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Old 05-13-2015, 12:37 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 46
How to turn on and use Webasto Heater?

Hi,
I have a 2000 Thomas MVP pusher. Been trying to figure out how to operate the heat. I've got the dial turned to hot, and the red squiggly line is on on the Webasto board, but when I turn the switch on the side (passenger heat) it kicks on but only for a few minutes, and the air is not hot.

Any info on how to operate it?

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Old 05-13-2015, 03:02 PM   #2
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Salt Lake City Utah
Posts: 1,635
Year: 2000
Chassis: Blue Bird
Engine: ISC 8.3
Is that a coolant heater, or an air heater..? Pictures of the equipment could help, too.
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Old 05-14-2015, 08:40 AM   #3
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Maryland / Boulder
Posts: 347
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas Built
Chassis: Saf-T-Liner MVP ER
Engine: CAT 3126b Rotella-Chugger
Rated Cap: 72
Hi. Pictures would help. However, when you push the center button on the control (red squiggly line, I call it bacon strips) does the indicator show up on the screen, and if so, does it stay on? When you turn it on, do you hear the webasto device kick on and feel hot air coming out it's exhaust?

When I got mine, the Webasto didn't work. Something about some pump. I sent it to this dude I found online who charges I believe 250 flat rate for service including two way shipping, which includes "basic parts" to replace, then charges you additional for any other parts that need replaced. I think mine worked out to be like 335 to fix.

That being said, he told me these things really prefer higher voltage to run, but especially to start. So if you're trying to start it off a bus battery that hasn't been run in a while, it is possible the voltage is too low. Mine usually won't start if it is just on the batteries, it prefers to be on the charger where it is making voltage in the low 13's instead of mid 12's. Even then sometimes it takes 2 attempts to start (and dumps a bunch of smopke on startup from the unburnt fuel it is igniting from the previous attempt).

So, if yours is not firing, that would be why the heater is cold. If it is not firing, check and see if it is getting voltage, if the water pump on it / fan inside it are turning (both pretty obvious to feel / hear). Then have someone else kick it on inside while you are next to it and check if you hear a quiet tickticktick for 5 seconds or so, that is the spark ignitor firing. If you hear that fire, and don't smell fuel, then it is a fuel issue. You need at least 1/4 of a tank to run this. The reason being is the pickup in the tank doesn't go all the way to the bottom, so you don't accidentally run the rig out of fuel by running the heater. Then check the fuel filter, replace it if it looks old, then disconnect the fuel lines and see if any fuel comes out. When disconnected, fuel will pour out of one and nothing from the other (supply and return, respectively). If you are getting fuel, I'd just send it in to repair honestly. I didn't want to mess with it. PM me for detail on the repair guy.

If it is turning on and producing heat, could be a few things:

-Low coolant / air in system
-Make sure the coolant loop is open on the engine. Garden hose looking valves for supply / return.
-These systems usually have another electric water pump at the back by the motor, with a switch on the left side of the dash. Kick that on and see if it helps.
-The way they are set up stock is so they run coolant through the motor too to help with cold starts. So the heater is heating a 1200 lb block of iron filled with water (high Cp filled with even higher Cp) which will NOT be hot in a few minutes. Could take 30 minutes to feel heat. You can modify the loop to bypass the engine, wmkbailey wrote about it in his thread.

PM me for questions.
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Old 05-14-2015, 12:19 PM   #4
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 46
Thanks so much for the detailed reply, Porkchop. I am going to display my ignorance and confess that I am now confused as to exactly what the Webasto heater is... I had assumed that it was the heater that heated the bus. Is it that, or is it for preheating the bus (i.e. glow plug) before starting? I'm also not sure if it is a coolant or air heater.

I have never had to worry about cold starting the bus as I have always started it in warm weather, hence my not even considering it.

The bacon strips light up and stay lit, fyi. I have been unable to get any warm air to come out of vents in the bus, hence my post.

Pictures here: Bu Heater - Album on Imgur

Thanks for your help!
Attached Thumbnails
2015-05-13 16.30.45.jpg   2015-05-13 16.30.32.jpg   2015-05-13 16.30.09.jpg  
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Old 05-14-2015, 01:33 PM   #5
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Snowflake, Arizona
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Year: 1996
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: All American Rear Engine
Engine: C-8.3-300 Cummins MD3060
Rated Cap: 40 Prisoners
If the heater in the picture is what your dealing with, it is a standard under seat heater which runs off hot water either from the engine or boosted by a Webasto. But in order to be a Webasto it has to have a specification plate on it that says Webasto not Bergstrom. A Webasto is usually housed in a basement compartment and not in the interior of the bus. The metal housing going along the wall is covering the heater hoses to the heater.
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Old 05-14-2015, 01:44 PM   #6
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Winlcok, WA
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The Bergstrom heater you have in the picture is an underseat heater that gets heat from the engine coolant.

The switches on the dash should turn on the blower fans to move air across the heater core--warm core=warm air blowing.

If the fans don't turn on there are several reasons why they won't turn on.

