Espar Heater Problems

[charlie56]

Originally Posted by MKRyan

Great information Dave.
I have a switch to the right of my timer module that we haven't figured out what it was for yet. I'm assuming it is the timer switch you are talking about. I'll give it a try tonight.

Mike
That is a MOST IMPORTANT switch.
Its not a timer, its more of an override installed by SMB. The Espar timer (at least mine) is only good for 90 minutes. If you need to keep the heater going all night, and don't want to get up every 90 minutes, then flip the switch. It will then keep the heater going for as long as it is flipped (provided the heater is turned on). Very important feature for cold nights.

[daveb]

Yeah Mike, Charlie is more correct on the switch, but it's more of a timer bypass switch that doesn't fully bypass the Espars timer...at least on mine. If you turn it on, then turn on the main heater control, after the heater is up and running try to turn it off while leaving the espar running. The display will change to show 15 min until shutdown. If your unit does nothing its probably an altitude switch.

Charlie, you can set the run time up to 2 hours if you wish...it is adjustable, again at least mine is.

Atta boy Greg, I thought I was done spending money on this system! Can you set the temp to hold at a certain degree? That is what I wanted from the start and after the upgrade found all I got was a timer. I have yet to set the timer to come on while away from the vehicle. I can see it being useful to come on only early in the morning before you wake up or when you're away from the van, but when I get up in the middle of the night to take a psss, I want to come back to a warm van. I'd rather set to a specific number over guessing where to turn that knob and waking later to a too hot or too cold van. Is it plug and play or need to be specifically wired differently?

Dave

[LanduytG]

Originally Posted by daveb

Yea Mike, Charlie is more correct on the switch, but it's more of a timer bypass switch that doesn't fully bypass the Espars timer...at least on mine. If you turn it on, then turn on the main heater control, after the heater is up and running try to turn it off while leaving the espar running. The display will change to show 15 min until shutdown. If your unit does nothing its probably an altitude switch.

Charlie, you can set the run time up to 2 hours if you wish...it is adjustable, again at least mine is.

Atta boy Greg, I thought I was done spending money on this system! Can you set the temp to hold at a certain degree? That is what I wanted from the start and after the upgrade found all I got was a timer. I have yet to set the timer to come on while away from the vehicle. I can see it being useful to come on only early in the morning before you wake up or when you're away from the van, but when I get up in the middle of the night to take a psss, I want to come back to a warm van. I'd rather set to a specific number over guessing where to turn that knob and waking later to a too hot or too cold van. Is it plug and play or need to be specifically wired differently?

Dave

Yes you can. You can also put it in parallel with the 7 day time if you want.

Greg

[daveb]

thanks, I'll look for it.

[scatter]

Well, I haven’t seen anything posted on Espar problems in a while, but I doubt they have all gone away. Mine has been acting up again on occasion and giving up the dreaded F52 code and white smoke. I pulled the heater (again) and took it all apart. Once again, the combustion chamber, location of the carbon problem that is the main cause of the 52 code, was very clean. I called Greg at Lubrication Specialists (317-326-4296 greg@lubricationspecialist) a very knowledgeable guy with these heaters and he sells parts at a good price. (He has several very helpful posts here) He told me that even though the chamber itself is clean, there is a section in the bottom with screens that will carbon up even though the chamber is fine. There is no way to get into this section, but if you look through all the inlet holes and the glow pin hole you can see in there just a little bit. I could see some black carbon in and it was the hard, solid kind. I’m not aware of anything that will dissolve that stuff, and Greg recommended sending out my chamber to this guy. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rebuilt-Eberspa ... 3331519923 This is his eBay site. His name is Josh and he can also be reached at:

Nelson Repair
542 cottage street
Mondovi, WI 54755

He takes the chamber and cuts it apart on a lathe, sand blasts the whole thing, welds it back together and sends it back with a new glow pin screen and the necessary gasket to bolt the chamber back into the heater. Sending mine to him from California (I had mine repaired rather then one he had in stock) I got it back in one week. Pretty fast!

