Can I leave the Truma Heating on? (1 Viewer)

OldAgeTravellers

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We have a Hymer B614Star with arctic pack and Trauma heater with 4amp & 8 amp electric settings. We are leaving it at our sons house on the South coast for two weeks while we go on a Norwegian cruise.
Should I leave the heating on set to a low level say 10 deg? A friend in Spain always leaves his on, on gas but a much older van and I get the impression that the fan on ours runs all the time. Having had the fan sieze and blow the main board on our last Moho costing 900 euros I am a bit wary.
I don't want to drain it all down really and do not have our small oil filled radiator with us which we usually use at home. Any thoughts or experiences. I presume it makes little difference using the 8 or 4 amp settings cost wise.
Thanks for any input.
Steve
 
Sep 10, 2013
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Assuming you have EHU at your sons place, why not go to B&Q (other stores are available)and buy another small oil filled thermostatic heater. I would not run the Truma fan assisted heating without being on board.I always turn it off when not in the MH. Fans, electric motors, heaters and dust, not a good combination, left unattended.

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two

Aug 4, 2011
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Leave the Truma on, on the lowest setting. It will keep chill off the whole van much better than an independent heater. Just leave it at the lowest temperature (5°) with highest power. No need for gas.
High power will use slightly more electricity as I suspect it will be going full pelt in the middle of the night. Might cost you a beer.
 

Doctor Dave

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Leave the van key with your son and ask him to turn the heat on when a frost is likely.

Dave
 
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I left mine on last winter during the cold icy nights. My only real concern was that the manual somewhere says they are rated to work for 2000-3000 hours or something ?

24/7 burns through hours quickly

On the flip side in my garage I have a small £10-15 electric fan heater plugged in perminetly to keep the garage warm to protect tools etc from damp and it’s been on since the 8th of November last year without a pause and it still sounds whisper quite and runs perfect 8,856 hours and still going strong.

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Apr 10, 2010
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I was told by Truma technical staff that the fan has a limited life in terms of running hours and it's not designed for full-time use.
 
Jan 11, 2010
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Well that`s our 13th year & still loving it.
Why would you want to leave any heating in the van, any warm air coming in contact with a cooler surface equals condensation.

Good ventilation is so much more important, leave the fridge door open (if not being used of course) and the cupboard doors, the more circulation the less chance of problems.

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OP
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OldAgeTravellers

OldAgeTravellers

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Wow, what a lot of conflicting information. It is not the van I am worried about but the water freezing. I think it will be best to drain down the morning we leave, unfortunately we leave at 6am and arrive back at 1am and we are sleeping in the van. So a bit earlier start than expected.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Steve
 

Jim

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With the cold weather ahead there will be tens of thousands of vans on forecourts all over Europe and they won't be heated, and drained of water, they won't come to any harm. If the van is dry, the cold won't bother it, if the air is very damp then I've had very cold weather badly damage wood. Thats cabinet fronts and wooden fridge door. But that was a very cold damp dreary winter in Wales and the van not moving for a few months. After that experience I would leave all the cupboards open and use a tube heater to keep the temperature above freezing.

Amazon product ASIN B01MSEHASI

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bigtwin

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I don't want to drain it all down really and do not have our small oil filled radiator with us which we usually use at home. Any thoughts or experiences.
Steve

I drain down after every trip, summer or winter. It’s no big deal.

Leave the Truma on, on the lowest setting. It will keep chill off the whole van much better than an independent heater. Just leave it at the lowest temperature (5°) with highest power. No need for gas.
High power will use slightly more electricity as I suspect it will be going full pelt in the middle of the night. Might cost you a beer.


I left mine on last winter during the cold icy nights. My only real concern was that the manual somewhere says they are rated to work for 2000-3000 hours or something ?.

I was told by Truma technical staff that the fan has a limited life in terms of running hours and it's not designed for full-time use.

If you set the thermostat to a low temperature and set heat input to max, the fan will only be running for short periods. If you set the thermostat to a higher temperature, and/or set a low heat input, the fan will be running for longer to achieve the set temperature.

I think it will be best to drain down the morning we leave, unfortunately we leave at 6am and arrive back at 1am and we are sleeping in the van. So a bit earlier start than expected.
Steve

Agreed. I note the early hour of your return but, given it’s a Truma, draining down will not affect your heating will it?

