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TRUMA RECALL


michele

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Today we got a letter which states that we sould not use our Truma C heater . Now I wonder this has been going on a long time !

 

The point is we have not had a letter before I have only read about it on here and thought ours is not obviously affected otherwise we would of heard before! How wrong was I apparently we are not to switch on our heater under any circumstances ,neither heating nor for hot water.

 

We have been using it and only as late as last week in France !

We would like to go to the show and were thinking about tommorrow night what does one do surely if it was going to explode into a ball of fire it would of by now. The Company doing it Eastcoat Leisure can not fit us in until after the 23rd ...Whats a girl to do. How dangerous is it ?.

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Michele

The danger, as I remember, was fire.  Doesn't the letter give you a group of serial numbers to check?  The earlier ones did.  If you can get at the Truma heater you may be able to see the serial No.

Otherwise, have a look on the Truma website and hunt around for the recall notice.  Assuming they've left it on, that also gave the critical serial numbers.  Then, check the type and serial number on your heater with the group in the recall notice. 

Unless it matches, the heater should be OK.  However, I thought you said you were only going for the day!  By the time you've got there, and tramped around the site, it'll be time to go home again!  Unless you run the heater while sleeping, you surely won't need it much for so short a stay.  As you say, you've been using it quite extensively up to now without problem so, although it will be worth getting the fault fixed, it does seem yours must be a bit of a low risk case.

Have a good look round the heater enclosure in daylight, and a good look at the heater, to see if there is any sign of overheating anywhere.  Then, fire it up and have a good sniff around, and a feel about, for anything unusual.  If all seems normal you can decide whether you think it's risky running it for another day, if not - no Newbury! 

However, even if the heater does look suspect, just boil the kettle for washing, and put extra blankets on the beds!

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Brian,

Thanks for that yes it has loads of codes on the letter and apparently ours is affected hence the booking to be repaired job.

 

We were going just for the day but hubby suggested going tommorrow night so I said ok. Hubby is a bit of a creature comfy sort of guy and often has his fleece on indoors with the under floor heating on mad or what .

 

I think like you if it was going to happen it would of but we will air on the cautious side .Out of interest I did phone to confirm and ours is affected.

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Michele:

 

The reason why these heaters are being modified is that the plastic fan housing on a small number of appliances has become damaged due to overheating. The plastic begins to melt and, when doing so, will produce a hideous stink. If you've been using your heater regularly and it hasn't been smelly, then there's no reason to assume it will be dangerous to continue using it until the safety modifications can be made.

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Derek,

Thank you for that because I have just been nagging him about it .

I was kind of worried especially if it set on fire . With the children and that it would be snatch and go but it is an awful worry about getting them out safely .

My husband is thinking as you are . We never received a letter the first time round and as said I only read about it hear . He said we didn't know before today and he used it last week in France it has got no smell and to be honest, touch wood works fantastic water and heating especially since the thermostat has been moved from under the heater which used to make it cut off with the incorrect reading. Silly place for them to put it in the first place . Other than that little problem now resolved everything is fine. (

 

Can I ask a Silly question? Would we get any warning like a strong smell of plastic first ? or just melt and that would be it no fire ! Or would it burst into flames or blow up I know its laughable to you guy's with knowledge but, it is a little worry to me because its just not us its the kids that are more important . Also would it be ok to use our Fire extinquisher or would it take off to fast ?

 

I feel its better to be prepared and I know probably being stupid but hopefully nothing is going to happen as you say and we will be just fine .

I will leave enough room away from others . Actually I ,m making myself worse now.

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Derek Uzzell - 2007-05-10 7:03 PM Michele: The reason why these heaters are being modified is that the plastic fan housing on a small number of appliances has become damaged due to overheating. The plastic begins to melt and, when doing so, will produce a hideous stink. If you've been using your heater regularly and it hasn't been smelly, then there's no reason to assume it will be dangerous to continue using it until the safety modifications can be made.

M,

You should also give your dealer a kick up the backside.

The Truma recall originated around August last year therefore they should have notified you months ago.

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Michele:

 

If your Truma Combi has been functioning OK in the past and hasn't been smelly then there is really very little cause for concern.

 

When these heaters are in water-heating mode using gas (ie. when blown-air operation has not been selected) there is no air-flow through the heater's internals. This causes the internal heat to 'soak' out and reach the plastic blown-air fan housing and the foam insulation attached to it. On certain heaters (these are the ones being recalled), due to the plastic materials used by Truma, the heat-soak may cause the inner edge of the fan housing to soften and begin to sag. This sagging may, in turn, obstruct the air-flow when blown-air operation is selected, leading to possible overheating of the appliance. Truma's safety modification replaces the complete top-and-fan assembly. My understanding is that a more heat resistant plastic is used for the fan housing (though it doesn't look any different) and there's a now a metal strip across the inner edge of the fan housing, presumably to act as a protective heat-sink (or perhaps to stop the housing sagging down!)

