We are away this weekend for our 1st time in our 2008 Bailey Provence staying at at Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos. When we arrived yesterday is was cold so we switched on the Truma heater on electric on the 2000w setting and it heated the van fine. Overnight we left it on the 1000w setting as we new it would be cold (and we have a 15 month old) with the fan setting on auto. Sometime during the night the heater appeared to stop working and the fan was blowing out cold air (dropped to 11oC in the van!). I have tried it again this morning and again it got hot for a short while then appears to go cool again. On the the last try 10 mins ago I can't get any heat to come out at all. I have tried the thermostat on all the settings between 1-9 and it doesn't seem to make any difference and have tried it with the fan on & off. There is a 5a fuse in the consumber unit marked "fire" which appears ok and I assume the fuse under the main 240v heater switch (on the wall next to thermostat) is also ok as when the switch is turned on the green light on the thermostat comes on. All the trips also appear on. The fire runs fine on gas just seems an electric issue. I don't think our dealer is open today to ask for advice so was hoping someone on here might be able to suggest something? The van is under warranty so we can get them to check it next week but it will just mean we have to run on gas for the next 5 days!
If I have missed something feel free to give some advice!
If you need manuals send me a email ( email link below ) , i have a electrical one that has basic fault finding , it recommends disconnecting the room sensor and rechecking .
I will drop you an email in a bit when we get back to the van.
After leaving it 30 mins and turning it all off it now appears to be working again......any ideas? My thought was maybe the thermostat is playing up and now its cooled its working again? Hopefully its a one off else its back to the dealers next week.
I will need to keep an eye on it tonight as don't fancy another night of a crying toddler at 2am because they got cold! Thankfully I just remembered we have a small fan heater with us for emergency / awning use so will set this up tonight it case its needed!
I take it the best thing overnight is to leave it on 500 or 1000w with the fan set on a low (2-3) setting?
I tend to leave mine on 500w all night , but don't normally use the blower . My space heater used to blow cold and i fixed it by adding a remote temp sensor . See Gary's advice Click_here
Put the baby in bed with you! Buy some hot water bottles - hoping most of the shops will be open as it's a tourist location....there's a hardware shop on the main street.
Quote: Originally posted by Jax365 on 06/4/2012
Put the baby in bed with you! Buy some hot water bottles - hoping most of the shops will be open as it's a tourist location....there's a hardware shop on the main street.
Hi,
Yes thankfully all the shops are open today I am sure its something to do with the internal thermostat's as it wouldn't work 2 hours ago but now I have left it turned off for a while it has heated up when set to the 2000w setting and 7 on the room stat! I am going to leave it on now with the fan running and see how long it lasts. Spoken to the dealer (oxford caravans) and their workshops aren't open now till Tuesday so think we will have to drop by there on the way back on Wednesday........as I say luckily we have a small fan heater we can use as a stop gap, or run the main heater on gas!
I am open to any other ideas if someone else has any??? Having looked at some of Gary's posts from arc systems he refers to 2 internal thermostat's so I wonder if one of these is causing the problem?
Why not leave it on the 2000w setting if that seems to work? the room thermostat will switch it on and off to keep the temperature constant. It just means it will draw more power for shorter periods, but the same amount of power overall and won't cause the caravan to be any warmer.
Thanks Dave, It seems like it will only work (sometimes) if left on 2000w and the thermostat left at 9. Its not because the van is too warm as we have a baby monitor that was showing it around 15 degree before so I guess there is something not quite right with it. In the absence of any other ideas I think we will be calling into the dealers on the way home Wednesday and hope its a quick fix as we are off the following week to the New Forest! Other than this all is well with the new van.......in fact the fridge works a bit too well.....I turned it up fairly high when we set up yesterday only to find the salad was frozen this morning!
Quote: Originally posted by wizard9956 on 06/4/2012
You should have fridge vent covers fitted to the outside vents when the temperature drops below 10 degrees C , as they stop over cooling .
atb
Wizard
Good point, I had forgotton about those as we have never been away when we have had frost before! It seems to have warmed up outside a bit today so not sure if I now need to fit them or not!