First thing to check is to find if juice is getting to the switch or getting from the switch to the blower motors. This is very easy to verify with a test light. If no juice is getting to the switch you need to determine where the break is before the switch. If anything else switched at that panel works then the break is the power lead to that switch. If nothing on that panel works then the relay that turns power on to the switch panel isn't working. Get a jumper and go from a known hot lead to the heater switch to see if the blowers will turn on.

Next would be to determine if the blower motors are inoperable. If you have juice to the blowers and they are not turning on then it is safe to assume the blower motors are not getting a good ground or the blower motors are burned out. Those blower motors have a really long service life but they do go bad over time. Replacement blower motors are available from several vendors.

The Bergstrom underseat heater has nothing to do with the Webasto outside of using hot coolant to warm air.
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Old 05-14-2015, 03:42 PM   #7
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 231
Quote:
Originally Posted by bustagator;

Pictures here: [url=http://imgur.com/a/9XYTW
Bu Heater - Album on Imgur[/url]

Thanks for your help!
here is what my Webasto unit looks like, it is mounted in a bay with an exhaust pipe
if you do not have one of these your just using the engine to heat your bus.
Attached Thumbnails
BUS (10).jpg  
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Old 05-14-2015, 05:21 PM   #8
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 46
Quote:
Originally Posted by c_hasbeen View Post
here is what my Webasto unit looks like, it is mounted in a bay with an exhaust pipe
if you do not have one of these your just using the engine to heat your bus.
Yes, I also have a Webasto unit that looks just like this, just rediscovered it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cowlitzcoach View Post
The Bergstrom heater you have in the picture is an underseat heater that gets heat from the engine coolant.

The switches on the dash should turn on the blower fans to move air across the heater core--warm core=warm air blowing.

If the fans don't turn on there are several reasons why they won't turn on.

First thing to check is to find if juice is getting to the switch or getting from the switch to the blower motors. This is very easy to verify with a test light. If no juice is getting to the switch you need to determine where the break is before the switch. If anything else switched at that panel works then the break is the power lead to that switch. If nothing on that panel works then the relay that turns power on to the switch panel isn't working. Get a jumper and go from a known hot lead to the heater switch to see if the blowers will turn on.

Next would be to determine if the blower motors are inoperable. If you have juice to the blowers and they are not turning on then it is safe to assume the blower motors are not getting a good ground or the blower motors are burned out. Those blower motors have a really long service life but they do go bad over time. Replacement blower motors are available from several vendors.

The Bergstrom underseat heater has nothing to do with the Webasto outside of using hot coolant to warm air.
The switches turn on the fans for a little while, after which they turn off (no hot air coming off them at all), are they turning off because the coolant is not hot enough? I'm just idling the bus for 10-20 minutes, so maybe that's not enough time to warm it up?

Thanks for all the tips, folks!
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Old 05-14-2015, 06:19 PM   #9
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Winlcok, WA
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Idling your bus, even at fast idle, for 20 minutes is a recipe for engine failure.

With no load the engine will never really get warm. When the engine does not get up to operating temperatures you don't get full fuel burn on each cycle of the piston. The unburned fuel tends to wash past the rings and will start to dilute your lube oil. It will also tend to coke up your exhaust system reducing your turbo efficiency.

If you want to run the bus then every month or so take it out on the road and give it a work out. Ten miles would be the minimum if the route included a good hill where the engine would get a workout or several miles at highway speed. For that matter, take it camping and use it as a tin tent if you can. But don't just run it in place!

If the blowers blow and then just shut off that tells me you have a relay that needs to be replaced. So that the full load of the appliance doesn't go through the switch relays are used to carry the full load of the appliance. Over time they get lazy and will shut themselves off. If you waited ten more minutes they would probably start right back up again.

Find a good hot lead that is full of juice and put it directly to the fan wiring. If the blowers keep blowing longer than they do now you will know you have a bad relay somewhere between the blowers and the switch. If the blowers cut out then you will know you have a bad set of blower fans.
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Old 05-14-2015, 06:46 PM   #10
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 231
you should have a wiring schematic on the inside of your access door, you may study it for a little bit and figure out wire colors and circuit numbers that will help chase down a relay.


now that I think about it the schematic will not show the wiring diagram for any thing other than the heater fans inside the cabin, the separate webasto wiring schematic will not be on that access door cover.
good luck
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Old 05-14-2015, 07:00 PM   #11
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Salt Lake City Utah
Posts: 1,635
Year: 2000
Chassis: Blue Bird
Engine: ISC 8.3
Is the time-to-shutdown consistent from one test cycle to another? Can the blowers be re-started immediately? Myself and cowlitzcoach are understanding your question to mean the blowers on those water-to-air heaters are shutting down; if something else is meant please say so..

I'm not so sure about the lazy relay theory. I'm trying to think of a time when I heard of relay contacts opening unexpectedly, ie without the coil current being interrupted, and I just can't come up with anything. There's some self-heating inside the relay, and I guess since copper has a positive temperature coefficient its resistance goes up (and relay coil current goes down) as it heats, but it also takes much less current to hold a relay than to pull it in..

