You need to service your Eberspächer Diesel Heater every 2000 hours, which is just three months if you are using the heater all the time. So when we took up our slip in Bangor Northern Ireland it was one of the first jobs we did.

Equipment

• Eberspächer Service Kit - We got ours from PF Jones There are several different kits, so do make sure that you get the correct kit for your Eberspächer. Your kit should include the glow plug extraction tool, but if it does not you can buy this tool seperately
• Several Wire Brushes - We use wire brushes and drain cleaning brushes
• Several Screwdrivers - Flat, posidrive, jewellers and you might need to use a torques screwdriver for the internal screws, on ours we needed a T27
• Spanners - These are needed to remove the Eberspächer
• Gaffer Tape - This is for attaching the diesel pipe to the bulk head
• Torch - We find a head torch particularly useful for when you need to remove the Eberspächer or put it back
• Wet and Dry sandpaper - for cleaning the glow plug and inside the exhaust tube
• Pointy nose pliers - Used to remove the wire gauze
• WD40 - this helps to lubricate the threads on the bolts and can clean the combustion chamber
• Coke-a-cola or Pepsi equivalent - Helps clean the heat exchanger. Removes all the excess soot within the chamber

Remove Eberspächer Heater

If you live on a boat like we do then you can bet the heater is in the most inaccessible part of the boat there is, so take both flat and posidrive screw drivers, spanners, a torch and a piece of gaffer tape.

1. Remove the control cable - On ours there is a small slot at the end of the connector that simply comes apart when you put a flat bladed screwdriver into it
2. Remove the diesel line - Once you have removed the diesel line, attach it to the bulk head with the gaffer tape higher than the level of the diesel in your tank
3. Remove the Eberspächer - For this you will need the various screwdrivers and spanners. Take your time and mark the bolts or screws so that you know which ones to use when you put it back.

Take the Eberspächer Heater apart

1. Remove the plastic casing - Look at your heater carefully, on ours there are several clips and the plastic casing can be easily removed once you push these clips in
2. Remove the control unit - on ours it is held in by a little plastic clip and a securing screw.
• Remove the glow plug cable from the control unit - This is just a connector and the cable comes off the control unit with a gentle pull
• Remove the temperature sensor - This is held in with a metal clip, once the clip is removed, the sensor just comes out
3. Remove the glow plug - Slide the rubber boot off the wires, you might need a flat bladed screw driver to help you with this. Now you can remove the glow plug for this you will need an extraction tool. You can get an extraction tool with a spare glow plug or you can buy one type "Eberspächer glow plug extraction tool" into your search engine to get a good selection for under a £5
4. Inspect the glow plug - If the glow plug is sharp, then you do not need to replace, but if the glow plug has rounded corners, then it is replacement time for the glow plug.
5. Clean the glow plug - A little bit of wet and dry sandpaper works well for this
6. Remove Motor - This is just attached with a few screws so is quite easy to remove.
7. Remove the internal combustion engine - For this you may need a torques screwdriver. As usual in video production one of our screws was determined to stay put so we had to resort to a wrench to help us remove it.
8. Remove the wire gauze - To remove the gauze we use a small screwdriver to first ply the gauze away from the side

Clean the Eberspächer

For this you will need several wire and drain cleaning brushes.

, I also used wet and dry paper as this was the easiest thing to use.

• Wire and drain brushes - Start by using the larger wire brushes and progress down to the drain cleaner brushes to help remove soot. Having a good range allows you to get into all the nooks and crannies of the various parts,
• WD40 - You can use this to help clean the combustion chamber as any excess oil will be burnt off
• Coke-a-cola or Pepsi equivalent - Helps clean the heat exchanger. Removes all the excess soot within the chamber
• Wet and Dry Paper - Helps to clean inside the exhaust outlet

Put it back together

It is at this stage that you open the service kit. In the kit we found, two gaskets, a new gauze and a fuel filter

1. Put in the first gasket - Ours was green and it goes between the heat exchanger and the combustion unit
2. Add the Combustion unit - We replaced our torques screws with some M6 x12mm screws so that in future we should have an easier time
3. Put in the second gasket - Ours was black and was a different shape from the first gasket, so there is no way that you can get it wrong
4. Add the motor - There is only one way that this can go in, so it is just a case of being systematic. When you screw this is place, do the screws opposite each other first and don't over tighten
5. Add the new gauze screen - there were three spot welds on ours and these need to be on the opposite side to where the air intake comes in. There is an insertion tool that comes with the gauze which makes sure the gauze is put in at the correct height
6. Insert the glow plug - Again you will need to use the glow plug extraction tool to tighten up the glow plug at the end, What we find useful is to unscrew the glow plug until you here a click and then you can screw the glow plug in easier. Once you have got the glow plug in, cover with the plastic boot
7. Insert the control unit - Attach the glow plug to the control unit, then tuck the wires for the temperature sensor down between the control unit and the main unit. Secure the control unit with the little screw and the clip
8. Place the temperature sensor - Once the sensor is in place there is a clip that keeps the sensor in place
9. Add the cover - It always good to get to this bit

Put the Eberspächer back

Now its just a case of putting the whole unit back where you found it. You may choose to change the fuel filter at this time, which goes before the diesel pump. When you start the unit, it may fail to start and you might get some smoke.

In our experience

• Changing the fuel filter - It almost always fails to start straight away as you have introduced a large air gap in the fuel supply
• Just servicing the unit - It almost always starts straight away as you have introduced a small air gap in the fuel supply

We have since taken on-board some of our subscribers comments and you can find them in our blog Eberspächer exhaustion