Espar Heater Service

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Espar Heater Service

Postby bdosborn » Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:21 am

I serviced the Espar heater today. Espar is a diesel fired heater that is used by truckers so they don't have to idle their engines. Its also popular in the yachting world as well. I like it a lot, it puts out tons of heat and only draws around 10 amp-hrs a night. I got a used one on eBay a couple of years ago, a D1LC, which is no longer in production. It has been replaced by the Airtronic D2. I saw quite a a few of them up for auction several years ago but I don't see many of them anymore, which is too bad because they're perfect for a small trailer.

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As you can see, its a pretty compact package. Cold air goes in one end and hot air comes out the other.

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It puts out 7500 btuh on high but it doesn't run on high very long. It throttles back to low and you can't tell its on, its very quiet. It only uses a .03 gallons an hour of diesel on low. I have a two gallon tank in the tongue box that I filled it in the spring and we've only used about half of it.

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Here it is with the case off, you can see the inside heat exchanger. Combustion air and gases are vented to the outside. The silver box in front is the electronic control unit. It meters the fuel and air in response to the temperature at the thermostat.

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Here's all the crap I found inside, it was overdue for a cleaning and a new glowplug.

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I've got it mounted under the bed. It blows on the floor in front of the bed so the floor and our shoes are toasty warm in the morning.

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This is looking up at the floor of the trailer. Combustion air comes in the black tube and combustion gases are vented through the silver tube. You can just see the electric pump that pulls diesel from the tank and sends it to the heater. I was worried about having a glowing hot pipe under the trailer but the exhaust never gets so hot that it radiates heat.

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They make a muffler for the exhaust. Its super quiet when its on low but it sounds like a mini jet when its firing up (pretty cool). Its mainly for the people around us as it never gets loud inside the trailer.

This is a perfect heater for us, its quiet, it slows down to a low setting instead of cycling on and off constantly like a propane heater, it only draws 0.8 amp-hrs on low and doesn't use much fuel. The bad side is they're spendy, can be finicky if installed incorrectly and spare parts keep getting more expensive. Luckily I've got a spare parts heater so hopefully it will last us awhile.

http://www.espar.com/documents/D1LCc.pdf

Bruce
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Postby Shadow Catcher » Mon Nov 22, 2010 11:43 am

I have been thinking about one of these for a couple of years and the idea of housing one in a tool box has appeal. If you are not using diesel for fuel why not run it on kerosene or #1fuel oil both of which have less additives and less sulfur? This would lead I would think to less gunking up.
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Postby bdosborn » Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:32 pm

Yup, they're expensive. It took me at least 6 months of watching eBay before I found mine and it was still expensive at $425. I still have an espar and eberspacher eBay watch list, just in case I see another deal. One tip is to search world wide under eberspacher. They seem to be cheaper overseas and the shipping isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

The kerosene tip is a good one, espar recommends running a little kerosene through it once a year. It apparently burns much hotter than diesel and burns off the carbon deposits.
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Postby Billy K » Thu Nov 25, 2010 7:32 pm

A little trick to use with the Espar....

I keep a "tupperware" dish, with a sponge in it; just a tad covered over with water right in front of the hot air vent.

By adding the "Hillbilly Humidifier" my truck stays more comfy and I don't get nose bleeds from the dry air. Also, keep your highest vents open to allow for better circulation.
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Postby Shadow Catcher » Thu Nov 25, 2010 7:46 pm

I am looking at an alternative by finding a VW BN2 used in the type 1,2 and 3 also made by Eberspaecher using petrol, much simpler and some new parts are still available for them. This would mean I do not have to carry a supply of diesel. The trick would be to find a small heat exchanger propane furnace the size of the Espar.
Btw that 50$ broken Espar went for $320 (I was bidding but quit at $240) the fan is about $200.
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Postby danlott » Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:57 pm

Shadow Catcher wrote:The trick would be to find a small heat exchanger propane furnace the size of the Espar.


Do a search on Propex heaters. These heaters are not cheap, but comparable in price to the Espar. Basicly the same type of installation and it uses propane. I have been thinking about getting one for my build, the cost has held me back so far.

http://westyventures.com/propex.html

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Postby bdosborn » Fri Nov 26, 2010 12:43 am

For about the same price as the Propex, you can get a new Webasto diesel furnace. Diesel has a much higher caloric content than propane so you use less fuel for the same heat, but I'm biased since I have a diesel truck. :lol:

http://www.bunkheaters.com/products.htm

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Oops, looked at that price again for the Propex, its quite a bit cheaper, isn't it...

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Postby Shadow Catcher » Fri Nov 26, 2010 12:06 pm

There are a number of Webesto/Espar on ebay currently.
I am also looking at a Suburban propane furnace from a popup the dimensions are 91/2 X 93/4 X 21. My feeling is that I could build a housing for it and run the goesinta and goesouta ducts through the ones I use for the AC.
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Postby sagebrush » Fri Nov 26, 2010 6:31 pm

I had Webasto heaters on 2 over the road trucks. :thumbsup: They are a quality product. Kinda spendy but trouble free! Will
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Postby Shadow Catcher » Sun Nov 28, 2010 8:16 pm

Bruce
Got couple of question for you, what is the parts availability on older Espar/Eberspacher. It would appear that they need maintenance with regularity and things like gaskets are not reusable. I am fairly good at cutting out gaskets but some of the other items, seals etc...
The other question is, the level of sophistication seems to have increased i.e. electronic controls and i am a big fan of parts left out don't go wrong and ECM's from what I can see are killer expensive.
The older VW versions appear to have had a thermosensor and a few relays.
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Postby bdosborn » Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:15 pm

Maintenance parts are pretty easy to find but I look overseas for them.

Maint. Kit Linky

Replacement parts are available but extremely expensive. The D1LC is basically computer controlled but it doesn't appear that the controller fails that often, at least from what I've read. Here's a link to a US source for parts:

Espar Linky

From what I can tell, the Espar is pretty reliable, as long as its maintained. I bought a parts D1LC that has a good blower and ECU for $100 so I hope I don't need to buy much in the future. Spring seems to be the time that people get rid of their Espars.

The blower unit has a little magnet on the fan that the ECU uses to determine fan speed. The only thing wrong with the parts unit I got was the magnet had fallen off. You'll need to watch out for 5 failed start lock out as it needs to be reset at a dealer if that happens.

5 failed starts linky

For some reason the thermostat/controller is crazy expensive so make sure you get one as part of the deal if you buy a used unit.

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Postby Shadow Catcher » Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:10 pm

Bruce thanks for the links.
Found an after market controller http://webasto-usa.com there are among other things wiring diagrams. This guy has a couple of youtube videos of his controllers.
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