Truma 4e Combi Boiler

[Tall_Mike]

Hi,

 

Wishing to seek the wisdom of the experienced here.

 

Background - We have the Truma 4e combi heating / hot water system with the classis control panel - Essentially 2 knobs - Power Selector and then 5 way temperature selector.

 

Our van (Sun Living) comes with a "restricted" boiler that will only run on Gas although I think we have the comfort pack which includes colour coded bumpers, - stitched leather seats and an upgrade to the heater to use both gas and electricity as necessary. - Not completely sure on this, but it works well, we have heating and hot water.

 

Problem: -

 

The very right hand knob has yellow flashing light, - 2 flashes, pause, 2 flashes, this happens consistently on any setting. - As far as I can tell, and it's not always apparent, - The boiler is working and we have hot water and heating. - But clearly it is trying to tell me it's unhappy about something.

 

I can attribute this problem to 2 possible causes (3 if we include a fault), - We changed from hookup to battery (I pulled out the power cable) - I believe it was all off at the time as we were planning to depart but beginning to doubt myself. -

 

Secondly prior to this my wife was having a shower and we ran out of fresh water, (ear ache time) - my fault for not putting in enough but I,m pretty new to the game and a little scared about the weight premium, like to drive with some on board but nothing close to full tank.

 

Presumably the boiler is built to cope with running of gas and or water (I would imagine both not uncommon occurrence's in a motorhome)?

 

The instructions that we have are not very clear as to what to do in these circumstances, -

 

I do think the thing is still working but would like to re-set the error so it stops flashing amber. - The book indicates that red is a "hard error" when there is a serious problem.

 

[colin]

On our non electric combi4 a yellow light is on constantly until water is up to temp

[Robinhood]

...I'm slightly confused by this.

 

You describe your Combi as a Combi 4E (which should be one with additional electric heating capability), but say it is "restricted" (only gas).

 

I could believe that you have a Combi 4 (gas only) but you describe two separate control panels which (at least historically, and AFAIK still the case) are fitted to the "E" versions only, allowing the selection of gas and/or electric heating. (Gas only units should only have what you have termed the "temperature sensor").

 

(I prefer to consider them to be the "input" and "output" knobs).

 

I think it is critical that you ascertain whether or not you have the full 4E fitted.

 

My concern is that, if you don't know this, and thus don't interpret the controls properly, it is both easy to get errors, and difficult to diagnose them.

 

As an example, if I select any heating source that includes electricity (4 out of the 5 settings), but am not hooked up, then I get a flashing amber light much as you describe.

 

Are you sure you know how to use the energy selector (input) settings? (If you are not on hook-up, then the "flame" setting is the only one that won't, eventually, give the flashing lights.

 

 

 

[Tall_Mike]

Hi,

 

Thanks

 

Essentially the Van "base model" comes with a Truma 4 boiler that only works on gas, ours is a budget van and they cut some strange corners - whether that is the "E" and it's restricted in some manner or without the "E" I am not sure, however our van got an upgrade to include a pack, - We have the "E" model boiler that does work on either gas or electricity.

 

It is confusing however I found a much earlier thread on here with a detailed explanation that I work with

so useful that I printed off a copy to put in the van. (with huge thanks to the kind soul who posted it.)

 

The blown air fan must always use electricity either hook or leisure battery and is a fairly heavy consumer

when off hook.

 

Dial A

 

A: 230V-power only - 1800W

B: 230V-power only - 900W

C: Gas-power only

D: 230V(900W) + gas

E: 230V(1800W) + gas

 

Dial B

 

F: Water heating only - Maximum water temperature = 60°C

G: Water heating only - Maximum water temperature = 40°C

H: Heater OFF

I: Blown-air heating + water heating to 40°C

J: Blown-air heating + water heating to 40°C

 

The inner dial on this knob (B) controls the temperature, - a green 1 to 5 displays, and we do see a solid yellow while it's heating, - works well but there is quite a time lag between changing a setting and feeling the results, although effective.

 

The flashing yellow appears when all settings of dial A are chosen, - correct or incorrect, and only stops (I think) when option H is selected on Dial B, -

 

I take care to use the appropriate setting, - I think C, D, or E should work off hook although C would be best. When on a Hookup, all settings of dial A might work even though some choices (A or B) are better and more economical than others,

 

The flashing yellow appears against all settings of A and continues indefinitely - correctly set or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Robinhood]

...I've just checked on the Sun Living "Comfort Pack" and this does include the Electric (4E) option.

 

My suspicion (unless there is a hard fault) is that you're not using the controls appropriately. (and you wouldn't be the first ;-) )

 

On the "input" (energy selection) switch, the settings are respectively:

 

1800W electric

900W electric

Gas only

Gas plus 900W electric

Gas plus 1800W electric

 

Thus, the only setting to be used when not on hook-up is the gas (flame) one, otherwise you get a flashing amber light denoting no mains availability.

 

AFAIR, if you set to a gas inclusive setting and no gas is available, you get a different, red warning light.

 

On the "output" switch (the one with the thermostat settings), the settings are respectively:

 

60 degrees water only

40 degrees water only

Off

Space heating (with unregulated water heating as a by-product)

60 degrees water heating with space heating.

