Is my auxiliary heater working properly?

[chockswahay]

Hi Team, I have come away in the van for a couple of days on my Jack Jones (not actually relevant) and although it’s not Baltic outside (8c) I do wish to have the heater on. However it seems to be all or nothing! If I set the level to 6 or 7 then the heater comes on with a big blast for 5 to 10 mins then goes off…… the van gets a bit nippy…. Then on it comes again….. and repeat. I have read a few accounts on here of people keeping toasty warm all night long on no 3 but if I set that it just goes off and stays off for a long while, then when it does come on it starts up with a vengeance (too noisey to sleep through!).

So, am I doing something wrong? Is there an ‘always on low power mode’? Am I expecting too much? It certainly does not come anywhere near the performance/comfort of the Truma gas powered blower on my previous vans.

Whilst I’m about it, after a few hours of this stop start high current draw scenario my batteries are getting a right hammering. When I arrived yesterday the panel had steadied out at 12.8v then after a few hours was down to 12.2……… I’m wondering if my batteries are past their best as they don’t seem to hold a charge very well.

Any thoughts anyone? Thank you.

 

[Nik_campervan]

You can monitor live data from the heater with a laptop running VCDS which would allow diagnosis. If its only 8c in the van it should provide constant heat output on 2 or 3. From memory their are two heat outputs and it shouldn't be simply full blast then off. All assumes its an SE /ocean with standard aux heater install. Once it drops to mid/low output the current draw from the glow plug reduces/stops, if its cycling off then back to full heat the glow plug draw (upto 10amps) will rapidly drain battery.

 

[chockswahay]

You can monitor live data from the heater with a laptop running VCDS which would allow diagnosis. If its only 8c in the van it should provide constant heat output on 2 or 3. From memory their are two heat outputs and it shouldn't be simply full blast then off. All assumes its an SE /ocean with standard aux heater install. Once it drops to mid/low output the current draw from the glow plug reduces/stops, if its cycling off then back to full heat the glow plug draw (upto 10amps) will rapidly drain battery.

Thanks @Nik_campervan, I was unaware of the two heat outputs. I have just set the heater to 3 and will see if that changes anything. On my sailing boat that has a cheap Chinese heater I just set the heat to low and it stays on permanently only drawing about 0.5a/hrs. I had hoped the Eberspacher would be similar……

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks @Nik_campervan, I was unaware of the two heat outputs. I have just set the heater to 3 and will see if that changes anything. On my sailing boat that has a cheap Chinese heater I just set the heat to low and it stays on permanently only drawing about 0.5a/hrs. I had hoped the Eberspacher would be similar……

It should do that. It does so on my T5.1.

 

[chockswahay]

I’m wondering if it’s faulty….. I have tried the setting on 3 for an hour and the results were much the same except for being colder! I have now just tried no 7 for 15 mins and again the same thing….. it pre heats at 10 amps plus than blows like crazy for a few mins then turns down and off ……… this can not be right surely.

Is this kind of thing covered by the all in extended warranty? somehow I doubt it

 

[yossarian]

Try crack the RHS front window. Mine cycles but less so with that window open. The presumed cause is a positive feedback loop between the thermometer and output vent.

It's also possible for the vent output grille to be on the wrong way round which exacerbates the problem and is documented by VW.

 

[Stu@rt]

The settings changed quite a bit with the introduction of the 6.1.

This video from Will explains it very well.