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MV Hydro 5


Trilby Tim

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Hi, has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, with the MV Hydro 5 diesel heater that's replaced the Mikuni MX40?

The air motor on my MX40 has now died :( Incidentally this isn't as a result of my hacking it, I hadn't actually got as far as hacking that bit of it, so it was only running in the way Mikuni intended, so it is just plain old unreliability. It's £140 for a new motor!

The MX40 has been constant trouble and unreliable. However I do really like the convenience of it when it does work! So I would like to still have a diesel heater. I don't know whether to get a new motor and continue with my work of hacking the control system to try and make it more reliable or whether to cut my losses with it and replace it. Probably by doing this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MV-Hydro-5-Water-Heater-Conversion-for-Mikuni-MX40-/171858420377?hash=item28038f6299

The MX40 has now been discontinued by Mikuni and they're promoting the MV Hydro 5 instead. I don't like the idea that by buying a MV Hydro I'm basically paying Mikuni more money to fix a problem they created by building the unreliable MX40! However I'd be willing to swallow my pride and do that if I thought it would actually work properly. At least spares for it are cheaper, it's a brushless motor that in theory should run for ever, it's a glow pin rather than the hopeless glow plug that blew all the time (although if the pin does fail then it's more expensive to replace than the plug), so it does sound an improvement. I'm not particulary keen on the idea of a Webasto or Eberspacher either as from reading comments on this forum they don't sound any better than the MX40! Does anyone have an MV fitted?

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  • 3 months later...

I've decided to bite the bullet and try it, can't be any worse than the MX40! Maybe if I hadn't had anything better to do with my time and I'd completely replaced the control system I could have made it work properly, but it really was a case of trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

The MX40 is now out and being sent back, so hoepfully a new MV Hydro 5 will soon be back in it's place and in theory should just be a drop in replacement....

We'll see, I'll let you know how it goes, and if it continues to go for more than a few hours in a row!

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Sorry you didn't get any advice about the new unit Tim, maybe noone here has one yet and you're breaking new ground?

 

To be honest,although I'm scared I may be tempting fate, my Eberspacher 4 is now 7 years old and going strong. I think the installation is very important, so if your install isn't good you may have similar issues with the new unit - I hope not! Also Ebers, but probably all these units, need to be worked hard and it's the short cycling that kills them off. So, don't fit a 5kW unit where a 4kW would do and make sure it goes off once you have hot water and a warm boat. I use mine for 1 hour at a time and listen for it dropping off load. After that, the stove is back up to speed and the day ahead stays toasty whilst the Eber sleeps it off!

 

Good luck with your update!

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I did actually get a PM from someone that hadn't had one long but reported so far so good. :)

I think it's less a case of the install being "good" or "bad" it's more about being lucky enough that your requirements and use pattern happen to match what the heater is happy with. I think they have a really narrow operating window, if you hit it then they're great, but many (maybe most?) people don't, which is why they deservedly get so much flak.

I've often heard that they need to be worked hard, and that's probably true, but I'm pretty sure that in my case the problem was that I was working it too hard. I have the underfloor heating system so when I switch it on it's trying to heat over a tonne of concrete, that's definitely working it hard! I fitted data logging equipment to it and found it was hardly ever getting up to a good temperature even after over two hours on. That's why I hacked the control system to force it to heat up faster. That did actually work pretty well, last winter with the hacked control system was the best it ever performed, and I had plans to improve it further. But now the air motor has blown and replacement is a silly price it just felt like throwing good money after bad. The MV Hydro 5 has brushless motors on the air and water pump, so should never need replacing and bizarrely are cheaper if you do have to replace them than the inferior MX40 items. Also I like that the MV has a glow pin rather than a glow plug so hopefully won't keep blowing all the time, it does seem like they've learnt something from the mistakes of the MX40. So even if I do have to hack this one to make the bloody thing work properly, at least I'm starting from a better base.

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I think you're probably wise to replace the MX40. Our boat had the MX40 fitted in 2002 and due to unreliability issues, was replaced after six months with a Hurricane system. The Hurricane has proved totally reliable over the last twelve years, just requiring simple annual (or 1000 hour) servicing.

I hope your Hydro 5 proves just as reliable.

 

Ken

Edited by NB Ellisiana
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Fitted a couple of MV 5s and some 90s all good so far, they are basically a clone of the Eber Hydronic and the 90s are a clone of the Webo T90, control systems are pretty basic so you may need to do a bit more fiddling, BTW I have a couple of good used MX40 combustion air motors if any use. Frankly if you want to heat a couple of tons of concrete you may want to look at a 90 though.

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  • 4 weeks later...

It's fitted and so far so good for operation.

A few niggles with fitting, It wasn't delivered with a silencer which was sent later when I pointed out it was missing, there's no damper on the fuel pump despite the instruction manual describing one (I was told that it doesn't need one and never includes one, so why the instruction manual refers to it is baffling). It's shipped with a plastic bodied fuel filter that would fail a BSS test if you fitted it (I didn't, mine is fed through the same filter as the engine; apparently this can cause problems for the heater if you try and run heater and engine at the same time but I can't imagine why you'd want to do that, it can also cause problems for the engine if you don't have a solenoid shut off valve on the feed to the heater, but I do so I've never had any problems with this set up).

