300 seems a lot of money for servicing one of these units, did you have any parts replaced?

 

[rod_vw]

Apologies, it’s a D2!
Will turn it on highest temperature and run it for 20 mins at weekend and keep my fingers crossed!

I have very little doubt that it will all work OK, it may smoke a bit and also smell but as long as the fan runs up to boost speed it will clear itself.

If you've little experience with an Eberspacher have patience when you switch it on, they take much longer to run their diagnostics and gradually start up than you will expect, first of all there will be no sign of anything happening and than the fan will start up very slowly followed by the sound of the pump starting and eventually the burner lighting up and the fan speeding up.

There are times when the heater has not run for a considerable time that it does not fire up on the first switch on, they then try to run but after a while stop. This is usually because there is air in the diesel feed from the pump, it shouldn't happen but does occasionally. If this happens let it rest for five minutes or so and try again.

 

[Garyf123]

I have very little doubt that it will all work OK, it may smoke a bit and also smell but as long as the fan runs up to boost speed it will clear itself.

If you've little experience with an Eberspacher have patience when you switch it on, they take much longer to run their diagnostics and gradually start up than you will expect, first of all there will be no sign of anything happening and than the fan will start up very slowly followed by the sound of the pump starting and eventually the burner lighting up and the fan speeding up.

There are times when the heater has not run for a considerable time that it does not fire up on the first switch on, they then try to run but after a while stop. This is usually because there is air in the diesel feed from the pump, it shouldn't happen but does occasionally. If this happens let it rest for five minutes or so and try again.

Brilliant, thank you for your advice. Will let you know how I get on!

 

[Green Giant]

I have very little doubt that it will all work OK, it may smoke a bit and also smell but as long as the fan runs up to boost speed it will clear itself.

If you've little experience with an Eberspacher have patience when you switch it on, they take much longer to run their diagnostics and gradually start up than you will expect, first of all there will be no sign of anything happening and than the fan will start up very slowly followed by the sound of the pump starting and eventually the burner lighting up and the fan speeding up.

There are times when the heater has not run for a considerable time that it does not fire up on the first switch on, they then try to run but after a while stop. This is usually because there is air in the diesel feed from the pump, it shouldn't happen but does occasionally. If this happens let it rest for five minutes or so and try again.

Thanks for this advice, when I got our van which had one fitted, I really struggled trying to get it running and it kept stopping as you described, along with the very tiny display screen on controller and all the symbols, it’s was a headache, I’ve worked out the on and off, that’s it, I’m going to buy the basic remote control, hoping this will make it simpler to use.

 

[Mick]

Thanks for this advice, when I got our van which had one fitted, I really struggled trying to get it running and it kept stopping as you described, along with the very tiny display screen on controller and all the symbols, it’s was a headache, I’ve worked out the on and off, that’s it, I’m going to buy the basic remote control, hoping this will make it simpler to use.

I had the basic remote control and the only advantage to it IMHO was that you could leave it permanently switched on: great in the Alps. I have the 701 which is great but overly complicated to programme. In reality I just use the 8 hour facility rather than the 3 timed programs. Because of the 5 minutes warm ups and cooldown I’ve never been able to set the 3 timers to work consecutively. I have to leave 15 minutes between each programmed time to get it to work consistently. If you don’t it seems to override and not switch on for the follow on program.

 

[rod_vw]

I had the basic remote control and the only advantage to it IMHO was that you could leave it permanently switched on: great in the Alps. I have the 701 which is great but overly complicated to programme. In reality I just use the 8 hour facility rather than the 3 timed programs. Because of the 5 minutes warm ups and cooldown I’ve never been able to set the 3 timers to work consecutively. I have to leave 15 minutes between each programmed time to get it to work consistently. If you don’t it seems to override and not switch on for the follow on program.

This is the controller that I have installed, no timer just simple temperature settings. I does have the option of running the heater fan only as an air circulation unit.

www.pfjones.co.uk/eberspachercontrollers/801_operating.pdf

 

[Mick]

This is the controller that I have installed, no timer just simple temperature settings. I does have the option of running the heater fan only as an air circulation unit.

www.pfjones.co.uk/eberspachercontrollers/801_operating.pdf

View attachment 184236

Yep that’s what I had. My current controller also give me the ventilation option.

 

[Murof6T]

Heater will be absolutely fine …as others have said try and run it for at least 15 mins per month prob be a bit Smokey to start with .
Don’t let anyone tell you it needs a service as it’s practically brand new.
Had several ebbys in all my vans .

 

[Gàirnealair]

Heater will be absolutely fine …as others have said try and run it for at least 15 mins per month prob be a bit Smokey to start with .
Don’t let anyone tell you it needs a service as it’s practically brand new.
Had several ebbys in all my vans .

All this talk of Eberspächer heaters had me rummaging through the Instructions/Service Book. Service interval is listed as 1,000 hours or 32,000 miles.

(still trying to work out how a diesel heater has its own odometer )

 

[rod_vw]

All this talk of Eberspächer heaters had me rummaging through the Instructions/Service Book. Service interval is listed as 1,000 hours or 32,000 miles.

(still trying to work out how a diesel heater has its own odometer )

Get a dealer to pull the stats off the heater ECU, there is a huge amount of info there but not miles of course.

I think modern instructions don't have a service interval, certainly not mentioned in any VW service schedule that I have seen.