Truma boiler not working well on electric (1 Viewer)

Hils and Glenns

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Aug 13, 2015
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We're in the south of France. It has been pretty chilly at night and we've discovered that the heating is not working as well as it used to on electric. The water is only heating to tepid. It's fine on gas fortunately.
We took it to a supposed truma approved repair place. He looked at it and said it was the resistance. He said that in French so not sure. The part to fix it was going to cost 304 euros. But he couldn't get the part. I'm a bit confused as he didn't even turn the heating on. So all you experts does his diagnosis seem feasible? If so we are moving on to Spain tomorrow. Does anyone know where we can get it fixed? It's a 2008 hymer 524 if that makes any difference. Thank you
 
May 31, 2015
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Sound like the heating element is not getting up to full heat, I don’t know enough about these systems but someone will be along soon Hils, hope it’s sorted early and easily with no cost....(y)
 
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Hils and Glenns

Hils and Glenns

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Thanks. I thought it might be the heating element but we had them replaced about 2 years ago. Also the van is under warranty but it runs out in February which is before we are due back in the UK. So we are keen to get it fixed before then.

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May 31, 2015
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Just a thought, there’s no blockage anywhere? Dust cap on the inlet vent, mouse nest, bent/crushed tube, is the fan working as it should..?
 

Lenny HB

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If it is still working but not as well it sounds like one of the elements has failed. The guy that looked at it probably just measured the resistance of the elements with a meter and found one to be high resistance.
 
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Hils and Glenns

Hils and Glenns

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Just a thought, there’s no blockage anywhere? Dust cap on the inlet vent, mouse nest, bent/crushed tube, is the fan working as it should..?
I don't think so but will check that tomorrow.

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Hils and Glenns

Hils and Glenns

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If it is still working but not as well it sounds like one of the elements has failed. The guy that looked at it probably just measured the resistance of the elements with a meter and found one to be high resistance.
He didn't use any equipment just his mobile phone which I think he was using as a torch. I didn't have a lot of confidence in him which is why I'm asking the question and not sorry that he couldn't get the part.
 

Lenny HB

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Oct 18, 2007
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Get yourself a cheap multimeter from the Hypermarket. Disconnect the elements and measure each one they should read quite low around 60 ohms. If one is high you could send a photo of the reading to the supplier to log your claim.
 

maz

Jan 26, 2011
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Thanks. I thought it might be the heating element but we had them replaced about 2 years ago.

From what I remember, Truma give a stated life of 1000 hours for the electric elements, which will soon be clocked up if you use the van a lot. We used to full time in our van and from November to April would be running the heating on electric. We got through two sets of elements in 5 years. From a previous thread on here, it seems you can no longer buy just the elements (which used to cost around £100) but now have to purchase an element replacement ‘kit’ with the grossly inflated price of around £300.

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Lenny HB

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Oct 18, 2007
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1000 hours that sounds ridiculous that is probably not much more than a 100 days use.
We have only ever had vans with gas only heating could never see the point of paying £400 for the electric option when it costs more to run on electric than it does on gas and we rarely use sites anyway.
 

dabhand

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Forgive me for stating the ble*ding obvious but leave it on gas and enjoy your self until you find someone who can fix it! Lenny HB sounds right though. Similarish thing happened to me, only mine kept blowing all the fuses whenever I plugged in, so I didn’t (plug in) just used gas, I eventually took my garage to bits when in France at Twin Lakes, to check a pipe that had burst several times before (don’t ask) it had leaked all over the high voltage supply supply to the Alde heating, needed drying out, seems ok now:xThumb:
 
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Hils and Glenns

Hils and Glenns

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Forgive me for stating the ble*ding obvious but leave it on gas and enjoy your self until you find someone who can fix it! Lenny HB sounds right though. Similarish thing happened to me, only mine kept blowing all the fuses whenever I plugged in, so I didn’t (plug in) just used gas, I eventually took my garage to bits when in France at Twin Lakes, to check a pipe that had burst several times before (don’t ask) it had leaked all over the high voltage supply supply to the Alde heating, needed drying out, seems ok now:xThumb:
Thanks. That's what we're doing. Just want to get it fixed before the warranty runs out in February.

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maz

Jan 26, 2011
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1000 hours that sounds ridiculous that is probably not much more than a 100 days use.
We have only ever had vans with gas only heating could never see the point of paying £400 for the electric option when it costs more to run on electric than it does on gas and we rarely use sites anyway.
I agree that 1000 hours is a ludicrously low lifespan. We always managed to get much more than that out of our elements. Re running costs on electric, from Nov to April we’d be on Caravan Club sites with 16A hook-up included so it made sense to use electric for heating. The van was always kept warmer than any house I’d lived in. To help extend the elements’ life and also that of the air circulation motor, we used to switch the heating off for a couple of hours each day and use a fan heater instead.
 

dabhand

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Send an email to your dealer and Truma and explain the problem and ask them for advice, or where to go, if nothing else it may help at a future date as they will have a record of it. If you google Hymer dealers you will get the Hymer website which has a google map of all their dealers and service agents, there seems to be plenty in and around the South of France, good luck.:xsmile:
 
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Johnnyb

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We have had the same thing although it was the water not heating up that made me realise all was not as it should be. No warranty for us though so I'll have to sort it myself which will mean removing the boiler for access when I eventually decide to tackle it.

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Hils and Glenns

Hils and Glenns

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Aug 13, 2015
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:X3:
We have had the same thing although it was the water not heating up that made me realise all was not as it should be. No warranty for us though so I'll have to sort it myself which will mean removing the boiler for access when I eventually decide to tackle it.

We've decided to leave it for now. We'll look into it when we get to Spain. On our way now. Unfortunately we don't have the knowhow to fix it ourselves. We just needed to know if the bloke who looked at it could have been right about it being the resistance. I didn't have any confidence that he was right as he just looked at it and didn't even turn it on. Anyway as he couldn't get the part we maybe had a lucky escape. It has just held us up a bit. A more pressing problem we have now is a slow puncture. :xgrin:
 

Lenny HB

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Oct 18, 2007
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:X3:


We've decided to leave it for now. We'll look into it when we get to Spain. On our way now. Unfortunately we don't have the knowhow to fix it ourselves. We just needed to know if the bloke who looked at it could have been right about it being the resistance. I didn't have any confidence that he was right as he just looked at it and didn't even turn it on. Anyway as he couldn't get the part we maybe had a lucky escape. It has just held us up a bit. A more pressing problem we have now is a slow puncture. :xgrin:
As he didn't do anything it was just a guess but he is probably right.
 

Johnnyb

Free Member
Jan 21, 2015
149
139
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Coachbuilt
From what I remember, Truma give a stated life of 1000 hours for the electric elements, which will soon be clocked up if you use the van a lot. We used to full time in our van and from November to April would be running the heating on electric. We got through two sets of elements in 5 years. From a previous thread on here, it seems you can no longer buy just the elements (which used to cost around £100) but now have to purchase an element replacement ‘kit’ with the grossly inflated price of around £300.
If you have a search on ebay a seller has some aftermarket elements (without the fitting kit) for £195 for the pair. Still double the original price though.

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