Whale Blown Air Heating - views?

Gary217

Gary217

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Oct 25, 2015
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Hi - for a smallish motorhome is the Whale Blown Air (underfloor?) heating any good? I've picked up it may be noisy and ineffective, but the salesman says it is wonderful, and he's such an honest person... I've told him I need a demo but would like views from anyone with proper experience, as we'd like to use it to keep van warm overnight.
Thanks
 
I think your salesman is full of bullsh*t !!!
Our is the Whale blown air heating and it is woefully inadequacy in our van in colder weather.
Noisy, yes but acceptable. Over night I wear earplug anyway so does not disturb us to much when it's on overnight.
 
If you can sleep through jet fighters taking off then go for it.

On electric it isn’t too bad except when cranked up to 2000w.

On gas however, it’s like sitting next to a runway! It worked, but it was very very noisy. Put me off blown air for life. The Truma combi we now have in our MH is like chalk and cheese.

IMHO I would avoid one fitted with a whale space heater like the plague!
 
I must admit to being surprised by the above answers.

If you return to a cold motorhome and turn gas full on then yes, it is noisy as it warms up. Once up to temperature, however, it is much quieter though not as quiet as our previous Truma.

So, comments in order


Much quicker to warm up than the Truma.
Noisy on gas on start up, but quietens down when up to temperature and just maintaining temp.
On electricity it is quieter both on start up and maintaining temperature.
On “night setting” on EHU it never bothered us.
On “night setting” on gas it was noisier but didn’t cause us any problem.
No problem at all in keeping the motorhome warm although we are a compact coachbuilt 6m.

We find it awkward to maintain an even temperature, on gas, compared to our previous Truma heater but this may be due to the Truma having an electronic temperature control and our present m/h being manual.

However, the Truma electronic control panel was much more complex than our present system and took some getting used to.

If you like the layout of your prospective motorhome don’t let the Whale system put you off. Layout is all.

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We're likely to be running it off electric more than gas as we use sites and EHU, and part of the appeal is being able to do this as we nearly always stop at campsites. Interesting mix of views. Hopefully we'll get our demo.
 
We have now had this system in two vans, in our first it was much more noisy, we have put that down to the position of the unit with regard to vent points of the ducting. Our present Autoquest 194 has outlets that are comparatively distant from the bed area and so seems even quieter. I agree on full blast to warm the place throughout it does seem harsh but on the night setting bearable even on gas alone.
 
We’ve had experience of both the Whale and Truma. The Whale was like a Harrier jump jet on startup and woke us at night every time it kicked in. It also tripped out several times a day.

The Truma is a revelation; quiet, efficient and warms the van in no time. It’s a brilliant system.

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Gary217 I Found this review for you, on the new Whale Gas & Electric heater, in this case recently fitted FOC for a Professional Caravan?MH Vlogger, namely, Andrew Ditton, to his vintage caravan that had no heating installed.
You can watch the whole thing or simply skip to 5 mins in, this review is for the latest 2020 model, I am sure it must be better than previous models, by how much though I aint got a clue.
Judge for yourself I guess.
LES
 
We fired up our Truma gas heating the other day (hasn’t been used for months) and I was surprised how quiet it was!
We never use it as when on EHU we use an oil filled rad and when off grid we just add more clothes!
 
Thanks Les - that is terrific, really appreciate it. It gives me quite a bit more knowledge about how they work, how installed etc so when chatting to the sales guy I'll be coming from a better position of understanding. Obviously it's hard to know really how noisy the system is from the vid. and also there was a slightly disturbingly recurring theme of using gas to make it work well. All good stuff to enquire about.
I don't know the guy doing the vid. so I don't know how impartial he actually is, if he is neutral and not influenced by Whale providing him with a new system then it is a strong endorsement, but if he's sort of in their pocket then a few pinches of salt might be needed.
Mind you...I do wonder what has happened to me, I just sat through 16 minutes of a guy rattling on about a caravan heating system... :giggler: - so rock & roll!
Thanks again Les!
 
Shrimp said:
We fired up our Truma gas heating the other day (hasn’t been used for months) and I was surprised how quiet it was!
We never use it as when on EHU we use an oil filled rad and when off grid we just add more clothes!
Click to expand...

Our current van has Truma but only gas, not dual fuel, but it does work well. A bit of noise but not too intrusive, hence why I'm trying to research this different system. We also use the "oil filled rad system" for overnight in winter.

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Gary217
The comment re using gas to make it work well applies to both Whale and Truma.

Both have a higher heat output on gas than on electricity and, I think, both can use gas and electricity together to provide more heat.
 
Yep, that is certainly what he does in the video. It makes me think that the sales guy's words (polite description there!) that gas is not needed might be a little bit off kilter. All good background for our discussion.
 
Gary217 said:
Do you mean if the heating goes wrong, or if the demo goes wrong?
Click to expand...
Well both lol.
Expensive the owner if he has to replace it.
Expensive for the salesmans pocket if he ball's up the demo lol

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