EFOY (1 Viewer)

[funflair]

We have an EFOY unit in the garage, the cooling exhaust pipe is also in the garage space. When the unit has been running for a while we can smell it, not terrible but not ideal either.

The question is if you have an EFOY unit that does not exhaust the cooling duct to the outside can you smell it inside the van.

Martin

 

[Clewsy]

Ours vent through the floor to outside. Do you have plenty of vents to outside in your garage?

 

[GJH]

I can't answer your question, Martin, as we don't have an EFOY fitted but we do keep thinking about it.

Hope you don't mind me going off topic a bit but did you have it fitted locally?

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[funflair]

I can't answer your question, Martin, as we don't have an EFOY fitted but we do keep thinking about it.

Hope you don't mind me going off topic a bit but did you have it fitted locally?

I fitted it myself, so only me to blame if it's wrong.

Martin

 

[GJH]

I fitted it myself, so only me to blame if it's wrong.

Martin

Thanks. I was thinking I would maybe look for a professional to blame

 

[funflair]

Ours vent through the floor to outside. Do you have plenty of vents to outside in your garage?

The exhaust goes outside, that's the small silicone pipe, it is my understanding that the off heat pipe should only be warm air, so there should be no smell indeed EFOY said this when I asked.

Martin

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[Don Quixote]

Martin if I could afford one I would have it tomorrow.

 

[irnbru]

What is an EFOY?

 

[Mother Ship]

We've had our EFOY since 2009, first fitted in garage of an A Class and when we changed to a panel van conversion had it moved and fitted to under bench seat/single bed at rear of van -never had any smells. It has done more hours than it's predicted lifespan and still performing well. A really brilliant bit of kit. On both our vans the clear plastic pipe goes external AND an exhaust duct fitted to the warm air outlet. Looks like you are getting smells because the warm air outlet vents off odours in the heating process.

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[eddie]

We've fitted several (about 20 I would guess) and there is never any smell whatsoever. PM us a picture and I'll show it to our guy that has fitted them.

 

[funflair]

We've had our EFOY since 2009, first fitted in garage of an A Class and when we changed to a panel van conversion had it moved and fitted to under bench seat/single bed at rear of van -never had any smells. It has done more hours than it's predicted lifespan and still performing well. A really brilliant bit of kit. On both our vans the clear plastic pipe goes external AND an exhaust duct fitted to the warm air outlet. Looks like you are getting smells because the warm air outlet vents off odours in the heating process.

Hi @wanderingyp thanks for you reply, just for clarity are you saying that the warm air duct goes outside as well as the clear plastic one.

Martin

 

[funflair]

What is an EFOY?

Hi Sandra

An EFOY is a fuel cell that makes 12volts at about 6 or 8 amp output, it is virtually silent and works by a catalytic reaction of Methanol fuel and the material of the cell.

Martin

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[scotjimland]

Running cost puts me off , they use 0.91 litres per kWh (1.09 litres per 100 Ah).. costing £6.00 BROKEN LINK
that's expensive electricity.. They all consume the same amount of methanol for a given output: 1.1 litres per kWh.

Domestic rates vary, but around 9p per unit (kwh)
On sites with metered electric it is generally charged at 14p ( kwh)

 

[funflair]

We've fitted several (about 20 I would guess) and there is never any smell whatsoever. PM us a picture and I'll show it to our guy that has fitted them.

Thanks Eddie, not much to see on a picture, but basically it has the silicone exhaust tube (the small one) going through the floor of the van and it is sealed, the large cooling duct exhausts into the garage space.

as I said you can't see much other than the the big cooling duct and the corner of the unit in the background, it look to be crammed in a corner but it can draw in air OK for the cooling as there is actually space around it and the cooling duct takes the hot air away from the general area so it can take in cooler air.

Martin

 

[funflair]

Running cost puts me off , they use 0.91 litres per kWh (1.09 litres per 100 Ah).. costing £6.00 BROKEN LINK
that's expensive electricity.. They all consume the same amount of methanol for a given output: 1.1 litres per kWh.

Domestic rates vary, but around 9p per unit (kwh)
On sites with metered electric it is generally charged at 14p ( kwh)

It's emergency power for sure as we have 320 watts of solar for power, we have been at the N+B factory in a field for 6 days with no hookup and not much sun then moved 20 miles and parked on the bus park plate in Koblenz for a few nights, again no power and only a few amps of sun.

