Heating advice needed

[Guest John]

I am designing a newbuild and considering fitting the Malaga 3E and the Truma S 3002 K to give blown air heating and hot water respectively. Can anyone give me any advice or comments from first hand experience of these appliances? Thank you. John.

[Guest Clive]

The malaga 3E looks a carbon copy of our Carver Cascade, The web site (www.motorcaravanning....) selling Malaga heaters suggests it is exactly this! Our Carver Cascade has been faultless for the last 8 years. But if you are using a Truma heater why not the matching Truma water heater?

[Guest Mel E]

I have just taken delivery of a van conversion to my own design and went through exactly these questions. Your options are: 1. The combined Truma air and water heater, which is fitted to virtually all Continental conversions but little used in the UK. It is relatively bulky. 2. The Eperspacher or Webasto diesel powered hot air/water heaters. They reduce your reliance on gas, but are noisy when in use, and high capital cost. 3. The Propex air heater and Propex Malaga water heater. Separate units, very compact and, allegedly, both very reliable. This was my choice. The air blower (only on when the air heating is on) is noisier than the Truma air heaters, but is not on for long at a time. The controls are thermostatic and there ia also a timer so you can set the air heating to warm up the 'van before you get back. The Malaga also has a higher water capacity than most. All the converters I spoke to recommended Propex because they got excellent service from them. When I've spoken to them, they've been very helpful. If you want any further info on choices I made, post on this board and we'll get in touch by email.

[Guest John]

Thank you for the replies. I am interested, Mel, in any other choices you made in your design, including the make/model of water pump to go with the Malaga. My email is 'starcott@aol.com' Thank you. John

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

The Truma S3002K is the Thinking Motorcaravanner's Choice of air-heater. It has a significant advantage over the other makes/types of appliance mentioned as it can be used in pure convection mode, when its operation is virtually noiseless and uses no 12V power. The design is also versatile as blown-air and 230V operation can easily be added via Trumavent and Ultraheat options. Having been developed for decades and sold in 100s of 1000s the S3002 is innately reliable and well understood by caravan and motorhome dealers everywhere throughout Europe. Potential technical downsides are the need for a through-the-roof flue and a through-the-floor air intake. This, plus the requirement to surface-mount the S3002 on a vertical surface, can make optimum placement of the heater tricky in a small motorhome. Conversely, its output of 3.4kW on gas may be marginal for heating large vehicles adequately in cold weather. Personally (because I'm pessimistic by nature and terrified of the unfamiliar), I'd choose a Truma Ultrastore water-boiler over the Propex Malaga. This has little to do with the technical specification of the respective appliances, just that the Ultrastore (like the S3002) has been sold in huge numbers and is understood everywhere, and that Truma has a Europe-wide support network. Ultrastore (like other Truma products) comes with a 2-year warranty, though this may also be true for the Malaga boiler for all I know. Unless you can get the Ultrastore heavily discounted I accept that the Malaga will be significantly cheaper to purchase new. (Incidentally, a long-standing anomaly in Truma's UK pricing has the 10 litres capacity gas + 230V Ultrastore at just a few pounds more than the gas-only version (£446.88 against £440.32 in my August 2004 price-list) so one would be daft to choose the latter over the former. This tiny price difference is clearly a mistake, but I feel no compunction highlighting it as I mentioned it to Truma a couple of times in the distant past and no corrective action was taken.) On Clive's point about the Cascade boiler, I understand that the Malaga can be fitted as a direct replacement for the Cascade (via an adapter), but it's not a straight copy of the Carver product (eg. the Malaga's 13.5lt water capacity versus the Cascade's 9lt). However, there is a Cascade copy now being marketed called the "Henry".

[Guest John]

Many thanks Derek for your informative posting. We appreciate your input. John.