lunallena

The thing with CE mark is that it means almost nothing. When CE was first introduced, I spent some thousands of pounds attending a course to enable me to obtain certification for the products my firm produced. I knew more than the course tutor, and I knew nothing. If you use the Technical File route to certify a product, no actual testing is required - the file can be written in such a way as to make testing unnecccessary. The point here being that an importer can produce a Technical File, then self-certify the product from the file. Crazy, I know. Somehow, I think that it'll be easier to fix the heater than to chase the vendor.

Raymondth: Might do that, but would've liked to discuss the prob first in case it's a routine maintenance issue. CT: This heater was made in China, rather than India, I believe.

Cheers for the replies so far... TBH, it's already been a lot more reliable than my Eberspacher ever was, but I don't think I'm going to get anywhere chasing "Bill", the seller. Thanks for the headsup on the motor speed control. Think I'll pull it apart and give everything a good clean to start with. Do I need any special tools (other than 5 different hammers)? Cheers, Ed

We bought an Airstream diesel heater for out 60ft NB last August, and it's been great. Until last week. Now, it's become noisy, with black smoke on startup, which eventually almost clears, but the heater remains noisy. When I say noisy, I mean NOISY - you can't hold a conversation near it. The noise isn't mechanical - it's something to do with the combustion, because it's clearly coming from the exhaust. The importer isn't answering phone/emails, so it's down to me. Has anyone had the pleasure of servicing one of these heaters? If so, and advice would be appreciated. Thanks a lot :-) P.S. Image is of a similar heater to mine. Mine is a coolant heater, not an air heater.

Hi, Our boat has about 50% Rockwool. We are replacing as much as possible due to condensation issues, which have dogged us since the day we bought her. Unfortunately the manufacturers, Border Boats, went into liquidation weeks after we took delivery of the boat. The problem with Rockwool is that it can soak up a lot of water, and if you have water ingress/condensation issues, you may not get to know about it as the Rockwool acts like a sponge. I would say that it's worth checking as low down as possible that the insulation is bone dry, and if it is, you're probably OK. If your boat hasn't had condensation problems in the past, it should continue to be OK, all other things remaining equal. But you should still be extra vigilant about water ingress, as the Rockwool's absorbent properties could hide problems. Just our personal experience, and whatever you decide to do, we hope you have a great time with your boat.

Thanks all for your responses. My heat exchanger has multiple pinholes, and corrosion. Off to building society to organise mortgage, then to Eberspacher dealer :-) Thanks again for the help!!

Thanks for your reply! Do you mean the two O rings that connect the spigots from the pump assy into the heat exchanger? If so, yes, I replaced them - or am I thinking of the wrong thing. I have also replaced the "Smiley face" gasket, and the simple circular one between the burner assy and heat exchanger - the ones you mention in your post.

Hi, Our first post here, and I hope someone can help. We have an Eberspacher Hydronic DW5S, and it's about 6 years old, and regularly serviced by myself - never had a problem with it that a good clean out didn't cure. Now, we have clouds, (and I mean CLOUDS) of white STEAM, not smoke continually coming from the exhaust. This never stops, no matter how long the unit is run, and I have run it for 12 hours continuously. It's definitely steam - there's that "steamy" smell about it. So I stripped the unit, cleaned it up, replaced gaskets, and checked that there's no water in the exhaust. I've eliminated water in the fuel by feeding it directly from a 5ltr can of white diesel, straight from the pump @ Tesco (ouch). The battery voltage is 13.2V at the heater. The unit starts reliably, and heats water as normal. It's just the clouds of steam that's the problem. The only thing I'm left with is the possibility of a cracked combustion chamber - unless anyone has a better idea or experience of the same problem. Any thoughts gratefuly received. Many thanks Ed