Eberspacher vs Planar diesel air heaters.

[FionaJC]

Thank you to all those who commented. My chinese Planar arrived on Friday. I fitted it today in replacemnt of the unit I use to heat my office in the garden. If your are interested I will post a review on here otherwise I save myself and play with the new heater.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by FionaJC

Thank you to all those who commented. My chinese Planar arrived on Friday. I fitted it today in replacemnt of the unit I use to heat my office in the garden. If your are interested I will post a review on here otherwise I save myself and play with the new heater.

there are a few of us looking at the "planar" please post a review of how it performs.

[CaptTom]

By all means, post your experience!

I've extolled the virtues of my Planar on this forum for a while, but I do have a question for other Planar users, inspired by some other posts:

How forceful is the stream of exhaust gasses?

I'm wondering if the reason I don't experience mine as being loud, may be the same reason mine tends to overheat if I set the power level up too high.

Could my combustion air intake fan be failing? Alternatively, could my exhaust hose be too long? It's less than the max specified, but still...

Just some idle pondering on a cold Winter's night.

[FionaJC]

I am sitting in my 15' x 15' office in an outside building at home. It has little insulation and the outside temperature is 3o C or 37.4o F. Its 10oC or 50oF inside. My new heater has been on for 5 minutes so far. Ill let you know what its like when I finish this review.

I have had several Eberspacher diesel heaters. I have one in the boat and one in my office. I used a second hand D2 for about a year on the boat and it really wasn't big enough. I have a 40ft Ketch with 5 outlets. Only the first outlet delivered heat so I sold that D2 and bought a D4.

I then needed a better heater in my home office instead of a 2 kW LPG heater or a 3 kW electric fan which were great but either cooked me or just kept my feet warm. I bought a D4W Eberspacher from eBay, it worked OK but after a while it shut down after ten minutes and I had to restart it then it ran perfectly. I thought I would buy another for the boat and another as a spare.

I now have four Eberspachers and I have spent hours diagnosing them and sorting them out. What I have learned is that the exhaust needs to be as short as possible and as large as possible. My 22 mm exhaust run up and over my office to dump the exhaust elsewhere caused coking up. The battery must be fully charged. Your fuel must be a s clean as possible. To decoke I would run 5 litres of paraffin through it once a month followed by a disassemble and clean where I could. I took one to an Eberspacher dealer who charged me £225 to say it worked fine, it just needed a pulse stick, no it didn't, I eventually found out the power cable was too small.

What has it got to do with the review, well I'm just explaining that it took me around five years of experience, but I now know a lot about Eberspachers.

I decided to look at other makes, Webasto and then I found Planar. But there were some from Russia and some from China. The Russian heater cost around £500 but the Chinese one was £180 on eBay, I decided it was worth a chance, so I ordered one.

It took three weeks and arrived in an impressive box. All printed and lovely. I opened it and found two boxes, one with all the bits and the other with a heater. First impression was not good. It rattled, bits fell out and it looked cheap. The bits didn't look important.

Everything I was likely to need was there as per the picture except the pipe that goes in the fuel tank. No problem I e-mailed to explain that I had found bits and the pipe was missing. I was answered in 24 hours to supply a video to another email address. I sent some more pictures of what was missing and what made the heater rattle. This was immediately answered with a request for a video. I thought I would leave that till later, besides I wanted to fit my heater.

I made up a plywood board with a carrying handle and two fixing holes. I bought two brackets and drilled the baseplate to fit. I assembled it all and fixed it to the wall. Connecting the power did nothing except light two LED's and produce a puff of smoke.

I work in IT and I know that the Chinese generally produce cheap copies that are crap but get them working and they go on. Being an engineer I decided to take the heater apart. I found the air impeller seized. Taking it apart, it was quite well made with metal gaskets and heat protective sleeving. The boards are damp protected with varnish and its generally well made. Only the case lets it down, its not bad its just not that hard thick German plastic. I located the other bit of plastic that was related to the original rattling bits, re assembled the heater and the fan turned.

Putting it all together it took nine attempts to suck the fuel to the pump, then it fired up and worked perfectly. My Office is now 19oC or 68oF.

In conclusion its a cheap heater, I can buy 5 of these for the price of one Eberspacher, it comes with every conceivable fitting and device. Its quieter that an Eberspacher but I don't yet now about the long term reliability, parts and the ability to add a timer/ thermostat
See my next post as I hit a problem the next day.

[FionaJC]

Next morning it wouldn't start. Just a few puffs and then shut down. If I blew down the inlet pipe it burned but died when I stopped puffing.