Electrics reasonably simple, the supplied wiring loom connects to all the Mikuni's connections. The old Mikuni switch and timer/thermostat connect and switch it on and off but the LED on the switch doesn't work so you can't be sure what it's doing and won't get any fault codes without the new MV panel. This isn't a massive problem as I never used the thermostat anyway (cycling the Mikuni on and off was always seen as a problem so I just set it to be on or off on the timer, never thermostatically cycling) and the new timer that comes with the MV is much neater and slicker so I'll use that instead. I'll remove the old Mikuni one when I get round to it.

It fired up immediately first time and every time since and seems to give good heat output. I've been using it most days for a couple of weeks and so far so good. It's pretty quiet (a little quieter than the Mikuni I think) since I fitted the silencer. The real test will be whether it keeps it up though!

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The MV damper is plastic, that's why it's not used, the instructions are centered around vehicles where they are of course allowed, bit surprising to get a plastic filter though. The Mikuni was the only manufacturer who made a metal damper, Webo have always been plastic. In the early days of BSS and for coded lumpy water boats we used to enclose the pump and damper in an aluminium box with 5mm compression fittings on the outside in order to retain the damper but eventually dropped the damper, it is still supplied on vehicle pumps and in kits. Personally I think they made the heaters run smoother and still like them. I see you have fitted the fuel supply incorrectly and I would check on the impact on warranty, on a Webasto it would be a no no.

Edited by NMEA
  • Greenie 1
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  • 11 months later...

Actually it died after only a couple of months of running twice a day last winter. However they did exchange it without quibble and it's replacement is (touching wood while writing this) doing fine. Although obviously it hasn't had a huge amount of use over the summer, so the real test is still to come.

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Just wondering how the MV Hydro is going as our Mikuni has given up the ghost and needs replacing.

I have to confess that whilst the first three or four I fitted were working fine for a short time I have had too many issues to consider fitting another of the Eberspacher clone Hydro 5s, the Webasto clone Hydro 9s seem fine though. Replace it with a Webasto Thermo Top E if you want my two penyworth, or I have the last of the MX40s still brand new going cheap.

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  • 9 months later...
On 27 November 2016 at 15:24, NMEA said:

I have to confess that whilst the first three or four I fitted were working fine for a short time I have had too many issues to consider fitting another of the Eberspacher clone Hydro 5s, the Webasto clone Hydro 9s seem fine though. Replace it with a Webasto Thermo Top E if you want my two penyworth, or I have the last of the MX40s still brand new going cheap.

My mikuni MX40 has just packed up, I'm told it was fitted to my boat when it was built in 2003. Since then it has apparently been repaired yearly to get it working again come winter. When it was going it was great, however I'd be happy to part with some cash to get something more reliable (!) I was considering the MV hydro 5 until I read this thread. What would you recommend as a replacement? The webasto thermo top e still? I have 60ft Narrowboat if that helps. 

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Being the official Webasto sales and service centre for London we could of course supply and install also sign off for 3 year warranty. A rough guide to working out the radiator load is to measure up then look for the same size and type (single double etc) on the Screwfix website, the wattage is listed there. Ignore the calorifier.

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Yes the lower box should have the rating on it though. And they need to be reduced as their quoted rating is measured with vehicle coolant temperature which is higher than heater temps by quite a margin. 

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  • 2 months later...
On 04/08/2015 at 23:42, Trilby Tim said:

Hi, has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, with the MV Hydro 5 diesel heater that's replaced the Mikuni MX40?

The air motor on my MX40 has now died :( Incidentally this isn't as a result of my hacking it, I hadn't actually got as far as hacking that bit of it, so it was only running in the way Mikuni intended, so it is just plain old unreliability. It's £140 for a new motor!

The MX40 has been constant trouble and unreliable. However I do really like the convenience of it when it does work! So I would like to still have a diesel heater. I don't know whether to get a new motor and continue with my work of hacking the control system to try and make it more reliable or whether to cut my losses with it and replace it. Probably by doing this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MV-Hydro-5-Water-Heater-Conversion-for-Mikuni-MX40-/171858420377?hash=item28038f6299

The MX40 has now been discontinued by Mikuni and they're promoting the MV Hydro 5 instead. I don't like the idea that by buying a MV Hydro I'm basically paying Mikuni more money to fix a problem they created by building the unreliable MX40! However I'd be willing to swallow my pride and do that if I thought it would actually work properly. At least spares for it are cheaper, it's a brushless motor that in theory should run for ever, it's a glow pin rather than the hopeless glow plug that blew all the time (although if the pin does fail then it's more expensive to replace than the plug), so it does sound an improvement. I'm not particulary keen on the idea of a Webasto or Eberspacher either as from reading comments on this forum they don't sound any better than the MX40! Does anyone have an MV fitted?

Hi I have a hydro 9 and it starts but won' fire what' up can anyone help bit of air in fuel line but nothing major it tryst to start but nothing help please 

 

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Do you have a proper 2mm bore dedicated dip tube and 2mm bore fuel tube all the way from the tank? I assume you have checked the voltage at the heater during start up. Even a small amount of air in the supply tube will be enough to cause issues.

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6 hours ago, Boatwench said:

Well all checked there is air in fuel line but just do not know where been through all the  connections so frustrating 

Thanks 

 

How much fuel is in the tank?

Obvious question I know, but has been over looked in the past. 

 

Bod

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