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HELP with Espar heaters

BRIAN
I have a D1L heater that starts good and runs fine but the thermostat wont shut down the heater once setpoint temperature is reached. Can I replace this thermostat with a typical wall unit that say controls a forced air system in a house?

SteveR
 
Hi. Sorry could not login the last two days.
You can use a Honeywell pro 1000 digital battery operated thermostat or other two wire thermostats.
Put you red wire in the R terminal and whatever wire goes to espar yellow in the W terminal of the new thermostat. Those two colours are standard for all two wire thermostats.
 
Hi Brian:

On behalf of everyone getting important questions answered here on this forum, we thank you for your time.

My 25 year old D3L (25 1640 05) has an intermittent fuel metering pump (25 1482 47 0000) probably due to bad fuel contamination over the years, corrosion and age. I've tried flushing it with various automotive cleaners and solvents and get it working for a few cycles, then it eventually fails once again. Supplier (Roton) says that a new pump would be a back-order from Germany and who knows when, or even if I can replace it.

My questions are: (a) is there a 'silver bullet' cleaning fluid that can clean the interior of this old pump? (b) is there a replacement equivalent pump part number that Eberspacher makes that can be used?

Thanks again and have a Merry Christmas
Milt
 
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Please contact me by email instead please. I'll check tomorrow and see if I have a used one. I think you have covered the cleaning. It might be the coil . It's toast. Can you just send me a reminder email tomorrow. I'm going crazy trying to get all work done before Christmas holidays
 
Hi Brian

Thanks have been reading your thread lots of info.... I have a D4M which has about 3500 hrs on it which starts and runs fine... except... today a harmonic sound started to come from the heater... its the motor or drive train some where.. prior to start up of metering pump its there on shut down at cooling its there and while running.. what I would like to know is if the unit has forced combustion I ask this because, the intake air fan at the rear, the shaft and bearings seem tight.. Thanking you in advance...
 
Merry Christmas. Yes the fan drives the combustion air as well. On the other hidden end of the motor is another impeller. The fan will eventually slow down and mess up the combustion, but usually the ecu will sense tje higher power draw and shut down. Usually brings up a code 33. Blower motor not turning. You are going to need a new blower soon.
 
Good day. I would suggest changing your espar racor , if installed. If there is no external filter then the filter under the Banjo fitting (fuel In spigot). Next change the fuel nozzle. I hope that works, i have just put in around 100 hours of non billable labour into four D16s in Vancouver. Have changed averything in all four heaters and still get intermittent starting on the four heaters. I hope you have better luck. These have just about made me close down my business!! not kidding
 
Hello Brian,

First let me say that like everyone else I’m blown away by your generosity in answering all these questions. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer. Forgive the long post but I figure it’s better to be thorough.

I’ve got a new-to-me D5LC on my new-to-me sailboat. Serial number 8835DB, installed in 2000.

It has been running “ok” since I got the boat in September. It has shut down a few times due to low voltage (I had a bad battery in my bank) and also shut down a few times mysteriously overnight even while charging (perhaps a shutoff timer?). Once in a while you can hear the unit hiccup a little bit but it keeps running. It is generally working well but not putting out all that much heat, about 105 degrees F at the vents (per infrared thermometer) and I got about the same reading on the outside of the large duct about 6” from the unit. The exhaust elbow gets hot, up to 380 degrees F. The exhaust duct is a little loose where it fits over the glass padding that is wrapped around the threaded end of the elbow. Previous owner included some wiring that presumably had been replaced but still looks good.

Today I went down to the boat after a month’s absence and it failed to fully ignite the first 2 times (I was wary of your warnings about fuel accumulating in the exhaust). I heard clicking, the jet sound began, and the blower kicked into high gear but slowed down shortly and before any heat came out, then eventually shut off. Jumping terminals 4 & 6 yielded two quick blinks of the green before both green and red came on and stayed on. Second time, same thing. The third time it came on properly on the first attempt and I ran it for an hour, same temps as usual. I turned it off and after the cool down cycle I did the diagnostic again and got the same code. I presume it’s the code for “flame goes out at low/mediums stage, heater goes out by itself” code, but if I’m confused about the pattern it could also be the “temperature sensor defective” code.

