I think I have blown the boiler !!! Help (1 Viewer)

[Laura F]

hi all,

We bought are fist van 2 days ago, we got it with a boiler problem we had it air and no hot water.

It's a 1996 Hymer B544 on a fiat, it's a really clean fan.

Well I am a right rolls your sleavs up and get in there type girl and put some men to shame. So I set about fixing the boiler.

1. I bleed the lot down and dumped the water.

2. Filled the system back up (with hot taps open)

3. The top half of the auto dump literally pop off and spayed water all over the boiler.

4. Left for a cuple hours to dry.

5. Intermittent sold and flashing lights

6. No power to control

7. Changed 2 blown glass fuse's on the circuit board.

8. Checked 5amp fuse in the passages side door panel.

9. Still no power

Have I fried it to death ????

Help Laura X

 

[DavidG58]

Hello again

Some photos are always useful, especially of your exploding dump valve

Model details as much as you can and a photo of controller maybe

But to be brutal it always looked like you might need some money spending on mending or buying a new heater unit from your descriptions yesterday

But there is still some hope it is something more simple

 

[Laura F]

It's a Truma C3400, dose any one know where there could be any more fuse's other than the 3 on the main board ?

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[Laura F]

?

 

[Laura F]

?

 

[Laura F]

?

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[chaser]

Can you get a direct feed to the boiler to see if it is working, before getting panels to bits and stuff that you might not have to do

 

[Laura F]

?

 

[Laura F]

?

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[Terry]

Chances are low 12v feed wire it direct --As @chaser SAYS WHILE TYPING

 

[Laura F]

Ok may have time to do that later X

 

[Laura F]

As you know I new to all this, by direct feed do you mean crate a direct temporary feed between the boiler and the battery or hook the van up to the house ? sorry I am a bit slow X

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[seanoo]

find a working 12v source near to the boiler and run a feed from there to your boiler to see if it works.

 

[chaser]

As you know I new to all this, by direct feed do you mean crate a direct temporary feed between the boiler and the battery or hook the van up to the house ? sorry I am a bit slow X

I wouldn't get involved with mains electric till you have found a bit more about it, in fact you don't need mains , if it is working on 12 volt that's good enough, we have the same boiler as that and have never used it on mains except to see if it worked.

 

[Terry]

Hi take a temp feed from battery to boiler then try it thus eliminate any shorts etc to boiler
Terry

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[autorouter]

First, see if the water flows. If it's a completely unknown fault then it could be frost damage. The top popping off the dump valve is the kind of thing caused by frost.

If you can't get water to fill up the boiler and flow out of the hot and cold taps, then hunting for faults on the control board won't help.

The auto dump valve is designed to prevent frost damage by dumping all the water if the temperature goes below about 8 degrees C.

Some people, me included, will jam the auto dump valve closed if it's set to go below 8 but is unlikely to actually freeze. Then it could have been forgotten and the whole thing froze.

I've not seen that exact dump valve before, so I don't know how you could fix it in the closed position. If all else fails you could undo the hose clips, remove the dump valve and put in a hose connector - as a very temporary measure in the fault-finding process.

 

[Wagoneer]

I wouldn't get involved with mains electric till you have found a bit more about it, in fact you don't need mains , if it is working on 12 volt that's good enough, we have the same boiler as that and have never used it on mains except to see if it worked.

The basic boiler unit works on 12volt - forget about 240volt.

There was, however, an optional extra for this boiler where you could fit a jacket around the boiler - this jacket had a heating element and was powered from 240volt. Perhaps this is what Chaser has on his boiler. The jacket was purely for heating water when on 240volt hook-up and not for space heating.

 

[Wagoneer]

Do you have an instruction manual for your boiler ? There is a fault finding section at the end. If you don't have, you should be able to download these from the Truma website.

If you have a flashing red light the most likely faults are:
1) no gas getting to boiler
2) faulty auto ignition
3) faulty burner unit
4) faulty gas cut-off valve
5) faulty PCB (printed circuit board)
6) blown fuse or fuses on PCB

As far as I know, the electrics to the dump valve are not monitored at the PCB - so will not be the cause of a flashing red light.

I assume you have the gas turned on and the internal gas isolation valves also turned on (usually located under the kitchen area).

