Espar Hydronic Diesel Heater Failure and DIY Repair

Our overland 4x4 expedition vehicle's Espar D5WSC has stopped working and with a little research I determined the hydronic diesel heater needs some maintenance. The glow pin atomizer was plugged with carbon and the fuel filter should also be replaced.
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[@frankmitzen1162]

I had the same heater in my semi. One of the secrets to long life is to run a quart of pure #1 kerosene through the unit at least once a year. It will burn most of the carbon off the glow plug and clean up the filter screen.

[@clydes95cummins]

Good to know. I'll have to do that on my rig.

[@robertb2468]

Good fix Ben, I'm glad you showed the thing apart and explained to everyone what was wrong.

[@SteveAlbano]

Good job, I appreciate you showing real life stuff! Now that we have become full time RV'ers I've had to take care of unexpected repairs, that's all part of the adventure. But, videos like this show those who think there are interested that its not all sunshine and unicorns. Things break, usually at the most inconvenient time. You either need the ability to take care of some of it yourself, or shell out the big $$$ for someone else to do it.

[@alanhester9984]

I have had and worked on many types of those heaters, espar, webasto, pro heat, eberspocker, both gas and diesel. In that type of heater the glow plug is the weak link after awhile they just don't heat hot enough to light off the diesel or gas. You can always tell as they get difficult to start but if you start your rig and bring up the voltage from the alternator they will start for a while longer. You always should carry a spare glow plug and spare glow plug relay as they seem in my experience to be the most frequent issues. I learned on VW gas heaters when living in AK. Make sure all your electrical connections are good and you don't have lower than battery voltage at the heater.

[@bryantford3054]

Alan Hester Ha! I had some of those Southwind (?) heaters for my VWs when I lived in Juneau, but never had the balls to hook one up. The warning about "flames burning your passenger's legs" kept them in the storage locker.

[@OrangeHex.]

Grey smoke is inadequate fuel or incomplete combustion and black too much fuel or pressure

[@paulinedavis8734]

Luckily Ben, you are MECHANICALLY proficient ... but on a serious note, knowing how to do repairs on your own EV, when you are in remote areas on your world trip.... IS A MUST ... a SECURITY BLANKET.

[@stevek6921]

Hey - good on you! Don't ever think we don't want to see those repair videos. They're not just entertainment! :)

[@nml4546]

I see a lot of positive comments about what a great job you did and I agree, you did a great job, would not have expected any less, however, having said that, it's a very ominous start to your world tour in this vehicle. I sure as hell would not do that without at least a year of heavy usage to shake it down and be sure I could fix anything on it and I mean ANY thing.

[@PureGlide]

I pulled mine out because my O rings failed inside the unit, and coolant fluid went everywhere throughout the heater. I even had it inside the exhaust! So I cleaned it out, and while I was in there I replaced the gasket and the atomiser. Since then it's been failing occasionally with a 'fan speed' error. I suspect some of the coolant fluid got into the fan and clogged it up to some extent. After running it a few times it seems to be OK. Touch wood. I did notice when it stops and fails abruptly with the error, the next start is very smokey. I assume it's pumping out fuel, then it stops on error, the fuel keeps going for a bit, then next time it starts it has to burn through all that excess fuel?...

[@tjenkens]

We Like real life videos too!

[@erikbequette7337]

Hey I noticed that your Espar heater is hooked up to a home thermostat... Do you have any videos on how that was installed?

[@outliersoverland]

I’m not sure about how it’s wired, but I do know that it’s not good for the Espar because it cycles the unit on and off to maintain temperature. That contributes to plugging the atomizer with carbon. We were told this by a corporate Espar representative. So it’s best to set the thermostat to 90° and regulate the temperature by opening windows. He also said to run it for 30 minutes every month to keep everything working. Ours is linked to the water heater so even in the summer we can use it.

[@richardbohlingsr3490]

Lots of new things to learn how to maintain. Soon you will have learned the whole EV. Then it's time to sell it and get a different one. :-)

[@marilynsholes4637]

Good thing you are mechanically inclined Ben. Nice job.....be safe kids.

[@gregormiller4037]

The atomizer may require the dehydration of the dipole molecule.

[@LisaMarli]

Good to see the problems as well as the easy times. Glad everything is working again. And those little space heaters are great. But you do need to be plugged into power.

[@Berncarp707]

I'm glad to see that you folks have heat again. Be safe out there.

[@thomasveverka4647]

Good job Ben!

[@pauldailey4477]

I am not sure if that was a pass or a fail. Does it start up without smoking now? Because I think the cleaning bit was brushed over, wasn´t it?

[@outliersoverland]

It cleared up the following day when I fired it off. Then the combustion blower failed. Then the coolant pump failed. Then we replaced it with a new unit and carry the spare for parts.

[@ihaveseverefrootsnackism]

Spooky scary... RV repairs

[@JohnS-zq8ks]

Just realized my 2006 Sprinter 3500 has a D5WSC. I won't start and I have no idea the last time it started. I have a bunch of diagnostic steps to follow and hope to get it running.

[@stevenrobertson1631]

Hello, what video did you watch to learn all this and get the right parts? My bunk heater for my semi looks like the same, 1 night after getting the computer reset, it almost cooked me like an oven. Now 3 days later it seems to not heat the coolant enough to push hot air all night

[@outliersoverland]

I watched a bunch of KZbin videos until I had a rough idea of the disassembly and jumped in. Mine was not throwing codes either.

[@stevenrobertson1631]

@@outliersoverland ahhh yes see, I feel like there's no solid video. I've been doing the same watching all the different ones to piece it together. Thank you for the reply

[@bradb9146]

A heater on an RV makes no sense to me … The entire purpose of such a vehicle is to avoid being stuck in cold climates in my opinion . Just point the front end south , and keep driving until it gets warm outside . = ) lol jk

[@Tzphardi]

Funny as my rv purchase was for me to avoid being stuck in warm climates so that i can enjoy the frozen alaskan wasteland while working out of fairbanks :)

[@joekub7]

can you please talk about the volume of the system? the heater sounds like a jet engine in your video... can you sleep with that on? how disruptive is it? thx

[@alexanderstephenson1068]

Why did you choose that when you could have an ex military truck or even a 4x4 van? Like your vids but it would like to see more of your travels!

[@enriquelaroche5370]

Great to repair that , Good you got spares. UPS service slower in Mongolia

[@VikingVanMan]

That's awesome glad you got it working !!!

[@tomndeena]

Thanks for this video. I'm trying to do the same for our Revel van... when you disconnected the heater from your rig, did you have to clamp lines, or did you just lose some of the coolant (assume that's what its called) from the hydronic system? Just thinking about the initial taking everything off the vehicle.

[@outliersoverland]

You’re welcome. There was definitely some coolant loss, but I used some plastic and rubber bands to keep the system from draining. Pinching would work as well.

[@tomndeena]

@@outliersoverland many thanks!

[@clydes95cummins]

@@outliersoverland do you have a link to that store you got your parts from? I need to service the one on my semi and can only find parts for the airtronic. And thanks for the video, it was very helpful.

[@outliersoverland]

Search Espar parts .com and you’ll see it

[@swellysalaska5339]

Now you are an expert in Hydronic and Airtonic Espar Repair. Good going

[@mikemiller9119]

How much diesel does that unit use for a cold night?

[@laudalady61]

This video was great!

[@BillSprague]

Better in Massachusetts than Malawi. 😉

[@tracyphillips3325]

Great job. 👍

[@MrKalon52]

Good work Ben!!

[@yesno.idontknow.587]

Oh no!