Webasto Smoking (Outside)

[Dog Islander]

OK, I know it is the last weekend of June, but here in the PNW some members of my crew wanted the Webasto running tonight after goofing off on the beach. After turning it on I smelled "diesel", thinking it was nothing to worry about. After several minutes, I went outside and I noticed black smoke billowing out the heater's exhaust. I shut the heater down, restarted it, tried all the settings and came up with the same issue (except on fan only mode). This heater has worked exceptionally well the past few months until now (at least it is summer!). Any ideas what might be the gremlin causing the malfunction?

Ray
Nudibranch

 

[knotflying]

Silly question, but did you check the manual troubleshooting section? There are several reasons that can cause this symptom, build up of coke on ignitors, built up fuel from a poor ignition, dirty nozzel. Did you let it run for a while? Sometimes with luck a buildup can burn off and clear.

 

[Dog Islander]

There are no silly questions, just silly captains... I looked through the manuals and didn't find help there. There were no codes flashing to indicate a fault, so... I did what I should have in the first place - look for combustion air since it was clear we had fuel and some sort of ignition. Seems someone 😳 jammed a fender between the railing and the cabin right where the combustion air intake is located. After several minutes of smoke, all is well again with plenty of heat this sunny July morning.

 

[baz]

Black dark exhaust smoke typically indicates poor air/fuel ratio -- that is, too much fuel for the amount of supplied air/oxygen. 😉 Glad you found the cause.

About fenders.... make sure fender(s) don't obstruct the heater exhaust ports for the Webasto and the Wallas stove heater -- there's enough heat at these exit points to melt fenders.

 

[Lobo]

Been there, done that, got the blistered fender to prove it.

I put red tape on the hand rail above the stove vent -- which reminds me to never place a fender line in that area.

Dave

 

[sportner]

Us too, I found it quickly and we take better care with the fenders now. Nice to know we weren't the only ones.