What about a circuit breaker? My Blue Bird has a panel of a dozen or so self-resetting circuit breakers. These are thermal-operated breakers -- current through the breaker causes heating, and sufficient heat causes the breaker to open (bimetallic strip internally, probably?). If the overcurrent is extreme it'll open pretty fast, but if it's only slight it could take minutes or even hours before it opens. After some time it cools and recloses automatically.

It isn't unheard of for motors to develop shorts in their windings. A partial short could cause a motor to still run but at higher current than it should and could in turn trip supply protections like a breaker or fuse.

OP probably will need to trace wires from the fan switch and test with a light or meter to find out whether the switched output changes even without throwing the switch, and if not, then continue downstream to see what comes between the switch and the motors and find where things open up on their own.
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Old 05-14-2015, 07:19 PM   #12
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 231
I think I have found an operating manual for your heater, if not you may be able to go to the vendors website and find the one you need.
http://www.nelsonsbusservice.com/dow...structions.pdf

you may have issues with multiple parts of this heating system, you will need to take it one step as a time and figure out each piece.

the good news is this is how you get to know your machine and learn and in the future will know what the likely issue is because you are failure with so much of it.

good luck
Cliff
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Old 05-14-2015, 07:36 PM   #13
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Winlcok, WA
Posts: 2,233
I when I called them lazy relays what I should have said was resistors.

In some buses, Thomas comes immediately to mind, instead of having multispeed motors they used resistors to step the voltage up or down to vary the speed of the blower motors.

Those have been known to fail and will allow the blowers to run for awhile until they warm up and then they lose contact.

After a period of time they will be cool enough for the blowers to start working again.
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Old 05-14-2015, 07:43 PM   #14
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Salt Lake City Utah
Posts: 1,635
Year: 2000
Chassis: Blue Bird
Engine: ISC 8.3
Ah, now I understand what you mean. That's a very good idea to look for something like that. The same resistor trick is common in passenger cars too. In cars I've seen them mounted in the air handler box so that the resistor (often a bare coil of wire, easily mistaken for a spring) is cooled by the air that's blowing through. If it's broken, self-heating could cause the resistor to bend until finally the cracked spot separates and then the motor stops just like you described.

Where does Thomas hide them? Somewhere in the blower housing, I guess... or buried in the big wiring panel?
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Old 05-14-2015, 08:05 PM   #15
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 231
Quote:
Originally Posted by family wagon View Post

Where does Thomas hide them? Somewhere in the blower housing, I guess... or buried in the big wiring panel?


I am not sure if this is relevant to this conversation, but I have some resisters soldered inline right at relays on my bus. it is a 95 year model

thanks
Cliff
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Old 05-18-2015, 05:30 PM   #16
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 46
Quote:
Originally Posted by cowlitzcoach View Post
Idling your bus, even at fast idle, for 20 minutes is a recipe for engine failure.

With no load the engine will never really get warm. When the engine does not get up to operating temperatures you don't get full fuel burn on each cycle of the piston. The unburned fuel tends to wash past the rings and will start to dilute your lube oil. It will also tend to coke up your exhaust system reducing your turbo efficiency.

If you want to run the bus then every month or so take it out on the road and give it a work out. Ten miles would be the minimum if the route included a good hill where the engine would get a workout or several miles at highway speed. For that matter, take it camping and use it as a tin tent if you can. But don't just run it in place!

If the blowers blow and then just shut off that tells me you have a relay that needs to be replaced. So that the full load of the appliance doesn't go through the switch relays are used to carry the full load of the appliance. Over time they get lazy and will shut themselves off. If you waited ten more minutes they would probably start right back up again.

Find a good hot lead that is full of juice and put it directly to the fan wiring. If the blowers keep blowing longer than they do now you will know you have a bad relay somewhere between the blowers and the switch. If the blowers cut out then you will know you have a bad set of blower fans.
I did not realize this. Thank you for the heads up. I don't have it registered right now, and even though I have it out in the middle of nowhere I really don't want to go drive it around unregistered and uninsured. I've been trying to start it up and let it run every few months for 30 minutes or so just to make sure it gets a little use.


Quote:
Originally Posted by c_hasbeen View Post
you should have a wiring schematic on the inside of your access door, you may study it for a little bit and figure out wire colors and circuit numbers that will help chase down a relay.


now that I think about it the schematic will not show the wiring diagram for any thing other than the heater fans inside the cabin, the separate webasto wiring schematic will not be on that access door cover.
good luck
Thanks, I'll check it out.

Quote:
Originally Posted by family wagon View Post
Is the time-to-shutdown consistent from one test cycle to another? Can the blowers be re-started immediately? Myself and cowlitzcoach are understanding your question to mean the blowers on those water-to-air heaters are shutting down; if something else is meant please say so..
I didn't keep trying it too many times, but it seemed that it ran for 5 minutes, then shut down, and would restart every time I flipped the switch, but then die within 30 seconds. And yes, it's the blowers on the rear heater (not Webasto) and the blowers in the front (drivers heat).

Quote:
Originally Posted by c_hasbeen View Post
I think I have found an operating manual for your heater, if not you may be able to go to the vendors website and find the one you need.
http://www.nelsonsbusservice.com/dow...structions.pdf
Thanks, Cliff!
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