landrover598 Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 I'm looking at putting a proper heater in the landy and have a bunch of questions for those who have them as i know nothing about the subject. Whats the difference between Webasto and Eberspacher ? Where in a hard top defender would it be fitted ? Is it a diy install? What does it connect to? Where does the heat go to and how ? Can I set it going before I get into the landy in the morning? With it parked about 100m from the house? What sort of money is it going to cost me? second hand? What sort of running/maintenance costs? Any details of your setup would be great. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSD Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Most Webasto units are water heaters, most Eberspachers are cabin air heaters, though I think both companies make the other type. I have a Webasto in the Ibex. Cost a shedload new, but it's possible to put together a unit from mostly scrapyard parts. Quite a few modern diesels have them fitted for additional heating, but you'll probably need to add a water pump and fuel pump. Mine is controlled with a remote or a timer. Remote has a range of well over 100m, and it's two way, so an LED comes on so you know the heater has started. As a morning pre-heater, it's excellent. Once the engine coolant is warm, it runs the interior heater fan and warms the cab, melting ice on the glass. A 30 minute run is enough, even at -25C, to defrost the glass and get the cab bearable. For extreme weather trips, I have an s/hand Eberspacher that I fit temporarily (in a replaceable floor panel). This can output air almost too hot to put your hand in front of. It takes only a few minutes to warm the cab nicely, and even at speed with the windows open, we didn't need it running at full power. (My Ibex is smaller, better insulated and less draughty than a Defender). It cost me less than 200 from the bay, but it can be luck of the draw. Mine has been totally trouble free, but others have not been so lucky. Service manuals for both are available on the web. Both need a diesel take-off from the return line, Webasto fits inline with the heater coolant loop. Both need a good high current power feed for ignition. If you're planning for extreme cold, I'd choose the Eberspacher for comfort and safety (Sat on side of road on a foul winter night, with blown HG, unable to run Webasto while waiting for recovery was no fun). But for mostly UK weather, I prefer to be able to preheat the engine, and I'd choose a Webasto, all other things being equal. (Forgot to say : don't bother thinking about 24V Eberspachers - it's really not worth the hassle, especially as 24V one are more likely to have worked hard for a living.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landrover598 Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 A 30 minute run is enough, My commute is only 15 mins and i'd like to get the glass defrosted before setting off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiWhite Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 LR series have some brand new Webastos for sale at the moment.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forkrentfitter Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 erberspacher heaters are superb,fridge freezer is the man to speak to,i sold him one a couple of years ago.british telecom vans have them fitted in the rear,they do come up second hand but make sure you get everything as it comes out.not hard to fit,i assume you have a diesel engine,there are some petrol powered units about,they were fitted to southern electric 130 crew cabs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landrover598 Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 Yes diesel, can i run it from it's own tank so it could be run on red deisel? Is this the sort of kit i'd need to heat up the cab and defrost the windoes ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 LR series have some brand new Webastos for sale at the moment.... That they do, thinking about installing one in my 90. The early morning cold was horrendous today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 My commute is only 15 mins and i'd like to get the glass defrosted before setting off? He means run the heater for 30 minutes before setting off! (I think). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSD Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 He means run the heater for 30 minutes before setting off! (I think). That's what I meant - in my truck a 30 minute run is enough to get the engine up to temperature, regardless of the outside temperature. My Eberspacher runs from a half height jerrycan, with a dip tube I brazed into an old jerrycan spout. Ex BT ones may require a simple mod, as if memory serves BT tweaked them to stop people leaving them running all the time. The advantage is that a lot of them were never actually used at all. Fuel consumption is so low I probably wouldn't bother though (with a seperate tank I mean), something like 1/2 litre per hour. My 10L jerrycan got us from the UK to Bulgaria and most of the way back. It would have got us the whole way, but something fell over in the back and snapped the pipe off the jerrycan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forkrentfitter Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Yes diesel, can i run it from it's own tank so it could be run on red deisel? Is this the sort of kit i'd need to heat up the cab and defrost the windoes .yes that kit would do it,you could run the outlet trunking where ever you want,they are plenty powerful enough to cope with a british winter.£300 is a fair price for a whole kit tested as described,although they can be found for less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landrover598 Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 He means run the heater for 30 minutes before setting off! (I think). As a morning pre-heater, it's excellent. Once the engine coolant is warm, it runs the interior heater fan and warms the cab, melting ice on the glass. A 30 minute run is enough, I must have mis read that, so the heater heats up the water in the block and then the cab, sounds good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco-Ron Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Indeed......... which means less cold starts, which makes the engine more economical, and means less wear....... so what fuel you use heating it up you probabl;y save in warm up time..... I have a webasto on my 530d beemer..... only i disconnected it cos the brain told it never to switch off.... and it was draining the battery...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8bertha Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 This is something I've considered doing on the Camel Freelander now that the cold weather is settling in. It has a webasto unit fixed to the bulkhead, but it doesn't seem to do anything! What sort of battery-juice-ampy-current things would be drained by having an auxiliary water pump to circulate the water and then have the cabin heater come on for half hour to defrost the windows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSD Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Not enough current draw to really worry about. IIRC it's about 4A for the unit, including water pump. Even if the dash fan drew the same, that only adds up to 4Ah (8A for 0.5h). In practice it's less than that as the unit doesn't run at full power all the time, and the dash fan is normally set to half speed, and doesn't run all the time either. So less than 4Ah taken from a 50Ah ish battery, but then you have a warm engine that cranks and starts much easier in cold weather. When I've had battery problems, I worried about the extra load from running the heater, but I found it easier to start the engine in cold weather after the heater had run, than trying to crank a stone cold lump. Once the heater has run, my TGV sounds like it starts on the first compression, regardless of ambient temperature. Otherwise it needs a second or so of cranking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Not enough current draw to really worry about. IIRC it's about 4A for the unit, including water pump. Even if the dash fan drew the same, that only adds up to 4Ah (8A for 0.5h). In practice it's less than that as the unit doesn't run at full power all the time, and the dash fan is normally set to half speed, and doesn't run all the time either. So less than 4Ah taken from a 50Ah ish battery, but then you have a warm engine that cranks and starts much easier in cold weather. When I've had battery problems, I worried about the extra load from running the heater, but I found it easier to start the engine in cold weather after the heater had run, than trying to crank a stone cold lump. Once the heater has run, my TGV sounds like it starts on the first compression, regardless of ambient temperature. Otherwise it needs a second or so of cranking. Which webasto unit do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSD Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Which webasto unit do you have? It's a Thermotop C. (Forgot to mention it needs a solid 25A supply to get it lit, but that's only for a few seconds.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 So does a webasto only heat the water, and then use the car heater to spread the heat? Can't see that working too well with a my defender Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 The Thermo Top ones do yes. Should work okay (at least for de-misting...mine is very good once warmed up), unless your heater is borked by any chance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.