Ocean. On board diesel heater. Smoke exhausted on start-up

[Alan Andrews]

Hello,

We turned on the on-board diesel heater last night when at site.

All seemed ok at start-up but then saw a large plume of smoke emitted.

No abnormal noises or error warnings.

2017 T6 Ocean.

I'll connect the VCDS to see if there are any error codes.

Any one have any thoughts please?

Thank you

 

[kurienp]

Hello,

We turned on the on-board diesel heater last night when at site.

All seemed ok at start-up but then saw a large plume of smoke emitted.

No abnormal noises or error warnings.

2017 T6 Ocean.

I'll connect the VCDS to see if there are any error codes.

Any one have any thoughts please?

Thank you

Nothing to worry about. Vcds will not show any error. Continue using as normal. When you get back and have some time get the diesel heater serviced.

Enjoy your holidays

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[kurienp]

Nothing to worry about. Vcds will not show any error. Continue using as normal. When you get back and have some time get the diesel heater serviced.

Enjoy your holidays

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To allay any fears, the diesel heater is a pretty robust piece of equipment and the heating part does not have any moving parts and is completely isolated from the air circulation. The white smoke can be due to water in the exhaust system (possibly due to condensation due to water and temperature changes) or could be during to carbon buildup in the combustion chamber. It will still continue to work but less efficiently.

I have the same issue and at the last place I switched it on, the car next to me came and warned me that my van may be on fire. As soon as I heard, I knew what they were talking about.

I am about to dismantle my heater. Will post up on how to disassemble and clean/service. Should be doing it tomorrow sometime hopefully.

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[WelshGas]

10 yrs on my Parking Heater works perfectly and certainly no smoke and no smell less than 5 minutes after startup. I use it frequently outside of summer to warm vehicle up in winter and also follow Eberspachers recommendation of running monthly for 1 hr.

 

[TripleBee]

I use it only when I need it, and never have any problems with it.
In 14 years I have not let it run every month for 1 hour.
When really cold, you can see the smoke from underneath, but otherwise, apart from the smell and noise, you won't tell it's running.
It really is a very robust piece of equipment.

 

[Perfectos]

when the burn chamber becomes gummed up :
white smoke, smelly exhausts etc :
Run the heater initially on 3 for 15 minutes, this heats the system and doesn’t demand too much fuel, which can cause issues with a gummed up system, then run on max for 45+ minutes, it will clear out (burn off) all the gunk that accumulates in the combustion chamber and pre combustion, (tip open the van doors to allow the hot air to escape, the heater will go flat out for the 45minutes as it will not register the internal temp whilst the doors are open , it will achieve a clean burn chamber) the gunk simply burns off leaving a clean burn chamber.

 

[kurienp]

when the burn chamber becomes gunned up :
white smoke, smelly exhausts etc :
Run the heater initially on 3 for 15 minutes, this heats the system and doesn’t demand too much fuel, which can cause issues with a gummed up system, then run on max for 45+ minutes, it will clear out (burn off) all the gunk that accumulates in the combustion chamber and pre combustion, (tip open the van doors to allow the hot air to escape, the heater will go flat out for the 45minutes as it will not register the internal temp whilst the doors are open , it will achieve a clean burn chamber) the gunk simply burns off leaving a clean burn chamber.

I shall try that before I open up the heater then today! Our heater is never used above 4 ... Even in the depths of Nordic winter. Maybe, over these years it has got gummed up. let me run it on full blast for 45 mins and then see the results.

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[WelshGas]

I shall try that before I open up the heater then today! Our heater is never used above 4 ... Even in the depths of Nordic winter. Maybe, over these years it has got gummed up. let me run it on full blast for 45 mins and then see the results.

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I rarely use it above 3 or 4 when camping but in Winter I leave it on Maximum and fire it up from the house using the remote to defrost and warm up the vehicle.

 

[Perfectos]

I shall try that before I open up the heater then today! Our heater is never used above 4 ... Even in the depths of Nordic winter. Maybe, over these years it has got gummed up. let me run it on full blast for 45 mins and then see the results.

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Report back on results,

there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to why some gum up and others don’t, I wonder if the fuel additives used in nordics to prevent diesels from freezing may have a issue ?

 

[Nik_campervan]

If the wire gauze which surrounds the glow plug is gummed up it wont go by running heater high. The gauze helps to atomize the fuel once gummed up it needs replacing. Can be replaced once glow plug is out depending on orientation in the california this maybe possible with heater fitted (cant remember orientation) as mine needed to come out for fix to blower fan.

 

[Alan Andrews]

Thank you for all your replies. It is a comfort.

I did wonder whether vcds would be able to show any errors, but thought that as I have the kit, then it is worth a go. I will not bother now. Thanks.

Yes I will be very interested to see how you get along with dismantling the unit and cleaning it.

I will get home and restart the heater on the drive and follow your recommendation to turn it up to max.

 

[Corradobrit]

when the burn chamber becomes gunned up :
white smoke, smelly exhausts etc :
Run the heater initially on 3 for 15 minutes, this heats the system and doesn’t demand too much fuel, which can cause issues with a gummed up system, then run on max for 45+ minutes, it will clear out (burn off) all the gunk that accumulates in the combustion chamber and pre combustion, (tip open the van doors to allow the hot air to escape, the heater will go flat out for the 45minutes as it will not register the internal temp whilst the doors are open , it will achieve a clean burn chamber) the gunk simply burns off leaving a clean burn chamber.

