colin Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 I'm sure this has been ansewered loads of times but I cannot get search to work >:-( Here's the deal, Combi4 was last used in april, it was ok. Last weekend tried to fire up heating, no way. Green light comes on, there's a 'click' (gas solinoid?) then fan and yellow light come on, after a short while (10 seconds?) red light comes on and fan switches off. Handbook says this is lack of gas or blocked flue/inlet. I have just changed gas bottle but hob and fridge work so unlikly that this is problem with supply to combi. Have removed and checked flue/inlet, no blockage there. Any other ideas? This is proboly a dealer/warentee problem but I can't get there before next trip and Truma where not helpfull when gf phoned asking for local service agents. >:-(
terryW Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 90% certain it will be the pcb. As for a finding a service agent try this link http://www.truma.com/uk/en/home/dealer-search.php This shows 13 Truma trained service dealers within 75km of Bedford but most will not be trained on the Combi 4 so you need to ask a few questions. Try and find one that carries a spare pcb in stock or a MH dealer that may be prepared to remove one from a van they have up for sale to get you going
colin Posted October 15, 2011 Author Posted October 15, 2011 I did wonder if it might be PCB, but handbook says red light flashes for this problem, but there again if PCB is duff who knows what it might show. Interesting that link, when gf asked they said they had no way of finding agent from our postcode *-)
terryW Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 Not sure how you stand with regard to warranty but in the past I have found the warranty department quite flexible. If you are out of warranty try the 'only used it a couple of time' worked for me once. Good luck
vindiboy Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 Last used in April. hmmmmm ? sleepy van syndrome ,use it or loose it, how is the battery voltage if it's low this will cause the system to shut down. I know of an excellent Truma Agent in Romsey Hants, Whispaire , google them, most helpful they are.
coach2000 Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 Hi Colin. I had trouble with my boiler last year. Have you tried repeatedly to fire it up as it takes a while to get the gas thru to the ignitor if it has not been used for some time. Also a good tip is to remove the main 12volt red supply cable for a couple of seconds to reset the pcb board as just switching off does not do this. This got mine working on 1 occasion. They can be temperamental especially if the gas pressure is low. If everything fails take the cover off the terminal box making sure all the power is isolated 1st and check the 2 little fuses inside. Actually take them out even though it is fiddly. You may even have to dismantle part of the furniture to get at the lid. When I did this the boiler fired up after even though I never found the fault on that occasion so I put it down to a bad connection on a fuse or connector or the reset when the cables were off. Hope this helps as it probably is something simple. Clive.
Randonneur Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 We have exactly the same problem on our Truma-C. There are only a few Service Agents that actually stock the spares needed. They will take a few days to arrive once ordered. Our van is going in next Wednesday so hopefully it will be sorted. Unfortunately we were in the UK when it went and and there wasn't time to get the PCB before our ferry back to France. By the way the Warranty period for Truma is 2 years.
terryW Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 Colin, I still suspect you will need a new board but further to the points Clive made a couple of others you can try while waiting include removing the board completely from the connector at the bottom, sometimes the gold on the fingers can become a problem also remove and replace the small cable form that goes to the board. You can also connect this to the test socket and see if that works. All these tips came from Truma when I twice had this problem. I have had Truma spares delivered 'overnight' so it should be possible to avoid a long delay. The board is also available from some other sources but if you go that route make sure the replacement board is at least issue 12. I think your best bet is to find a qualified service agent who holds a board as a spare or as I said find a helpful MH dealer that is prepared to remove one from his sales stock of vans. I do know a mobile service agent who carries a spare board and has in the past given me great support with this product. Unfortunately he operates out of Stoke on Trent and I suspect you are in the Bedford area, so not much help.
colin Posted October 16, 2011 Author Posted October 16, 2011 phew it never rains but it pours! sat at bottom of garden with a kindle on 50ft of extension lead and one bar of gprs pute won`t connect to tinternet. battery is fine not sure how many miles ive done in last six weeks but got throu £220 of fuel and have solar. i`lll be checking conections tomorrow night. i think 12v switch on van control panel cuts power to truma if not i`l pull power lead. if all the sugestions above dont work has to back to dealer when he gets other spares in so will have to liive with it till then.