So I've been suspecting a fuel supply issue but to do what seemed easiest first I pulled the glow plug. Some carbon but not a ton. (See pic) I tried to remove the screen and the little metal ring came out easily but the screen itself is pretty well lodged in there. Is there a trick to getting it out? I can continue to tug at it with pliers but I don’t think it will come out in one piece. (Pic).

So my questions:
1) How do I get that screen out?
2) What should I do to make the unit run smoother and maybe a little hotter?
3) Can/should I use some high temp muffler tape to seal up the connection between the exhaust elbow and duct?
4) Anything else I should do for periodic maintenance on a 17 year old D5LC with unknown hours?

Thanks so much for any guidance you can offer!
-Jack
photo 1.jpgphoto 2.jpgphoto 4.jpgphoto 3.jpg
 
Hello, I have a d3lc that when I turn the thermostat on the fan starts and nothing else and the only way to stop unit is to pull the fuse. Any ideas? Is the ecu dead? It's number is 25 1976, is it available? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you

Doug
 
Whiskeyglide said:
Hello, I have a d3lc that when I turn the thermostat on the fan starts and nothing else and the only way to stop unit is to pull the fuse. Any ideas? Is the ecu dead? It's number is 25 1976, is it available? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you

Doug
Click to expand...


Looks like the ecu,yes. i need the # on the ecu to lookup
 
Whiskeyglide said:
Hello, I have a d3lc that when I turn the thermostat on the fan starts and nothing else and the only way to stop unit is to pull the fuse. Any ideas? Is the ecu dead? It's number is 25 1976, is it available? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you

Doug
Click to expand...

It could be the flame sensor giving a hot reading which makes the ecu want to cool it down. email me at [email protected]. I will send you the manual with resistence values for the sensor. it is plugged into the back of the ecu-blue wires unplug it and measure resistance across the two pins-i think it is 900-1100 ohms cold
 
OrangeCrush26 said:
I’ve got a new-to-me D5LC on my new-to-me sailboat. Serial number 8835DB, installed in 2000.
Click to expand...

I replaced the glow plug and screen on my D5LC but the heater is unable to get past startup. The heater ignites momentarily but dies after about 20 seconds, and eventually shuts off. The diagnostic light blinks two quick flashes, for "Heater goes out by itself." I don't see any fuel movement in the line and I'm increasingly convinced it's a fuel supply issue.

I have the troubleshooting manual but it's not terribly clear. I'm planning to test the fuel metering pump by measuring fuel output relative to voltage as they describe. If anyone has done this, how do you reconnect the fuel line without getting air in system? Is the fuel filter part of the fuel pump or is it somewhere else? Anything else I should suspect besides the pump? If anyone can offer any tips or guidance before I drop the cash on a replacement fuel metering pump it would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi Brian,
we have two espar blowers with several outlets. All the outlets are blowing blowing warm heat and are quiet, except the one in the salon. It is noisy and is only blowing cool air. Any suggestions?

Thank you,
Wendy Glant
 
I have an Espar D5W installed in my 33' sailboat. The furnace is located within 5' of the fuel tank (diesel). I understand that there is an integrated screen fuel filter in the furnace but I would like to install an inline filter.. The outside diameter of the existing fuel line is about 4mm. Is there an Espar inline filter available or another quality filter that may fit the bill? Manufacturer, part number and source would be very helpful.
 
Hello Brian,
We have an Espar D10W on our boat that was installed in 2004. It has not been used very much over the years but we run it at least once a month to keep it working properly. Last week we turned it on as usual but after running for a couple of minutes it turned off. We tried turning the thermostat up thinking it had reached it's set temperature and this time it shut-down after about 10 seconds. We noticed when we turned it on initially that it had a different smell....like it might be overheating. Anyway, we haven't tried turning it on again. Any ideas what might have caused the heater to shut off? Is there a re-set button or fuse we should check? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. The closest dealer is several hours away by boat in Seattle.

T. Magwire
 
Hi Brian,

I have a new to me 8dlc. It works fine but differently than the same heater I had on a pevious boat. The differences are:

1. Turning on the thermostat switch turns on both the red and green lights (solid). These stay on until the heater is switched off.