It’s no trauma! :whistle:

Ian
 

two

Aug 4, 2011
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Leave the van key with your son and ask him to turn the heat on when a frost is likely.

Dave
Don't trust it to your son. I'm not saying he's unreliable but why burden him with the consequences? Let the thermostat make the decisions for you. It will be monitoring 24x7.
 

two

Aug 4, 2011
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I was told by Truma technical staff that the fan has a limited life in terms of running hours and it's not designed for full-time use.
But it's only running when needed, intermittently. If you were in the van, the fan would be working even harder (assuming the temperature was set higher) and surely they weren't saying that their product is no good for full-timers?. I think you spoke to the wrong technician, or a salesperson of a competitor. Of course everything has a finite life but the Truma fan should be fine.
Just thought: maybe it was an Alde technician, talking about leaving their circulation pump on permanently. In that case the pump would fail prematurely if left like that (and not controlled by the thermostat).

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Aug 19, 2014
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We open all our cupboards open, bed lifted on struts, fridge open, cushions lifted off seats and use an 800w oil filled radiator sitting in the middle of the van. Ticks over nicely and we have never had any problems. (y)
 

two

Aug 4, 2011
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I gave my best advice to the question raised, and stand by that.
As it happens, I drain down between most outings now, even though the van is garaged, and don't leave the heating on - but that wasn't the question. Draining-down is a faff, best avoided, especially for an early morning return, so I'd still leave it on the thermostat.
I have assumed that you are talking about a modern Truma combi boiler.
Enjoy your break. Hope it's not Traumatic!

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Jim

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We open all our cupboards open, bed lifted on struts, fridge open, cushions lifted off seats and use an 800w oil filled radiator sitting in the middle of the van. Ticks over nicely and we have never had any problems. (y)

I would never leave an electric oil heater unattended in my van. Far too many stories about them causing fires. Some I recall here too. Most if not all those heaters recommend that you "Don't leave them unattended"
 
Aug 19, 2013
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If I think there's a possibility of freezing, I leave the van plugged in and Truma set to 5 degrees. For a prolonged period I would put a thermostatic electric panel heater in and on set to its lowest setting. But our van is on the drive, and it is normally used to get our heavy shopping in, say once a week at least. The van normally appears warmer inside 1st thing with the panel heater on than with the Truma, so I assume it is on longer and so using more leccy. Never noticed condensation. We are not in the situation of leaving the van off site in long term storage, so we can constantly monitor. I had never thought about the Truma fan having a limited life, I've never had a fan heater fail in the house or garage, even the cheapest are very reliable.
 

Bart

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I was told by Truma technical staff that the fan has a limited life in terms of running hours and it's not designed for full-time use.
Out of interest has anyone here had their Fan fail after x amount of time?? and also if it does fail is it a big job to replace it , surely is it not just like a PC fan ??

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Aug 19, 2014
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I would never leave an electric oil heater unattended in my van. Far too many stories about them causing fires. Some I recall here too. Most if not all those heaters recommend that you "Don't leave them unattended"
Any other type of heater and I would probably agree, however sealed oil filled low wattage radiators are safe.
 
Apr 10, 2010
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But it's only running when needed, intermittently. If you were in the van, the fan would be working even harder (assuming the temperature was set higher) and surely they weren't saying that their product is no good for full-timers?. I think you spoke to the wrong technician, or a salesperson of a competitor. Of course everything has a finite life but the Truma fan should be fine.
Just thought: maybe it was an Alde technician, talking about leaving their circulation pump on permanently. In that case the pump would fail prematurely if left like that (and not controlled by the thermostat).
Well, you have your opinion, but I was merely relaying what I had been told by a Truma technician in case it helped anyone else.

I was in conversation with the Truma technical support people about the second incidence of the Truma 6E electric heating elements failing. In discussing how I was using the boiler he told me that there was risk of the fan failing if used constantly (which would be a more serious failure), which I was doing to keep the van aired over the winter, as in the OP's question. The phrase "not designed for full-time use" were his words, not mine.

I am certain that I was talking to Truma technical support, who were extremely helpful in providing technical data to help with my problem; if they say their product is not designed for full-time use, who am I, or you, to argue?
 
