Will I need a heater?

[BooBooKing]

Hello all, I am taking delivery of a Vantage Sol in a few weeks, and I wonder if we will find the Truma combi good enough to keep us warm. We always used an electric tower type heater in our old A class, because we only had a gas heater so used hook up to get our heating. The tower heater is a bit too big for the smaller van conversion, and I wondered whether we should buy one of those small ceramic cube type heaters to keep warm. I'd also be grateful to any Vantage owners out there is they have any tips or advice about what's good and what's not good about the Sol.Its been a long 6 months with no MoHo but at least we haven't missed out too much because of Covid.Thanks!

 

[David and Sally]

The Truma is very good. If electric is not hot enough gas is much better.

 

[Lenny HB]

Truma Combi are more than adequate to keep a PVC warm we have a Combi in a 7.5m A Class never been cold most of the time the heater is ticking over on minium.

 

[Minxy]

Assuming that your Truma combi will be both gas and electric (some are just gas) then on electric only it will take a while to raise the temperature as they're not as powerful as stand alone electric (domestic) heater, so use it on gas and electric to get the temperature comfortable then leave it on electric only which will be more than sufficient to keep you toasty. You could still use a smaller portable heater but then you have to lug it around with you and you can bet it will be in the way every time you want to move around inside.

 

[BooBooKing]

Thanks for the replies. It’s a dual fuel . I’ll try using both fuels to start then.

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[Waveski]

Hi. I have a Vantage Med which is slightly shorter at 5.4m and you will have no problem keeping warm, the vans are well insulated and I have used mine down to -5C. The van is virtually rattle free and any rattles which occur with be down to what you have put in!
The vans are well designed and are good to go, you should have no problems.

Regarding tips:
Storage is inevitably limited in the van and I have done a couple of modifications. Firstly I took out the Fiat tool set from under the front passenger seat and stored the tools and jack in a separate smaller box under the rear bed which enabled easy cab access under the front seat for shoes etc. I also split the hanging wardrobe space and included some hanging shelving using a hanging fabric shoe storage adapted from a domestic wardrobe. I store my kitchen utensils in the drawer under the oven and save space by using pots and pans with removable handles, if you happen to have a Tefal handle it’s amazing what you can find in TK MAX which you can adapt and use!
Being a bit of a diy fiddler, I made a small storage box to fit in the dead space behind the front seat and also a tray to fit above the water pump and water heater for storage of small items.

On the techie side, I did get Vantage to fit a bluetooth battery monitoring system, which I have found very useful/ essential. I don’t know if your van comes with the Remi front internal blinds but they are brilliant. I had a tow bar fitted, mainly to enable use of a bike rack for my electric bike.

I am sure you will love and enjoy your van.

 

[David and Sally]

We take a fan heater just in case. Trumas can be temperamental so a fan heater as backup. We have had to use it too.

 

[scotzsue]

We have a ceramic heater it blows out wonderful heat, but you need to be careful where it is positioned as there is almost as much cold air coming out the back, it is the campa diddy or very similar. I take a fan heater in the doblo for hook up, and a hot water bottle for when none lol

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Truma = Trauma Actually the unit can be very good and powerful. It is easy to confuse the settings, when to protect itself it will lock out for perhaps 15 minutes, and if you try and reset in that time it will restart that lock out time.

For my PVC, if I'm on hook up, I will allow it to do dual gas and electric. The gas cuts in to give a boost when everything is starting up from cold, but once all up to temperature the electric is enough. The gas alone is potent, more than sufficient if you are standalone. Indeed, don't put your feet too close to some of the warn air duct outlets as you will cook them.

Particularly on gas it doesn't take too long to warm up the water, and on standard "hot" it's too much for me although "eco" isn't quite comfortable.

 

[Ian Bosman]

The Truma is very good. If electric is not hot enough gas is much better.

We have found that the Truma combo 6 we have will get you very hot indeed if you let it by not setting the thermostat down. So do not worry.

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[bigalw35]

we have the Hymer B680 (7mtr) if it's really cold in the morning we switch on the truma for a few minutes, assuming we're on hook up we use a small heater, very good for it's size, we've found the truma to be very good, but if we're on hookup why use gas

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[Ian Bosman]

we have the Hymer B680 (7mtr) if it's really cold in the morning we switch on the truma for a few minutes, assuming we're on hook up we use a small heater, very good for it's size, we've found the truma to be very good, but if we're on hookup why use gas

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We take with us a small fan heater, 2kw which quickly heats up when on EHU in a morning but the Truma Combi 6 in our van easily gets it well up to heat quickly once the fan cuts in. We take the same attitude, if on EHU at a fixed daily rate why use the gas but you do have to ensure you have at least 10 amps. Our fan heater has two heat settings so often just use the lower setting with the Truma coming on its own good time if need be

 

[BooBooKing]

Thanks for all these replies, it’s been really helpful. Can’t wait to get back on the road....

 

[bigalw35]

We take with us a small fan heater, 2kw which quickly heats up when on EHU in a morning but the Truma Combi 6 in our van easily gets it well up to heat quickly once the fan cuts in. We take the same attitude, if on EHU at a fixed daily rate why use the gas but you do have to ensure you have at least 10 amps. Our fan heater has two heat settings so often just use the lower setting with the Truma coming on its own good time if need be

One of the good things about our little heater it’s just 400watts, give or take about 2 amps and cheap to buy, so you can have the heater and the kettle at the same time, win win situation

 

[IRHP]

My van is well insulated and stays warm for a while but if I put the Truma on Electric only and it's around 5 degrees inside It can take hours and hours to warm up. The Truma is fine once it get the temp up but it takes a long long time. Gas and Electric mix is really needed in those conditions or an extra fan heater.

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[Lenny HB]

Particularly on gas it doesn't take too long to warm up the water, and on standard "hot" it's too much for me although "eco" isn't quite comfortable.

Eco/40° is useless on a C4 or C6, it is the hysteresis that is the problem. It gets up to 40° turns off but does not start reheating until water temperature has dropped to 27°.

The older C4002/C6002 were fine set to 40° we could both get a shower when set to 40°.

When we first had a C6 the boss kept complain about getting a cold shower.
Pain in the butt having to run it at 60° wastes gas and water as you have mess about longer with the mixer getting the temp right.