Having read an excellent site https://www.letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk...r_Intro_1.html from which I have gleaned an awful lot about heaters over the years. I decided that I may have re-assembled the impeller with a large gap. I disassembled the burner again and as I hadn't got feeler gauges I put some thin cardboard between the case and the impeller and "encouraged" it until it was snug and just a mm off the case. Doing a test spin I re-assembled it. It took 9 goes to re-prime as the fuel had run back down to the tank but it fired. It has now run for two days virtually non stop and its good.

I would like a longer exhaust pipe so I will play with a small blower on the inlet to see if that improves the flow as I think that with a following wind the burner would struggle. I will definitely buy another one and servicing my other three and selling through eBay may even return me a profit on the sale of 3 Ebers and the purchase of two of the chinese copies. Here is a picture of the impeller of an ebar which is just like the chinese copy.



Next project is a GSM controlled thermostat. Anyone else interested?

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by FionaJC

I would like a longer exhaust pipe so I will play with a small blower on the inlet to see if that improves the flow as I think that with a following wind the burner would struggle.

Thanks for sharing! I've never had my Planar apart so pics are helpful.

I'm very curious to hear how you make out with the combustion air blower. I'm seriously thinking of doing the same. Not sure what to use for the blower, or where to connect it so it only runs when there's combustion happening.

I don't need a GSM thermostat, but I'd like to have options beside the cheap thermostat which came with it. Obviously it needs some "smarts" to run at different power levels and to do a proper cool-down cycle, but it would be nice to have something a little more rugged-looking and maybe with better programming.

[PFJones]

Hi all

We are approved sellers for both Eberspacher and Planar, No Planars are ever made in China. We have been selling Eberspacher for many years and only recently started to sell Planar, we have been getting many good reviews on the Planar heaters.

Wanted to share a users review of the Planar heaters which was left earlier this year


Purchased a Planar 2d-12 from P.F.Jones after my original order for an Eberspacher had supply issues with Eber moving their factory. Talked through options with PFJ and after a lot of googling found out they were actually a well-respected manufactured with lots of history and not some cheap knock off. Only negative I read was some speculation of increased electrical power consumption due to the brushless motor used (more on that later). Parts are available in the UK and a fair bit cheaper than the rip off Eber prices.
Kit ordered for bargain £450 and it arrived next day. It also contains fuel pickup pipe, exhaust and intake silencer which you don’t get with the Eber either. Mine came with the PU5 rotary controller which is modern looking and dead simple to use with just one button press. This control option doesn't offer temperature control without an additional external sensor but I really don’t think its an issue (see later).
My delivery has a broken heater clip in the box but PFJ sent out a replacement immediately.

I already had ductwork, vents and under van bracket for a VW T5 off ebay so I set to work fitting it all.

The supplied fuel pick up can be cut to length and can be fitted to a T5.1 fuel sender body perfectly with an 8mm drill.

The supplied fuel connectors, pump, rubber mount, cable ties and conduit covered wiring are all you need to complete the fuel installation although I also added a £2 ebay M6 Anti Vibration bobbin on the fuel pump so its clicking is now inaudible inside the van.

After drilling a 63mm hole in the drivers side step and under the driver seat base the heater and ductwork and wiring all went in easy enough although thorough planning and measuring is essential. The air outlet comes up beside the leisure battery under the drivers seat and out of the back next to the control panel.

I powered it up and the heater fired up after about 4 or 5 cycles which it required to pull fuel through the lines for the first time. For a small unit it kicks out plenty of heat!

I was concerned about the reports of high electrical power consumption so put a meter on it and measured the following:
Max Speed: 1.6amps 12*1.6=19.2w,
Min speed = 0.6amps 12*0.6=7.2w.
This is less than Eberspacher claim so looks like the reports of high power use are unfounded. It does pull > 10 amps while the glow plug is on during start up but this only lasts maybe 1 min max.

Due to the short outlet duct run I also made up a supply air silencer from some mesh and old dirt bike exhaust wadding. This is only about 10cm long and fits in line straight behind the outlet vent and makes a big difference in removing air noise.

The only noise audible internally at this point was the sound of the motor running. I wasn’t sure if this was normal but the diagnostic service from PF Jones was first class in checking everything over and giving it a clean bill of health. I modified the mounting onto the underbody plate to use rubber grommets on the 4 mounting holes which now means the whole unit is effectively rubber mounted. Apart from some slight whine at low speed this has all but eliminated all the motor noise and all you hear in the van is the quiet wooosh of air.

I also obtained an external temperature sensor but have decided against fitting it as running in power only mode is simple and been fine. Its worth knowing that in temperature control mode these heaters either just turn down to minimum heat, or with ventilation mode enabled the burner will turn off but there is a apparently a wide temperature hysteresis and it has to go through the full power startup cycle when it fires up again.


