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Hi Alan, 3 gallons sounds about right to me, should be a good percentage of the fluid. Two things come to mind, first, the system is vented and unpressurised, therefore if you re-fill it slowly and open the bleeds all around the system and gradually re-fill shutting the vents as they as the level comes up, most of the air should come out. If you did'nt open any of the vents before removing the unit, then some fluid will be trapped in the system.This will level itself out when open the bleeds at the extremities of the van. The other point to bear in mind is the thermostatic valve which gives priority flow to the hotwater calorifier will be closed, so no circulation around the heating circuit until the hot water return changes the valve over, and the pipework for the summer/ winter valve will have air in it as well,Its right next to the primary pipework near the calorifier. Probably all the air wont come out of the system straight away so you might have to top up several times. The van should be level as well while bleeding.
Looking at the pictures on You tube, standard sheet gasket material suitable for oil etc should be ok. Might be available from a boat yard, but unless you are desperate, it might be better to ring Germany or the UK for the right parts and either pick them up in Spain or have them posted. How dirty was burner chamber when you dismantled it?
Mike
I have rebuilt it and refitted it. I made one gasket from ordinary gasket paper I scrounged from a local mechanic and reused the combustion chamber one as it seemed undamaged.
Inside all was pretty well sooted up but no heavy carbon deposits. Cleaned with a toothbrush as the video recommended. There are some minor cracks around what I might describe as the flame focus in the combustion chamber, just what you would expect on thin metal constantly exposed to a flame. I don't think they would effect it's working, but I will replace it when I can get parts.
As I said earlier I had to bleed the system last year after having the boiler repaired so I am pretty well OK with that. The bleed screw on to of the Hydronic has air free water flowing out which means water has got down that far. I imagine the pump in the Hydronic now has to pump the water back up the outlet till it reaches the heat exchanger/boiler which may be a big job for it. The next bleeder I can find after the Hydeonic is on the heat exchanger which is maybe 600mm higher.
I do remember that it took repeated attempts to start it to bleed it last time.
Thanks Harvey, I got your latest and will read them now.
Finally got it bled and running, just a question of starting, running it till it's stops due to lack of water, letting it cool down and trying again after it has cooled down and waiting for it to pump the water up the outlet to the tank.
It still sounds rough though, just not right. Then as it got dark I noticed a glow from under the van. Got down and looked under to find the first of the two boxes (silencers) on the exhaust glowing red hot.
It never did that before so I turned it off pending further investigation. I guess it's not burning the fuel properly in the combustion chamber and it does sound as though the ignition is coming and going.
The box is mounted so that it can't damage anything.
I will have to get the proper parts or find a service centre.
Thanks to all those who have helped or offered support, Alan.
I have taken my 24v D5WS apart quite a few times, which didn't always point to a particular problem.
The small screws between the air intake chamber and the water heating cylinder are a little too soft, so be careful with them, and get some spares!
Mine has both seperate fuel and water pumps so may be different.
So that I wouldn't be in the position of needing a dealer reset I changed my controller to one that would tell me the fault code and allow me to reset it, so that has helped on many occasions.
It boils down to not burning correctly. That is either a problem with the air (too much or too little) or fuel (too much or too little).
So is the intake pipe entirely clear, the filter if you have one unblocked and unobstructed? Mine has some sort of insulation on the inside of the air inlet chamber which had come loose, and only when the fan was spinning a small bit of the insulation got sucked up and slowed the fan a little. I have managed to do the lid to the fan up too tight which also slightly obstructed it spinning.
Same with the exhaust, free and clear? If the combustion chamber was sooty maybe so is that? I took mine off and left a hose running through it for a while.
You may have found the check for fuel pump output? I did that, found it to be OK so looked elsewhere, only to later discover there was an air leak in the first fitting after the pump, so the correct amount of fuel was being delivered but with too much air for it to burn cleanly.
My fuel line is tiny and rigid, connected by fatter rubber sections of about 35mm long. Inside these splicing pieces the joints need to be fully butted home. A small gap creates air bubbles somehow. The rubber bits also degrade with time. I fixed one misfiring a while ago just by tightening the jubilee clips on these. Taking them off a few weeks later showed these to be cracked, and still letting some air in so all got replaced (2 sizes required).
I havn't always replaced the gaskets, only once on fact, one showed a little blow fixed by correct retightening. Same with the wire mesh around the glow plug, but it is supposed to be in a certain position (overlap downwards???).
