Auto Sleeper Sandhurst Heating

Hi all,

I have just put down a deposit for a Sandhurst and it has Erberspacher heating although all the reports refer to Truma gas water/blown air heating. Any ideas?
james

jamesb wrote:Hi all,

I have just put down a deposit for a Sandhurst and it has Erberspacher heating although all the reports refer to Truma gas water/blown air heating. Any ideas?
james

As far as I'm aware the Sandhurst only came with... Truma Electric / Gas Blown air heater (maybe others can confirm?)

Who stated it comes with the Erberspacher system? If you are certain then maybe whoever purchased it from new specified this system possibly but I would ask for confirmation with the seller / dealer.

You could always call Auto-Sleeper 01386 853338 and ask them if this was an option? if you have the AS glove box / job number then they should be able to confirm how it left the factory.

Hello James I own a sandhurst and it has Erberspacher heating as far as i know they were all fitted with this system,sorry i didnt reply earlier have only just seen your post. Ken

Seems like many of the for sale adverts for the Auto-Sleeper Sandhurst incorrectly state Truma heating (as you found jamesb) including this review by Practical Motorhome which also states in the "Specs & Layout" Truma Electric/ Gas Blown air heater http://www.practicalmotorhome.com/review/motorhome/2006-auto-sleeper-sandhurst-1#

Have just done another search on Google, and found a few more that actually state Erberspacher heating... so unless either was an option, it looks like Kennjen is probably right and my earlier post was incorrect.

CC

There's evidently some confusion about the heating system here JamesB, and your original post suggests that you're not sure yourself about the difference between the Eberspacher and the Truma systems. A word of advice based on experience: check out the heating BEFORE you proceed with the purchase, and make sure you're happy with it.

Eberspacher is a diesel-fired heating system and draws its supply from your main fuel tank. Truma is a dual gas/mains electric system. Our Windsor has the Eberspacher; it provides space heating only and there is no other heating system; for water heating we have to rely on mains electricity or gas, whereas the Truma delivers both space and water heating.
Point 1: If you're on an electric hook-up (EHU) when on site and are using the heating, you're paying for both the very expensive diesel you use and the electricity you can't.

Point 2: The Eberspacher is very effective, but it's also NOISY!! It's virtually impossible to use it whilst sleeping because when it kicks in it sounds like a 747 winding up, and when its ticking over there's a constant sound like a dripping tap as the injector provides fuel. And because it's diesel fired it has an exhaust pipe; neighbours are generally not impressed. When we bought the Windsor (which we think is great) and the dealer mentioned diesel-powered heating I thought "what a good idea". In fact, if I'd heard it in operation before I bought the van it might have been a deal-breaker.
The only plus points - trying hard here - are that you can use it in transit (brilliant in the depths of winter) and it's amazingly good at warming the van quickly. On holiday in Scotland in March we almost fell in love with it (but we still had to keep it off at night).

There are also lots of complaints regarding its reliability, something to do with low battery levels and the amount of current that's needed to get the glow plug up to temperature on start-up I think, but we've not had a problem other than the first time we used it when it sounded like it was trying to escape from whatever contains it. The dealer sorted that.

Conclusion: My advice to you is unequivocal. Get the dealer to start the thing up and leave it running for at least half an hour. Set the temperature to a level where its going to have to do a bit of work, kicking in and cutting out, and have a good long listen, and if you're happy with it, go for it. Speaking for myself, I've learned to live with Eberspacher but it's not a happy relationship. When (if) we change our Windsor - which we're not planning to do - I won't buy another van with diesel heating.

Hope this helps

Tony

Thanks all for replying. It has Eberspacher and I had it serviced when I purchased the Sandhurst. The trick with the knocking is to remove the pump from the chassis and support it without it actually touching the chassis. We have now used the van for about 5k miles and love it. However we bought it from Webbs having traded in our Duetto and they have been excellent with all sorts of warranty issues including a new Turbo at over £1k !!