| Author |
Message |
H3Jim (68.107.62.94)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 10:15 pm: | |
I finally got my Espar 40k BTU diesel heater working. That thing is noisy!! The Prevost dealer says that the webasto is even noisier. Dick Wright's generator enclosures are quieter than these things.
Has anyone else had problems with the noise? What to do? box it? rubber isolate it? |
FAST FRED (4.245.128.204)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 5:51 am: | |
IF its the model that blows warm air , they always sound like a vacume cleaner running.
If its the water heater style, you may just need to replace the spinning parts in the combustion chamber, and do the annual clean & service on the unit.
FAST FRED |
Geoff (Geoff) (66.238.120.19)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 6:44 am: | |
My Scholastic Series Webasto came in a steel mounting box and was very noisy, so I simply glued some sound barrier material left over from my generator enclosure inside the cover. It made a huge difference.
--Geoff
'82 RTS CA |
Doug (69.244.108.42)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 7:04 am: | |
my Webasto airtop is quite quiet....does sound like a vacume or a small jet enjine but the dB is quite low.
The espar system I'm not familiar with |
Buswarrior (Buswarrior) (64.229.208.63)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 01, 2004 - 1:10 am: | |
Hello H3Jim.
Used or new? These heaters all like to make noise and worn out bearings or bushings in the "spinning parts" are to blame for a lot of irritating noise.
What kind of noise are you getting? Burner exhaust, fan, squeal, or ?
happy coaching!
buswarrior |
H3Jim (68.107.62.94)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 01, 2004 - 11:59 pm: | |
Buswarior,
It sounds like a vacuum or a small jet engine. Its the unit that came with the coach new -1995. It does seem to run well, produces good heat and doesn't smoke. The mechanic that worked on it came from Marathon and seemed to have good experience. I think it's running as it should, the noise just caught me by surprise. I was expecting either quiet or more what an oil fired furnace sounds like (I'm from Connecticut). Just my naivete I guess.
Jim |
Tom Caffrey (Pvcces) (65.74.66.104)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 02, 2004 - 1:08 am: | |
These stinkers have an irritating whine; at least, all the small boiler units like this that I've seen. There are a lot of them on boats in our harbor.
I would think that a person could do something with the right muffler, but they might be real touchy about backpressure and the exhaust runs hot enough to start a fire if it gets close to anything.
It seems to me that a vertical exhaust would be ideal if a person could get past the problems associated with that setup, such as insulating the pipe and preventing water damage.
I think your unit is running normally, given your description.
I hope this is some help, Jim.
Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576
Suncatcher |
H3Jim (68.107.62.94)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 02, 2004 - 2:33 pm: | |
And the way noise carries over water, I bet that can be particularly irritatng.
The exhaust from mine runs pretty much straight down, through a piece of flexible stainless pipe. If I were to park on dry grass, I have no doubt it would set it on fire.
If back pressure is a problem, I think that using a muffler with a large enough pipe would reduce backpressure enough to where its not an issue. Maybe just figuring a way to route the exhaust up to the top of the coach would be enough to make any noise coming from the exhaust a non issue. Certainly it would route the fumes up and away. When the unit was running in the shop I did not notice a smell. but maybe I am gettng immune to the smell of diesel. Or maybe it uses so little that there is not a lot of smell like the bigger engines for the genset or the bus.
I am favoring a temporary, removable pipe that hangs off the outside of the coach for both the genset and the Espar. I don't want to give up the interior space or create a leak I don't have to have. However I also don't want it to look like Mickey M built it.
Thanks for all your input. |
Marc Bourget (209.142.38.81)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 9:37 am: | |
Gosh,
If the exhaust is hot enough to start a fire, then somebody ought to think about some energy recovery with an air/air heat exchanger for cooler conditions!
Just for mental digestion, to factor into your thought processes, bigger exhaust tubes just for the purpose of lowering resistance only address part of the problem. You have to keep the exhaust gas "column" moving as it contains mass. Too big of a tube may allow the column to stall messing things up.
Onward and Upward
Marc Bourget |
H3JIm (68.107.62.94)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 1:48 pm: | |
True on the mass. My thinking is for a stack that vents up to the top of the coach, then the chimney effect should help lift the gases up and out. I guess thats another one of the troubles with a large diameter or long exhuast pipe, is if the gases cool excessively, then they become more dense, adding to the mass, and the pipe becomes constipated. |
Jim Ashworth (Jimnh) (172.142.214.5)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 2:41 pm: | |
This may not apply to an Espar, but for Webasto, the exhaust goes so fast the length and size of pipe is not critical in that it can be 16' long, 1/1-2" dia and have 270 degrees of bend. It is also not the source of whine in the heater. Webasto has a blower motor which drives, in addition to the blower, a gear type fuel pump. The pump is driven through a spur gear and puts out 140psi to the nozzle. There is always spillback to the tank through the relief valve. This pump and gearing is the source of the noise which, as Geoff said, can be minimized with the use of sound insulation in the cabinet. For all the good the Webasto does, a little whine is not too much of a price to pay.
Jim |
H3Jim (68.107.62.94)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 3:31 pm: | |
Thanks for the good info. I suspect the Espar is similar. |
Tom Caffrey (Pvcces) (65.74.66.104)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 10:09 pm: | |
Thanks, Jim, for the info on the Webasto fuel pumps. I will try to allow for that.
Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576
Suncatcher |
BrianMCI96A3 (67.77.37.160)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 12:37 am: | |
I bought an old Stewart Warner gas fired heater/blower years back and when it fired up and ran, it did indeed sound just like a small jet engine.
I think that's a feature of the combustion in these types of units.
Brian |