Diesel Heater

bobj808

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112
Just in case anyone from north of England/south of Scotland is considering one for mh or camper - have a look at ACLS Retail website. I was visiting a friend who has a 4KW fitted to his campervan. The company source them in China but specify their own electronics. I was very impressed with the fit (by the company included in price) and at full blast, well it is so hot. Easy to use, just enter the desired temp on the remote mounted lcd unit and it does the rest. Comes with a 20l tank but he paid extra to have it plumbed into his main tank and a natty small silencer. Bob
 
It does seem a good deal. But see BiggarMacs experience with ACLS.....
 
I would say the heaters generally. Just my pal got his fitted by them. I have no experience of diesel heaters (got my Truma) but thought it was a neat tidy fit and good performance. Not plugging the company, I had never heard of them. I had a look at the post and yes that's poor service. However, that was certainly not my friend's experience so hopefully the company has improved. Bob.
 
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In summary, if you get a good heater, then it does a good job.
I fitted one to a friends T5 months ago and he thinks it is the best thing ever. On the flip side, it took me three goes to get a good heater in my own van and now I have that good one I am very pleased.
ACLS' supply and fit deal of £299 including the heater is very good - as that represents an installation cost of around £220 over the bare cost of the heater they fit - and to install one of these heaters takes a few hours.

I do have a slight concern about their offering though TBH.
One of the biggest problems with these heaters is the glowpin. On the Facebook page dedicted to the heaters, there is a frequent recommendation to replace the glowpin with a eberspacher one before you even install the heater. ACLS's warranty does not extend to the glowpin due to "faults caused by incorrect usage" and if the heater fails to kick in and it is attributed to the glowpin, this would be a charged repair.
On my first heater, the glowpin was cracked (amongst other issues) and so not working and nothing to do with how the heater was used.
 
I asked ACLS about fitting one of their heaters to my van a few weeks back. They made an appointment for the 5th December. Nobody came. When I rang the lady said I was booked for the following day. I know I would not have agreed to that date as I do something on Thursdays and would not have wanted to miss it. Gave them the benefit of the doubt and the lady said the technician would ring me that night to arrange a time. No phone call. At about 10.30 on the day they said they had in their diary I managed to get hold of the lady again. She said the technician would ring. No call. I posted this on another forum and the person from ACLS answered and said I had only asked for a quotation. I had asked for advice and if my van would be suitable. His comments have not shown him to be customer friendly. No apology for not coming. What he did not know, and had not tried to find out was that if his technician had bothered to turn up I would have had a unit fitted as I had found out more about the system from Wildebus! Oh well he has lost a sale and I'll just stick with my Truma, but try to find the break in the pipe!
 
I have a webasto in my van ,my van is a Mercedes 508 1987 and in another life it was a military ambulance so the heater is a factory fitted item, it warms my van up to toasty in about 15mins the down side is noise ,you couldn’t sleep with it on , Not that I would ever want to,the other thing is the exhaust it would not be much fun for anyone camped in close proximity in a tent or awning or trailer tent as it would be like having a car exhaust blowing fumes at you so times of use can require selective use
 
Deadsfo said:
I have a webasto in my van ,my van is a Mercedes 508 1987 and in another life it was a military ambulance so the heater is a factory fitted item, it warms my van up to toasty in about 15mins the down side is noise ,you couldn’t sleep with it on , Not that I would ever want to,the other thing is the exhaust it would not be much fun for anyone camped in close proximity in a tent or awning or trailer tent as it would be like having a car exhaust blowing fumes at you so times of use can require selective use
Click to expand...

Same COULD be said for a eberspacher without intake/exhaust silencers fitted....
IMHO fitment of both of the above means a reduction of around 50% of the noise...
Our d2 is barely audible from more than a metre away.
 
A silencer on inlet and exhaust makes a big difference. Once the 'room' is up to temp and the heater is turned down, it is pretty quiet. Not silent, but quieter than a typical fan heater.
I can sleep with my heater running. The loudest noise to my ears is not the exhaust, or the heater body, but the ticking of the fuel pump. I hear that over any heater sound when inside and doors closed. (Plan to make an insulated box to put over the pump).
 