Anyway, heater works super now, but I’ve only run it for an hour. Here’s hoping it will keep it up for a few years. I did find some fine grit in the chamber and there was a lot of fine dust in the intake hose. This was from typical driving on dirt roads as SMB had the intake up against the van floor right above the rear axle. Even though I didn’t run the heater while driving, the amount of dirt road driving I do allowed plenty of the fine stuff to end up in the tube. I never got around to capping the intake like Jeffrey did – my bad. That will be done this weekend. That or I might route the intake air tube up into the fuel filler door. This should keep the furnace inlet pretty dust free. The filter Greg sells is another option, but there is a LOT of dust under the rig....

Well, that’s the latest on my furnace. Bottom line, if you think you might have a dirty chamber, Josh is the guy to clean it.

[Jeffrey]

Good report, Scat.

Perhaps my issue was not with the mysterious 'you can't get there from here' micro chamber. Lucky, I suppose, but I still had to remove it and send it to Greg. Since then, I don't use it often, but do a 30 minute full bore blast every coupla months to clean out any carbon buildup (that I think, hope, sort of believe works).

You should do the cap thing or at least use duct tape while off roading. NO dust or dirt enters.

[scatter]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey

You should do the cap thing or at least use duct tape while off roading. NO dust or dirt enters.

Rerouted the intake hose and installed a cap yesterday Jeffrey. I can learn, not very fast, but I can learn.

Something else I might mention is that anyone having the second high altitude pump ought to check that the correct pump comes on when the switch is in the #2 (high altitude) position. The HA pump is the one with the green sticker on it. Some switches were wired backwards. That can put too much fuel out and cause carbon buildup.

One other thing, at least on my unit, the unseen carbon buildup caused the 52 code intermittently. The furnace would still work one time and not the next.

I'm also going to start running kerosene through it once in a while. Hard to believe that SMBs have these problems and the other thousands out there just keep chugging along. Sure do like it though.

[John and Dana]

After 4 years of reliable service I get to join the club of those having problems with their Espar heaters. It would take 2 or 3 attempts to get my heater to start and I was getting a F-52 error code. (Start time out) and lots of white smoke.

I spent a good deal of time today scouring the web about these heater and the carbon buildup problem is not isolated to heaters installed in Sportsmobiles. It seems to be a very common problem with these heaters. I wanted to share some of the good information I found.

Here is a service bulletin I found on the Espar website about cleaning the heaters with Kerosene. http://www.espar.com/tech_manuals/AIRTR ... emoval.pdf I wonder what the dealers charge for this? It was a simple process to remove the fuel line from the tank to the pump and hook up a second section of fule line to a can of kerosene. I ran the heater on high for 30 minutes and then let it cool. Hooked the fuel lines back up and it started on the first try.

Espar recommends replacing the atomizer or glow plug screen once per year so after four year I am planning on changing mine out My one frustration was that to remove the glow pin and gain access you need a special socket that is only sold with a new glow pin, which I don't need. I found a website from England of someone who services the heaters that has instruction on how to make your own tool as well as instructions on how to disassemble and service the heaters. http://letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk/D2_D4_Service_2.html


Happy Trails
John

[pwhitbeck]

Hi all,

I've been having a start problem with my Espar Hydronic due to lack of fuel from infrequent use.

I now have the dreaded F50 "Too many start attempts" code.

I've found one fuse (on the 12 volt fuse box under the back seat) that will cut power to the control/thermostat but it doesn't reset the fault code.

I've read here of another fuse that needs to be pulled to reset. Where is this normally found?

I have an '07 E350 SM.

Thanks!

Pete Whitbeck

[LanduytG]

Originally Posted by pwhitbeck

Hi all,

I've been having a start problem with my Espar Hydronic due to lack of fuel from infrequent use.

I now have the dreaded F50 "Too many start attempts" code.

I've found one fuse (on the 12 volt fuse box under the back seat) that will cut power to the control/thermostat but it doesn't reset the fault code.

I've read here of another fuse that needs to be pulled to reset. Where is this normally found?

I have an '07 E350 SM.

Thanks!

Pete Whitbeck

The only way to reset the F50 is with a fault code reader, or the new Digi Max controller.
http://www.lubricationspecialist.com/ti ... g-control/

I strongly suggest you do quit using the OEM pickup SB used and put in a pickup that will go to within 1" of the bottom of the tank. Its silly that you can't use the heater below a 1/4 tank.

Greg