Most of the year the only time it runs is parked in the shed where I don't have power to it so I know I can come back to a good battery.

Martin

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[Clewsy]

I have just looked at our installation manual and it has a warning which says "CAUTION - the device generates heat and waste gasses. The waste & heat gasses must be released into the open air"

I suspect the off heat pipe venting into the garage only works if the garage is well ventilated. I did fit ours and cutting a 4 inch hole in the floor of a new van was a nervous moment.

 

[Allanm]

Phew, just looked at the prices of these as they sound a great idea. Can anybody recommend a retailer? The one I just looked at had them at a price where it would be cheaper to buy half a dozen generators.....

 

[funflair]

I have just looked at our installation manual and it has a warning which says "CAUTION - the device generates heat and waste gasses. The waste & heat gasses must be released into the open air"

I suspect the off heat pipe venting into the garage only works if the garage is well ventilated. I did fit ours and cutting a 4 inch hole in the floor of a new van was a nervous moment.

Hi

Thanks for that, I did read that bit a few times and decided the gases were down the exhaust tube and the heat was clean, the dealer I bought ours from has a video of it fitted in a PVC and they made a point that the waste heat exhausted into the bathroom and kept every thing lovely and warm.

I have asked EFOY themselves and they said there should be no smell from the big cooling exhaust tube but it might be a coating burning off and to get back to them after a bit more use, I just wondered what other people's experiences were.

I am now waiting another answer from the manufacturers, we are in Germany at the moment but still a long way from them.

Martin

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[funflair]

Phew, just looked at the prices of these as they sound a great idea. Can anybody recommend a retailer? The one I just looked at had them at a price where it would be cheaper to buy half a dozen generators.....

That's the price, if you want a fuel cell they are expensive, if a generator will do the job they are cheaper to buy and cheaper to run and will give you 240 volts if you want it a fuel cell is 12 volts.

Martin

 

[Clewsy]

They are expensive but are almost silent and odour free - this was important to us as we did not want a smelly noisy generator spooling our peace & quiet. Before someone says "Solar" we have that as well so will not run out of electricity.

@ScotJimland - I have not checked your source and calculations as I have to go to work so will look later but my practical experience is that our Efoy has run for 41 hours and we have used under half a 10 litre methanol container. We installed 2 x 10 litre containers in with the Efoy in June 2014 and have not yet used half of one of them. We seem to have a higher risk of them going out of date than actually using them.

 

[scotjimland]

@ScotJimland @ScotJimland - I have not checked your source and calculations as I have to go to work so will look later but my practical experience is that our Efoy has run for 41 hours and we have used under half a 10 litre methanol container. We installed 2 10 @litre containers in with the Efoy in June 2014 and have not yet lf of one of them. We seem to have a higher risk of them going out of date than actually using them.

not my cals.. they are from Efoy technical data ..

irrespective of how often you use .. .. fact remains.. 1kw of power costs £6.00

put that into perspective.. to recharge a 100ah battery (assuming totally flat) would cost about £6

as a standby system for solar .. great.. but I couldn't justify the capital cost ..

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[Techno]

How much petrol would a noisy generator use for the same 1kwh?

 

[funflair]

This is the installation write up that I read and it clearly shows and says that the waste heat goes into the bathroom.

http://www.campervanstuff.com/shop_stuff/index.php?mod=pages&idp=12

Martin

 

[Mother Ship]

Hi @wanderingyp thanks for you reply, just for clarity are you saying that the warm air duct goes outside as well as the clear plastic one.

Martin

YES!

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[eddie]

PM sent

 

[scotjimland]

How much petrol would a noisy generator use for the same 1kwh?

no idea.. don't have one.. but look forward to reading your research

 

[funflair]

PM sent

Cheers Eddie.

Martin

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[Mother Ship]

You are all not comparing like with like. The functions of a noisy generator and an EFOY are not the same. An EFOY is intelligent and automatically tops up batteries at all times. A noisy generator would not be doing this in storage without electricity.

 

[Techno]

no idea.. don't have one.. but look forward to reading your research

Can't be arsed Jim but my view is if you can afford an efoy the fuel cost is irrelevant

 

[scotjimland]

Can't be arsed Jim but my view is if you can afford an efoy the fuel cost is irrelevant

nor me either
I have looked at Efoy.. capital cost is a consideration but not a deal breaker.. running cost is ..

The Truma ,VeGA fuel cell using LPG is cheaper running, but the capital cost is frightening.. hopefully that will come down.

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