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Old 10-05-2018, 04:21 PM   #21
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I hope that it can easily be fixed and not have to buy the new one. It's getting cold and I need to get this unit back up and running.

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Old 10-12-2018, 02:17 PM   #22
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Got this corrected finally. Many thanks to all and especially Ray (aka 1der) who walked me though what the issue was and what my only option was - tear it apart.

The unit was totally gummed and clogged up with fuel and the gasket was jacked up along with the atomizer screen and glow pin. The glow pin was salvaged and not pitted but the gasket and screen had to be replaced. As Ray said, the vent hole was no doubt clogged at this point and he was right.

This was out of my pay range and I also pulled muscles in both shoulders trying to get this thing out. SMB West does not install these heaters with servicing in mind. So... I drove from Durango to Denver to Thermo King Denver and they took care of it. Good tech guy named Randy brought it out in pieces and showed me the condition and explained pretty much what Ray had told me. He got it all cleaned out and brought it out again to show me the difference. Sandblasted the insides too. Put it all back together and bench tested it for a while. That went fine and he reinstalled it except for the cabinet parts which I did out in the parking lot after paying the $520 bill.

Ran fine the next day in the REI parking lot as some guy was getting a tour of my van while I ate a sammich. Wanted to make sure of that before I left town. Snowed out on a MTB trip to Fruita then Moab but I'll do that this Monday instead - well at least Moab.

Now I wonder what fuel additives I should use seeing how the furnace did not look so very good. I had been using Amsoil and some Stanadyne at times but mostly Amsoil all in one. I have to use something as I live at 7650 feet and it gets darn cold up here in the winter. They recommended BG in a weak dosage to keep the fuel from gelling.

They also wanted to make sure that the furnace had unrestricted air flow so as to not overheat as it did that in the TK parking lot before I left (F13).

Looking forward to "making it Florida" in the van this winter.
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Old 10-12-2018, 05:40 PM   #23
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At last, a working heater! - $500+ puts a frown on anyone's face, but You'll smile next time you fire it up on a cold day.
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Old 10-12-2018, 09:19 PM   #24
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Funny that most of the repair centers say not to use fuel additives. I've been running cetane boosters since I had a injector failure on my 6.0 PSD back in 2007. At first I had some issues with the D4 airtronic...dirty screen. After that I replace the glow plug and cleaned the screen. My routine (now) is run the heater hot/high of about 15 min, then ramp it down for the night. It takes a bit of testing to figure out where to set the round thermostat dial to get the temp you want. I ALWAYS set the temp to high before shutting it down and turn off the timer button which automatically defaults to a final 15 min timer countdown. I just leave the doors open and let er run on high until it shuts itself down.



Other than the Airtronic, the Hydronic water heater threw me for a loop after I first got my van. What I found is to ignore the failure codes and let it restart on its own (if it will). It might take several starts each time throwing a code but usually will fire up on its own. I kept trying to stop & restart it. WRONG! Let it go through its cycle. If the display goes blank, wait before you try to restart. It surprised me. I thought it was off then all of a sudden several minutes later it fired up on its own and ran normal.



I will say (at least for me) that some say to run both monthly. I just fired up my Airtronic for the first time since early 2017. Yeah, so long since I've camped It fired up fine. Still it's a good idea to run it often. I do run the Hydronic every few months in the summer though, and way more in the winter to keep pipes from freezing. I've have the timer set to kick on during those cold days below 28* at 4:30AM & run for 2 hours.



I've ran Fords Cetane booster, Rev X, and finally for the last couple of years, Archoil. It works great.


Lastly I can't say how SMB sets yours up. I put SMB through hell trying to figure out what was wrong but after learning out how to operate the systems, no issues whatsoever. YMMV. Also Jeffery's post is well worth a look. His issue was related to exhaust/intake problems. I've yet to have that give me trouble.



Hope this helps.
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Old 10-13-2018, 07:52 AM   #25
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Oh and another thing... the tech relocated and cut down the exhaust to come out right at the end of the driver's side running board. He said it was waaaay too long and that the muffler was full of unburned fuel deposits. He asked if I wanted it but I told him to chuck it. The noise level is really not that much more so I'm good with that.

He also shortened the intake piping and told me why that was a good thing to do. Kind of wish he would have checked with me first but I'm taking him at his word as he has a lot of experience in that.

He and the service writer see several SMBs and really question why they do the installs the way they do. A newer Sprinter was in line right after me with a messed up D2 unit with the same issues. They really questioned why anyone would put the Airtronic under the passenger seat as that is a poor location for the heater for a variety of reasons.

Odd thing to me was that the Sprinter owner and his SO did not even give me a nod or speak to me. Snobs.
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Old 10-13-2018, 09:01 AM   #26
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A year or two ago I thought these Espar/Webasto/Planar/etc. units were new and novel. Little did I know that they have been used so widely in marine world for a long time and there is one in almost every tractor/trailer you see running down the road nowadays. That means hundreds of thousands of people use and maintain them and there is getting to be more and more info out there about them. Thermo King, Speedco or just about any truck shop is very familiar with them. RV shops should be and will be sooner or later. Hard to believe that big, loud propane furnaces are even used anymore when one of these is 1/20 the size and so much more efficient.

I have found a lot of threads on cleaning them out on Youtube and trucking forums. Just keep this in mind. Trouble with them, much like the Ford 6.0 diesel, is the exception not the rule. Most folks get tons of life out of them without cleaning, special fuel like kerosene or any of that.

I have not had to take one apart but I own two of them at the moment so the time may come. I'd love to see it all in person and maybe do a write up.

Interesting info about the long exhaust being a problem. I never thought of that.

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Old 10-13-2018, 10:42 AM   #27
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Originally Posted by 86Scotty View Post
Hard to believe that big, loud propane furnaces are even used anymore
Funny you should say that as I was just thinking that my Suburban propane furnace has never caused me one single bit of trouble, nor did the one in my last van. I did replace the thermostat once, and a propane regulator, but I've never even heard of anyone having to take one apart to clean or repair. Like any system, I have no doubt they do fail, but I've read plenty of tales of malfunctioning gas and diesel fired heaters. I also had several diesel fired hydronic and air heaters in boats, and have had issues with all of them. Still, like you said, they are big and can be loud, although mine is pretty quiet. YMMV..........
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Old 06-21-2019, 04:37 PM   #28
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Yep.




B4 is same output as D4. Cranks!!! Hit low 30's last trip out and I am not done for the year yet. Probably do a couple winter runs to snowboard and fish the eastern sierra. So yeah. Love the extra BTU's
On your B4, Did you tap the gasl tank for gas or a gas line?? I've got a built in ONAN generator in my rig, and it would be ohh so simple to tee off that gas line to feed the B4. I see a seller over in Germany selling the gas version for $1200

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