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Help needed with Ebersparky thingy


Dr Bob

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Ok, my Ebersparky heater is not starting up.

Its been fine for this winter, using it at an hour a time a couple of times a day, only on full blast....I turn it off before it goes into 'low' mode.

We've been away from the boat for about 5 days but when we got back, it wouldnt fire up.

First time I pressed the 'heat' button, the fan on the unit started up as normal but cut out after about 2 seconds.....so before the 'tick' 'tick' 'tick' from the pump started. I pressed the off button and then tried again. This time the fan came on for about half a second and then stopped.....then nothing.

I took the front panel of the electrics box for the heater and pulled and poked all the wires but nothing seemed loose. I couldnt ease out the relay .....it was pitch black but made sure it was all pushed together. No difference.

We are on shore power and the battery charger was topping up the LA's at 13.3V. I reset the charger and tried the heater again with the voltage at 14.4V but no difference.

It's too dark to mess with it now and we have the stove on so I will have another look in the morning. First plan is to take the relay out and clean the contacts.

Any other suggestions.

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Just a thought.

 

Check the fluid level in your central heating system.

Ours had a slight leak over this year. I had also neglected to run the Ebby once a month as I usually do.
When I tried to run it in November it had a hissy fit and refused to work.

After a reasonably expensive trip to Carwoods https://www.carwood.co.uk/ it is now working well.

 

I found the leak and topped up the system.

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These things are desperately sensitive to supply voltage and will shut down their start sequence at the slightest excuse.

 

I see you changed the charging voltage to 14.4v but have you checked this supply voltage at the input terminals to the Ebersparkler, during the failing start sequence?

 

And another straw to clutch at, the manual on boilery things usually has a fault-tracing flow chart to follow. Does yours? Have you followed it? Where did it lead? 

 

 

 

Edited by Mike the Boilerman
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45 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Just a thought.

 

Check the fluid level in your central heating system.

Ours had a slight leak over this year. I had also neglected to run the Ebby once a month as I usually do.
When I tried to run it in November it had a hissy fit and refused to work.

After a reasonably expensive trip to Carwoods https://www.carwood.co.uk/ it is now working well.

 

I found the leak and topped up the system.

Thanks Ray, the level of the fluid in the header tank looks good so I assume the water is ok to the unit.

29 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

These things are desperately sensitive to supply voltage and will shut down their start sequence at the slightest excuse.

 

I see you changed the charging voltage to 14.4v but have you checked this supply voltage at the input terminals to the Ebersparkler, during the failing start sequence?

 

And another straw to clutch at, the manual on boilery things usually has a fault-tracing flow chart to follow. Does yours? Have you followed it? Where did it lead? 

 

 

 

Thanks Mike. Yes, that was one thing I was going to check in the morning when it is light. Are the input terminals accessible. To be honest, I havent got the destruction manual out yet....that was another job for the morning. Is it obvious where the dc in wires are in the electrics box or on the unit itself?

 

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7 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Fan seized Bob? just a thought, but hope its something really simple and cheap mate

I am leaning in that direction. When I first turned it on today, the fan spun up to a reasonable speed in the few seconds then stopped dead. Now when I try to start it, the noise suggests the fan starts to fire up but cuts out before it runs ie it sounds like it may be seized or something is stopping it go round....but equally it could be something in it sensing something is wrong and shutting it down. I guess the manual should tell me what.

 

If it was a seized fan, what's the prognosis? Easy to fix? Is there access to the fan?

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2 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

I am leaning in that direction. When I first turned it on today, the fan spun up to a reasonable speed in the few seconds then stopped dead. Now when I try to start it, the noise suggests the fan starts to fire up but cuts out before it runs ie it sounds like it may be seized or something is stopping it go round....but equally it could be something in it sensing something is wrong and shutting it down. I guess the manual should tell me what.

 

If it was a seized fan, what's the prognosis? Easy to fix? Is there access to the fan?

Might be as simple as wd 40 and a bit of working back and forwards, it will have a sensor to know fan is running I would have thought

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I'm not familiar with the water system . However the air heater has two fuses . Its possible one of the fuses has blown.

Early this year it was my ECU that had failed which I diagnosed by fitting a new fuse and that resulted in smoke from the ECU . That might not be your fault of course .

 

I bought a replacement ECU from Kirknalls , which was a bit cheaper than the main dealers and possibly a copy - but it did the trick. 

https://www.kirknalls.co.uk/heaters.html

 

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13 minutes ago, MartynG said:

I'm not familiar with the water system . However the air heater has two fuses . Its possible one of the fuses has blown.

