Eberspacher heater

[Cora]

Hi Guys I'm new to this forum and also pretty new to owning a motor home. My husband and I bought our 1990 VW LT camper conversion last year and due to other commitments weren't able to use it until this weekend. We have noticed that there is an Eberspacher thermostat dial and switch on the wall which, when switched on ,blows out cold air from a vent on the seating frame. Despite turning the dial right up we can't seem to make it blow warm air out. We're wanting to know if any of you would have any idea how to make this work or even where the actual heating unit is located on the van? I've looked all over both inside and out but can't seem to locate anything that looks like it could be a heater. Any help would be greatly appreciated. ?

 

[Onemanandhisdog]

Some have a diesel feed from the main fuel tank, others have a separate diesel tank, might be a good place to start if you can find it! Under the front seats a common place.

 

[Doctor Dave]

Have a look around https://www.eberspacher.com/ you should find details of your heater. There will be downloadable manuals for your particular heater. Does the control you referred to have anything other than temperature control?

Diesel heaters need a good battery voltage to fire up.
#
Dave

 

[Treeeev]

Hi Cora

Usual places to fit them are under the front seats or under the floor. There is a lot of eberspacher information on this Broken Link Removed

Cheers

Trevor

 

[Duck Truck]

Can you give the person you bought it from a ring and ask the questions

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[Cora]

I have looked around the seats and under them but can't find anything. Our engine is in between the seats so theres not really much room left! The control panel is a black box with a dial on it (it has a green and red light which come on when you move the dial. Presumably these indicate that the temperature has been/not been reached) and a red switch to turn it on. There is no digital display. I have had a good look on the eberspacher site and downloaded a couple of manuals but I'm not even sure if ours is diesel or air powered ? if I could find where the unit is I'm sure that would have a model number on it so I could look up the relevant manual and instructions. I think I'll have to take it somewhere so someone who has an idea of what they're doing can look for it. Thanks for the help ?

 

[Odd-no-more]

Have you tried it with the engine running? They need a lot of power to start. Also it can take a few minutes to heat up

 

[Cora]

The person we bought it from got it from an old couple who had done most of the work themselves. There are switches and wires all over the place which I have no idea what they're for so speaking to the guy would be so helpful. Unfortunately I dont have the previous owners details.

 

[Cora]

I did wonder about having the engine running. I shall give that a try. Thankyou

 

[John.]

The heater it's self I relatively small it would easily fit inside a shoe box.
Ours is fitted underneath the front seat on the outside tucked up behind the chassis members so not easy to spot.
Perhaps if you have it blowing cold air on the inside you will be able to find the small exhaust pipe on the outside also blowing air out. (About 20mm diameter)

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[Odd-no-more]

The person we bought it from got it from an old couple who had done most of the work themselves. There are switches and wires all over the place which I have no idea what they're for so speaking to the guy would be so helpful. Unfortunately I dont have the previous owners details.

A few pictures may help

 

[SandraL]

There are 2 types of eberspacher heater. Both are diesel or petrol fueled. One generates hot air, the other hot water. The hot water version is often mounted under vehicle or in engine bay.

www.eberspaecher-climate.com

From passenger cars to special-purpose vehicles: Eberspächer is your partner for OEM and retrofit climate control solutions such as air conditioning systems or heaters.

www.eberspacher.com

Although these are the bright shiny new versions the older ones are same principle. Download the motorhomes brochure for more detail.
As said earlier finding the exhaust pipe, 20mm ish, was once shiny convuluted stainless steel would be a good start.

 

[Enword]

Look underneath for an exhaust & inlet for the heater approx 25mm in diameter tube, follow them back & that will give you the location, (unless its been removed) when it's switched on after its gone through its fire up sequence listen for a ticking noise which will be the pump feeding the heater with fuel, if the pump isn't ticking it wont fire up.

 

[Cora]

I've tried running the engine and it's still blowing out cold air. Also I'm unable to locate the outlet pipe underneath so think I will take it to someone who's a little bit more van savvy than myself! ? they may also be able to help me out with the unknown switches and wires. Thanks so much for all your help though. You're all very kind ?

 

[Treeeev]

Hi Cora

Can you follow the vent ducting back from the outlet under the seat to the heater? On your controller, do you have a button with a horizontal line with 3 wiggley lines above? If so, press this for heat. There is an option on the eberspacher’s to just blow cold air. If you press the heat button, it should fire up and will sound like a small jet engine

Cheers

Trevor

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[Mattbee]

The D2 we had in our T5 would only fire up if the ambient temp was below that set on the thermostat, quite easy this time of year for the temperature by the sensor (D2 was in the control panel) to be up in the mid-high 20s and not allow it to fire up unless you have it set to hottest position.
As mentioned above, it would still circulate ambient air using the blower fan even if the actual heater had not fired.
Our actual heater was tucked under the drivers seat and very small/unobtrusive so hard to spot.
They can be very fussy about input voltage especially for startup and if the wiring isn’t up to scratch it may just refuse. You say it’s a hodgepodge of diy installed stuff, that may be the case here.
The Combitronic on our Autocruise is a bigger lump as it does water and heating but it doesn’t have the cold air blowing option.

 

[DorsetDrifter]

I have an eberspacher heater in my VW Westfalia. If you have this control panel, as Trevor has said above, I put the rocker switch to the 3 wiggley lines for heat or the fan to just blow cold air.
You don't need to have the engine running, I hope this helps.

 

[Chris/44]

Have a look around https://www.eberspacher.com/ you should find details of your heater. There will be downloadable manuals for your particular heater. Does the control you referred to have anything other than temperature control?

Diesel heaters need a good battery voltage to fire up.
#
Dave

Hi Dave. yes, it has a 7-day timer with adjustable temperature and an internal temp sensor in the living area. I think that, if I can fool the room temperature sensor into thinking it's cold in the van it may keep it running at full output until I switch it off.

 

[Chris/44]

Some have a diesel feed from the main fuel tank, others have a separate diesel tank, might be a good place to start if you can find it! Under the front seats a common place.

yes, it takes its diesel from the main tank.

 

[Chris/44]

Can you give the person you bought it from a ring and ask the questions

It's ex-prison service and I had to take a lot of the original wiring and equipment out.