Diesel Heater

Hello , Does anyone know about the power a diesel heater use in an hour, We have just got an 07 symbol,
we had the diesel heater on for an hour and then it stopped working, and music went off that I had plug into 12v leisure battery, so I started the engine, ran for 15 mins and the heater started up again, So I took a look at the battery under the drivers seat, I could see it is 85ah, Is this big enough to run the heater, or do I need a bigger one, 
Any help out there please,, 
Jan&Bob

If you've not got the manual you can download from this link (can't say it's the right model) and if you scroll down to technical data you will find power consumption figures....

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

It's more likely to be the condition of the battery than its size. If it's the original it will probably be past its best, and even if it's been replaced it may have been left in a discharged state and damaged as a result.

A/S have fitted a number of different diesel heaters in the past, but if you find out what make/model you have, the power consumption figures can be looked up on the Internet. Typically consumption will be high on startup when the glow pin is on, and then will drop back to moderate after that, and should then drop to very low once the habitation area is up to temperature.

85ah battery is standard fit on your van. It's probably an Eberspacher heater.  Agree with Mojo, it's most likely the condition of your leisure battery that is causing the problem. If you can run off electric hook up and switch on your charger, (assuming your charger is ok), you can see if the problem goes away. If so your leisure battery is the culprit.

Hoopman wrote:85ah battery is standard fit on your van. It's probably an Eberspacher heater.  Agree with Mojo, it's most likely the condition of your leisure battery that is causing the problem. If you can run off electric hook up and switch on your charger, (assuming your charger is ok), you can see if the problem goes away. If so your leisure battery is the culprit.

Exactly what Hoopman says.
I had a 2002 Symbol, it had an Eberspacher D2 with 2KW output, just enough for a small van like a Symbol. They need a good voltage to startup and ignite the diesel and cutout if voltage drops. If it works OK on EHU then it's the condition of your battery.

Just to add, if the battery seems to be OK, then it might be a loose connection supplying the Eber'.

We had a similar problem on our syndicate boat that turned out to be a poorly crimped terminal.

2007 was the year that A/S started fitting the electric heater option to the Eberspächer D2 heaters, do you know if you have it fitted or not? Having a mains heater option would potentially remove your problem.

85 a/h is really quite a small capacity to run a diesel heater over a cold weekend of 2 nights. The battery does need to be in good condition with most of its rated capacity present.

I work on the basis that when a battery gets to 70% of its rated capacity, it is time to change it.

Hoopman wrote:85ah battery is standard fit on your van. It's probably an Eberspacher heater.  Agree with Mojo, it's most likely the condition of your leisure battery that is causing the problem. If you can run off electric hook up and switch on your charger, (assuming your charger is ok), you can see if the problem goes away. If so your leisure battery is the culprit.

Yes I can run the heater on hook up, so it would seem my charger is ok, the problem is likely to be battery. many thanks

AutoSleepyDon wrote:

Hoopman wrote:85ah battery is standard fit on your van. It's probably an Eberspacher heater.  Agree with Mojo, it's most likely the condition of your leisure battery that is causing the problem. If you can run off electric hook up and switch on your charger, (assuming your charger is ok), you can see if the problem goes away. If so your leisure battery is the culprit.

Exactly what Hoopman says.
I had a 2002 Symbol, it had an Eberspacher D2 with 2KW output, just enough for a small van like a Symbol. They need a good voltage to startup and ignite the diesel and cutout if voltage drops. If it works OK on EHU then it's the condition of your battery.

What is the way to test the battery,, This is new ground for me,, Jan says to put a solar panel on, but i read that can hurt your battery with a constant charge going in to the battery when your not using it

meanchris wrote:Just to add, if the battery seems to be OK, then it might be a loose connection supplying the Eber'.

We had a similar problem on our syndicate boat that turned out to be a poorly crimped terminal.

I will remove the battery and take a look, Do I need to do anything before disconnecting the battery?.

Unless you live at one of the Poles Peter...

Anyway, the best way to test the battery is with a voltmeter, to see what voltage it reaches when on charge and charged, then what it drops to when it's in use, and how quickly.

You might get advice to change the battery if you're uncertain, I wouldn't argue with that, and I agree with Spospe that even an 85Ah battery will be getting low after a weekend of habitation use as well as driving the Eber'.

I think that you need the battery to be in its best possible condition, maybe even take the opportunity to see whether you can replace it with a slightly higher capacity battery if its condition is doubtful.
It does sound, like everyone else is suggesting, that it's a wheezy battery.
This from a scrooge who will try to squeeze the last dying breath from a battery before buying a new one.

i know every 'van is different, but my Eberspacher starts and runs without selecting the leisure battery...I've always thought it had it's own 12v connection to the main battery.
If the difference between the battery types is that the main requires a lot of power for a short time - to start the engine, and the leisure requires a small amount of power for a longer period, then the Eber would be better off being powered from the main battery ? 