Apr 10, 2010
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Out of interest has anyone here had their Fan fail after x amount of time?? and also if it does fail is it a big job to replace it , surely is it not just like a PC fan ??
I was told it is a big job, possibly terminal for the boiler, but I never got that far in the process, I'm pleased to say - I stopped using it for protection while parked up.

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two

Aug 4, 2011
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Well, you have your opinion, but I was merely relaying what I had been told by a Truma technician in case it helped anyone else.

I was in conversation with the Truma technical support people about the second incidence of the Truma 6E electric heating elements failing. In discussing how I was using the boiler he told me that there was risk of the fan failing if used constantly (which would be a more serious failure), which I was doing to keep the van aired over the winter, as in the OP's question. The phrase "not designed for full-time use" were his words, not mine.

I am certain that I was talking to Truma technical support, who were extremely helpful in providing technical data to help with my problem; if they say their product is not designed for full-time use, who am I, or you, to argue?

Yes, you are quite right! I had forgotten that you can force the fan to be on. I have my fan set to ECO and have never changed from that. There is a 'VENT' option that will set it going continuously, just to circulate the air, and that would make the fan run for ever, until it failed or you remembered to turn it off again. I'm not sure what it is provided for, other than appease those who think it might cool them down in summer. I'd have put a time limit on it, though, to save the fan.
There is also a HIGH and BOOST setting which causes the fan to run faster, creating more wear (and noise), but I'm sure that it is under thermostatic control in those circumstances, so would not run continuously.
 

Allanm

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We left the Truma 4 heater on in our van when we weren’t using it in winter. We generally had it set at 10-12 degrees. We used the van all year round and never drained the water down, so the heater was used a lot and it was fine, though, we had to have the mains elements replaced at about 2 years old, but that was due to nearby lightning while the heater was on mains and I was told the elements were not burnt out by normal use.
Don’t worry about condensation, it will only form old cold surfaces like cab windows or uninsulated panels, but if the cab windows have screen covers on them, you will get none.

Forgot to say, when the heater was on low, the fan only ever turned slowly, if at all, so I don’t think you would wear it out.
 
D

DL42846

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I would drain the tanks and the Truma system down and leave an oil filled type rad connected on EHU on the frost setting. When you return at 01:00 am you can either increase the rad temp and/or run the Tuma heating. If its like mine they do run without water in the system. It shouldn't take long to fill the water tank at 01:00 anyway, or get your son to fill it in the afternoon before you arrive and switch the Truma system on. I really don't see the point in leaving it running for two weeks with no one in it.

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OP
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OldAgeTravellers

OldAgeTravellers

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This has become an interesting discussion. As in my first post I did have a fan motor fail in my last Moho and it took the main board out when it failed so a cost of 900euro, it is a leisure product after all. The motor is a bit like a windscreen wiper motor.
Today I set the thermostat to 5deg and found that the fan did not run so probably in the two weeks it will only come on for an hour or so at a time if at all. It is only a precaution really if the temperature should suddenly go to deep freeze which is unlikely.
Electrical faults can happen any time and fires as a result are very rare. I really think all comments are good and real for those making them. Sorry for spelling Truma wrong in the first post. But the 900 euro bill for a blown motor was a Trauma at the time.
Anyway I have made my decision which may change between now and leaving, and I may return to a pile of ashes or an icicle whichever way I decide. But it is great to talk it through with you all.
@Jim, thanks for the Best forum, very polite, considered and worthwhile comments from all respondents.
Steve
The OldAgeTravellers, that is the name given to us by our sons. When they said "They're off again, The Old Age Travellers in the passion Wagon" we dropped the Passion Wagon bit as too many people were standing outside to see if the van was rocking!!!
 
Feb 24, 2013
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I am with you OP on this, if you were away in it for a month you would use it as needed, so set thermostat much lower and leave it, I really do not understand why bringing in an external heat source is needed, when you already have one on board, that is actually better as it circulates the heat / air

get away and enjoy yourself

just seen you are in France, we come there for warmth is it really that cold there already :)
 
OP
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OldAgeTravellers

OldAgeTravellers

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just seen you are in France, we come there for warmth is it really that cold there already :)
No we are in the UK so as to get to Gatwick, so b.... cold. It is wet at the moment at home but not as cold But we do drift south in December to February, because we can :)

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