Quote from: tlwcs on March 17, 2026, 04:40:22 pm

My review of the Sonberg 5.1 KW water heater single operator unit.
I bought this after a Squeaky clean Dave review did on YouTube.
Bought and fitted in April and I used it throughout the summer. I had steam on the glass everyday, customers also noticed enough to ask if the water was hot.
November I came back to the van after the unit had run for 5 hours to find the van full of smoke. I turned the unit off and finished my day.
Sonberg’s customer service was excellent, nearly.
I returned the unit myself as they are 40 miles from me. It was repaired and returned via post within a week. Brilliant. However they would not say what was wrong with it other than it needed a service.
Refitted and two days later it filled the van with smoke again. Sonberg arranged collection this time, I refrained from asking if it required another service and it was repaired and returned within a week again. Excellent service.
Sadly they would only tell me that I must have used poor diesel. Where would you buy poor diesel, I only ever used a high street fuel station. I honestly wouldn’t know where to buy poor diesel.
I lost confidence in it after the second return and now rarely use it. When I do it doesn’t seem to get as hot as it used too, I’m sure they’ve dumbed it down.
So do I rate it, yes, it initially worked very well with hot water to the touch.
Sonberg have been good but I feel frustrated in their reports they claimed that it needed a service or poor diesel was used. On each return they had replaced parts.
It works, recycles each time the univalve is used so it continuously runs avoiding the shut down/recycle, choke it up bit!
I think I’m going to try another unit from another supplier.
Open to offers on this if anyone wants to tinker with it.
Tony

Firstly, was the boiler unit a Webasto? Secondly, where was the smoke coming from? Thirdly, what colour was the smoke?

Imho, the exhaust gases are 'sealed' within the heater and exhaust pipe until they exit from the exhaust pipe outside the van. So the heater should never fill the van with smoke unless there is a leak, possibly where the exhaust pipe joins the boiler.

My review of the Sonberg 5.1 KW water heater single operator unit.
I bought this after a Squeaky clean Dave review did on YouTube.
Bought and fitted in April and I used it throughout the summer. I had steam on the glass everyday, customers also noticed enough to ask if the water was hot.
November I came back to the van after the unit had run for 5 hours to find the van full of smoke. I turned the unit off and finished my day.
Sonberg’s customer service was excellent, nearly.
I returned the unit myself as they are 40 miles from me. It was repaired and returned via post within a week. Brilliant. However they would not say what was wrong with it other than it needed a service.
Refitted and two days later it filled the van with smoke again. Sonberg arranged collection this time, I refrained from asking if it required another service and it was repaired and returned within a week again. Excellent service.
Sadly they would only tell me that I must have used poor diesel. Where would you buy poor diesel, I only ever used a high street fuel station. I honestly wouldn’t know where to buy poor diesel.
I lost confidence in it after the second return and now rarely use it. When I do it doesn’t seem to get as hot as it used too, I’m sure they’ve dumbed it down.
So do I rate it, yes, it initially worked very well with hot water to the touch.
Sonberg have been good but I feel frustrated in their reports they claimed that it needed a service or poor diesel was used. On each return they had replaced parts.
It works, recycles each time the univalve is used so it continuously runs avoiding the shut down/recycle, choke it up bit!
I think I’m going to try another unit from another supplier.
Open to offers on this if anyone wants to tinker with it.
Tony

The first 5 years are hard because of all the equipment needed to run the business. I'm after that stage and could go all in and try and grow my customer base but I like doing other things so have got best of both worlds. I think ones age has alot to do with it. I'm near 60 now and just want to plod along and do 3 days a week window cleaning. In life, I never would have thought I would be a window cleaner its one of those trades that operates under the radar of life.