No oomph from Truma Heater on Electric (1 Viewer)

[Hooflungdung]

Have tried to warm the van up on the drive while connected to EHU with the heater set to Electric and although there is warm air coming from the vents after a while, it is nothing like the power when operating on Gas. When operating with Gas you can hear the fan kick in and feel the warm blast from the vents very quickly.

We have not really used the heating on electric and have generally favoured gas when we have needed it but I am sure that we should be getting more oomph out of the system as it would take forever to warm up the van which is an Adria Coral.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[WillH]

The gas power is, as you have discovered, a lot more than the electric. The electric is more background heating, once the exterior temperature is down to around 5C or less we find we need the gas as well.

 

[2657]

Agree with at @WillH if you look at the power from the electric compared to the gas you will realise why, I think something like 6kw on gas and max of 1.8kw on electric.

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[Minxy]

The best way to pre-warm is either with the gas heating or use a good sized domestic fan heater - the electric heating is pretty naff except to help maintain a temperature once it has been reached.

 

[Hooflungdung]

Thanks for the responses. Reverted to the gas for pre-heating and then elec for ticking over as suggested and worked fine. Only thing I did notice was the water was piping hot but I am certain that I had selected heating only on the controller so there's something else to investigate. Doh!!!

 

[Cossieg]

The water jacket in the unit will heat up when you're on heating only.

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[Minxy]

The hot water is serendipitous ... a bonus due to it being a combi unit ... means you can enjoy the 'free' hot water!

 

[jtp890]

Dont forget silver screens!

 

[Camdoon]

I was going to start another thread but will chip into this one. About 2 weeks ago we were heating the van at home on electric hookup and the trip switches blew. We switched back on and while the water continued to heat there was no heat from the vents. We resorted to gas but last night I asked the wife to try the electric again (Trumas work in mysterious ways). The heat started coming from the electricity again but is minimal even when set to its highest setting. While the gas at full blast will have a cold van warm in half an hour the output from electric is definitely more feeble. If on hookup near freezing I would leave it on all day. Ours is a Truma 6 with the old twin dials. Is there a means of measuring the different outputs as ours definitely feels as if it is giving us less heat than it did before.

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[maz]

I was going to start another thread but will chip into this one. About 2 weeks ago we were heating the van at home on electric hookup and the trip switches blew. We switched back on and while the water continued to heat there was no heat from the vents. We resorted to gas but last night I asked the wife to try the electric again (Trumas work in mysterious ways). The heat started coming from the electricity again but is minimal even when set to its highest setting. While the gas at full blast will have a cold van warm in half an hour the output from electric is definitely more feeble. If on hookup near freezing I would leave it on all day. Ours is a Truma 6 with the old twin dials. Is there a means of measuring the different outputs as ours definitely feels as if it is giving us less heat than it did before.

Could well be that one of the electrical elements has blown. This generally causes the trip switch to operate. And would account for why the heat output is now reduced.

 

[Camdoon]

Could well be that one of the electrical elements has blown. This generally causes the trip switch to operate. And would account for why the heat output is now reduced.

Aha - so is this an easy job to fix and could be done by a simpleton? are the parts dear? or best done by a professional?

 

[maz]

Not exactly easy but doable by a competent DIYer. Check out this thread for a description of the work by my partner mr maz.

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/truma-combi-heater-help.123118/#post-1712415

I don't know whereabouts in the UK you are but if you're lucky enough to live near Peterborough I can recommend an excellent and very reasonably priced mobile engineer to do the work.

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[Camdoon]

The trip to Peterborough would not be too traumatic so you can either publish here or PM me Thanks

 

[Camdoon]

Not exactly easy but doable by a competent DIYer. Check out this thread for a description of the work by my partner mr maz.

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/truma-combi-heater-help.123118/#post-1712415

I don't know whereabouts in the UK you are but if you're lucky enough to live near Peterborough I can recommend an excellent and very reasonably priced mobile engineer to do the work.

Yes I would rather someone capable did this - not me

 

[maz]

The trip to Peterborough would not be too traumatic so you can either publish here or PM me Thanks

Mark of J&M Caravans is your man, then!

Give him a ring on 07725 216088.

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[Camdoon]

Mark of J&M Caravans is your man, then!

Give him a ring on 07725 216088.

Thanks for your reply. Good old MHF to the rescue again

 

[RandallC]

The hot water is serendipitous ... a bonus due to it being a combi unit ... means you can enjoy the 'free' hot water!

?????

 

[ambulancekidd]

Give me Alde heating everytime. The Truma systems that I've tried on electricity were abysmal, even on gas the air got nice & warm but the fabric of the van was cold with freezing spots under the beds etc. The Alde heating had the van toasty very quickly indeed & if the door was opened briefly it didn't matter, the van remained warm but with Truma the heat vanished out of the door in one fell swoop.