 

Normally, flashing warning lights can be "nulled" by switching this switch to "off", resetting the input switch to the appropriate setting (and ensuring gas/hook-up are available as required), and then turning back on again at the desired output setting.

 

Sometimes a red light will flash for some time after turning off as the unit recycles itself, and if this happens, you should wait till it goes out.

 

The unit should cope (as above) with a lack of fuel by giving the appropriate warning.

 

Running out of water whilst water heating is not a good idea, as it may eventually cause a thermal "trip". It is quite acceptable to run the unit without water for space-heating only, but only on the "heating (with unregulated water)" setting.

 

HTH

[Robinhood]

..our posts crossed....

 

I can assure you that on mine, without hook-up the only (input) setting that doesn't cause a yellow flashing warning is the Gas Power only one.

 

Any of the other 4 (including the combined gas/electric settings) give the warning.

 

I would be inclined to do two checks:

 

a) with the gas on, gas selected as the input source, switch from "H" to the setting you've designated as "I" on the output dial. This should not show any flashing yellow lights - if it does, I think there is a fault.

 

b) if this doesn't show a fault - add a hook-up and select the 900W electric input. Switch from "H" to "I" as before, and check for flashing lights. If they appear, check the mcb (and or any separate main switch if any) for the Combi isn't "tripped". If all appears OK, then it looks like a fault.

 

 

[Tall_Mike]

Firstly thanks for the sound advice.

 

Our Van is parked back in it's store until the weekend after next when we are away again, the issues I am discussing happened this past weekend - Our next trip will be totally off hook, I will try out your suggestions - giving the boiler some time to settle after changing the controls, and advise.

 

It may yet be an error but time will tell - I found on net a whole load of truma "flash codes" with combinations of light flash and duration which may mean something to an expert in this area, although most seemed to consist of 4 flashes in various sequences.

[colin]

On our combi 4 the fault codes flash on the pcb, the control unit only gives limited info of faults

[Robinhood]

...right - though I had some older versions of the instructions, I've managed to find the very latest CPE ones, which give a much more comprehensive view of the "yellow" codes..

 

The two flashes can occur under a number of different circumstances (the lack of power when selecting electricity as the source is one, and as I say will be effective in four out of the five positions).

 

However it can also denote the thermal cut-out has been tripped, and I would assume this would be displayed in all input selections.

 

As from what you say you may have effectively run the boiler dry, this may be what has happened.

 

It will certainly be worth a check.

 

 

 

[lennyhb]

I accidently ran the hot water on our Combi 6 without any water in the boiler for several days with no adverse effects.

The blow air does NOT consume much power it's a myth that regularly comes up. On start up it takes about 5.5 amps but once the van is up to temperature normally around 20 - 30 min the fan drops to a very low speed and consumes less than an amp.

[Robinhood]

lennyhb - 2016-05-04 4:45 PM

 

I accidently ran the hot water on our Combi 6 without any water in the boiler for several days with no adverse effects.

 

...on gas or electricity? (the thermal protection is in the 230V circuit).

[gdf]

This sounds like a situation I've been in a number of times and I think it is to do with the position of the dials when I put the habitation power on and then try to use the heater.

 

What seems to put it right is to switch has power to OFF, turn the heater to OFF and fuel to gas. Now put has power on and check there is a working hookup connection, now set the output dial and finally the fuel dial.

 

Dave

[Derek Uzzell]

Tall_Mike - 2016-05-04 2:27 PM

 

....It is confusing however I found a much earlier thread on here with a detailed explanation that I work with

so useful that I printed off a copy to put in the van. (with huge thanks to the kind soul who posted it.)

 

The blown air fan must always use electricity either hook or leisure battery and is a fairly heavy consumer

when off hook.

 

Dial A

 

A: 230V-power only - 1800W

B: 230V-power only - 900W

C: Gas-power only

D: 230V(900W) + gas

E: 230V(1800W) + gas

 

Dial B

 

F: Water heating only - Maximum water temperature = 60°C

G: Water heating only - Maximum water temperature = 40°C

H: Heater OFF

I: Blown-air heating + water heating to 40°C

J: Blown-air heating + water heating to 40°C

 

 

I think you are referring to my posting of 11 January 2009 9:20 AM in this earlier forum thread

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/truma-combi-heater/14420/

 

However, you’ve misquoted the information relating to the ‘control panel’ (Dial B). This should read

 

 

The Control Panel also has 5 switch-settings. These are (top to bottom)

 

F: Water heating only - Maximum water temperature = 60°C

G: Water heating only - Maximum water temperature = 40°C

H: Heater OFF

I: Blown-air heating only.

J: Blown-air heating + water heating to 60°C

 

 

Gas + 230V “Combi” heaters (and the preceding C-6002EH appliance) can be a mite perplexing to new owners and their operation needs to be treated logically.

 

 

 

[lennyhb]

Robinhood - 2016-05-04 5:01 PM

 

lennyhb - 2016-05-04 4:45 PM

 

I accidently ran the hot water on our Combi 6 without any water in the boiler for several days with no adverse effects.

 

...on gas or electricity? (the thermal protection is in the 230V circuit).

 

Gas, it's a C6. The gas burner was cutting in & out didn't bother it.