Which night-heater?

Nam600 said:
After about 12 weeks of research, I came to the following conclusion. It's just my opinion and thoughts so I hope it does not offend anyone:

- The Planar/Autoterms offering is a good quality product at a reasonable price. I just can't give my money to a Russian company fronting as a Latvian. 3 year warranty as standard.
- The Chinese cheap items have a pretty bad reputation. It seems there is a lot of highly inflated/manipulated reviews out there which just don't add up and seem very suspect to me. You get what you pay for and a diesel heater for £200 speaks volumes. No warranties.
- The Webasto and Eberspacher products are very expensive. No denying that but to be honest, this is my first foray into owning a campervan and it seems just about everything is expensive. On the plus side, both these manufacturers offer 3 year warranties. Reviews are very positive with any issues dealt with fairly under warranty.

There are a few other options such as the diesel heater and hob combo which seems a good alternative but a bit complicated for my needs. Given that I am in for around £40K investment of my T6, and that I take my family on holiday in it, I am not keen on the Chinese crap and frankly I am actively avoiding as much of it as I can. (Even though nearly everything is made there these days and my house is full of it!) That leaves me with the Webasto and Eberspacher - time to suck it up and convince myself that it's a sound investment of quality items and a good back-up warranty....

- Pricing: There are plenty of installers around and the pricing for a Webasto or Eberspacher seems to vary between £1200 fitted including VAT to £1500 fitted including VAT. Bodans is about the best at £1200 for the Webasto (not sure if that's including the HD timer/programmer or standard dial) but It's too far out of my way for 2 days to fit. Other places are similar pricing but all too far away for me so I have chosen a local installer with a good reputation who is just 15miles down the road from me. Not the cheapest just shy of £1500 including VAT but more convenient for me.
Click to expand...
We had a Webasto fitted last year and it’s been brilliant. It gets lovely and warm really quickly and doesn’t use much fuel. You won’t regret it.
 
Skyliner33 said:
Thanks. Out of interest any reason you picked Webasto over Eberspacher? Was it simply the one that your local place fitted?
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Some people claim the Webasto is slightly quieter, uses less fuel and electrical energy but that's probably because its a 2kw heater and the Eber is 2.2kw. My local place does both heaters and they offered the Webasto as i got their number from the Webasto installers list. Personally, I would have gone for either.
 
Skyliner33 said:
Hi, it seems this guy is running an Eberspacher of a Chinese controller, so maybe it would work?

Click to expand...
If that's true then problem sorted. Do you know anyone with an Eber? Perhaps you could buy a controller and try it out to see if it works?
 
Nam600 said:
If that's true then problem sorted. Do you know anyone with an Eber? Perhaps you could buy a controller and try it out to see if it works?
Click to expand...
Scratch that. He got around it by replacing the control board in the actual heater with a Chinese copy.
 
Salty Spuds said:
Is there a reason you want to use wifi rather than SIM?
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Yes, I want to set up a wifi in my van, and I don't want to pay for 2 SIM cards. Paying for a SIM card to switch on a heater a few times seems a bit much. Plys have you seen the cost of the Eber/Webasto units that use the sim for remote? Ideally I would just like a remote fob that works from a few hundred metres away, but it seems both Eberspacher and Webasto have dropped this.
 
Skyliner33 said:
Yes, I want to set up a wifi in my van, and I don't want to pay for 2 SIM cards. Paying for a SIM card to switch on a heater a few times seems a bit much. Plys have you seen the cost of the Eber/Webasto units that use the sim for remote? Ideally I would just like a remote fob that works from a few hundred metres away, but it seems both Eberspacher and Webasto have dropped this.
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We have a Thermocall TC4 on our van, fitted when it was converted 5+ years ago. I put an Asda PAYG SIM in it & £10 credit. It’s still got £4.50 credit on it. For us, the ability to be able to activate it from a long distance is a benefit. We do a lot of hill walking/skiing/boating & to be able to switch the heater on half an hour before we get back to the van is a big plus.
 
Salty Spuds said:
We have a Thermocall TC4 on our van, fitted when it was converted 5+ years ago. I put an Asda PAYG SIM in it & £10 credit. It’s still got £4.50 credit on it. For us, the ability to be able to activate it from a long distance is a benefit. We do a lot of hill walking/skiing/boating & to be able to switch the heater on half an hour before we get back to the van is a big plus.
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I don't think these long lasting sims area available anymore, that all seem to need topping up every month even if not used.
 
Skyliner33 said:
I don't think these long lasting sims area available anymore, that all seem to need topping up every month even if not used.
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I have to use it at least once every 6 months to keep it live. I just send a “status request” text to keep it active. It also works abroad too, so great when we’re skiing.
 
Salty Spuds said:
I have to use it at least once every 6 months to keep it live. I just send a “status request” text to keep it active. It also works abroad too, so great when we’re skiing.
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That would be fine, but they are not avaiable now. Just monthly bundles, which last 1 month, obviously.
 
Skyliner33 said:
That would be fine, but they are not avaiable now. Just monthly bundles, which last 1 month, obviously.
Click to expand...
Asda still do one, non expiring credit as long as you make one chargeable call/text every 180 days. It’s the one I’m on. It uses Vodafone.

Asda Mobile SIM Bundle Deals (From £5 a month) - Asda Mobile

There are SIM Bundles to get excited about with Asda. Grab a great value monthly deal from £5. No credit checks or commitments. Powered by Vodafone
mobile.asda.com mobile.asda.com
 
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