Diesel heaters

[Hazzobongo]

Thinking about getting one but have a couple of queries.

1 How noisy are they and are they an easy enough DIY.

2 does/has anyone fitted or use one of the millions of Chinese versions on the bay?

[Jillygumbo]

I have an Eberspacher D2 fitted and have it serviced by the Eberspacher registered people, of which one is in Swindon, so helpful to me. Now running very well and quietly once up to temperature.

It does tend to 'roar' a little in the beginning, especially when you're parked next door!

Most campers now have a diesel heater, so the noise is becoming 'normal'!

I've no experience of the chinese ones but I have seen posts from people saying to replace the pipes and parts with good ones BEFORE fitting. I've no idea what that means for the chinese ones!

[Hazzobongo]

OK Thanks JG, where is yours fitted. I've seen a few of those eber ones second hand on ebay but still double the price of the China ones so its basically a case of buying one run it till it goes kaput and buy another just like every other China tat we can buy these days.

[nth]

The Chinese ones generally come with everything you need to install them, wiring, pipework, controller, ducts, outlets, exhaust & silencer etc.
Just be aware of getting an ebay bargain on a genuine Eberspacher or Webasto that has previously been fitted to another vehicle, often they are just chopped out & before you know it you need to by all the extra bits for the install & this soon adds up.
As an example a genuine eberspacher exhaust silencer is around £40 new. I dont think this even comes with the genuine ones & is an optional extra.
Add another £50 to that & you could have yourself a full kit. The chinese ons come with exhuast and inlet silencers.

[Hazzobongo]

Yeah I've been looking at them all on ebay including the second hand ones which like you say are often just the heater itself, we're going to hang on for a month or two as the van needs re-organising for our needs as we're not keen on the side kitchen and the narrow sleeping space because of it so I'll stick it in the rear once it warms up a bit, sort the sleeping space then look to installing a heater.

[-Matt-]

Hello Hazzo,
I get the impression you're around the York/ Yorkshire area (given your posts and where you bought your van from) and I'd like to know that if you're planning on pulling the side conversion out, if you'd want to sell any of it? Looking at putting a partial side in mine and interested if any bits of yours would be suitable.
Thanks
Matt

[Hazzobongo]

We actually only have the hob and sink unit with some overhead lockers and will only be moving the sink/hob to the rear so we can have a fullsize double bed from the one rear seat and two side bench seats I'll be knocking up when the weathers a bit better, sorry mate. I'm near Hartlepool.

[-Matt-]

No worries! I'm going to be making a set up for mine anyway, just wondered what your situation would be

[Hazzobongo]

Yeah I understand, we're not happy with it the way its laid out as the sleeping arrangements mean swivelling the front driver and passenger seat then dropping the second row seat to sleep on, my plan is to reverse that second row, place the kitchen unit at the rear and have two bench seats with the table in the middle to fill the gap and use that second row reversed for our legs, that should get us a full width/length bed. Just gotta sort out some wiring in the control panel and switches, stick in a dedicated fusebox for the leisure battery and dismantle all the piggy back fused gubbins the previous owner installed and put those into the control panel switches as I already blew a fuse trying to use the ciggy lighter with my 12v inflator. Hope to have this one done by April but I'm not going to be out there messing around while its cold, my bones are too old for that now.

[-Matt-]

Ah heh, we're going the other way round. It has a (rubbish) end conversion and I hate it.
Looking forward to better weather for that reason also but sadly I have to do the injection pump seals which is an absolute must do and I will not complete any other work until I am satisfied that it's no longer just p*****g money and diesel all over the floor.
Luckily I've managed to find some of the elusive seals which should arrive this Thursday.

[Hazzobongo]

Well touch wood there doesn't appear to be any mechanical or rust problems with this one and its only done 6000 miles since being imported, the only thing I don't like the look of is the wiring to this side kitchen and that from under the bonnet from the leisure battery, I've seen tidier plates of spaghetti and its all inline fuses and piggy back fuses into the kickpanel.

I've not seen any other installations of these kitchens or the control box which is fitted showing battery charge state but isn't connected to anything else so I'm thinking the PO might have done the lot himself so I will be trying to tidy the mess and stick a relay and fuseboard in there for peace of mind and find my way around the electrical system as presently anything going wrong with that side of it I'll be baffled.

[Jillygumbo]

OK Thanks JG, where is yours fitted. I've seen a few of those eber ones second hand on ebay but still double the price of the China ones so its basically a case of buying one run it till it goes kaput and buy another just like every other China tat we can buy these days.

Under the passenger seat nearest to the outside. The inlet is front footwell (need to keep clear of junk)/outside underneath, with a switch to choose. Outlet is in the sliding door step which is ideal if you have an awning connected you need to keep warm! I was worried about catching it but many have put the outlet on the outside of the centre console facing backwards.

[Hazzobongo]

Hi JG is that under the passenger seat in the engine compartment?

[Jillygumbo]

Hi JG is that under the passenger seat in the engine compartment?

Yes for the main unit

[Hazzobongo]

Looks like the one I eventually get will be going there too then as our kid who the van belongs to isn't too keen on an internal instalation, thanks for the info, do you have it piped into the main fuel tank?