Tips to keep your Espar Airtronic S2 D2L diesel heater happy
I love the Espar Airtronic S2 D2L diesel heater in our Sprinter van, but sometimes it can be a bit touchy. After several years of experience with Espar heaters, here are the rules I follow to keep the S2 D2L happy:
Keep the fuel tank half full
I was inspired to write this article because I accidentally broke this rule recently.
You might’ve read about my trouble with the van’s diesel gelling after a polar vortex and a subsequent cold snap.
When the polar vortex arrived, I did not have winterized fuel in the tank as none was available locally. A friend helped me with an additive, but the diesel still gelled.
Once temperatures rose and the van finally started, I thought it would be a good idea to empty fuel in the tank and top off with a winter blend. I went for a two-and-a-half hour drive and had the tank below a quarter. Before topping off, I turned on the Espar, forgetting that I was well below a half tank.
Sure enough, when I went out to the van later, I realized that the heater failed start. No big deal, I thought. I was on my way out to top off the tank and then the heater would work fine.
I should’ve known better!
With the fuel tank full, I set the thermostat to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. As the heater started up, it sounded happy. But, I only felt cold air. After several minutes, the heater stopped and an error was displayed on the EasyStart Pro control unit:
H1 Fuel Supply or Pump
Obviously, there was fuel, so I decided to set the thermostat to 70 degrees a second time. The heater sounded great, but again, it was just spewing cold air before it turned off with the same error.
Before my third attempt, I cut power to the Espar so it would reset.
We have a switch that when turned left, the heater draws power from our Goal Zero Yeti 6000X, the battery that charges our van’s house. When turned right, the heater draws power from a backup AGM battery installed under our Sprinter’s hood. When set to the middle, power to the heater is cut off.
So, I set it to the middle for a few seconds before turning it back to the left. Once the control unit rebooted, the heater still failed.
I tried the control unit’s Reset option. Still didn’t work.
My next step was to check the control unit for error codes and clear any that were found. Fortunately, while I was searching for the error codes, the heater magically started.
So again, keep your fuel tank above half! The lower you let your fuel tank go below that threshold, the more likely you will trigger a fuel supply or fuel pump error.
Run the heater regularly, even in warm weather
The more often we run our heater, the happier it is. It is especially content during winter months because we’re generally in snowy locales so it runs constantly.
However, once summer rolls around, we don’t need the heater so much. The longer the heater sits without running, the more likely it will refuse to start and nasty smelling white smoke will spew out of the exhaust pipe. If that smoke gets sucked into the van, it’s so toxic to breathe.
While I’m not always good at remembering to do this, running the heater once a week at the highest temp setting for 30 minutes seems to keep crud from building up.
Don’t wait until your first cold weather trip to run your heater after weeks or months of not starting it.
Don’t drive with the heater running
Driving with the heater running almost always triggers an H1 Service error. The error can generally be ignored, but on occasion, it can result in the heater failing to start the next time you go to turn it on. While a retry should work, it’s best to avoid generating an error in the first place.
For a while, I had a bad habit of turning the heater off right before starting to drive. This doesn’t allow enough time for the heater to wind down. You want to make sure the heater stops making noise and pushing out air before hitting the road. It only takes about 2-3 minutes. Otherwise, you’ll likely end up with an H1 Service error.
Please note that driving with the heater running isn’t the only H1 Service error trigger. The heater could be ready for regular service. In that case, you might start seeing unusual amounts of white smoke each time you start the heater until the time that it finally fails and service is urgent.
Service your heater regularly
Our S2 D2L seems to need service every 2,500 hours, even though some resources online indicate that its service life is up to 5,000 hours.
Periodically check your control until for the number of hours your S2 D2L has been running. Schedule service before you hit the recommended hours. For us, scheduling service once it hits 2,000 is a good idea since we use ours so frequently.
Rixen’s is my first choice for service. Costs are reasonable, it’s easy to get a timely appointment, and I love the guys at Rixen’s. I always learn something when I’m there.
You can also service the S2 D2L yourself, especially if the unit is easily accessible. I won’t get into that here, but you just need to purchase a kit and perhaps some minor tools.
Don’t panic if your heater doesn’t start
Once you’ve used your S2 D2L several times, you’ll likely become familiar with all of the noises it makes as it goes through it’s startup process. With familiarity, you’ll then know the exact moment when the process fails, even before seeing errors on the control unit.
Upon failure, avoid an immediate restart or any sort of troubleshooting. Let the heater wind down. It will likely spew cold air for a few minutes. Let it keep going until it goes silent and air stops blowing.
When you make repeated attempts to start without letting it go through it’s cycle, I find that it confuses the unit and it takes longer to resolve. Plus, if you’re applying more than one troubleshooting step at a time, it’s hard to know what’s not working and what ended up being the fix.
Also, don’t panic if you see white smoke when the heater doesn’t start. Buildup might just need to burn off. However, if you’ve restarted a few times, the smoke isn’t decreasing, and the smell of diesel is excessive, there’s a chance you need service or something else is wrong.
Keep the exhaust pipe clear
This really shouldn’t be much of an issue for most people, but we had an experience traveling across Wyoming in frigid temps and snowy roads. We arrived at a campground and were ready to settle down for the night, but when we tried turning on the heater, it kept failing.
Upon going outside, we noticed that the exhaust pipe was completely encased in thick ice! We were in the middle of nowhere with the temperature dropping, fog rolling in, the sun going down, and no services nearby. With much effort, we were able to clear the pipe with hot water and a blow dryer. (Please note, this is not recommended due to potentially cracking the exhaust pipe.)
After this incident, we consulted with Rixen’s about the proper placement of our exhaust pipe that is located near the driver’s side rear tire. We weren’t sure if it’s proximity to the tire made it more susceptible to ice buildup.
Rixen’s confirmed that the pipe’s location is typical and generally shouldn’t be an issue, so I was able to accept that our Wyoming incident was hopefully a one-time occurrence. This has never happened to us traveling to other snowy locales, so relocating the pipe is likely unnecessary.
However, if we drive in frigid temps with snow-covered roads again, I would somehow protect the exhaust so it’s easy to unplug if ice forms. Though, I’m unsure how to keep whatever protection is used from also becoming encased in ice. It’s also possible I could forget the pipe is covered before turning the heater on.
Otherwise, if this happens to you, hope that you’re near a self car wash so that you can melt the ice safely by spraying it with water.
Final thoughts
Don’t ruin your adventures because of basics like keeping your tank half full and regularly servicing your heater. If you do run into trouble, try calling Rixen’s in Sandy, Oregon.
