# Efoy refurbishment.



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Our Efoy 1200 has over 3000 hours on it and is around five years old. I had been considering not replacing it till the performance dropped off and I realised just how much we rely on it. 

I haven't seen it's equal for giving silent power when we need it most. We have plenty of solar but it won't do the job in winter or in bad weather. I have had generators and find them too noisy. I have been in a van with a Gasperini running and considered it too noisy for me.

There have often been posts on here speculating that an old Efoy retains some value and can be refurbished. I contacted SFC and they said send it along and we will assess it and give let you know what can be done. It arrived with them yesterday at lunch time and this morning they emailed their report. it needs a new stack which they will supply and fit for €1,674.00, that includes €150 for two years warranty. I am happy with that and it's a lot less expensive than buying a new unit.

I do find it a little odd that they want me to pay for a warranty on what is after all a new stack, but I am content with the price.

So as good as new for around £1400 as opposed to £2,500 to £3,500 for a new one depending on model.

I thought this might be of interest as others may soon find theirs are reaching the end of their useful life, Alan.


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## Christine600 (Jan 20, 2011)

This is good news, Erneboy. Make our Efoys a much better investment.


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## ceejayt (Nov 25, 2005)

Interesting.

Please can I ask what5 years and 3000 hours equates to in terms of time away in the van? Is it on all the time or is the 3000 hours just counting operational time? Potentially it means the unit excluding fuel costs £1 an hour to run plus the fuel or if you take refurbishment into account then say £4600 over 6000 hours about 78p an hour.

I like the idea of an efoy but still feel they are expensive?


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## carol (May 9, 2005)

Thank you that is useful info. 


Carol


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## Christine600 (Jan 20, 2011)

ceejayt said:


> Is it on all the time or is the 3000 hours just counting operational time?


Operation time. Mine is two years old and have run 5-600 hours. It can be on all the time in auto mode but I prefer manual mode. Then I start it up half an hour before doing some power needy task like watching TV or charging my computer. And let it run for a while after. I use manual mode since it's not much point in letting the Efoy charge my batteries when I know that soon I'll be driving for hours or using EHU.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

ceejayt said:


> Interesting.
> 
> Please can I ask what5 years and 3000 hours equates to in terms of time away in the van? Is it on all the time or is the 3000 hours just counting operational time? Potentially it means the unit excluding fuel costs £1 an hour to run plus the fuel or if you take refurbishment into account then say £4600 over 6000 hours about 78p an hour.
> 
> I like the idea of an efoy but still feel they are expensive?


The 3,000 hours relates to the hours it's been running. You could leave it on all the time on the automatic setting but that would be very unwise. 3000 hours is only 125 days, so in order to preserve your Efoy it should always be used as a last resort.

I always use mine manually and don't turn it on till my batteries are around 20% down. I turn it off again when they are around 90%. The reason for that is that the batteries will take all the charge the Efoy can give and I don't want to waste Efoy hours near the top of the charge as the output tapers off. I may be wrong about that.

There is no doubt that it's a very expensive way to charge batteries but it is fantastically convenient and unobtrusive.

I have read posts on here dismissing Efoys because some people assume that it's necessary to carry endless amounts of fuel. This is not the case, I carry just a couple of 5 lt fuel cartridges. The network of suppliers is quite good now and more fuel can be bought easily. I am not exactly sure how long 2 x 5lt lasts us but I guess around a month in Winter with careful use.

For the majority of the year I don't turn the Efoy on, but it comes into it's own in winter when we don't have EHU and don't intend driving for a few days. Used in that way we got five years out of our Efoy and we are full time, although we do spend the Winter in Spain.

Hope that helps, Alan.


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## ceejayt (Nov 25, 2005)

Interesting topic, thanks. Size, noise and convenience EFOY seems to be a good solution, but not cheap. The Truma Vega system is even more expensive and not yet proven although does have the advantage of fuel source. Not sure what lifetime it has.
We have an inverter and onboard generator. We go off EHU as much as possible - even if we are staying somewhere that has it but wants to charge for it - our battery bank seems absolutely fine. We have only once ever used the generator to charge the batteries. Generally it goes on for 10 minutes when we want to use the microwave and/or make a real cup of coffee with our coffee machine. The genny runs off gas which makes it easy.

So, in summary, just rambling on a bit and coming to no conclusion about anything and I guess it isn't that i,portant either way LOL  Merry Christmas!


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