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Webasto Flame Thrower
stopped in VA to sleep on my way to NC. Dark outside and when my webasto kicked on I can see a plume of blue flames extending about 3 inches past the tailpipe. Pretty smokey as well.
Is this normal??
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7 Replies
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No, it is not normal…shut it down
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any idea what is wrong? Just overhauled a year ago and new tailpipe
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Liam, the Webasto on my 1990 XL Country Coach always did that when we were above 5,000 feet altitude. It looked like the Batmobile, but was only visible at night. I think if you look really closely you will see that there is no flame coming out of the exhaust pipe, but rather it is a reflection of the flame inside the unit, reflecting on the hot and smokey exhaust. The exhaust spins in a vortex which makes it look like a cone-shaped flame. In my case, the Websasto always smoked more at altitude, which is why we got the Batmobile effect. It really freaked me out until I figured out what was hapenning. Be very careful when checking. Flame or not, the Webasto exhaust is really, really hot.
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Unfortunately I can only guess, but emailed you the service manual with steps to diagnose. The good news it runs!
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There is a air shutter located under the burner case. It is secured with one phillips head screw. In higher altitude conditions it can be opened to admit more air to address a smoking issue that was not present at lower altitudes.
Pushing the loosened screw toward the heat exchanger opens the shutter. Pulling the screw away from the heat exchanger closes the shutter. Setting it half way seems to work a most altitudes. You can not get to much air but you can get to little.
Have not seen the exhaust in the dark so can not comment on seeing a flame in the exhaust gases. If the exhaust gas is so rich it can support a flame, I would not run the burner till it had been serviced. The 50,000 or 80,000 BTU flame should not extend outside of the combustion chamber.
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thanks Rudy. I am at 3,200 feet. Does that seem high enough to cause an issue or can a misadjusted shutter cause heavy smoke even at low altitude?
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Liam,
Probably not unless really pinched off. The smoke would be black, to much fuel for the available air.
Just look at the air shutter and see if the phillips screw is near the back of the burner case, pinched off. If the back of the case is 6 O’clock and the front up at the heat exchanger is 12 O’clock, the screw should be at 3 O’clock.
You are welcome to call if you wish, 7 one 3 8 one 8 3234.
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