Eberspacher repairs and misc bits n' bobs (a few pics)

[Guy88]

You need the blower on if you wnat the wan to heat inside.

You need to have the heater setting on full hot to allow the water to circulate

There is a small pump built into the Water heater that circulates the engine coolant

[moojuice]

Right - ive had a look at my setup and im struggling to remember which way fluids are flowing, but i shall try my best....




The two copper pipes which ive made up are the flow and return pipes which connect the eberspacher to the rest of the van. Left hand one goes from the top of the engine to the input of the eberspacher and the right hand pipe carries heated water from the eberspacher back up.

The heated fluid from the eberspacher tees off - going to the calorifier and out through the top through the thermostat - to stop the calorifier overheating the tank of handwashing water. (I was wrong earlier - the eberspacher does heat the calorifier - but it takes AGES and its quicker for the engine to do that).

The pipe which carries the heated hand washing water to the back of the van is the lowest pipe on the calorifier, positioned nearest the rear.

Underneath the van - the eberspacher unit. Bottom copper pipe feeds eberspacher, top one returns hot to the engine bay.



Apart from hot water flowing partly through the calorifier, the other pipe from that tee piece goes round behind the back hidden behind the engine...... (along with output pipe comming off the top of the calorifier)



They reappear the other side. One feeds into the heater matrix, one goes to the tee below the expansion tank that also connects to the heater matrix.



And for completeness, the eberspacher control box hidden under the dash inside the van (stuck to the roof of the glove box)




Having re-read what I have written above - its probably not that clear still. Any questions - I'll try and answer

Also - read through the installation manual - they show a diagram of how its all connected. http://www.eberspacher.com/files/pdfs/water_pdf/D5W_manual.pdf

[Guy88]

I have the feed and return from the eberspacher the wrong way around. do you think this would stop either the eberspacher working or the tank getting hot

[Cooter]

Blimey, may I just say what a helpful lot you are, even though its not just for me, many many thanks.



And so..............to heat the water manually without the engine running, the van heater needs to be full on which in turn circulates the hot fluid pipe through the calorifier that heats the water. But it takes a long time from what moojuice says. How longs a long time? An hour?

[Guy88]

does this look right

[moojuice]

And so..............to heat the water manually without the engine running, the van heater needs to be full on which in turn circulates the hot fluid pipe through the calorifier that heats the water. But it takes a long time from what moojuice says. How longs a long time? An hour?

From experience the eberspacher is better at heating up the heater matrix than it is the calorifier. When I first got the van a year ago, we played around with filling the calorifier up fully (12 pints of cold water) and then ran the eberspacher for an hour. The water became luke warm, the cab could heat up nicely.

From what I can tell of the way its all plumbed in i dont think it will make much difference to the calorifier if the hot cold knob in the van is on hot or cold - that only controls hot or cold air blowing into the cab.

Then we refilled the calorifier with cold water again and I drove back home via a few places. After about half an hour of driving about the water was VERY hot. I wouldnt bother running the eberspacher (D5W is 5kw) to try and heat up an engine block, heater matrix AND calorifier and expect the calorifier to produce very hotwater in an hour. Probably quicker to use a gas hob and big kettle, or leave the engine ticking over for half an hr.

With respect to how long you can run an eberspacher for before flattening the battery.....

I have had the eberspacer on for an hour before, fan on blower I position and the battery was fine. Although last year my battery went flat once because we had a cold snap and it deicided enough was enough. A new battery in place and the eberspacher runs for an hr with the radio on happily and I dont get a flat battery.

The manual says the eberspacher alone uses 265watts on 12v at startup and 44w high blowing / 28w low blowing mode. That doesnt take into account the watts needed for the vehicle blower on fan position 1. It also says 0.15 and 0.68 litres of diesel per hour depending on what mode its running in (that happens automatically with its built in thermostat). Make of thoes figures what you will.

[moojuice]

does this look right

That diagram looks about right from what I can tell. The correct way (assuming my system is correct) has left hand copper pipe going to the eberspacher input (going into the eberspachers water pump at the bottom) and the right hand copper pipe conecting tot he top outlet of the eberspacher. Having these the wrong way round (i assume) would have the effect of heating up the engine block and any residial heat then going to the heater matrix, the opposite to what you want to happen. Change em round guy and see what happens

[Guy88]

I shall swap them. at the moment the eberspacher is not working

and the water tank dont warm up

[Cooter]

And so..............to heat the water manually without the engine running, the van heater needs to be full on which in turn circulates the hot fluid pipe through the calorifier that heats the water. But it takes a long time from what moojuice says. How longs a long time? An hour?

From experience the eberspacher is better at heating up the heater matrix than it is the calorifier. When I first got the van a year ago, we played around with filling the calorifier up fully (12 pints of cold water) and then ran the eberspacher for an hour. The water became luke warm, the cab could heat up nicely.

From what I can tell of the way its all plumbed in i dont think it will make much difference to the calorifier if the hot cold knob in the van is on hot or cold - that only controls hot or cold air blowing into the cab.

Then we refilled the calorifier with cold water again and I drove back home via a few places. After about half an hour of driving about the water was VERY hot. I wouldnt bother running the eberspacher (D5W is 5kw) to try and heat up an engine block, heater matrix AND calorifier and expect the calorifier to produce very hotwater in an hour. Probably quicker to use a gas hob and big kettle, or leave the engine ticking over for half an hr.

Thanks for all the info and pics moojuice. I'm going to give mine a try anyway with the heater running and engine non-running, see what happens. But as my trannys now a camper all this stuff doesnt sound too practical to me so whose in the market for a complete system!?

[moojuice]

If youre a practical person and fancy a little DIY plumming - it might be feasable to setup the eberspacher so it only drives the calorifier. I would read through the technical manual first. I also have a funny feeling you would need to have a seperate header tank too for the system to be on the safe side.

If not - speak to your local Eberspacher dealer or boat/caravan builder who might be able to take the existing eberspacher and just get it heating your hot water only. Just an idea

[Guy88]

i dont see why you couldnt just adapt what is allready there

[Cooter]

I'm practical but not that practical

But getting it to heat just the water is a good idea, although sadly its the tank capacity that really kills it for me. Something like 6 litres isn't enough for a day for a couple of people in a campervan. A different water heating route for me at some point will indeed be happening.

Its very helpful to know what kind of beast I'm dealing with until then though.

[Guy88]

got it working

but it wont bloody turn off.

I had it in constant heat. hit the shutdown button. waited 5 mins and its still going but the van blowers are off. press the heat again the blowers come on

only way i could shut it down was to pull the fuses out

[djswampy]

I'm practical but not that practical

But getting it to heat just the water is a good idea, although sadly its the tank capacity that really kills it for me. Something like 6 litres isn't enough for a day for a couple of people in a campervan. A different water heating route for me at some point will indeed be happening.

Its very helpful to know what kind of beast I'm dealing with until then though.

You want some sort of 12v immersion heater fitted to this tank.

[moojuice]

Well I've booked a week off work, brought a gazebo thing to erect over the transit to keep the rain off..... and im going to have a go at any rust spots. As my van is a late MK5, rust hasnt got to it that badly YET.... I just want my baby in one piece in 10 years time!

Got some filler, wire bursh, sandpaper, rust eating fluid and diamons white spray and basecoat and I'm gonna tart the van up a bit. Im also thinking about using waxoil underneath too. Whats the best way to use it? Would the van need to be jetwashed underneath first, left to dry then waxoiling, or just slap it on, regardless? Any tips welcome!