I'm pretty sure that A/S wire the heater to the leisure battery by default - it was true on a Flair (which unusually had an Eber Hydronic, fitted from the factory) and it's true on the Trooper which has an Airtronic. The connection in both those cases was direct (via a fuse, obviously) so that the heater can run while the engine is running - i.e. it's not subject to the EU EMC regulation cutoff.

Peter Brown wrote:

bobbysong wrote:
What is the way to test the battery,, This is new ground for me,, Jan says to put a solar panel on, but i read that can hurt your battery with a constant charge going in to the battery when your not using it

That's the beauty of a solar panel, its automatically switched off when it gets dark and switched on again when it gets light - brilliant engineering with a time clock that's correct anywhere in the world.

You know I never thought of it getting dark and switching off Good point Peter, thank you, 
So my head is spinning now with info going in. I need to test the battery, I will see if a larger ah will fit, Mine is under the drivers seat, Has anyone fitted a larger one, Is there room under the seat ?. So many things to take into account,, 
Thanks to every one of pointing out different Idea's   Bob

If you can get a larger battery in , watch the height, there is the danger of terminals touching the underside of seat. I found a 90 amp to fit (dimensions ok) but then found it didn't have shoulders on sides of base for holding bracket to fit. The small extra power wasn't worth the effort.

I have managed to get two Numax 75 Ahr batteries under the seat by removing the battery tray and utilising a deep plastic Gratnell tray with tie-down straps around the seat base. The only way to be able to get a few nights usage is to turn the heater right down once you go to bed and leave it so it is just ticking over.

Paulmold wrote:but then found it didn't have shoulders on sides of base for holding bracket to fit. The small extra power wasn't worth the effort.

I got caught out by this too (on a vehicle, not a van). I used Tayna, who are generally very good - their website had a picture which clearly showed a flange on the battery base, but when it arrived it didn't have one, which meant a load of unnecessary work arranging a different method of fixing down. In fairness, all the manufacturers reserve the right to vary the spec, so Tayna were no doubt a victim of that.

Paulmold wrote:If you can get a larger battery in , watch the height, there is the danger of terminals touching the underside of seat. I found a 90 amp to fit (dimensions ok) but then found it didn't have shoulders on sides of base for holding bracket to fit. The small extra power wasn't worth the effort.

So it seems that staying with 85Ah is the way to go,, I will learn how to use my power,, Before we got the symbol a few weeks ago we had a Autocruise Vista, Gas heating was very good and had 115Ah to play with, We go on to the C&CC THS, easy stayed 3 or 4 nights without battery loss, I will have to see how we go on on our 1st trip in the symbol,,, and use power accordingly ..
Thank you everyone,,
Jan&Bob

bobbysong wrote:

Paulmold wrote:If you can get a larger battery in , watch the height, there is the danger of terminals touching the underside of seat. I found a 90 amp to fit (dimensions ok) but then found it didn't have shoulders on sides of base for holding bracket to fit. The small extra power wasn't worth the effort.

So it seems that staying with 85Ah is the way to go,, I will learn how to use my power,, Before we got the symbol a few weeks ago we had a Autocruise Vista, Gas heating was very good and had 115Ah to play with, We go on to the C&CC THS, easy stayed 3 or 4 nights without battery loss, I will have to see how we go on on our 1st trip in the symbol,,, and use power accordingly ..




Thank you everyone,,
Jan&Bob

We also use THS's a lot and have never had a dead battery but thats because I have an 80w solar panel on the Nuevo to feed my one battery. It's the first thing on the list to get done when we get the Sussex

Paulmold wrote:

bobbysong wrote:

Paulmold wrote:If you can get a larger battery in , watch the height, there is the danger of terminals touching the underside of seat. I found a 90 amp to fit (dimensions ok) but then found it didn't have shoulders on sides of base for holding bracket to fit. The small extra power wasn't worth the effort.

So it seems that staying with 85Ah is the way to go,, I will learn how to use my power,, Before we got the symbol a few weeks ago we had a Autocruise Vista, Gas heating was very good and had 115Ah to play with, We go on to the C&CC THS, easy stayed 3 or 4 nights without battery loss, I will have to see how we go on on our 1st trip in the symbol,,, and use power accordingly ..




Thank you everyone,,
Jan&Bob

We also use THS's a lot and have never had a dead battery but thats because I have an 80w solar panel on the Nuevo to feed my one battery. It's the first thing on the list to get done when we get the Sussex

We had the Nuevo before the Vista and that  had a panel already fitted on the roof, I did not know much about it, and as it was up and running I just let it get on with it, We thought about putting one on the Vista, But as time went on we found out we did not need one, We don't use much power and not T V fans so we get by O K, But with this Symbol using the battery to run the heater we might have to think again, I did not know about the power needed the run the heater before I brought the symbol, This may be issue for us, But we will test it out in spring time,

Heaters running all night? The battery would be good for a week if you get a winter rated sleeping bag