I feel sure that I saw someone ask the same querstion on here within the last couple of months, it basically said that it wasn't too difficult tho. I will try a 'Search' for you, welcome to the forum BTW.
Just resurrecting this old post to relate what happened to me when I replaced our heater element on Saturday.
The electric element stopped working last year for some reason. It was only about 1 year old at the time - had been replaced by Catterick Caravans to replace one that had blown.
Don't know why it had stopped working. Power supply to it was good, nothing was tripping and a test with a multimeter showed the element wasn't shorted out. I suspect there was something wrong the thermostat but I'll come to that.
Firstly a tip - don't rely on the drain valve on a Bailey Pegasus water system to drain the tank sufficiently. Use the pump to pump out the hot water tank otherwise you'll get a lot of water out of the hole when you withdraw the element!
Removal should have been easy but I discovered that the thermostat was only being held on by one nut and as such, it wasn't being held firmly against the side of the tank. Also, the solitary nut that was holding it on looked as though it had been tightened when it was very hot as it had melted the plastic lug on which it sits. In fact, it had melted into the lug and I had the devils own job trying to get a socket on it.
After a 30 minute struggle, got the thermostat off and removed the nuts securing the element. Pulled the element out a bit then spent the next 10 mins mopping up all the water that followed it .
Next I found that the element would not pass through the hole - had to resort to brute force in the end to get it out. Compared to the new one, it was quite badly bent and distorted. Is that normal? Is that what happens to them after they have been used a bit?
Anyway, swapped over the electrical connection, fitted the new seal then inserted new element into the tank. It went in dead easy and was soon secured in place by the new nuts supplied.
However, you don't get new nuts for the thermostat which is crazy as they are the ones you are most likely to lose with them being so small. I dug the old nut out of the old thermostat and used that to secure the new one but it's not really secure and needs the other nut in place so have bought some from B&Q that look the right size for the stud. Will fit it next Saturday and hope all will be well.
So, if the thermostat is not being pressed against the tank enough, it won't be sensing the temperature correctly. Could this cause it to fail and prevent the heating element working?
I suspect that you are correct, the element has overheated because the temperature control was poor, hence the distorted shape of the element. You mentioned it was about a year old, I hope it was covered by warranty as it sounds to me like poor assembly from new. Well done
Dave
------------- Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you on experience.
Mark Twain.
This particular element was about a year old but the one it replaced was the one that had been in from new. The Heater itself is over 4 years old now so not under warranty anymore
I've just posted an account of my experience with Truma Ultrastore water heater on another thread (Caravans and Motorhomes maybe). Paid £65 through eBay for new 450 watt element, cheapest I could find on the net. Easy to fit, just two nuts on the flange studs. The overheat protection on these is built in, no pop-out red button as on my previous van. General view is that the element will be fried if it operates more than five or six times. Trouble is my water heater and room heater mains switches are hidden at the back of the wardrobe and they don't even have red neon lights. So easy to plug in on mains when the water heater is empty.
2004 Abbey 418 GTS Vogue.
What about my Dometic fridge which doesn't have any warning lights or even a window to check the flame when on gas. Phoned them to ask why and the nice lady said that the design was probably to avoid keeping people awake at night. I said it was more likely to save them threepence.
I have burned out one element by draining water with power connected and when I thought I had done it again (fortunately the cutout worked and reset on this second occasion) I thought I should do something about it.
What I have done is to add a latching relay to the element power supply.
I used a small 12v latching relay circuit board that I purchased off eBay. This drives a double pole mains relay in the element power lead.
The latching relay is set using an illuminated momentary press switch which I have fitted next to the Truma gas control. This switches on and illuminates when pressed once and switches off when pressed a second time.
When connected to mains power, the heater element is not powered unless the button is pressed to latch the relay. If the 12v power is switched off in the motorhome, the relay resets to the off position automatically and needs another button press to switch it on.
I have also added a neon indicator to the element side of the relay so I can see when power is actually applied.
If anyone wants more detailed construction details I can post them here. It wasn't a difficult project. Most of the work was in sourcing appropriate components (mainly from Maplin). Access was a bit awkward. Everything is safely protected in two plastic boxes (one for the low voltage latching board and the other for the mains relay)
Drpeej I know it's nearly three years since you posted this reply, but if you're still around then I'd be really interested in doing something like this.
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Topic: Truma Water Heater Element Replacement
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