 

My 2005 Combi heater used to smell unpleasantly of 'hot plastic' when heating water on gas (and so, incidentally, did its year-2000 predecessor). When the safety modification was carried out on my heater I carefully inspected the parts that had been removed. The fan housing was undamaged, though there appeared to be evidence of very slight scorching at the housing's joint with the external foam insulation. (On the replacement assembly this joint is covered by the metal strip I mentioned above.) The motorhome dealer who was modifying my heater told me that, of the 7 units he had worked on, 6 showed no signs of damage (and the owners had reported no previous problems), while the 7th had a badly sagging edge to the fan housing and the owner had complained of an intolerable smell during the water-heating process.

 

As your husband rightly observed, in the past you've been very pleased with your heater's performance and happily unconcerned about any dangers relating to it. Today nothing has changed except that you've had a warning letter. Obviously the safety modification should be carried out on your heater as a precautionary measure as soon as practical (besides which you get a 6 months extension on the heater's warranty as compensation for the inconvenience), but the chance of a related accident during the interim period has got to be minimal. Even though I never received official notification that my own heater needed to be modified I was aware of the requirement and of Truma's recommendation that it shouldn't be used until the work had been done. However, this certainly didn't stop me from using the heater in the meantime. Life is one long period of risk assessment and, from what you have said about your heater working well and being smell-free, there's little likelihood of it suddenly turning nasty on you in the next couple of weeks. The chances of the thing suddenly bursting into flame are probably about the same as your house being struck by a meteorite - the risk is there, but it's pretty small.

 

Bazza454:

 

I'm not sure whether your comment about Michele's dealer's backside is justified.

 

Although there are specific ranges of serial numbers that relate to the Combi units that require modification, Truma's later UK magazine advertisements (eg, MMM January 2007, page 168) only referred to motorhome registration dates. For information these are:

 

Trumatic C6002EH - Registration date as of 04/2005

Trumatic C3402/C4002/C6002 (and "EL" versions) - Registration date as of 10/2005

 

My understanding is that, when the problem became apparent and the need for a modification programme had been recognised, Truma contacted those motorhome manufacturers who installed Combi appliances. The motorhome manufacturers then contacted their dealerships and the dealers contacted the customers. How well this procedure actually worked in practice is another matter.

 

When I mentioned to the German dealer that sold me my Hobby motorhome that my vehicle's Combi heater had required modification, but I'd heard nothing about this from the Hobby factory or him, he said that all he had received from Hobby was a list of chassis numbers and his own records didn't tie chassis number to customer. (A lame excuse in my view, but I ain't too bovvered!) The UK dealer who modified my heater showed me 'recall notices' from Swift Group and Lunar: I think these were registration-date-based, but I can't be sure. It's possible that an earlier letter was sent to Michele but didn't make it (these things happen) and the one she's now got is a follow-up. One thing is certain, there's bound to be some Combis down for modification that will slip through the net.

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Hi Derek,

I take your point, communication between manufacturer, dealer and customer can sometimes genuinely break down and letters do occasionally go astray, but it seems that you may have slightly more faith in dealers than I do.

My own experience of the Truma recall was a slight concern at the time.

After reading about the recall on this forum I waited a couple of weeks and heard nothing from the dealer. I then contacted them and they explained that the Truma in my van was not affected. I had already checked with the Truma website and the serial number on my unit was certainly one listed for recall. I then asked the dealer to recheck, they apologised and then made arrangements to carry out the work.

Now this can either be classed as bad management, ie, not having procedures in place to deal with this sort of incident, or laziness. Either way, they deserve a gentle kick in the pants.

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Derek,

I would like to thank you for that long explanation because it now makes sense what it is that is happening or should I say could happen.

 

We are off to the Newbury show and as you say with all that in mind we will use it as normal . Hopefully will have it booked in for the modification soon. So thank you, you have certainly put my mind at rest ,was a little worried and wanted to believe hubby but then we have only been doing it these past 5 years so would rather take it from the horses mouth so to speak. Cheers ;-)

 

Bazza,

 

Yes they must of missed us although you know what maybe they didn't ?

What I mean is I was so busy with the kids in and out of hospital with the little one . Hubby seems to remember something or thinks he has now seen a letter and I,m not sure If I did we really can't remember .

It's a mad life we lead! .Anyway all is not lost except for my brains hey whats new . Thank you anyway.

 

kindest Regards .

 

Michele

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