heating issues

[dancinginvertibrea]

ive got a 1995 ford herald templar. we've been having problems with the atwood mobile confort 3 heater. the pilot light wont start and we've had tthe guy out to look at it but he says he needs a wiring diagram. does anyone know where we can find this or a suplier of parts. i was trying to identify the model from the following picture.

[Derek Uzzell]

Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums

 

There were two versions of the Italian-made Atwood combination air/water heater - the Confort 3 (with an enamelled steel water-boiler) that should not be operated empty of water, and its successor the Comfort 3+ (with a stainless-steel water-boiler) that could safely be operated empty of water. The basic appliance had gas-only operation, but there was also a more sophisticated version that could heat water on 230V via heating elements fitted through the heater’s upper surface. I owned a 1996-built Herald Templar from 1998 through 2004 and this had been factory-fitted with a Confort 3+GEV (Gas, Electric, summer Ventilation).

 

The Confort 3 stopped being marketed in Europe in 2000 and Atwood’s European operations were subsumed by Truma. From then on there was no official European support for Atwood products, but you might try asking CAK Tanks for advice as they were Atwood distributors and held some spares for a while. I‘m doubtful that they’ll have a Confort 3 wiring diagram (In fact I’m not sure there was ever a Confort 3 wiring diagram) but you never know!

 

http://www.caktanks.com/

 

Another avenue you might explore is the Compass & Herald Motorhome Club

 

http://compassandheraldmotorhomeclub.weebly.com/

 

as if anyone can advise on the current position regarding spares/repairs of Confort 3 appliances, it’s likely to be that Club.

 

Perhaps I shouldn’t tell you this, but the Confort 3+ in my Herald never worked properly from the day I bought the motorhome and - as there was no Atwood support and the vehicle was under warranty - I removed the Atwood heater and had it replaced with a Truma equivalent that would fit in the below-wardrobe cupboard. It wasn’t unusual in those days to dump the Confort 3 in Heralds and fit a Truma heater instead. The Confort 3 seemed to have two states - it either worked well anf stayed reliable, or it didn’t and was a swine to trouble-shoot. I don’t think there was much wrong with my Confort 3, but its electrical components were generally acknowledged as ‘troublesome’ and nobody seemed to a) understand them and b) be able to repair them.

[Derek Uzzell]

This 2011 discussion

 

http://www.touringandtenting.com/forums/topic/42320-atwood-confort3-waterblown-air-heater-problem/

 

relates to the Atwood Confort 3 heater and Gary Connelly of Arc Systems, Nottingham is suggested as a contact if problems occur.

 

http://www.arcsystems.biz/

 

This webpage states that some Atwood Confort 3 spares are still held by CAK

 

http://leisurelines.net/atwood-spares-148-c.asp

 

A few UK caravan/motorhome manufacturers chose to fit the Confort 3 heater (Buccaneer, Autocruise, Murvi, Herald), but most used Carver/Truma products. Consequently motorhome dealers were generally unfamiliar with the Confort 3 even when Atwood was marketing it and are definitely unfamiliar with it now.

 

The January 1998 issue of MMM magazine included an article on retrofitting a Confort 3 heater into an Elddis Autostratus motorhome. I don’t think the article would help with your problem, but I could let you have a scanned copy if you wish. (If you would like this, send me a PM message with an email address to send the copy to.)

 

When my Herald Templar’s heater was playing up I had a long conversation with the UK's Atwood distributor who told me that the Confort 3’s electronics were split between the heater and its control-panel

 

http://tinyurl.com/h88goyr

 

and this complicated trouble-shooting. Unless the cause of an electrical problem were obvious and easily fixable, resolution meant replacing significant parts (eg. the control-panel and/or pcb) until the heater worked properly again. This wasn’t a cheap repair-method and wasn’t always straightforward to do.