Early this year it was my ECU that had failed which I diagnosed by fitting a new fuse and that resulted in smoke from the ECU . That might not be your fault of course .

 

I bought a replacement ECU from Kirknalls , which was a bit cheaper than the main dealers and possibly a copy - but it did the trick. 

https://www.kirknalls.co.uk/heaters.html

 

Thanks Martyn. I'll look at the manual and thanks for the link. It may come in useful.

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Couple of years ago with damp in the cruiser stern, the auto fuses got some surface corrosion on and the unit stopped the start up sequence once it got to glow plug time, the higher current and contact resistance dropped the voltage at the control unit. New fuses and cleaned contacts with wet and dry sorted it.

 

In June we saw a hire boat with erby problems, the call out engineer even put a whole new spare unit in to no avail. Finally found the problem, the turn around staff had not refilled the diesel tank and the level was below the erby offtake.

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1 hour ago, Dr Bob said:

Thanks Mike. Yes, that was one thing I was going to check in the morning when it is light. Are the input terminals accessible. To be honest, I havent got the destruction manual out yet....that was another job for the morning. Is it obvious where the dc in wires are in the electrics box or on the unit itself?

 

 

Dunno never worked on one! Chances are the terminals will be very accessible. If the manu made them hard to get to, installers would just fit a different brand of heater. 

 

 

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Morning has now well and truly broken - so what gives??

My -splutter type kit came with a very smal fuel filter hidden away in a tube - and I forgot about it. On inspection it was all gunged up. I replaced it and all was well.

The symptons were much as you described....

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13 hours ago, PeterF said:

Couple of years ago with damp in the cruiser stern, the auto fuses got some surface corrosion on and the unit stopped the start up sequence once it got to glow plug time, the higher current and contact resistance dropped the voltage at the control unit.

 

41 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

Morning has now well and truly broken - so what gives??

 

PeterF wins the prize.

11 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

I'm favouring condensation on the fuses or a stuck fan. 

Checked the voltage in the fuse box and it was 13.2V vs 13.3V on the BMV so not too much voltage drop.

Pulled the fuses and the higher rated ones did look a bit mangy so gave them a good scraping, emery papered them and re-inserted and once I had figured how to reset the switch panel it fired up first time and is running fine.

I remember two winters ago getting a similar problem and the wisdom on here was to pull the fuses and the relay - which I did and it worked then. For some reason I was thinking it was pulling the relay that made the difference. Nice to see it was such a simple problem.

Thanks everyone for their help.

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6 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

 

PeterF wins the prize.

Checked the voltage in the fuse box and it was 13.2V vs 13.3V on the BMV so not too much voltage drop.

Pulled the fuses and the higher rated ones did look a bit mangy so gave them a good scraping, emery papered them and re-inserted and once I had figured how to reset the switch panel it fired up first time and is running fine.

I remember two winters ago getting a similar problem and the wisdom on here was to pull the fuses and the relay - which I did and it worked then. For some reason I was thinking it was pulling the relay that made the difference. Nice to see it was such a simple problem.

Thanks everyone for their help.

 

You're welcome. Where do we send the bill?

 

???

 

 

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11 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

 

PeterF wins the prize.

Checked the voltage in the fuse box and it was 13.2V vs 13.3V on the BMV so not too much voltage drop.

Pulled the fuses and the higher rated ones did look a bit mangy so gave them a good scraping, emery papered them and re-inserted and once I had figured how to reset the switch panel it fired up first time and is running fine.

I remember two winters ago getting a similar problem and the wisdom on here was to pull the fuses and the relay - which I did and it worked then. For some reason I was thinking it was pulling the relay that made the difference. Nice to see it was such a simple problem.

Thanks everyone for their help.

All good then a no expense fix are always the best

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2 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

You're welcome. Where do we send the bill?

 

???

 

 

Nah, the duck's already got one!

47 minutes ago, PeterF said:

Glad to help out. I put neoprene seals on my deck boards after my damp problems and I get much less rain inside now.

It's not particularly damp in the engine bay. No water in the bilge at all ....we have a good pram cover. I guess it was just the drop in temperature and not touched those fuses for 2 years.

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2 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

Nah, the duck's already got one!

It's not particularly damp in the engine bay. No water in the bilge at all ....we have a good pram cover. I guess it was just the drop in temperature and not touched those fuses for 2 years.

The Whispergen lives in a waterproof box for that reason, the air for combustion comes from underneath allegedly

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