Of course we have two distinct camps on here, some swear by Truma & some swear at it. There are very few people on here that have tried Adle in winter that'd go back to Truma again. One thing I'd like to add IMHO is that Truma gives better hot water, it lasts longer & is hotter if you like having a shower in your van.

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[maz]

Give me Alde heating everytime. The Truma systems that I've tried on electricity were abysmal, even on gas the air got nice & warm but the fabric of the van was cold with freezing spots under the beds etc. The Alde heating had the van toasty very quickly indeed & if the door was opened briefly it didn't matter, the van remained warm but with Truma the heat vanished out of the door in one fell swoop.

Of course we have two distinct camps on here, some swear by Truma & some swear at it. There are very few people on here that have tried Adle in winter that'd go back to Truma again. One thing I'd like to add IMHO is that Truma gives better hot water, it lasts longer & is hotter if you like having a shower in your van.

I've had both and there are pros and cons with both. With Truma, a lot depends on where the boiler is located. If it's central so that the duct runs are kept a reasonable length it can do a good job. Too many are put at the rear end of a van, resulting in uneven heating - often leaving next to no heat to crawl out of the ducts at the front of the van. I've been happy enough with both heating systems and it certainly wouldn't be a deal breaker when choosing a van.

 

[sueandjohn]

The trip to Peterborough would not be too traumatic so you can either publish here or PM me Thanks

Did you mean won't be too TRUMAtic

 

[Camdoon]

Did you mean won't be too TRUMAtic

No

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[travelling wilbury]

more recent versions of the Truma Combis have more control over the fan speed, wheras on earlier ones the fan speed is proportional to the heat produce....low heat (electric) low fan speed....
with the CP plus versions, setting the fan speed to High makes far more use of the 1800w electric setting and makes it actually a usable substitute for gas or gas/elec....
apparently, CP Plus is retro fittable (to some u its) with a new control panel and a new PCB, might be worth investigating.

 

[Lenny HB]

Doubt if there is anything wrong with the Combi, on electric max output is only 1.8kw compared to 6 kw on gas.
The performance of either the Truma or the Alde comes down to how well they have been installed. Installed properly they both perform well, Truma may have a slight edge as heat up from cold is a lot quicker.
Our last van had a bit of a cold area in the bedroom I installed extra vent sorted. Current van heat distribution is perfect I fitted a CP Plus only needed to change the controller, it does control the fan much better once up to temperature you would know it was running and maintains temperature brilliantly. We were going to order the Alde on the new van but thought we could use a couple of grand more effectively also our dealer help to talk us out of it (a dealer turning down a sale) he felt with the current installation there wasn't any advantage in having the Adle.

 

[peterc10]

We had a Truma in our first van. We have Alde in our present one. Both work well but we prefer the Alde as it makes the van cosier and gives a more even heat. But neither work well in winter on electric only. As others have said the power rating for the gas is much higher than the electric

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[jezport]

more recent versions of the Truma Combis have more control over the fan speed, wheras on earlier ones the fan speed is proportional to the heat produce....low heat (electric) low fan speed....
with the CP plus versions, setting the fan speed to High makes far more use of the 1800w electric setting and makes it actually a usable substitute for gas or gas/elec....
apparently, CP Plus is retro fittable (to some u its) with a new control panel and a new PCB, might be worth investigating.

TBH, It depends what you are trying to heat. Our PVC 6.35M High top does heat OK on electric. Our last van an 8.3M Coachbuilt needed gas to get it up to temperature.

Its funny that the Tuma 6E 6KW gas heater has the same electric output as the 4E 4KW Gas. Surely if you are buying a bigger heater It would make sense to have a bigger electric output on the bigger heater.

 

[two]

If I recall correctly, both Trumas are very similar and have two gas jets. They are both 2kW in the 4E, but 2kW and 4kW in the 6E. They both use the same electric elements. There would only be a demand for bigger (or more) elements in the UK, where we enjoy more than 10A EHU. Many European sites only supply 6A.
Use gas for heat and electricity for light and electronic equipment.

 

[Gorse Hill]

On the truma 6e cp if you use the gas/electric mix on panel the van will use gas until it reaches set temp then automatically switch it over to electric and back again if required

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[travelling wilbury]

this is also true of the non-CP versions AFAIK.
mixed mode is always a good compromise in colder conditions, especially from start up.
with a combi 6E in mixed mode, you will get 4kw of gas plus 1.8kw of electric so 5.8kw in all.
with a combi 4E in mixed mode, you will get 2kw of gas plus 1.8kw of electric so 3.8kw in all.
pretty much good enough for most situations.

 

[peterc10]

Most European vans come with a gas only boiler/heater as standard. It seems to be mainly the UK market that wants to have electric as well.

 

[Lenny HB]

Most European vans come with a gas only boiler/heater as standard. It seems to be mainly the UK market that wants to have electric as well.

Certainly not worth the €450 extra for electric, buys an awful lot of gas.

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