Lightning Blew Me Truma....... (1 Viewer)

[Allanm]

So, last night in bed we were woken by a lightning storm. The van was parked on the drive using an EHU from the house, we were in the van, house is being refurbished.
At about 4am, huge lightning flash, iPad ( on charge from mains) screen came on and the Truma control panel started beeping.
Ah, power cut, says I, never mind, everything will switch over to gas and 12v, which it did.
Got up at about 7 am, no power at the Sargent panel. Went into the house and the main surge protector and lightning thingy had tripped. I reset them, went back into the van, nothing on, so checked the Sargent psu panel, that had tripped too. Reset it. Perfect. Until I put the Truma unit on and it tripped everything again.
Anyway, it appears that when the Water heater (Truma Combi 4E) is running on mains, it trips everything. It works fine on gas.
I guess the lightning did something that ended up blowing the heater element in the Truma.
I need to get it fixed when we get home.
So, questions.
Is it likely the element has blown?
Can it be changed by me or is it a dealer fix?
If it can be changed by me. How do I do it?

This is turning out to be an expensive few weeks.
First, the waste from the sink uncoupled itself pouring about 6 litres of dirty washing up water all over the floor, staining all the carpets.( luckily I have a new set at home.

Then, the water pump packs up, I order a new one from Autosleeper to be delivered to France and the pump starts working again as soon as it arrives.

Shortly afterwards, the 4metre Omnistor awning decides to make a break for freedom after a freak gust of wind on an otherwise still day ( it's well broken)

Now this.

And we still have 6 weeks to go......

 

[Baldeagle7470]

Thats pretty bad luck you have been having,Hope the next six weeks are calmer for you!!
Hope the boiler can be repaired but never had one apart,yet!!

 

[sdc77]

It can be changed by you if you're sure of the cause. Its a little fiddly but doable
Truma are pretty good though and if you can get it to them.. Either in the van or removed they will examine it and fix it for you and warranty their repairs. They are up near Burton on Trent though.

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[Allanm]

I emailed Truma this morning asking if they can repair it or can let me know of any Truma service agents in Kent. Not had a reply or acknowledgement off them though.

 

[Allanm]

Well, I just checked my emails again and I have had a reply from Truma. They said my dealer will carry out the repair and they will pick up the cost of parts if I pay the labour costs.
Sort of a result, at least I won't have to mess about with it and it will be repaired properly.
Just a shame things don't last very long nowadays!

 

[Gromett]

Word of advice, bit late for you this time.

Long cables act like antennas do for radio signals. A nearby lightening strike will induce a voltage into any cable. The longer the cable the higher the induced voltage.

If you have a nearby lightening storm it is always worth unplugging the EHU cable at both ends.

The induced voltage can be high enough to damage the power supply/charger and if it is a poorly protected one this high voltage can leak to the 12v side and do damage to any sensitive electronics that is connected.

Back when I was doing electronics I had a TV/Video repair round. After a lightening storm I quote often saw devices damaged by lightening induced voltage surges jumping from the 240V side of a transformers pins to other nearby solder points on the PCB. The worst ones though was certain tuners which had no isolation or protection at all. Antenna ports could be charred and you could see the tracks on the PCB literally burnt away.

I always make a point of unplugging stuff from sockets these days and unplugging any extension lead more than a meter or two long.

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[Allanm]

I totally agree, however, at 4 in the morning, I didn't have a high enough level of conciousness to consider that!