Brian Kirby Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 Colin, only a thought, and probably daft, but have you tried the Truma in all settings? That is to say, have you tried it in water heating only mode, space heating + water heating, space heating only, and also at both hot water temperatures. I wouldn't expect any difference, but wonder if changing the demand just may persuade it to perform differently. I suppose an alternative possibility is a failed solenoid gas valve, which would "look" like a gas failure to the Truma controls. Have you checked that all the wires to the valve are securely in place, just in case?
bolero boy Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 .........and does it work (or not) on EHU only and EHU/gas mixed power sources? Just a thought.
thebishbus Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 Hi. Reading your original post again, it does sound like a gas supply problem, or a faulty thermo - coupler, or themo - coupler connection. Brian B.
lennyhb Posted October 17, 2011 Posted October 17, 2011 Had exactly the same problem, then after driving the next day it would work normally, then a few months later fail again. I put it down to being an intermittent connection somewhere. I took off every plug checked connections were clean and made sure connections were fully home when re-connecting checked fuse was seated in clips removed PCD & checked for dry joints. Did not find anything wrong but since then it's not gone wrong (famous last words). I still have fears of it not working & fire it up a few days before going away & again just before leaving, don't fancy being stuck without heating as we hardly ever use hook-ups. So it may be worth checking the connections you may be lucky.
terryW Posted October 17, 2011 Posted October 17, 2011 In both my cases the fault started intermittent and after several months failed totally. In both cases Colin it was a new board. But keep trying. Just about to hit the road and leave this nice free wifi so good luck.
Guest peter Posted October 17, 2011 Posted October 17, 2011 Sounds loike the old truma regulator problem to me. We had same problem even though the hob worked o/k. The boiler has a quite high gas demand, so will show up a lack of pressure quite quickly.
Colin Leake Posted October 17, 2011 Posted October 17, 2011 You lot can think yourselves lucky I'm red green yellow colourblind so when our plays haven't got a clue what is going on. Having said that when it does I find that as a last resort it I turn the whole system off in our AutoTrail it seems to fix the problem. Form some reason itmseems to have been behaving itself lately.
colin Posted October 18, 2011 Author Posted October 18, 2011 Just got a few moments online. All conections have been removed and replaced to no effect, guess it's the pcb. I did note that the pcb has green and red leds. green stays illuminated, when it goes into failure red led flashes a sequence, this is 'short, short, long, short, long, long, long, short' which repeats I guess this is a code for the type of failure.
bolero boy Posted October 18, 2011 Posted October 18, 2011 We had 2 'morning hot water' failures on our last (4 weeks) trip away, both happened after using heating the previous evening (only the twice...............hmmm). Van going in soon but still spoke to Truma at the NEC and they confirmed that the 'morse' flashing PCB code can be interpretted by some! Rgds,
colin Posted October 18, 2011 Author Posted October 18, 2011 Yes our dealer has just phoned me, code shows as control panel fault and/or cable to control panel. I'll have another check of cable tonight, if still no joy might be able to divert past dealer as it's a "five minute job" to swap panel fron another van.
colin Posted October 18, 2011 Author Posted October 18, 2011 Sorted, both combi and home pute. Yes it was a poor connection, but not on combi unit but where cable plugs in back of control unit, same with pute! cleaned up the cat5 cable connection and I'm online again.
Dave Newell Posted October 19, 2011 Posted October 19, 2011 thebishbus - 2011-10-16 6:31 PM Hi. Reading your original post again, it does sound like a gas supply problem, or a faulty thermo - coupler, or themo - coupler connection. Brian B. I really don't like to pick people up on spellings but I feel I have to point out two errors in this comment. Firstly the device is called a thermocouple not a thermo-coupler. It is a simple device consisting of two dissimilar metals coupled together inside a protective casing, when heated the dissimilar metals produce a tiny electrical voltage which is transferred to a tiny solenoid valve on the back of the main gas valve to hold it open once the appliance is lit. Secondly the Combi does not have a thermocouple anyway. A flame is detected electronically by the resistance between the igniter tip and the burner (electrically earthed) drastically reducing due to ion flow in the flame. Once the flame is detected the electronics will switch off the igniter and hold open the gas valve. Apologies for being a pedant but sometimes the detail is important and there is little benefit to anyone in advising a faulty component when said component is not even used. D.
thebishbus Posted October 19, 2011 Posted October 19, 2011 Sorry about that Dave. I just thought that the symptoms sounded like thermocoupler problems.I presumed it would have one. :$ Brian B.
Brian Kirby Posted October 19, 2011 Posted October 19, 2011 thebishbus - 2011-10-19 8:51 AM Sorry about that Dave. I just thought that the symptoms sounded like thermocoupler problems.I presumed it would have one. :$ Brian B. With apologies, but can't resist! Blessed are the slow learners. :-D
vindiboy Posted October 19, 2011 Posted October 19, 2011 So back to my original post regarding low voltage.
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