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Dometic Heaters


Bruce and Sue

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We are presently touring on the North Island with our ATV which is performing very well,our first long trip.However I can't say the same for the heater. We have just had the heater and intake pipe removed in Cairns and sent to Dometic to be fixed. Dometic have said without seeing the unit that they believe that the intake had an obstruction. This I believe when I saw the gravel and dust that came out of the intake. The unit is only 10 months old and it died after 4 weeks of Central Australian dust. How do people avoid this problem with their heaters. Laurie let me tell you that Tasmania dosn,t have a mortage on the use of heaters. Bruce :thumbsup:

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Bruce,

We have had the home fire burning for the past few weeks, just enough to take the chill of the air. Suppose you get use to it living on a hill. Hope everything works out with the heater.

Laurie

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: G`day Bruce

Diesel Heaters are wonderful when they are working,but can be a major pain in the butt when they play up.

So far we have replaced the fuel pump in Adelaide (a common problem, apparently one that Dometic refuses to acknowledge)But thank goodness Kedron were very helpful.Now when we switch it on its cross fingers and hope it works.sometimes it blows out great clouds of black smoke first up then switches off. Other times it works just fine.So who knows??

So at the moment we have bought a small ceramic heater as a backup.

cheers

Rick & Lea :confused1:

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:shades: Have collected our T/E about 6 weeks ago and stayed in a Brisbane caravan park where a diesel heater was being replaced on another T/E that had just returned from being on some rough dirt tracks towards the Cape. According to the owner the exhaust pipe was well and truely clagged up with dirt etc.

My wife and I have since returned out bush on the edge of the Kimberley and had to travel in to our residence on a dusty, rocky, bulldusty 4wd track through narrow dry stoney creek crossings.

I made it my business to seal every possible point where dirt etc could get in before we hit the dirt.

I used rubber plugs to seal the diesel heater breathing intake pipe and outlet exhaust both for dirt and the odd mud wasp and python that loves these sorts of places. I also did the same for the over flow pipes on the water tanks. I hope this is all ok ??

No dust or rock damage. Obviously, unplugging everything is vital especially when the heater is going to be used. Oh, I also realized that having the van parked near or moving through dry long grass with a hot diesel heater exhaust would be a huge fire risk.

Hope this is relevant

Reg and Fran

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Thanks to everyone for your advice on this topic.

We will follow Reg and Fran's advice and put a rubber plug in the intake pipe to stop dist and pebbles getting in there.

As some of you will know, we are about to heit the track going up to the Flinders and then the Oodnadatta Track nect week.

Chris

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  • 3 weeks later...

Re my posting on our Dometic heater on 31/7/09

The air intake was blocked with dust that had gone hard due to water crossings, the heater had been blocked with dust also. Dometic reinstalled the machine today with the intake hose having a continuous downward slope from the heater to the intake point. They also installed another filter into the fuel line.The slope is a try to stop dust settleing in the intake and being sucked into the moter. When my machine was installed it had a low point in the intake. Also on dusty roads a plug in the intake and outlet is a must. Bruce :thumbsup:

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Hi Bruce and Sue.

Sounds like your Dometic was not installed incorrectly!

The installation manual for both Dometic and Webasto states that the inlet and exhaust must be (outlet and inlet) facing downward for drainage and to prevent the accumulation of foreign bodies within the duct. This means that the whole duct must slope down from the body of the heater to the outlet and outlet with no low traps for accumulation of debris.

Must say that with the Webasto that I installed I have now installed blanks for dirty conditions to the ducts since hearing of your problems. Thanks for your info guy's hope it saves some of us from expensive fixes that could have been avoided with a little knowledge.

Hope to see ya on the road and

Best Regards and happy travels.

Mavis and Rod.

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Hi Rod & Mavis, you are quite correct on the low point gathering dust, our heater inlet pipe was blocked solid.I have bought a couple of rubber plugs to fit. Do you have a different idea. We also had the evaperator give up the ghost. It cracked top and bottom on all four corners at the back of the unit. Fortunatly the heater and evaperator were under warrenty. I believe a lot of people are having or have had evaperator trouble. Cheers, Bruce :thumbsup:

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Bruce and Sue,

One of my friends saw this information on the Bushtracker forum and passed it on. The information on the heaters is fairly common by the sounds of it. You need to get about 2/3rds of the way through the posts to find the information on the dust problem and how other vanners have dealt with the problem.

http://www.bushtrackerforum.com/viewtopic....29486806b57f548

Hope this helps. :thumbsup:

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