Some I think have a system where the engine circuit is seperated from the camper circuit with a heat exchanger, but I'd imagine you can tell which header tank has no fluid in it?! As far as my struggles go, the water pump is next to useless without a full circuit. A big air pocket will just sit there. Could you extend the two pipes you took off the heater up to a few feet above the system pipes, and continually fill one and catch the return, pushing the air out yourself? Half inch copper could be used to splice? I don't think food grade is required here When you're happy crimp as suggested above before reconnecting? I got a pair of hose clamps from Ebay, they are fab
I also refilled up with pink coolant which seems to give off much more heat.
Isn't a high exhaust temp usually due to too lean a burn? Not enough O2 for the amount of fuel?
Once you've worn yourself out going round in circles trying to guess if the fuel and air is doing what it should it may end up being something electrical not doing what it should requiring a dealer. When I've decided what my next camper will be I'll be carrying an entire second unit, as its the same price as the spares bought seperately and then you have bits like the too soft screws, rubber hose and 5p bits you may not have thought of
I hope you can fix it!
Jason
______________________________________________________________ Small steps
The one gasket I made was a lot thinner than the one which had come to bits. I could have tried making and using three or four but it was quite fiddly and I have no idea whether the gasket paper I scrounger was up to taking the heat anyway. I suspect not as it seemed to be just normal gasket paper.
Also the cracked part of the burner may have an effect.
Your thought about the exhaust is a good one. It has two silencer boxes on it. I wonder if they can clog. I may try shoving the hose up it and see. It might also explain the red hot silencer and erratic running. I think the grey/white smoke may have been a little coolant getting into the combustion chamber where there was a little blow in the gasket.
I intend buying a spare heater unit to carry with us as the van has no other means of space heating or heating water, Alan.
I shoved a hose up it and ran a lot of water through. A fair bit of filth came out. Then I blew it out with a little compressor. It still isn't right but I have no faith in the gasket I made and I am not sure it has bled from the heater up to the tank. It's bled down the inlet hose to the heater OK and the bleed screw on top of the heater gives air free coolant. On the up side it must depend on the heater pumping it up. The bleed nipple on the heat exchanger at the top of that pipe lets clean air free water out but the hoses don't feel full.
I had problems with my heater D5 on same mh, it ended up being the flame tube which i think is the piece you say is cracked on yours. Mine gave an error code of F52 which was a failure to ignite. C J Collins in Doagh is the local dealer in NI and sorted it, they commented that the inlet pipe at some stage had sucked up a lot of crud, dont know how, had you yours running whilst driving? Since getting it back I have noticed quite a high pitched whine from the unit which I believe is the intake fan. I would be embarrassed to run it during the night or even if beside someone, would yours be that noisy?
The bleeding took a while but once the heater was running I just went around the rads starting at the seats then back bedroom letting the gas out, 30 mins sorted it. Just keep an eye on the fluid level as it drops pretty quickly.
Flame tube is about £120 + vat I think.
I have ordered a new one, should have it here in Spain on Monday. I will get the old one serviced and carry a spare as it's our only means of heating.
Our is quite noisy for maybe 15 or 20 minutes when starting up but not bad after that. I will compare it with the new one and let you know, Alan.
Edit: A point worth knowing about Hydronic heaters is that there are variants of the same model. The D5WSC I have comes in various guises depending on age. That difference is visible, external water pumps etc.
But they aslo vary as to the temperature they warm the water to. A D5WSC 25221905 heats the water to 80 degrees while a D5WSC 25239105 heats the water to 95 degrees. This may be important for anyone trying to buy a new one. I did not find any reference to this on any of the web sites I looked at, and I looked at plenty. I found out in conversation with a very helpful chap atAuto Electrical Solutions in Sunderland.
I fitted the new one today and it's running fine. Now to get the old one serviced so I have a spare. It's a bit of a weakness on our van that we only have one means of heating the accommodation and the water, but in constant use the old heater ran for almost four years. A spare might be a bit extravagant but I reckon I can get half the new price for it if we change the van.
I changed the controller so that the new heater works in exactly the same way as the old one did, there was a difference in the temperature they heated the water to. The old one was 80 degrees and the new one was 95 degrees, Alan.
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Greece
When you're happy crimp as suggested above before reconnecting? I got a pair of hose clamps from Ebay, they are fab 
