Gas vs Diesel

ScreenNameBC50719EFD
ScreenNameBC50719EFD Forum Participant Posts: 8
edited January 2023 in Motorhomes #1

Hi, looking at buying a used motorhome. We see that most units have Truma gas/240v water/heating and Thetford chemical type toilets. But we rather fancy one that has all the bits we like but the hotwater/heating is Eberspacher Combitronic diesel/240v and the toilet is Dometic vacuum. I gather these are used in upmarket motorhomes, I know they are used in boats. Does anyone have any experience of them ?

Comments

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Trusted Posts: 23,373
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    edited January 2023 #2

    Diesel heaters can be noisy, especially older models. I'd go for the Truma, given a choice.

    I don't know about the Dometic vacuum toilet but people have found Dometic toilets in general to be troublesome.

    It's not an AutoSleeper Nuevo then.😀

    PS. Bear in mind that if you buy a MH with more obscure fittings, spares are going to be harder to come by and repairs may cost more.

  • richardandros
    richardandros Club Member Posts: 2,799
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    edited January 2023 #3

    I have a lot of experience of diesel heaters - but in boats - not caravans / motorhomes.  In my opinion Eberspacher is far more reliable than the other main contender - Webasto.  That said, as Tinny has pointed out, they are noisy, especially on start-up and whilst you can get away with it in a marina etc, they could be a bit antisocial in the more confined space of a caravan site.  The other thing - is the constant ticking of the fuel pump - again it can be quite obtrusive on a high setting but not so bad on tick-over. How effective they are depends on the installation of the ducting and that applies equally to diesel heaters or their gas equivalent.

    As far as toilets are concerned - if I tell you that five months into ownership of a high-end Knaus Starclass, I got the dealer (at a great deal of expense to me) to change the standard Dometic toilet to a reliable Thetford after the Dometic had a problem with it every time we went away.  I just cringe at the thought of a Dometic vacuum toilet - just how many opportunities there would be with that for it to go wrong! I'm far from alone in my experience, either.  The internet is littered with other owners complaining about Dometic toilets letting them down in one way or another and I know of two other people - who on my recommendation - went to our dealers to get their Dometic swapped for a Thetford. If you take my advice - stick with the Thetford.

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176
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    edited January 2023 #4

    We had an Eberspacher in our first Autosleeper it seemed like a great idea and did cope well off grid but we found it noisy (we did try to reduce the noise but to no effect) and the van was either warm or cold, there was very little in residual heat, no quiet background warming. In the end we stopped using it and bought a convector heater and enjoyed warmth and quiet. We made sure our present van had a gas/electric truma heater, equally adaptable and only slightly noisy if the fan is used. smile

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Club Member Posts: 10,224
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    edited January 2023 #5

    richardandros wrote "they are noisy, especially on start-up and whilst you can get away with it in a marina etc, they could be a bit antisocial in the more confined space of a caravan site"

    Marinas are more cramped than campsites. You don't get 6 metres between berths although you can hear an Eberspacher burbling away much further away than that.

    Dometic toilet? Better buy yourself some Immodium as a backup. 

  • Unknown
    edited January 2023 #6
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