[Vwdiesel] espar vs webasto coolant heater?

[pmdolan at sasktel.net]

I have an ESPAR, and find it pretty reliable, and incredibly powerful.  I use it in a Y2K Ford 450 7.3, and it will cook up the engine from -45 to +70(C) in about 45 minutes (with a HUGE cooling system).  I also run it throgh the cab heater, and use a bank of aux batteries to run the heater and the cab fan, so I can park down to -20C without running the engine for about 8 hours.

I am a former VW mech (as in gas heater days) and my B-I-L still works on these things in heavy trucks.  Generally speaking, Eberspacher (ESPAR) has a better reputation for reliability than does Webasto.  This goes way back to the days of the first integrated (as in in-the-ducts) heaters in Beetles (1966).  When we first got them, VW instisted that we not call it the "Webasto", but the "VW" heater.  After the first year of near 100% warranty failures, we replaced those heaters with B2 Eberspachers (for years to come on a good-will campaign) and VW management generally referred to the heater as the "Wee Bastard".  If you think that was a disaster, you should see what happened when VW tried to make the South Wind heaters "safe" in early type II installations.

Enough of memory lane.  BIL tells me that things are better but little different today.  The ESPAR heaters give less trouble than the Webasto installations.  The beauty of the situation now is that your local friendly heavy truck shop should have the diagnostic computer to support the heater. 

----- Original Message -----
From: Will Taygan <william at taygan.com>
Date: Monday, July 3, 2006 5:53 pm
Subject: [Vwdiesel] espar vs webasto coolant heater?

> The 1994 1.6TD FrankenJetta needs to be able to start in -20F after
> sitting for 14 hours.
> 
> I'm considering the webasto blueheat ($1695 installed) or an espar
> hydronic 4 ($1232 kit) system.
> 
> Obviously the espar is cheaper, so I'm likely going that route.
> 
> It's for the wife, so all the cheaper short-cuts for those 2 chilly
> weeks won't do it.  It HAS to start.
> 
> It's a rebuilt engine, and does fine down to 5F unplugged.
> 
> Anyone have experience with either of these system?
> 
> THANKS!
> 
> Will.
> Chugiak, AK
> 
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