Van heater

[stevew]

I remember reading that site a while ago when I first got the van but had forgotten the address. It makes for an amusing read. Perhaps this is a little harsh but almost all the narrow boat owners I have ever had anything to do with didn't have a clue about electrics! Service intervals mean nothing to them! The Eberspacher heater is world renound but if you use it as your main source of heat all day every day and NEVER service it it's gonna fail That said if I just bought one brand new and paid to have it fitted I'd be p****d off if it broke .
I'd be supprised if you can reset it by simply disconnecting the power as it has a static memory for holding the last five error codes. The thing is designed to be as safe as possible so it shuts down at the slightest hint that something isn't right. Still looking though....
Steve

[rallyevo3]

Thanks Luke I was wondering how we did that without losing the thread... sorry for taking the original off track.... it was my first... Ian

[rallyevo3]

I presume you have the technical manuals?

http://www.espar.com/htm/tecmans.htm

[stevew]

Hmm, well I've spent 3 days on this and although I have found a few problems I'm still without heat
The multiway connector inside the heater where it connects to the small PCB had corroded and wasn't making a reliable contact on several pins including (but not limited to) the air temperature sensor, the flame sensor and the overheat switch. I have repaired that and tested every contact and it now all looks good. I have also tested the rheostat, the fuel pump and the fan motor and they all seem good. Despite all this the unit behaves exactly as it did when I got the van, the LED in the rheostat flickers a little an dthe fan blows at it's lowest speed and naf all else!
I can only assume that the control unit has locked out due to too many start attempts. I spoke to a man at an Eberspacher dealer today who told me that the control unit could be reset by switching the rheostat on and off a few times whilst the system is powered up. I didn't work for me and given the number of other people complaining about this on the internet I would have thought it would be common knoledge.
The next step will be to physically verifiy the operation of all the electro mechanical parts so I can be sure it's the control unit and then take the whole thing to the dealer who can hook up their fault code reader/reset unit and hopefully sort it. Bah
Steve

[Luke]

you'll just about get it working for the summer!!

[stevew]

That'd be right! I only just got the roof fan working, can't imagine using that until summer
Steve