2. The heater doesn't seem to ever turn off from the thermostat setting. It goes between high and low.

The wiring harness at the thermostat is different color wires than at the heater control. I don't know where the splice is.

I can't figure out how to upload a picture here. From left to right my thermostat wires are 1-blue, 2-black, 3-brown, 4-unused, 5-red, 6-yellow, T-grey

Thanks for any ideas

Carl
 
Hello Brian

not sure if you are still out there but I will give this a try

Espar Hydronic 10 heater Honeywell thermostat controlled

Sometimes it starts sometimes it doesn't. (Mostly doesn't right now).

Living on boat so warmth is important. (45 Pilothouse)

Moved onto boat last winter (in Nanaimo). Boat was new to me. It ran through the snow etc last year then stopped after the temperature outside went up and then down again. Had a guy look at it who taught me about reservoir tank which was low. The heater then worked for a couple of days and quit again.

Ran an on space heaters for a month then suddenly heater kicked in for a day (thermostat was left on from before) and then quit.

When weather got cooler this fall it turned on. Ran for a couple of days then I turned it way down as I was away. When I got back things were much cooler and when I went to turn it on it did not go. I turned thermostat on and off a number of times but nothing. No start up phase and definitely no firing.

This is morning I turned thermostat off and on and suddenly it fired up. Toasty right now but would love consistency.

Ideas? Battery?
 
If it just a two wire thermostat just short the two wires together and it should run until you disconnect the wires? Is it a thermostat or a rheostat?
 
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Colinhaime said:
Hello Los and thanks for reply. I thought it might be a thermostat problem so I tried that at one point last year and nothing happened.

Colin
Click to expand...
Have you tried cleaning all the connectors? Spray them with electrical cleaner and put some dielectric grease on them when you put them back together.?
 
kimcrwbr1 said:
Have you tried cleaning all the connectors? Spray them with electrical cleaner and put some dielectric grease on them when you put them back together.?
Click to expand...


Not sure why I referred to you as Los. My apologies.

Re connectors are you referring to glow plug connectors, battery connectors?
 
Thinking more along the line of the harness that plugs into the controller on top of the heater. But yes you can clean all the connectors you can get to. Just do them one at a time so you know where the issue was. Check that the fuse holders are clean as well it just sounds like some corrosion giving you grief. Your running it like a hydronic furnace correct. You have a fan with a heat exchanger?
 
Brian,
I came across your posts on here, thank you in advance for all the help you provide!
FYI, maybe you know already, but your private message box is maxed out, I attempted to send a PM and got an error message.

Background:
I have a D5LC installed on our 1997 46' Bavaria. We are liveaboards in Tacoma, WA. It's a genuine Eberspracher installed in Germany--the origin of our boat. I have manuals in German and English. I'm sure the original owners used the heater, as the boat was on Lake Constance in Germany for 10 years before the next owners sailed her to the Caribbean. And the heater wasn't used for the next 10 years. :)
When we brought the boat to Tacoma (trucked from Florida) we had a local tech give it a look-over in August, as we didn't even know how to turn it on. We have the basic 4 position dial ? with the green light on it. The tech didn't do any particular maintenance that I know of, just checked connections and got the heater to fire up. We've been using it since, generally without issue.

Questions:
1. What should I consider doing for preventative maintenance, since the heater sat unused so long? I certainly want it to keep running this winter.

2. Yesterday, my wife shut it off in the morning when she left the boat for the day, and when she came home later in the afternoon, it wouldn't start. Later, when I came home I tried some more: turn the knob, the green light flashed. Turn it off and wait a few minutes, turn it on the green light flashes. Did this a couple of times then just left it off. About an hour later, I tried and it fired up, ran for about 20 minutes then shutoff. We waited about 20 minutes and tried again and it fired up and then ran all night fine.
I've since told her we should just leave it running...
What might have been going on?

thanks,
Doug
 
Dear Brian,
I have a feeling that wiring might be wrong in my 1989 D3L 12v 251640 with 201634801100 universal switch. Could you please verify this, and if possible, give me the right wiring.
The present wiring is as: 1 (Black), 2 (Black/White), 3 (Red), 4(Black (from the same source with 1)), 5 (Yellow), 6 (Brown), 7 empty, 8 (Purple)
 
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