Quote: Originally posted by wizard9956 on 06/4/2012
I tend to leave mine on 500w all night , but don't normally use the blower . My space heater used to blow cold and i fixed it by adding a remote temp sensor . See Gary's advice Click_here
atb
Wizard
I left mine on 500 all last night without the fan too and it was fine. Might be worth trying that tonight - at least if you have to use the fan heater the caravan will not have to heat up from stone cold!
First, the fire is 2kw so cannot run on full heat on a 5A fuse?! it should be 10amp.
One of the common problems with this heating is the two 'limit' thermostats, they monitor the gas flue temperature operate at 125C and 175C to stop things getting to hot if gas and electric is used together.
The problem is they become mechanically faulty and develop minds of their own, this sounds like a possible cause of your problem, as is, a fault with the mains isolation 'fused switch spur'.
We are having the same problems with the heater in our Lunar. Its going in for service this week and we've asked our dealer to have a look at the heater. I'm hoping it will be cured but we'll have to see what they find. Its very frustrating as sometimes it works as it should but sometimes it doesn't work as it should.
A wee tip for the wee one. I'm sure you know about layers of clothing. and a wee hat for keeping them warm. But what sleeping arrangement? If in a travel cot that sits on the floor put newspaper and a rug (travel one is fine) under the cot to insulate from the floor. If using a sleeping bag, use a belt to tie off the unused lower portion and this will keep the little one cosier (also use a liner or small sheet inside the bag for an extra layer).
Quote: Originally posted by arc systems on 07/4/2012
First, the fire is 2kw so cannot run on full heat on a 5A fuse?! it should be 10amp.
One of the common problems with this heating is the two 'limit' thermostats, they monitor the gas flue temperature operate at 125C and 175C to stop things getting to hot if gas and electric is used together. The problem is they become mechanically faulty and develop minds of their own, this sounds like a possible cause of your problem, as is, a fault with the mains isolation 'fused switch spur'.
Thanks for the above and glad you saw the posting. The 5A fuse is the one in the main consumer unit and I think is just for the fan side.....have looked at the 10A fuse in the spur outlet and seems fine, especially as the green light on the room thermostat next to it comes on (I take it if the fuse went you wouldn't get the green light?). I think the 2 internal thermostats seem suspect as sometimes it will come on, then turns off for no reason, but most of the time it won't even turn on! We brought a carbon monoxoide alarm yesterday for peace of mind and are now just running it on gas when needed. Is it ok to leave the gas on a low setting (say 2 or 3) overnight and should we use the fan or is it ok without this?
There are so many if's, the isolation switch can let enough 240v through to power the green led as that's running on 5v via a 10v transformer on the control board, so it can still be at fault. But not if the switch is a Truma one, it's other makes, ie, clipsol, that seem to be the problem?
The stats are impossible to test as they always check out perfectly! changing them regardless though, has cured no end of problems.
BTW, Lack of wheel balance is the likely reason for these to play up as the do!
But, the biggest long standing problem is the room stat misreading the vans temperature and switching off long before it should, then taking an age to switch back on again which now sounds more likely to be your problem?
This stat is in the control switch, so, where is yours situated? and what direct sources of heat can influence it, either from the front or from the back of the switch?
For instance, if the back of the switch is in the wardrobe above the heater? hen open the doors and move clothing away from it, now see if the heater behaves better?
Same goes if it's behind the tele? move the tele away!
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Topic: Urgent advice need on heater problem!
. I have tried the thermostat on all the settings between 1-9 and it doesn't seem to make any difference and have tried it with the fan on & off. There is a 5a fuse in the consumber unit marked "fire" which appears ok and I assume the fuse under the main 240v heater switch (on the wall next to thermostat) is also ok as when the switch is turned on the green light on the thermostat comes on. All the trips also appear on. The fire runs fine on gas just seems an electric issue. I don't think our dealer is open today to ask for advice so was hoping someone on here might be able to suggest something? The van is under warranty so we can get them to check it next week but it will just mean we have to run on gas for the next 5 days!
I am sure its something to do with the internal thermostat's as it wouldn't work 2 hours ago but now I have left it turned off for a while it has heated up when set to the 2000w setting and 7 on the room stat! I am going to leave it on now with the fan running and see how long it lasts. Spoken to the dealer (oxford caravans) and their workshops aren't open now till Tuesday so think we will have to drop by there on the way back on Wednesday........as I say luckily we have a small fan heater we can use as a stop gap, or run the main heater on gas!
!