Is that the much vaunted Italian tuneup?

 

[kurienp]

Report back on results,

there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to why some gum up and others don’t, I wonder if the fuel additives used in nordics to prevent diesels from freezing may have a issue ?

Will do.

You may have a point there though - I did start using an additive in between. Before that the heater would smell a little on startup, but nothing that would bother me.

Today it would not even start. After a few tries it started with lots of white smoke and now it has been running on full blast at 10 for over an hour and a half. Will switch it off, Leave it to cool for an hour or two and then try and start it again.

I am wondering if the additive caused things to gum up?

@Alan Andrews , do you by any chance use diesel additives in your fuel?

I used the additive dbp100.

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[pchmlk]

The diesel eberspacher Heater in my last boat used to always smoke on start up. I assumed they all did and was surprised when I got my cali thst it didn’t. Maybe it was the diesel additive thst did it, or just the damper environment.

 

[kurienp]

Will do.

You may have a point there though - I did start using an additive in between. Before that the heater would smell a little on startup, but nothing that would bother me.

Today it would not even start. After a few tries it started with lots of white smoke and now it has been running on full blast at 10 for over an hour and a half. Will switch it off, Leave it to cool for an hour or two and then try and start it again.

I am wondering if the additive caused things to gum up?

@Alan Andrews , do you by any chance use diesel additives in your fuel?

I used the additive dbp100.

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Update: 13:00 hrs - started up the heater just now and no white smoke. Started up straight away.

This seems to have "cleaned up" what ever may have been clogging things up.

To re-verify, will startup after a few days and check again. Else the heater may have to come off.

@Alan Andrews , please do try the same - running at full blast (10) for about 2 hours for once with both the driver door and the side door open (to keep the heater going continuously) and do report back on the performance after.

Thank you all for your inputs!

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[Perfectos]

Update: 13:00 hrs - started up the heater just now and no white smoke. Started up straight away.

This seems to have "cleaned up" what ever may have been clogging things up.

To re-verify, will startup after a few days and check again. Else the heater may have to come off.

@Alan Andrews , please do try the same - running at full blast (10) for about 2 hours for once with both the driver door and the side door open (to keep the heater going continuously) and do report back on the performance after.

Thank you all for your inputs!

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Glad to hear that worked.

be Very interested to know if the issue returns,
I suspect once the Gunk is burnt off it Will be good for a period of time.

I do wonder if units burn at different temperatures during initial start up and therefore gums up in certain instance, (tolerance variations)
I know the start up phase is crucial to a clean burn, if the pre combustion is not clean it can cause issues but still allow the system to fire up with sometimes dramatic consequences as far as smoke etc.
similar I’d be interested to know if additives can / do affect the cleanliness of the burn, particularly winter additives as are normal to stop sludging in the fuel tank.

if that tip had not cleared the issue the only other way to clean it is dismantling , cleaning with chemicals and or replacement pre combustion parts . (Glow plug etc). PITA

 

[Perfectos]

Is that the much vaunted Italian tuneup?

Applies to many such issues, heat is required to burn off Carbon / combustion build up, the principle even applies to domestic ovens !

Love a good Italian

 

[happyjames013]

Thank you for all your replies. It is a comfort.

I did wonder whether vcds would be able to show any errors, but thought that as I have the kit, then it is worth a go. I will not bother now. Thanks.

Yes I will be very interested to see how you get along with dismantling the unit and cleaning it.

I will get home and restart the heater on the drive and follow your recommendation to turn it up to max.

I have a coolant/engine pre heater on my shuttle. As I live in about as south as you can in Devon, and I rarely leave home before nine, it only reaches a low enough temp for it to run about a dozen times a year. The first time it always belches out white smoke and is a bit smelly, after that it’s fine until next year.


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[Alan Andrews]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for all your replies.

I put the diesel heater on yesterday and ran at max. The smoke has cleared and appears to be working well (smoke free) now.

If someone puts up a post on how to clean, then I'll do this too.

Once again, Thank you

 

[Alan Andrews]

Will do.

You may have a point there though - I did start using an additive in between. Before that the heater would smell a little on startup, but nothing that would bother me.

Today it would not even start. After a few tries it started with lots of white smoke and now it has been running on full blast at 10 for over an hour and a half. Will switch it off, Leave it to cool for an hour or two and then try and start it again.

I am wondering if the additive caused things to gum up?

@Alan Andrews , do you by any chance use diesel additives in your fuel?

I used the additive dbp100.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

No additives, but the heater had not been used for 6 months.

 

[derek_j_buchanan]

Water in the exhaust I suspect. To emphasise the point I have one of these in a yacht and I fired it up. Initially it faulted after 5 mins but I started it again and it blew out the water and created steam - all is fine.

 

[Alan Andrews]

Water in the exhaust I suspect. To emphasise the point I have one of these in a yacht and I fired it up. Initially it faulted after 5 mins but I started it again and it blew out the water and created steam - all is fine.

It could well be. During the heavy rains a week or so before, we had to drive the van through some fairly deep flooded roads. Anyway it seems to have rectified itself now. Many thanks