Caroline Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 We have blow air heating in the van, with out a gas fire, this really drains the battery when we are not on electric. Does any one have any ideas on other heat supplies. Or ones that do not drain the battery so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianR Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 Not knowing your 'van, a little more information would help - e.g., what is the heat source for your blown air heat system and what make is it? The only system which springs to mind, which doesn't require 12 volt fan, is the gas convector. These are usually (always?) combined with a blown air system, but the convetor on its own works quite well. if it is positioned sensibly in the 'van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted July 9, 2008 Author Share Posted July 9, 2008 Right, we have a Truma Trumatic C3402, 6002 Liquid gas heater with integrated storage water heater (special version with additional electrical heating unit 230V, 450 W for hot water) Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 WE had a bessacarr with 2- 85 anp batts with this heater and it was not too successful, it lasted only one night once on a febuary night, I think the wirering from the batt to the heater was too thin as it shut off at 12.4 volts( on guage on wall). My presant M/H has 2- 110 amp batts plus a sterling batt to batt charger and so far we have had no problems on long usage ( max 5 days). Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted July 9, 2008 Author Share Posted July 9, 2008 We have 2 110 amp batts but can you tell me more about a sterling batt to batt charger. Please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Caroline: Your Bessacarr's heater is either a Truma C-3402EL or a C-6002EL. Both appliances are visually identical, but the former is designed to produce a maximum blown-air heating output of 3400W, whereas the latter can provide 6000W. The difference in heating capability between the two models is primarily down to the gas burners and fan motor fitted to each and both units have the wrap-around 230V/450W electrical water-heating collar. At full blast a C-6002 will demand a lot of gas and approaching 6A of 12V current: the upside is that it can warm up a large cold motorhome much quicker than its less powerful C-3402 sibling. Although this type of Truma heater is very widely used in motorhomes, its installation often fails lamentably to follow Truma's fitting recommendations. This seems to be particularly true for UK-built vehicles where the manufacturer has a history of employing Carver or Truma convector 'fires. As trooper suggests, one of the major oversights is using electrical cable that is too thin. In such instances, even though the motorhome's leisure battery/batteries may still have plenty of charge remaining, the voltage-drop due to the long thin cables powering the 12V side of the heater can cause it to shut down after a relatively short time. You say that your Bessacarr has two 110Ah batteries. This is a considerable capacity and, assuming the batteries are in good condition and fully charged, should happily power even a C-6002 for an extended period. (Trooper quotes 5 days with a similar battery configuration.) Of course, if you've got an army of other 12V devices (TV, interior lights, etc.) simultaneously taking power from the leisure batteries, then that's inevitably going to have a draining effect. What you really need to do is check whether your heater is genuinely taking a lot of 'juice' from the batteries (essentially the heater is functioning exactly as Truma intended, it's just that you are using it a lot), or that it's shutting down prematurely because the installation is poor (quite possible), or that there's some sort of electrical problem (batteries below par, charging system not allowing batteries to reach full capacity, fault with heater itself, etc.) All Hobby motorhomes have Truma combination air/water heaters (my own Hobby has a C-6002) and a single 85Ah leisure-battery as standard. In my case, this combination has proved adequate for normal off-campsite touring, though I admit to swapping the interior light bulbs for LED equivalents to hoard 12V power and to not using the vehicle in ultra-cold conditions. If I did plan to have the motorhome static and off 230V hook-up for long periods in very cold weather, then I fully accept that much larger leisure-battery capacity would be essential. Motorhome-suitable heating that uses less 12V power than Truma C-Series appliances will (as trooper says) be based on a gas convector-fire or on Alde's Compact 3000 'wet' system. However, it's unlikely to be a practical proposition to replace a Truma C-Series appliance with either of these alternatives due to technical/financial considerations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 Thanks for that, I will get my hubby to look at this luckily he is an electrial type so with your helpfull suggestions will know what to look for. Thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed answer us newbies have a lot to learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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