Expensive, this motorhoming lark .....

Diggerdi

Diggerdi

Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Posts
444
Likes collected
522
Location
Audenshaw
Funster No
40,831
MH
Pilote Pacific P650GJ
Exp
Over 6000 miles between 3 March to 26 September 2017.
What's the most expensive fuse you've had to replace in your motorhome? Bet you can't beat mine today. At the beginning of December we had a weekend away in Lincoln for the Christmas market. It was cold and we had the heating on electric constantly from Thursday to Saturday (well, we'd paid for it!). We suddenly realised it was cold, very cold. The heating had gone off. On looking at the Truma heating control panel there was a fault code on it - H 45 W. Seems this was one of three things, had overheated and needed the reset button pressing, 230v fuse or 12v fuse, all of which were on the boiler circuit board. Had a look at the boiler and the "flap" which had to be removed to access any of these was hard up against the side of the motorhome. On getting home I discovered we had a Truma registered repairer just 2 miles away from home - great. Anyway, took it in today, he had told us it should be about an hour, two at the most. Left it with him at 9.15. At 11.00 he rang to say he was having serious problems and was having to disassemble the furniture! On top of this there were 3 screws he couldn't access. He would have normally removed the whole seat base assembly but the fuse box, wiring and consumer unit are attached to it. Long story a bit shorter, it took him over 4 hours, it WAS the 230v fuse and it cost us £105. On getting back to the storage and starting to put the seat base and cushions back on we discovered that he had left the seat belt fastener behind the wooden panel he had taken off and although we can it, we can't get it from behind there to where it should come up. It has to go back so he can take it all apart again just to free the seat belt fastener. Left home at 7.45 am, got back at 4.15pm.

Can anyone beat this price for a fuse?
 
When our Truma blew its 240v fuse I changed it myself.

Needed to dismantle and reassemble the rear RH side of the motorhome to get at it. Beds and cupboards and actually bodily remove the heater.

Fuse was about 90p and it took 8 hours.

It's blown a few times since and I can now get it replaced in around 90 mins.

Practice makes perfect as they say :D(y)
 
Not yet, and I don't want to! It seems that things are designed by people who never use them or need to repair them. I remember a posting by Dave Newell some time ago about having to dismantle the interior of a van in for repair to, I think, a boiler.
 
pappajohn said:
No, but while it hurts £26 pr hr sounds very reasonable.
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It was £35/hour, he only charged us for 3 hours :D

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@MikeD , I don't have the skills to start dismantling it and it does say in the manual that it should only be changed by a qualified person :cautious:. It's Pilote's fault, they could have fitted the boiler about 3 inches in which would have made all the difference.
 
ambulancekidd said:
Ouch, that's a seriously expensive fuse.
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It certainly is and, apparently, on newer Truma Combi's they are blowing regularly. The bloke we took it to is actually down at Truma next week and he is going to bring it up with them as to why it's happening. He said ours was the worst he's ever had to work on.
 
Just a thought.
Would it of been worth doing a modification so you could easily get at the fuse in the future :)

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Diggerdi said:
It's Pilote's fault, they could have fitted the boiler about 3 inches in which would have made all the difference.
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That is reasonable for you to say this but the designer would either not know the fuse exists or would take the view it should never fail except under a major fault condition which would require a lot of work anyway.
 
Silver-Fox said:
Just a thought.
Would it of been worth doing a modification so you could easily get at the fuse in the future :)
Click to expand...
Hubby did suggest cutting a hole in the side of the van and putting a locker door on it :unsure:.

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I would solder a thick wire across the fuse holder and wire the boiler into an easily accessible fused spur. Or if its a small control circuit fuse I'd fit an in-line fuse holder somewhere accessible (y)
 
Diggerdi said:
It certainly is and, apparently, on newer Truma Combi's they are blowing regularly. The bloke we took it to is actually down at Truma next week and he is going to bring it up with them as to why it's happening. He said ours was the worst he's ever had to work on.
Click to expand...

Mines blown a few times now and it is a real pain.

We are out of warranty this year and I will be having a remote mounting for the blinking thing. :)
 
Mickey1 said:
@Diggerdi, How many miles have you clocked up now, I remember we bought at the same time.
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13,500, UK only and it was off the road for 3 months due to the recall last year. Getting withdrawal symptoms, not been away since beginning of November. Need to get away soon. We're going to the Motorhome Show at Event City next week and we're going in the motorhome, just because we can lol.
 
There's nothing nice about a Truma playing-up in a modern van.

Our Truma valve stopped working after only 40-hours of use and as it transpired they had to take the whole unit out to replace the part.

The job was done under warranty but it still took 13-hours of my time and £65 in fuel.
 
Just had to replace my Truma 6e , I was quoted over £1800 to repair old one.
 
Diggerdi said:
13,500, UK only and it was off the road for 3 months due to the recall last year. Getting withdrawal symptoms, not been away since beginning of November. Need to get away soon. We're going to the Motorhome Show at Event City next week and we're going in the motorhome, just because we can lol.
Click to expand...
500 behind you at the moment, In Thailand for a couple of months at the moment, back to Spain in the motorhome in March for the fourth time. Happy travels @Diggerdi

Mickey

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If a fuse blows, I'd like to know why. Whatever was causing it may do so again.
If you are using 'leccy most of the time, you may have burned-out one of the elements.
 

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