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Webasto thermo top c exhaust fumes


Pete jolly

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Looking for some advice

we have a webasto thermo top C fitted in the boat and it’s been working fine however yesterday you smell exhaust fumes in the engine room and when I pulled back the exhaust sock and run the heater you can see exhaust fumes coming from the unit. Unfortunately I cannot isolate it to either the exhaust or heater. 
is it possible for exhaust fumes to enter the boat from just the heater body or can it only be leaking from the exhaust stub pipe or exhaust. 

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18 minutes ago, Pete jolly said:

Looking for some advice

we have a webasto thermo top C fitted in the boat and it’s been working fine however yesterday you smell exhaust fumes in the engine room and when I pulled back the exhaust sock and run the heater you can see exhaust fumes coming from the unit. Unfortunately I cannot isolate it to either the exhaust or heater. 
is it possible for exhaust fumes to enter the boat from just the heater body or can it only be leaking from the exhaust stub pipe or exhaust. 

Try running the heater and very briefly getting someone to block the exhaust outside whilst you watch inside. Or feed some neat oil into the air intake whilst it is running and watch where the smoke comes out inside.

 

Could it just be blowing back in from outside?

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20 minutes ago, Pete jolly said:

Looking for some advice

we have a webasto thermo top C fitted in the boat and it’s been working fine however yesterday you smell exhaust fumes in the engine room and when I pulled back the exhaust sock and run the heater you can see exhaust fumes coming from the unit. Unfortunately I cannot isolate it to either the exhaust or heater. 
is it possible for exhaust fumes to enter the boat from just the heater body or can it only be leaking from the exhaust stub pipe or exhaust. 

 

Where di you source the heater from ?

 

Many 'cheap ones' off ebay etc are designed for vehicle use and the exhaust has a drain hole in it that would allow it to drip / gas to escape under the car. In a boat it just means that the gases collect in the bottom of the boat..
DO NOT use it until you get it changed.

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Hi

the unit was fitted by a boat yard in 2017 and had a burner replaced last year. The exhaust is a webasto marine specific unit, no drain hole, I could chase down a new exhaust but was concerned it could be a heater gasket leaking if that’s possible on these units

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Have you tried to source the smoke as suggested in post #2?

If it is not a leaking exhaust pipe or a joint at the heater or the joint onto the hull fitting,then suspect a cracked heat exchanger.

With constant expansion and contraction with use,the metal eventually fatigues and cracks.

If it is cracked I would expect fumes to be blown out of the hot air outlet into the cabin.

Some careful detective work needed.

Edited by Mad Harold
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4 hours ago, Pete jolly said:

Hi

the unit was fitted by a boat yard in 2017 and had a burner replaced last year. The exhaust is a webasto marine specific unit, no drain hole, I could chase down a new exhaust but was concerned it could be a heater gasket leaking if that’s possible on these units

That at least is good news, "when you said "we have had a webasto fitted" I took it as a recent fitting.

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I have recently bought a boat with a Webasto Thermo top C heater unit.  I noticed an odd smell in the engine room so I took up the floor panel to view the heater unit.  The smell was coming from the heater as it was the only thing running; having just been on the boat for ten minutes on this day.  I kept checking the heater unit and then I noticed a bright orange glow on the exhaust system.  The location of the glow was on the flexible conduit.  The exhaust has a tight (almost right-angle) bend just four - five inches from the exhaust port.  The glow then turned bright red and got quite fierce.  I turned the unit off and then a small flame appeared.  I blew it out but it came back.  Luckily After the third blow it stayed out.  I had the fire extinguisher to hand but didn't need it.  Then the CO detector in the boatman's cabin started sounding so I got out of the boat pretty quickly.  Opened up the bow doors and left it to air for fifteen minutes.  When the exhaust cooled a fellow boater examined the exhaust by hand and said that the metal pipe felt crunchy under the fire-proof wrapping.  I am going back to the boat soon to unwrap the tape and see what the damage is.  I imagine that the exhaust is hitting this ninety degree bend and the bend is taking the brunt of the heat.  I cannot remember seeing any silencer unit in the exhaust (as of yet).  It's still a new boat to me and I haven't fully learned where everything is.

 

Is it possible to get an angled tubular steel section of exhaust to attach to the exhaust port - and then fix new conduit to this?

On board I have a spare Thermo Top C and diagnostic software to use.

 

Of course, all help and advice will be great.

Edited by Unix
edited to correct typo
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22 hours ago, Pete jolly said:

...you can see exhaust fumes coming from the unit. Unfortunately I cannot isolate it to either the exhaust or heater. 

is it possible for exhaust fumes to enter the boat from just the heater body or can it only be leaking from the exhaust stub pipe or exhaust. 

Might the exhaust pipe, conduit, have pinhole leaks?  I'm checking my exhaust system soon and I'm guessing it's going to look like a sieve.

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