In summary I would highly recommend the Planar heaters and the not only are PFJones the cheapest around, their service is absolutely first class.


Hope this does not seem to be an advert, we are not the only approved UK agent.

[john61ct]

References to comparable suppliers **with good aftermarket service** for DIYers (not necessarily "marine") in the US would be appreciated.

[Karafox8]

Тепло�тар. �втономка. ПЖД. Предпу�ковой подогреватель двигател�, автоподогреватели, воздушные отопители, автомобильные подогреватели. it's seems that is the official site of planar heaters

[Cesna]

Howdy howdy peeps. I have a 1976 Sea Ray that has never had heat in it and I've been researching diesel heaters. Would you recommend a 2kw or 4kw for a 24' boat?

[Cesna]

Speaking of which I have a few more questions while on topic of diesel heaters:

1. Where to install it? As mentioned my boat doesn't have and never had any heaters in it. Where do people mount these?

2. My boat runs gas vs diesel, would you recommend I find a heater that runs on gas so I can tap into existing fuel tanks or would you go with a diesel heater and just have second fuel tank on board?

3. I was Google'ing "Planar Diesel Heaters" and found this guy who installed one of these things in his camping trailer: https://www.4wdtalk.com/planar-diesel-heater-review/ he has a 2kw that is heating his tent. The video they have in that article doesn't go into much detail on the heater, but I did find this video https://youtu.be/S-wm-cv7Xds on their channel that IMHO seems more appropriate for that article as it speaks more about the heater. So looking at his setup, that metal exhaust that comes out the bottom of that heater, how do you deal with that in a boat with out melting the side of the boat?

Thank you!

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Cesna

Speaking of which I have a few more questions while on topic of diesel heaters:

1. Where to install it? As mentioned my boat doesn't have and never had any heaters in it. Where do people mount these?

2. My boat runs gas vs diesel, would you recommend I find a heater that runs on gas so I can tap into existing fuel tanks or would you go with a diesel heater and just have second fuel tank on board?

3. I was Google'ing "Planar Diesel Heaters" and found this guy who installed one of these things in his camping trailer: https://www.4wdtalk.com/planar-diesel-heater-review/ he has a 2kw that is heating his tent. The video they have in that article doesn't go into much detail on the heater, but I did find this video https://youtu.be/S-wm-cv7Xds on their channel that IMHO seems more appropriate for that article as it speaks more about the heater. So looking at his setup, that metal exhaust that comes out the bottom of that heater, how do you deal with that in a boat with out melting the side of the boat?

Thank you!

Ok I will try to answer some of your questions .

1) in your boat install on the forward bulkhead of your engine room if possible .
Run hot air to the cabin forward with ducting and a cold air return duct from the cabin close to the unit .
( hard to advise with no direct knowledge of your specific vessel.)

2) most brands come with their own day tank . Mine holds 2.5 gallons of diesel ( runs for 2 to 5 days depending on air temperature and how long I run it . I shut it off when I'm sleeping as that's what blankets are for . ( saves fuel)
Don't use gasoline for your furnace the only one I have ever dealt with was specific designed for the Volkswagen beetle as it wS air cooled engine.

3) is a long one with several questions . On my 29 ft sailboat I have the 5kw unit but rarely run it more than half power . But nice to know I have it if it gets cold.
As to the exhaust there is a special thru hull fitting for them it is a double wall unit that places a significant separation from the exhaust and the hull . My install also has the heat tape on the exhaust pipe to protect the surrounding area. ( the same stuff that is used on exhaust headers on cars. )

Including an image of the thru hull .

[Cheechako]

I had nothing but issues with Espars. It's been years though.
I worked at a place which installed Webasto in new boats and they were very much trouble free. I would never buy an Espar.

One thing that makes most brands far more trouble free is running on Kerosene. It's much cleaner. But not as handy as it used to be to get.

[hpeer]

I have one D4 each boat; it is barely adequate on the 44 and very adequate in the 33. I believe you could be happy with a D2.

If you have a dedicated diesel tank use kero not diesel.

That said this year, full time liveaboard in Delaware, I will run a bit over 100 gallons of diesel through my 44’ers D4.

There are now other less expensive options, the Planar has been mentioned above. I have been hapoy with my D4 heaters. Occasionally have to replace a screen.

[hellosailor]

Recently saw a review from someone who converted a short school bus, heavily insulated, who said the 2kw model was TOO MUCH in -10F weather. So depending on where you are going to be, and considering boats are usually uninsulated...Flip a coin for it?