Fisher Panda genset

[Omatako]

I recall reading elsewhere on this forum, criticism of the reliability of Fischer Panda gensets.

I have acquired one in good condition at an extremely good price and it works just fine. With a little work it'll be great. The problem is that I have to do extensive alterations to my engine room to fit it and I don't want to give my boat a hystorectomy to fit a piece on unreliable gear.

It looks like a well-constructed machine, it has a 2 cylinder Kubota diesel engine which from my recollection in refrigeration units on trucks (I operated dozens of these engines) has very acceptable reliability. It has a 24v alternator which may or may not be able to be rewound to 12V. It is encased in a beatifully constructed stainless sound-proof enclosure and runs almost vibration-free.

Was the earlier criticism a throw-away comment or are these units more trouble than they're worth - i.e. do they have an enduring reputation for unreliability? Any thoughts?

[erps]

I think they were discussed on the SSCA website as well. I recollect one particular fellow that had some warranty break down issues that he could not get resolved with the dealer and it left a pretty bad taste in his mouth. He vented on the internet and I think he had a pretty compelling case against them (at that time). It would be worth your time to do a search on that discussion board.

[Zanshin]

I've got the smallest Fischer-Panda and have it serviced regularly and have never had a problem, but for some reason many people have bad things to say about Fischer-Panda gensets (some of whom might actually have owned a FP).

[camaraderie]

Here's the SSCA discussion. Mixed reviews.
SSCA Discussion Board :: View topic - Fischer Panda GenSet

[erps]

Here's the SSCA discussion. Mixed reviews.

That's the one, and if you read down a ways, you see another link to that fellow I was talking about.

Fischer Panda: The Final Chapter

[svsirius]

The biggest issue with FP is that they are very sophisticated little units. I have one and am one of the folks on the SSCA site who all in all is satisfied. Had some issues but they were all addressed by the mfg promptly and without issue.

The biggest plus is that they are very small for their output and all in all very quiet.

So what you have to decide is; are the advantages they offer worth a little extra care and maintenance?

I would buy another one based on my current experience with the company - they stand behind their products which is what I most care about.

[SteveInMD]

I've got a fairly new unit on my boat. The previous owner installed one that ran fine until the warranty period expired. He then had overheating problems. When he contacted FP they shipped him a new one even though he was a few weeks past the warranty period. They told him the new unit had an improved cooling system design.

The only problem I've had was a bad starting relay, but it was very easy to replace. So, although there have been problems FP was very good to work with.

I find the operators manual to be completely incomprehensible.

[Zanshin]

I speak better German than English and found the original German to be even less comprehensible than the English translation. OTOH, it is better than the first English manuals that came with Japanese cars...

Fischer Panda does seem to have a number of vocal antagonists, more than those speaking against the other major manufacturers such as Northern Lights and Onan.

[Omatako]

. . . for the responses and links (sorry for my delayed response, been out sailing for a few days)

It would seem from the SSCA forum that the experiences are mixed and I guess that probably holds true for a lot of marine gear. Since I have no idea of the history of the unit or it's maintenance regime, I have no way of knowing how it has been in it's past. It has 430 hours on the hour meter and the unit looks in very good shape, no signs of any neglect.

I bought it for the equivalent of US$550 and that includes a brand new injector pump and two injectors, a new starter and a host of other spares. The mere existence of all the bits gives me a goodish feeling about it's service history because if it was troublesome, surely these parts would have been used??

It came out of an 84 ft "super yacht" and was simply replaced as part of a complete refit. It was seemingly their back-up unit to the main genset which was also replaced with no apparent signs of neglect. The people who I got it from didn't know too much about the history but never had anything bad to say, simply that they had been instructed to replace it amongst a whole long list of other also-still-good gear.

I have no operator's manual so the content is moot, I have no connection to the manufacturer so their service response quality is also moot (but looks to be pretty good all the same).

I reckon what I'll do is carry out whatever maintenance looks reasonable and then do some saturation testing for a while. If everything checks out OK I'll make the move of ripping the heart out of my engine room to install it. If that turns out at some point in the future to be a bad choice, at least the space will be available to install something else.

Thanks again.

[speciald]

Any of the high speed diesel gensets are fraught with problems. This includes FP and Mastervolt. I've had two F-p gensets and will never buy another. They both had problems with overheating. I spent 3K on the last one ( a 12k) and it worked for 3 months before blowing a head gasket, running away burning lub oil and self distructing. F-P have in the last two years converted the cooling system to cool the generator with captive coolant. I don't know if solves the problem but indicates that they knew there was a design problem. I now have a Northern Lights that has worked without problem. Only problem is that it is 4 times then size of the F-P.