Eberspacher BA6 Project

[sherlylock]

A new project that I've acquired via club80-90 (cheers Steve!) is an Eberspacher BA6 underslung petrol heater.

Advertised as non running it seemed like a good sub project to get my teeth into (after I'd identified it from Steve's photos) as I've wanted a heater for winter camping for a while now.

Just after Christmas this box of parts arrived.....



After a bit more research I found that to get it running I'd need some additional electrical components (a safety cutout switch and a relay pack).....and as luck would have it Steve still had the van that it all came off and kindly agreed to remove the additional bits and send them over to me.



So this is the complete stock of parts:



The plan is to go through each component and test against the info found in the Bentley manual to make sure all is functioning correctly and to identify those bits not working correctly......then hopefully to get it running on the bench. I'll also need to create a wiring loom to connect it all together - hopefully following the Bentley wiring diagram.

I've already stripped and cleaned and checked the combustion motor which seems to be functioning correctly.

I know little of these heaters so I'm hoping to glean some information from the forum if there are any Eberspacher experts on here!?

First question is about the controllers:

I have the original push/twist timer type controller but I also have an Eberspacher digital type controller too (shown below)......do both of these work in conjunction with each other some how (as they both came out of the same van)?




Any info or feedback on this type of heater will be much appreciated!

Cheers!

[Aidan]

I have a couple of these if you need parts or if you get good at fixing them you could maybe make one good one out of the two I have, one is complete I think, the other less so, I've never had the time to spend on trying to get one to work, I binned some of the pipework because it was manky and then got damaged by mice who were living my storage, trying to find good information on them proved difficult, I did find some in German but the files got lost when a pc failed.

[937carrera]

Not sure if it will be of any use but I have a manual for the BA4 model.

[Oldiebut goodie]

I have BA6 manual in English. I would hate to try to find any spares for it. It would make more sense to install a modern heater though rather than something from the '70's which has reached end of useful life. Power consumption is 4 x that of modern heaters. Mind you the heat output should be around 6Kw - presumably it is so high to cope with the heat losses with all the external ducting.

[sherlylock]

I have a couple of these if you need parts or if you get good at fixing them you could maybe make one good one out of the two I have, one is complete I think, the other less so, I've never had the time to spend on trying to get one to work, I binned some of the pipework because it was manky and then got damaged by mice who were living my storage, trying to find good information on them proved difficult, I did find some in German but the files got lost when a pc failed.

Be interested to see what you've got if pics are a possibility - certainly interested, and I'll know more about what's working or not after a bit of testing......

I have BA6 manual in English. I would hate to try to find any spares for it. It would make more sense to install a modern heater though rather than something from the '70's which has reached end of useful life. Power consumption is 4 x that of modern heaters. Mind you the heat output should be around 6Kw - presumably it is so high to cope with the heat losses with all the external ducting.

Seems to be quite a few spares available stateside......guess they were more popular over there? Hear what you're saying about getting a modern unit - if I'm honest it was just the attraction of getting something that doesn't work to function again.......whether I achieve that is another matter!

If I do get it working then I may as well use it.......

Pretty sure I found the manual for it online too. Bentley has a lot of info about it too which has been helpful.

Any ideas about the Eberspacher controller that I got with it. Think it's off a later unit so guess it won't work with the BA6 setup......and I've no idea what the pinouts are even if I thought I could hook it up!

[Oldiebut goodie]

I don't know about that timer other than it, I suspect and partially recall, uses a hefty relay so will be simple to use on an old heater. Red and brown for power, switching a live feed ( should be yellow if original) to the heater. It should be part no. 25 1482 89 19 00, if so wiring for it is in the B1L manual. Plain on/off switch/timer. There may be a thermostat function but I am not sure as have never had my hands on one.

[Oldiebut goodie]

You could always use it as a workshop heater - I use a 6.5Kw Webasto in mine ( 20' x 10' ) heats it up far too much!

[sherlylock]

Reviving a thread from the dead!

Thought I'd update this with some progress in case it helps other people wanting to renovate/ install one of these heaters.

I recently acquired a second heater assembly - with more of the ducting and wiring than I have with the other setup - the hope being that between the two boxes of "junk" (as my work colleague so crudely put it) I can put a working assy together that I can fit to the van.

Appreciate that these heaters are old and inefficient compared to modern units but I like the quirkiness of it and it seems to be quite rare (in the UK at least - popular in the US and Europe it seems).

Laid out the "new" system as if fitted to the van to see what bits I have.....





Reckon it's quite an involved job to fit one of these to a van once renovated. It looks like the fuel tank has to be dropped so that the main ducting bracket can be fitted at least. Looking forward to benchtesting this and getting it running. Hopefully I'll make some progress on it over the xmas break.

[Oldiebut goodie]

That was going to happen for last Xmas!

[sherlylock]

That was going to happen for last Xmas!

Ha! Yeah, banged to rights there....! I renovated the combustion motor, checked the fuel pump, temp sensor and the glow plug. Stuck it all in a box and then life and trying to keep a van on the road got in the way......

Proof that the glow plug at least glows.......

[Oldiebut goodie]

Watch you don't put too much voltage through a glow plug when testing - some 12v ones run on 8v.

[sherlylock]

Watch you don't put too much voltage through a glow plug when testing - some 12v ones run on 8v.

Ooo....interesting, didn't realise that - thanks for the heads up.

I'm working my way through the BA6 manual checking stuff and it suggests 12v....so I hooked it up to check.

[Oldiebut goodie]

That one is so old that it may well be straight 12v. Even ones listed as 12v can be 8v - they actually mean for 12v heater. There are some old Webasto ones that run at 4v in 12v heaters which is a pain to get when testing.

[Pinkythelabrat]

I heard of a case where someone accidentally fitted 8v glow plugs in their Audi TDi. They apparently looked identical to the the original but were actually from a later year. The 12v supply burned them and they cracked into fragments which apparently did disastrous things to their engine innards.

At least the worst that should happen with a heater is that the glow plug just stops working - no chewed piston crowns! [GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]


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