Espar fuel heater?

[670x]

HI newbie here. I tried searching but found nothing about these.

http://www.espar.com/htm/Specs/water/hydro5.htm

Have any of you used these or something similar. When I leave my truck at the cabin for a few days it is really hard to start. New glow plugs (yes beru) new batteries and starter but they really don't help at 8,500 ft and up to -30 below.
I have nowhere to plug it in so I was thinking about one of these.

Thanks

 

[Agnem]

Welcome to the site. I can't recollect anyone here using one of those, but it looks like a viable option to me. Those are difficult conditions your working with to be sure.

 

[Snowdiver]

I had one of these on my boat and it worked great, it was the D1L model and I came to the conclusion that a D5 model would have been better. This is not cheap but it works great.

 

[The Warden]

I've heard other people say that it works really well. Never tried it myself (don't have the $$, and don't really need it here in CA), but based on what I've heard, I wouldn't hesitate to go that route if external heating's needed and you're not reliably near a 110v source...

 

[Diezel_Cowboy]

It would be a LOT cheaper to unhook the glow plugs and use ether.

It would be quicker too since the espar units work like a block heater does, except they use fuel from the truck instead of electricity. I would say it would take an hour at least to get the truck up to temperature to start, where ether should start it immediately.

 

[Snowdiver]

Yea these things are made to run continuous. The one I had used a quart per hour. All night running say for eight hours would cost six bucks. I think the D5 uses more.

 

[670x]

It has a 7 day timer.
You just set it for a couple of hours before you get back.
About the ether thing, when I climb off of a snowmobile inthe dead of night with no ambient light except the stars and it's friggen blowing a ground blizzard I'm not to keen on taking anything apart to shoot some ether in it. I want to get in a nice warm truck hit the key and shiver while it warms up.
The thing is to reduce the damage at start up and to actually have it start up. I've gone through 3 starters in 3 years. Starting a 7.3 IDI when it is cold soaked is not much fun.
I guess I'll have to keep you posted becouse I will probably put one in this winter, I'm already plugging in at night to keep the neighbors happy.

Thanks

 

[RLDSL]

I have one that I just rebuilt to put in one of my diesel cars so I can start it cold on 100% veg year round. You should only have to fire it up about 20-30 minutes before hand at most, those things are a mini blast furnace . the one I have on the test bench with about a gal of water in the lines and tank get seriously hot in about one minute after starting, takes a few minutes to cycle off. With the roughly 8 gal system on the truck and the cold ambient temps, a half hour should have the whole rig toasty ( you can wire them in to turn the heater fan on when they kick on, so you'r windshield will be defrosted as well)When you set them to come on, they will fire up and run till they reach temp, then shut down till it cools to a preset point, then fire back up until their shutdown time or manual shutoff.

This guy has them about the cheapest in the US: http://www.lubricationspecialist.co...r.htm&osCsid=a1a85c640cdb9eb82ce17e34800611e7
I bought a remote setup from the guy, it cost $200, when you considr he gets the same for a 7 day timer and I got one out of the UK for under $100 after shipping........But he's a ton cheaper than all the heavy truck dealers that carry Espar.
If you need any mounting parts or accessories, check ebayin the UK and Germany, I've had to buy a number of parts and they are a fraction of the price there. Those things are factory equipment on most cars sold in Europe so parts are plentiful there.

My first exposure to one was on a diesel car I got that was sold in Finland origanally.If it will start one up above the arctic circle, you should have no problem where you're going, keep in mind, to still add fuel antigel or you'll be dead in the water.

--------Robert

 

[670x]

RLDSL thank you thats what I was looking for. I have used fuel heaters in airplanes for cabin heat and I think these are similar. As far as addditives go I usually burn waste Jet fuel mixed with Diesel so jelling is no problem. I never thought to look in Europe for the parts.
Thanks again.

 

[dbensen]

I was able to get one of a school bus that was in a junkyard for $50.00. I haven't had time to get it running yet. This setup was a complete unit that included the espar unit, a water pump, expansion tank and a heater core with a fan inside bus. From a quick diagnosis the fuel pump on this one is not happy. They are used in many applications for heating air and water going back to the old VW bus days. They do work quite well.
Doug
'86 F-250 4x4
'89 E-250 ATS turbo

 

[RLDSL]

If you look in Europe for parts, they still use the original name. Search Ebay Germany for Eberspacher ( unless you know the keyboard trick to get an umlat over the "a" you'll ned to follow the link that pops up with the umlat over the a, and that will bring you about 3-8 pages of parts and complete units. There are a number of sellers seling complete new units with timers for around 750 euros and less that will ship worldwide, but most don't take paypal and only take bank transfer which could end up costing you a bunch. Used units go for peanuts there.
My German is week at best so I use this for translating http://www.freetranslation.com/

Doug, if you need a fuel pump this guy has them for $70 ( that's about $140 less than you will find one for in the US ) http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-EBERSPACHER...DVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item150057206228
I've bought a few parts from this seller( Just got my new timer faceplate from him yesterday , takes about a week and a half to middle America, shipping around $15.

---------Robert

 

[82F100SWB]

I don't personally have one, but, I know more than a few people that do, and one is on my wish list... They are far more effective than a block heater. A block heater will keep the engine from being a really cold lump of iron, where an Espar/Webasto et al will give you an engine that's at operating temperature, and a nice warm interior. They are in all facts of the matter a small, oil fired boiler, with a circulation pump, and turn your cooling system into a hydronic heating system, and maintain a system temp between 150 and 175 degrees F. Far more than an electric immersion block heater could ever hope for.
The Espar H5 puts out 17,000 BTU/H... Just to put that into perspective, a new house built to current code, and R2000 spec, say 1400 SQ ft, according to a proper heat loss calculation, in this area(design temperature of -40) requires only about 50,000 BTU to heat it....

 

[Max Power]

I have one. It works pretty good and sounds like it's exactly what you're looking for. I would by espar over other brands such as webasto but that's just personal prefernce.

 

[670x]

Thanks guys for the info. I found a new dealer here and can get the complete setup with 7day timer and the whole unit in a "box" to simplify the installation for 1,100.00.
They have never sold one so they are not much help as they just got them as a product. He did tell me though that if I needed 5 of them they could be had for a discounted price of 700.00 each!