Eberspacher Heater

by Alex Ingham Wed Jun 17, 2020 1:56 pm

Hello all, I hope you are well. In our 2002 Trident we have an Eberspacher Heater. I am little confused as to the main source of power, as I have seen these being referred to as ‘Diesel Heaters’. Ours works on electric hook-up. So is this one an electric heater only?

I’m afraid I cannot see the option to attach an image. It is a small black control panel, with a temperature control dial, fan button, on/off and a button for hot air (red LED).

Many thanks for any help with this topic.

Kind regards,
Alex I

by Roopert Wed Jun 17, 2020 2:12 pm

Hi Alex - I'm afraid you really need to find out a bit more about what you have by looking at it. We can guess, but you'll only know for sure by looking, because A/s installed several systems - some standard and some optional.

The typical default system that they used was the Airtronic - which is a blown air diesel powered heater - but as an alternative they could be asked to fit the engine-coolant based heater, also diesel powered, which had the model name Hydronic (available in several variants).

There was also an electric heater optional add-on to the Airtronic which used the fan of the basic heater but had a 240V mains element on the end, for electric-only use when on EHU. I don't ~think~ they sell that any more, but it would have been an available option when your van was built.

Both of the diesel-powered variants will operate from the 12V leisure battery, so they should work when on EHU and also when not (provided the battery is in a good enough state to provide the high current needed to operate the glow plug).

by Spospe Wed Jun 17, 2020 2:19 pm

Alex

We had a Duetto on a MK7 Transit and it was fitted with an Eberspacher D2 heater, this heater was for air only, it did not heat water.

The heater had dual mains electric and diesel heating options. The default heating was mains electric (the blower fan ran at a constant speed and the heater element switched on and off as required). In the absence of mains electricity the unit ran on diesel and the fan speed varied with the amount of heat required.

In general we preferred to run the unit on diesel as this was the quieter option, but if we wanted to force the unit to run on electric, there was a switch mounted on the heater's box which allowed us to choose.

A quirk of the heater was that it would not run on mains electric with reversed mains polarity present, it would only run on diesel under this circumstance.

I am a little surprised that your 2002 Trident seems to have the electric heater section fitted, as my understanding was that it only became available in 2008.

by Alex Ingham Wed Jun 17, 2020 2:27 pm

Thank your very much for your help. We have only tried running the heater on mains hook-up and works fine. Our 12V leisure battery is not performing properly/needs replacing so have not tried it on 12V. In order to run on diesel do you need power (12V) supply to the control panel?

Thanks again!

Alex

by AutoSleepy_Don Wed Jun 17, 2020 2:56 pm

I may not be of much help but I had a Symbol of the same vintage (2002). It had an Eberspacher D2 air heater. I remember there was an option to add an electric element but I didn't get the electric addon so mine was diesel powered only.
I recall the diesel would only fire up with the leisure battery in top condition because it draws 8A for 2 minutes at startup to ignite the diesel.
It was situated underneath the van and you could see the diesel feed pipe and also the exhaust pipe.

by Alex Ingham Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:03 pm

Thank you very much. I will try the heater with the engine running and definitely look at getting the leisure battery sorted.

Also, does anyone know where the panel/control would be on the van in order to switch between diesel and the hook-up?

When the heater is on the diesel part? Is this powered by diesel or the leisure battery?

Many thanks,

Alex

by AutoSleepy_Don Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:05 pm

I can tell you the Eberspacher needs a constant 12V supply (there is a loud fan for one thing) and if the voltage drops below a threshold, the unit shuts down. I always thought the cutoff threshold was quite high hence the need for a good well charged leisure battery.

by Alex Ingham Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:09 pm

Thanks for that. I am a little confused as to how it is diesel powered. Does the heater pull diesel the tank?

Many thanks,

Alex

by AutoSleepy_Don Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:10 pm

Alex Ingham wrote:Does the heater pull diesel the tank?

On my Symbol, yes. It draws diesel from the main vehicle tank.

by Dbvwt Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:02 pm

Alex, I fitted an Eberspacher D2 to a VW T5 I converted using a kit I bought from PF Jones.
It is primarily a diesel unit that is fed from the vehicles main fuel tank but also requires a 12v supply as mentioned to operate (which if I remember was rather draining on the leisure battery).
I think there was an optional add on electric element but I’ve no experience of that.

by Alex Ingham Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:25 pm

Thank you. I really appreciate your help with this topic. On our van there is an exhaust located just along from the fridge, underneath the van. I assumed this was part of the ventilation for when the fridge was running on gas. However, based on the pointers I have been given it would make sense for that to be for the Diesel side of the Eberspacher heater.

Are there any VW owners who would know where the switch is to switch over from Mains (240V) to the diesel option?

Many thanks,
Alex

by Roopert Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:24 pm

Alex Ingham wrote:
Are there any VW owners who would know where the switch is to switch over from Mains (240V) to the diesel option?

We have an Eberspacher Airtronic on the Trooper. There is no such switch - it is not needed on a standard heater. Even when you are on mains hookup, the heater still runs on 12V to fire up the diesel burner, unless you have the optional 240V electric heater (which you can be pretty sure you don't have).

When on EHU, the built-in power supply provides the 12V that the Eber needs to run (and also charges the leisure battery and powers the other habitation area 12V appliances).

by safariboy Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:35 pm

Could it be running on diesel? If your battery is not up to scratch it would only run if connected to the EHU to give the starting current.
You will always need a good 12V supply as it is required to operate the control circuits and the glow plug that ignites the diesel.
Can you see a model number on the heater? That might help.

by Dbvwt Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:40 pm

The smell from the exhaust and the jet fighter noise will tell you if it’s running on diesel smile!

by AutoSleepy_Don Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:46 pm

Dbvwt wrote:the jet fighter noise will tell you if it’s running on diesel

Yes, that brings back memories, a kind of roar. Jet fighter is a fair description. Should be clear if your outside by the exhaust, and the fridge is off so there's no confusion.

by Alex Ingham Wed Jun 17, 2020 6:25 pm

Thanks for all of your help with this topic. It has helped massively!

Many thanks,
Alex

by Relaxez-Vous Wed Jun 17, 2020 10:33 pm

We had an Eberspacher heater in our 2003 Duetto. As far as I know it didn't have an electrical element so only used diesel. We bought the van in 2007 and initially it was very hit and miss if the thing delivered much heat, it was mostly OK on EHU. I then learnt that A-S hadn't used thick enough wire for the 12 volt supply. If there's a significant voltage drop during the firing up process the system shuts down.

We visited A-S at Willersey to have a thicker wire installed between it and the leisure battery, after that it was OK on battery. Off-grid it would be sometimes be slow to start up but eventually it would get going and the heat output at 2KW was more than enough.

There was a small pump for the diesel under the floor which we could hear clicking during the start up process, much less noticeable once it was fully fired up.

The main disadvantage as others have mentioned is the high current drain if you're not on EHU, oh and the noise for another van if you camp close to them.

by Dbvwt Thu Jun 18, 2020 8:08 am

Not necessarily relevant here but for info....

If my Eber D2 detected too many errors/fault codes (air in the tiny diesel fuel feed pipe for example) it would shut itself down until those errors were cleared from its memory. With the controllers tending to be pretty basic units this process was a right faff!
I’m wondering if low 12v would also cause such errors? If I ever had an issue, clearing the fault code history was the first thing I tried.

Alex, is this your controller just out of interest?
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by Alex Ingham Thu Jun 18, 2020 9:33 am

Thank you for your comments, yes that is the controller that we have in our van.

Many thanks,
Alex

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