Deadsfo said:
I have a webasto in my van ,my van is a Mercedes 508 1987 and in another life it was a military ambulance so the heater is a factory fitted item, it warms my van up to toasty in about 15mins the down side is noise ,you couldn’t sleep with it on , Not that I would ever want to,the other thing is the exhaust it would not be much fun for anyone camped in close proximity in a tent or awning or trailer tent as it would be like having a car exhaust blowing fumes at you so times of use can require selective use
Click to expand...
Our eberspacher pre heater has silencers fitted and I struggle to hear it, yes I am a little deaf but it is very quiet. Our DT4 on the other hand has not yet got silencers fitter and can be noises when it is ramping up, once it gets to temperature though I don’t think it’s too bad maintaining it noise wise. Would really need someone with better hearing to say for sure but I have never had and complaints. Don’t think I have ever been close to a tent or trailer tent though when I stop and not likely to. If on a camp site the 6metre rule would mean fume and noise wouldn’t matter anyway
 
Make sure the rubber pump mounting is not damaged and the pump is mounted to a solid chassis member our pump can only just be heard its so quiet previous ones have been noisier.

Alf


wildebus said:
A silencer on inlet and exhaust makes a big difference. Once the 'room' is up to temp and the heater is turned down, it is pretty quiet. Not silent, but quieter than a typical fan heater.
I can sleep with my heater running. The loudest noise to my ears is not the exhaust, or the heater body, but the ticking of the fuel pump. I hear that over any heater sound when inside and doors closed. (Plan to make an insulated box to put over the pump).
Click to expand...
 
Alf said:
Make sure the rubber pump mounting is not damaged and the pump is mounted to a solid chassis member our pump can only just be heard its so quiet previous ones have been noisier.

Alf
Click to expand...
It is mounted on a board that is on a wheel carrier - so possibly (but unlikely given the weight of the whole contraption) there is vibration. it is also a "chinese heater" pump so likely lower quality than the pukka eber/Webasto ones. thinking about it another pump I have on another heater in a shed doesn't seem as noisy - but that is just suspended on a strap and not fixed to anything (it's a test rig)
Something that I saw on the lekonksis varnish (sp?) site about pump noise is if you have the rubber connector pipes at 90 degree angles it makes a big difference. I have them set like that as well.
I will (when the weather suits TBH) play around with seeing if I can insulate the mount more (as well as making a cover) to see it that makes a difference. It is not as if it is mega-noisy, but I just don't like ticking noises (must be due to my years in the bomb squad! ;) )
 
I remember servicing an Eberspacher we had on our last Symbol I removed the pump to run the heater in my garage I hung the pump off the roof and there was no noise when I replaced it I moved it to a more solid mounting and the ticking was reduced by 75% its all about having a solid mounting both for the heater and the pump

Alf

wildebus said:
It is mounted on a board that is on a wheel carrier - so possibly (but unlikely given the weight of the whole contraption) there is vibration. it is also a "chinese heater" pump so likely lower quality than the pukka eber/Webasto ones. thinking about it another pump I have on another heater in a shed doesn't seem as noisy - but that is just suspended on a strap and not fixed to anything (it's a test rig)
Something that I saw on the lekonksis varnish (sp?) site about pump noise is if you have the rubber connector pipes at 90 degree angles it makes a big difference. I have them set like that as well.
I will (when the weather suits TBH) play around with seeing if I can insulate the mount more (as well as making a cover) to see it that makes a difference. It is not as if it is mega-noisy, but I just don't like ticking noises (must be due to my years in the bomb squad! ;) )
Click to expand...
 
here you are the link you want

Alf :)

http://www.letonkinoisvarnish.uk/eberspacher_faults_2.html


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wildebus said:
It is mounted on a board that is on a wheel carrier - so possibly (but unlikely given the weight of the whole contraption) there is vibration. it is also a "chinese heater" pump so likely lower quality than the pukka eber/Webasto ones. thinking about it another pump I have on another heater in a shed doesn't seem as noisy - but that is just suspended on a strap and not fixed to anything (it's a test rig)
Something that I saw on the lekonksis varnish (sp?) site about pump noise is if you have the rubber connector pipes at 90 degree angles it makes a big difference. I have them set like that as well.
I will (when the weather suits TBH) play around with seeing if I can insulate the mount more (as well as making a cover) to see it that makes a difference. It is not as if it is mega-noisy, but I just don't like ticking noises (must be due to my years in the bomb squad! ;) )
Click to expand...
 
Alf said:
Make sure the rubber pump mounting is not damaged and the pump is mounted to a solid chassis member our pump can only just be heard its so quiet previous ones have been noisier.

Alf
Click to expand...
Hmmm, I get a ticking when I run the DT4 so wonder if that's what does mine, thinking about it i dont recall hearing anything when I run the pre heater. Would the pre heater be running from the main fuel system seeing as it is wired to have ignition on and engine running or am I going to have two extra diesel pumps, one for each eberspacher?
 
Each heater has its own fuel pump and both will be fed by the main fuel tank, and not via any engine fuel pumps.
 
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