tonyfletcher Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Hi Generally speaking I believe that these heating systems do not have a 'Gas Fire'. Can they be used on Gas without the blown air facility on? Thanks Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I doubt it as the fan blows the heat through duct/piped system to deliver it in different areas of the van. it simply would not work otherwise. What is the problem, dont you like blown air systems? me neither would much rather have ALDE central heating........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyfletcher Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 Thanks for the reply, I feel that my blown air system in my bessacarr takes a lot out of the battery in cold months and as we use the vehicle all year round it can be a problem. The Autotrails have Gas fires but the vehicle I like is the Adria 647 A Class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I think all vans should have a second leisure battery at least? then if you stay on aires/wild camp for considerable time you should consider a solar panel. in all the years I have been at this we have never run out of battery power.......I would like to see the results of a poll on this.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Our 2011 AutoTrail has blown air system only so they seem to have droped the gas fire. The problem with the gas fires is that they were designed for caravan use and as such are still extensively used. Their weakness is that in transit they rattle like nails in a tin can. No problem in a caravan but very annoying in a motorhome. The wet system is good but heavy and expensive and don't forget that whilst it does not need power for a fan it does need it for the pump. On motorhomes built to be below the magic 3,500 Kg mark which is all some of us can drive it is very really used as it would reduce the load capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 the pump on a Alde 3000 is about as big as your thumb...cant imagine the current draw being of any concern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 tonyfletcher - 2012-01-19 1:29 PM Hi Generally speaking I believe that these heating systems do not have a 'Gas Fire'. Can they be used on Gas without the blown air facility on? Thanks Tony Truma "Combi" gas appliances heat water (when the blown-air function will not be operating) or heat air (when the blown-air function will be operating and water-heating is a by-product). Truma S-Series gas fires (as I'm sure you are aware) are basically convector heaters with a blown-air add-on. Operated in convection-only mode they use virtually no 12V power, but their output is limited to 3.4kW (and a separate appliance needs to be provided for water heating). The Combi 6 provides up to 6kW of heat output (which may be necessary for a large motorhome in very cold weather). It also makes life easier for motorhome designers /manufacturers. Consequently, 'fires' are rarely fitted to motorhomes nowaday, despite them being the "Thinking Motorcaravanner's Heater of Choice" for many people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesFrance Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 These combi units are not nearly so pleasant to live with as the original Carver/Truma heaters. They were brilliant for taking the chill off during the night when set to 1 or 2 and the outside temperature was below freezing. No need to even have the fan on so completely silent in operation. We now have something which wakes us every time it comes on, sounding like a jet engine starting up, so we hope for warm nights to get a decent sleep. Do the designers of these things never use them themselves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 JamesFrance - 2012-01-19 8:21 PM ...Do the designers of these things never use them themselves? I discussed this with a Truma(UK) representative a while ago. He contended that Truma reacted to demand rather than being proactive design-wise. Essentially, motorhome manufacturers demanded a heating appliance that was powerful, simple to install and didn't impact on the rest of the vehicle's design. Hence the rise and rise of the 'combination' air/water heater able to be shoehorned into any handy space in the vehicle - under a bed, beneath a seat, in the bottom of a wardrobe/kitchen-unit, etc. That such heaters are expensive, complex, noisy and hard on batteries (and hardly ever optimaly installed) are largely irrelevant factors - these appliances are not made for end-users' benefit, but to make life easy for the motorhome manufacturers. We both agreed that, if one were looking for a gas-fuelled heating systemr for adventurous motorcaravanning trips, a simple convector fire and separate water-boiler should be the first choice and a combi heater the last. There's a saying "People deserve the government they permit" and that's what's happened with combination air/water heaters. If motorcaravanners were reluctant to purchase motorhomes with these heaters and insisted on a 'caravan' system, then the convector fire + boiler arrangement might get resurrected. If not, then the combi will remain dominant, as will the need for big batteries/solar panels/Efoy fuel cells/generators to feed the thing's hunger for 12V power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryW Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 JamesFrance - 2012-01-19 8:21 PM These combi units are not nearly so pleasant to live with as the original Carver/Truma heaters. They were brilliant for taking the chill off during the night when set to 1 or 2 and the outside temperature was below freezing. No need to even have the fan on so completely silent in operation. We now have something which wakes us every time it comes on, sounding like a jet engine starting up, so we hope for warm nights to get a decent sleep. Do the designers of these things never use them themselves? This has been mentioned on the Forum before it appears that most of us find the unit to be very quiet but I have experienced some difference between units. So far I have had three the last two were in the silent category but the first sounded as you described. That one was an early model replaced by Truma because of another problem (free out of warranty I would add) and the replacement as I said was very quiet. The first two were in a PVC and under the bunk the third is in a Coach Built. With what I now know I would be inclined to investigate and excessively noisy unit and always insist on a PCB that is at least issue 12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 On the combo 6 you can get a total output of nearly 8Kw if you use the gas and eclectic option. We have only ever used it once and it sounded like Concord on take off but it certainly brought the temperature up quickly in a Rapido measuring only 6.5 M long! In our present motorhome we leave it on a low temp setting on either low or high electric power over night and it is very quite. I've never even tried it on gas yet but I rather suspect it would not be so quiet if I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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