vindiboy Posted December 9, 2008 Posted December 9, 2008 The blown air facility on my van stopped working the other night Saturday 6 th It was the coldest night of the year in our area,we also had a power cut which started 3 am on Saturday morning, we were off power till 7 pm Sunday evening, how unlucky is that, anyway I took my van to the Truma agent in Romsey today to have it fixed,the fan on the blown air was not operating so no heating, it turned out to be the accomodation thermostat [ a little black dome the size of a 20 pence piece ] in my Hymer . the man at Whispaire, the Truma agent said he has never had a case of one failing before, any way he changed it and we are up and running again. So if you ever have a similar problem its somewhere to start your search for the fault.
Usinmyknaus Posted December 9, 2008 Posted December 9, 2008 Thanks Malc, that's useful to file away. Would you recommend Whispaire should any of us need a Truma fixer in the future please? It would be handy to have them on the list if they are good/fairly priced. Bob
Usinmyknaus Posted December 9, 2008 Posted December 9, 2008 Ahrgh. The system is seeing double again! Bob *-)
vindiboy Posted December 9, 2008 Author Posted December 9, 2008 Yes I would recomend Whispaire to any one who needs any work done on their van [ or boat ] in respect of gas heating ,fridges etc, I didn't think I was overcharged today for the work I had done and I actually went to Whispaire on the recomendation of a friend who had used them previously, the fact that their premises are close to where I live also made them attractive to me.Romsey town is a 10 min walk from their premises so if you want to visit an old market town with lots of royal connections it is a pleasant place to be if you don't want to stay with your van whilst it is worked on. :-D
Usinmyknaus Posted December 10, 2008 Posted December 10, 2008 Thanks Malc they are now on my suppliers list. Bob
Derek Uzzell Posted December 10, 2008 Posted December 10, 2008 For several years the 'room thermostat' for Trumatic C-series combined air/water heaters was part of the appliance's control-panel. This arrangement gave motorcaravan manufacturers free rein to site the control-panel in daft places (like close to a motorhome's floor or ceiling) where temperature sensing for blown-air control would plainly be far from optimum. To allow motorhome manufacturers to position the heater's control-panel where they liked, but still allow some sort of rational air-temperature sensing, Truma then offered a remote thermostat that could be located logically in the vehicle. This thermostat had a long wire that was plugged into the heater and it overrode the thermostat built into the control-panel. Few motorhome manufacturers fitted the remote thermostat, though I was told Hymer, on some models, placed it beneath one of the cab-seats, causing owners to wonder why their heaters insisted on keeping running even though the rear section of their motorhomes was warm as toast. In the last few years the blown-air room-thermostat was been separated from the control-panel of Trumatic "C" heaters and is now remote only (the "little black dome" vindiboy mentions). If you are lucky, the motorhome manufacturer will have positioned the heater's control-panel in a sensible place where you can get at it easily when you need to, and have positioned the room-thermostat rationally mid-way between floor and ceiling, towards the centre of the motorhome's living area and away from hot/cold drafts. And, if you aren't lucky, the control-panel and room-thermostat will be an inch apart, an inch from the floor next to a heater outlet by the entrance door. A party trick for checking whether the room-thermostat is working properly is to get the heater to run steadily on a lowish blown-air setting, then cup your hands over the thermostat and blow into the 'cup'. Your hot breath on the thermostat should cause the heater to shut off immediately and restart soon after you've removed your hands. May not work if you are a vampire, though!
Paul- Posted December 10, 2008 Posted December 10, 2008 The remote sensors are very easy to fit, they plug into the control box at the rear of the fire, if you are happy with the fire when its working on gas then positioning the sensor is straight forward too, cable tie it to the heat sensor for the gas, in the base of the fire… This advice was given to me by Gary of arcsystems who specialises on Carver heaters & sells the sensor at a very reasonable price :-D He also put some pictures to illustrate it on the caravantalk forum
davenewellhome Posted December 10, 2008 Posted December 10, 2008 Just a small point here, the remote thermostats rarely fail completely but can become unreliable due to a build up of dirt or dust on the actual thermistor inside. If you experience these problems its worth trying cleaning it first. Pop off the centre cap with your thumb nail then give the thermistor (looks like a little bulb in the centre) a gentle wipe with a cotton bud dampened with isopropyl alcohol. D.
trooper Posted December 10, 2008 Posted December 10, 2008 You got it dave, its a thermister, not a thermostat, it sends a continuous signal to the controlling electronics
davenewellhome Posted December 10, 2008 Posted December 10, 2008 Yeah, I was at Truma on a training course last week and they told us about this problem. :-D D.
nomadicx2 Posted December 11, 2008 Posted December 11, 2008 Thanks Dave We have had chats with Truma recently, on the performance of our heating system. All checks indicated a clean bill of health. Having read your post last night, this morning I removed the centre cover and found three years dust inside, cleaned it out as advised, and the thermostor as well, only problem I could not replace the centre cover, but the boss, with nimble fingers could. Now time will tell, at this time its ticking along nicely. We feel sure this is the answer to our problem. Thanks again Nomadic
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