Does the space heating work - you haven't mentioned this ?

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[chaser]

Do you have an instruction manual for your boiler ? There is a fault finding section at the end. If you don't have, you should be able to download these from the Truma website.

If you have a flashing red light the most likely faults are:
1) no gas getting to boiler
2) faulty auto ignition
3) faulty burner unit
4) faulty gas cut-off valve
5) faulty PCB (printed circuit board)
6) blown fuse or fuses on PCB

As far as I know, the electrics to the dump valve are not monitored at the PCB - so will not be the cause of a flashing red light.

I assume you have the gas turned on and the internal gas isolation valves also turned on (usually located under the kitchen area).

Does the space heating work - you haven't mentioned this ?

This is what I can't understand, there's been no mention of gas up to yet, the electric is only to get the gas lit, and 240v is a different element altogether, does the op think the 12 volt is heating the water?

 

[Wagoneer]

I've not seen that exact dump valve before, so I don't know how you could fix it in the closed position. If all else fails you could undo the hose clips, remove the dump valve and put in a hose connector - as a very temporary measure in the fault-finding process.

Agree with @autorouter - purchase a male and female garden hose type connector and bypass the dump valve (temporarily).

OR, purchase a manual dump valve (as already mentioned by the OP) providing the OP remembers to open the dump valve to drain the boiler when temperatures drop to freezing. If camping in sub-zero temperatures with the boiler on heating mode, then nothing to worry about.

I too, haven't seen the particular dump valve shown in the pics. The version on my 2002 van (with the same boiler) had a vertical red plunger with mushroom shaped top. Pull it up to close the dump valve. AND (if necessary), insert a clothes peg to stop it opening at temps less than 8C, happy times, haha!!!

On my Hymer there were a couple of stopcocks in the floor of the kitchen cabinet to drain down the kitchen and bathroom taps. These obviously need to be in the closed position during the summer months.

 

[Boringfrog]

I'm pretty sure this boiler can run without water too, just heating, so forget about the water side, make sure you have gas turned on and put the heating on high.

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[Wagoneer]

If the OP continues to have problems, she could always contact Truma service agents (shown on the Truma website).

The nearest one to Manchester (depending on exact home location) is Stockport Caravan Services (Mobile Service). Tel 07855406936.

Might be worth the extra expense if you want to get it fixed quickly. At least they should be able to advise if the PCB is good or bad, the correct functioning of the gas supply and the integrity of the boiler in general.

 

[Laura F]

Hi all, gas is on, the problem is now the is no lights at all to the control board, no red or green lights.

So it's defo an electric thing, I am going to pop it over to my cousin who is an electrocution so he can check the wires out ect faster than me.

I feel the problem is with the main board it's self .

I will feed back once I have done this X

 

[two]

I may have a spare board. If you decide you need one, I'll check to see if it's the right one.

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[Laura F]

Ok update, drove the van over to my cousin last night only for him to be stuck in work.

I have contacted Stockport caravan services and he said he no longer deals with this type of boiler. He proved a couple of telephone numbers and I have messaged them, asking for prices for diagnose he has quoted £45 for the fist hour and £35 for every hour after.

I will try and find the time to do a direct link, but I am just so busy. I wish I had a week off to play with it lol

 

[monzer]

Hi, I can't help with you problem i'm just following it cos your face looks nice in your avatar.

 

[Tom A]

Is your 12v battery fully charged?

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[Laura F]

Ok update, all electrics are fine, I have fried the pcb, I have found a chap on eBay that fixes them so it's all boxed up and ready to be posted in the morning

 

[Rob and Val]

How did you find out that the printed circuit board was faulty and what did you do to cause it to 'fry'? Always interested in how folks repair their MoHos.

 

[Laura F]

Hi, we used the multi meater to check all wiring, that was all fine. We then used it again on the resistors on the pcb, that had the most water marks on them. The meater showed the resisters where significantly damaged.

The water damage was caused by a faulty auto dump that sprained water all over the board.

Found a chap on eBay that checks and repairs the boards. So hopefully he will be able to repair it!!

Also ordered a manual dump for the boiler so we can remove the damaged part!

Cross your fingers for me that we can get it back up and running !!!

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