Boiler Help

[moorey56]

Hi All

 

After a bit of winter help!!! I have emptied our water tank and was going to empty the boiler this weekend but I think it has already automatically emptied due to the temperature dropping recently.

 

I am hoping to go away for New Years Eve and wondered if I fill up my water tank will the boiler also fill up automatically when I turn it on or do I need to do something special. It is a trauma heating system.

 

Many thanks

[Brock]

If you do not have a Truma manual, I suggest you go on line to Truma and get them for your boiler. If you cannot find the instructions, let us know what year and model you have. It's also useful telling us the make/model and year of your van.

 

https://www.truma.com/uk/en/heating/downloads.php

 

As a general rule, you have to ensure the temperature of the van is over the temperature at which the frost valve operates before using the hot water boiler. Once you get the temperature up, you can close the frost valve. Then you can switch on the power for the water pump [probably the one for the van overall] before opening the hot water tap which will draw water into the boiler. Keep the tap open until the water pours out without spluttering.

 

Assuming your boiler draws water from the fresh water tank, make sure the water tank has more water in it than the capacity of your boiler. You will need to allow for some draining away as you pressurise the water system by turning on the tap.

 

I strongly recommend you follow the Truma instructions fro draining the boiler and not rely on the frost valve.

 

You can heat the van using the Truma without heating the water.

 

[Mike B.]

On mine I close the auto valve and it fills up automatically when I switch power on to taps. If the button doesn't stay up then overall van temp is below 5deg and will have to be walmed up.

Then just bleed the taps, starting with shower, washbasin, sink to take air out of sytem-boiler will then replace the water used to bleed it.

Mike

[pepe63xnotuse]

Mike B. - 2015-11-27 1:39 PM

 

..If the button doesn't stay up then overall van temp is below 5deg and will have to be walmed up.

 

If it's that "plunger" type, if it was cold enough to dump it, but not cold enough to freeze, then I used to retain ours up/closed with an "R" clip....

(Prior to using the clip, we had ours "dump" whilst travelling on one occasion..)

[Derek Uzzell]

It would be helpful to know the motorhome’s make/model/year as (if the type of Truma heating system is unknown) that information could provide a useful clue.

 

If the heater is a Trumatic C-Series unit (produced in various incarnations from 1994 to mid-2007) and it is wished to fill the motorhome’s water system when the temperature within the vehicle prevents an electrically-operated safety-drain valve from being closed, as soon as the heater is switched on it will be possible to close the valve.

 

In order to allow the electrical safety/drain-valve to be closed there’s no need to run the heater until the temperature in the motorhome has been increased. However if you don’t run the heater for a while - and it is cold enough inside the vehicle - the drain-valve will open automatically as soon as the heater is switched off!

 

Lots of motorcaravanners follow pepe63’s practice and use a ‘clip’ of some sort to stop the valve opening spontaneously (I always did this) but obviously this ploy will prevent the valve from providing anti-frost protection.

 

The Truma “Combi” heaters that succeeded the C-Series models have a different non-electrical drain-valve that is much more difficult to ‘jam’ closed. An electric heater for that valve is an option to assist water-system filling during cold weather.

 

This is the water-system ‘bleedIng’ procedure I use:

 

1. Ensure all water drain valves are closed.

2. Fill fresh-water tank.

3. Make sure all taps are closed.

4. Place shower hand-set in deep bucket.

5. Open shower hot tap fully and switch on water-pump.

6. When water emerges smoothly from shower hand-set the boiler will be full.

7. Close shower hot tap and vent air from the other taps one by one, using bucket to avoid water splashing.

 

This method seems to work equally well for Truma C-Series and Combi heaters and when the water-pump is the diaphragm type.

[ken the kontiki]

Our 2008 Truma C6002EH has a manual drain valve, never had the electric type fitted.

 

Easy to swap to the mechanical type, here's an example http://www.caravanparts.co.uk/3339-truma-safety-drain-valve-p-2343.html

[Derek Uzzell]

The electrically-operated safety/drain valve was a ‘cost option’ for Trumatic C-Series heaters. Fitting the manually-operated safety-drain valve would save a motorhome manufacturer some money and would simplify the electrical wiring, but most manufacturers fitting C-Series heaters also chose to fit the electric version that provided the frost protection that the manual valve lacked.

 

How easy it would be to swap an electrically-operated valve for a manual equivalent would largely depend on the original valve’s accessibility (and some valves definitely ain’t that easy to get at!) but, as it’s not difficult to jam an electrically-operated valve closed, there’s no obvious incentive to replace an electric valve with a manual valve unless an electric valve becomes faulty.

 

The electric drain valve is no longer manufactured, having been superseded by Truma’s non-electrical “Frost Control” equivalent. The latter valve is not specific to Truma ‘combination’ heaters and can be used to provide frost protection for alternative appliances. It could be replaced by a simple manually-operated drain valve but, once again, the frost protection capability would be lost.