delfin 700 Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 hinall we have a burstner delfin 700 we do wild camping but with the cold weather we found the cold weather safety valve dumped all the water . does anyone know what i can do to stop this from doing it. would it work if i insulte the saftey valve and lagg the water tank . any advice please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 If you get the van warm then keep the heating on the valve should be kept warm enough to prevent this happening. You can run the heating with no water in the heater. I've never tried it but I would expect you would need to get the van warm before filling up,with water or maybe just keeping the pump,turned off untill you reset the valve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 The electric safety/drain valve (photo attached) was used with Truma C-Series combination air/water heaters. Provided that the heater is switched on the valve will remain closed. The valve ’senses’ the air-temperature close to it, so lagging the water tank won’t make any obvious difference and it’s hard to see why merely insulating the valve would either. What motorcaravanners usually did to prevent the valve opening spontaneusly in cold weather (which, of course, is what it’s designed to do) is to ‘jam’ the valve closed. Various methods can be used (eg. a clothes-peg, bulldog-clip, elastic band) all of which involve lifting the red knob on the valve’s top to its closed position and stopping it dropping back down. I used a small piece of appropriate gauge metal (plastic would do just as well) with a slot in it and, once the knob had been raised, I slid the slotted piece of metal under the base of the knob. The safety/drain valve is there to empty a Truma C-Series heater to prevent it being frost-damaged. If the motorhome’s water-pump happens to be switched on when the safey/drain valve opens, with most motorhome water systems the pump will then proceed to empty the motorhome’s fresh-water tank. However, there are motorhome water systems where, even if the pump is switched off when the valve opens, syphonic action can cause the fresh-water tank to empty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agaric Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 My Burstner manual states that the activation point is 5 degrees C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 A clothes peg around the shaft of the valve will prevent it from opening, but be aware you are over riding the frost /freezing prevention system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldi Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 morning folks, Another way is to fit a tap at the bottom of the outlet pipe. norm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Truma’s own (downloadable) documentation relating to their electrical safety/drain valves (except for very early valves) advises as follows: "If the temperature at the safety/drain valve is less than 4°C, the water contents may discharge on its own accord if the appliance is not in operation (also if there is a failure)! To avoid water loss, switch the device on (Summer or Winter mode) and close the safety/drain valve at the control knob by raising it up. Without heater operation, the safety/drain valve can only be closed again at temperatures above 8°C.” (The equivalent ‘opening/closing’ temperatures for the Truma non-electrical safety/drain valve now used are given as 3°C and 7°C) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 This morning, had to go out at 8am (not my usual time) It was -2 deg here. This is supposed to be the warmest ;part of UK!! PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 goldi - 2016-12-01 10:34 AM morning folks, Another way is to fit a tap at the bottom of the outlet pipe. norm Truma advises that its safety/drain valve be installed as close as practicable to the heater, so that the valve is kept warm when the heater is warm. If the valve is installed well away from the heater and in a cold part of the motorhome (I recall a photo where the valve was nowhere near the heater and located in an externally-accessed storage locker) the chances are high that the valve will open when there is no likelihood of the heater being frost-damaged. If the valve opens it will need to be manually closed afterwards, meaning that it will need to be reachable to pull up the red knob. If it’s possible to pull up the red knob, I would have thought it would also be reasonably straightforward to 'jam’ the knob in the closed position. In general the valve is screwed to the motorhome’s floor with the drain-tube passing through the floor and exiting below the vehicle. There will be instances where - if a ’tap’ is put in the drain-tube - the tap can be reached without scrabbling under the motorhome, but I would not expect this to be common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Hi As has been mentioned, just keep the heating on. We used to go skiing and several Mhome's have been subject to long period well below freezing ( our record was 7 days when the camp site in a shady valley never got warmer than minus10c) and the valve never dumped. The system works. If you jamb the valve closed and your boiler freezes and breaks that's a very very costly mistake. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 It’s perhaps worth highlighting that the standard Truma “FrostControl” non-electrical safety/drain valve that has superseded the electrical version is not affected by the heater being switched on. This allows the valve to be used with a variety of heating appliances (eg. “Ultrastore” water-boilers) but it does complicate filling the water system in cold weather. Truma advises as follows: "Only when the temperature around the (FrostControl) drain valve is over around 7 °C can it to be closed manually with the press button and the boiler filled. Truma supplies a heating element (part no. 70070-01) as an accessory, which is inserted into the FrostControl and fixed in place with a retaining bracket. This heating element heats the FrostControl to approx. 10 °C when the Combi is switched on. This means that the boiler can be filled after a shorter time, irrespective of the temperature in the installation compartment.” Although discussion on motorhome forums about Truma’s safety/drain valves normally concentrates on their anti-frost function, the valves also provide protection against excessive pressure build-up within the water system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Am i correct in thinking that Autotrail and perhaps other UK manufactured Motorhomes do NOT have Truma automatic dump valves fitted as standard ? I certainly cannot find one on my Van, only the yellow manual dump valve. Only from the posts on this Forum it implies that the automatic dump valves are a standard fitment ! They are NOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 See my reply to a similar question you asked here http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Truma-water-dump-valve/45874/ As I explained there, the Truma electrically-operated safety/drain valve was particular to Trumatic C-Series heaters. When Truma “Combi” air/water heaters superseded C-Series appliances in 2007, the electrically-operated valve was dropped and a manually-operated equivalent (called “FrostControl”) https://www.truma.com/uk/en/water-systems/accessories-water-system.php used instead. If your Auto-Trail has not got a “FrostControl” valve, it will be for financial or (maybe ;-) ) technical reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.