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 Topic: caravan heating help
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27/9/2010 at 1:34pm
Location: cawood north yorks
Outfit: Sterling Europa 545 caravan
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Joined: 24/6/2009 Standard Member
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hi we are relatively new to caravaning this is our first caravan and we purchased it new in june 2010 the caravan is a Sterling Europa 545.
we have used it just about every weekend we could but this weekend just gone is the first time we have needed heating, now this heating is doing my head in i just cannot understan what i am doing wrong ??????
we are hooked up to the mains
i turn the grey dial to 2000
i then turn the inner dial 1-9 to whatever we require (this determines the heat?)
on the main heater on the right hand side we have a dial with 3 setting, on the right we have a letter A is this automatic?
in the middle we have a square or circle cant remember (is this just for the base to heat grom on the right we have another symbol which put heat from the vents air blown) on the same knob there is a scale 1-5 fan power ? why oh why then does some times we have it really warm and sometimes it doesnt seem to hardly work help needed i have read the manuals which cover various models and may as well be in greek to us.also the left hand dial i believe is for gas operation?
ps i have made sure the switch for space heater is switched on in the consumer box
we cant understand why it doesnt warm up hot straight away
please help its getting colder by the weekend and we have weekends booked right up to middle of december
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rhinoatcas
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27/9/2010 at 7:00pm
Location: None Entered
Outfit: http: www.arcsystems.biz
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I have a feeling you have a problem with the room thermostat? this would explain your problem with the heating sometimes working and sometimes not?
Anyway, below is my overview of the Truma Ultrheat, how it should work and why it does not!
Se if this helps...
The Ultraheat’s wattage settings are there so you can make use of low amperage hookups, ideally 500W for 6A, 1000W for 10A and 2000W for 16A hookups, their not there to adjust the temperature of the van.
(You could of course use 6A for 1000W and 10A for 2000W, however you will be very limited on what else you can use at the same time, remembering to switch down or off while boiling a kettle can help get the best use out of low amperage hook up’s)
The Ultraheat is thermostatically controlled, therefore the wattage used will simply mean the fire is heating for shorter or longer periods. Where the problems arise then is if the temperature control is not working correctly, this is often due to the heat from the elements directly affecting the sensor itself,. The sensor is within the control switch, depending then where the switch is installed, this means the heat of the fire can bring the temperature sensor up to that set on the dial directly and the elements switch off, you and the van are still cold but the sensors toasty and takes forever to cool before switching the fire back on!!
A few common bad places to find the switch are in the side of the wardrobe above the fire or in a bed box where blown air pipes run, or perhaps even behind where the TV sits so the heat from the back of the TV or it’s transformer warms it up!
Due to this and particularly overnight, it's become something of an urban myth to set it at 500w or 1000w, this or that number on the dial and fan speed setting. In truth what's happening is the available heat is not capable of reaching the set temperature so never switches off, it's a useful work around but not how it should work.
The real solution is to fit a ‘remote’ temperature sensor and attach it to the gas fires sensor, if a remote is already fitted, it to will usually react better if moved to this location.
Setting the fan on manual speed means the fan runs at this speed regardless of the amount of heat being produced, I would suggest manual fan is only for use without heat for cooling in summer, if infact it has a use?!
Setting the fan to ‘A’utomatic allows the heat produced to control the fan speed ‘up’ to the speed set on the dial, you can then, keep this set maximum low and therefore quiet, overnight perhaps?
Automatic means the fan will run slowly initially and speed up as the air passing through gets warmer, doing it this way allows heat and fan to be switched on together and doing away with waiting xx minutes as often suggested.
I would suggest as a start and during the day, the wattage selected is as high as the hook up allows and then fan speed set to maximum on Automatic.
This provides the maximum heat if required and the fans speed will respond to change in temperature, ie, fast when heat cycle is on and slow when heat is off.
After that you can fine tune to suit your own needs
Other heating problems concern the control board, the elements are switched on and off by relays and the contacts burn out, particularly the two 1kw relays. If this happens you may think you have it set to 2kw but only one element is working, finally perhaps leaving you with just 500w working when both 2kw and1kw settings no longer work.
(Note, relays will still be heard to ‘click’ but unless you have heat, their not working)
The 12v for control also comes from this board and the transformer sometimes packs up, apart from no heat, you will lose the green light in the switch if this happens
Also if no heat is forth coming, there are two safety thermostats, one at least of these has a habit of self destruction which stops all heating on electric! If the lower 125C thermostat trips, it automatically resets when it cools. However, the 175C limit stat is a ‘self hold’ and cannot reset once tripped until the mains supply to the heater is switched off, once mains supply is off, it will then cool and reset automatically.
Finally, the mains isolation ‘fused switch spur’ can loose it’s connection through the built in fuse, the fuse is not the problem but the fuse holders connections that seem to be the problem
The main control switch itself seems generally reliable but the odd one does fail, the fan control switch when set to ‘A’ should make a positive connection and not switch on and off at the merest touch.
The numbers on the dial represent roughly 4degs and 9 is 32degs or thereabouts, this in theory makes 6 or 7 'normal' but it's what feels comfortable that matters not the number.
Other problems not caused by the heater itself are long runs of un-insulated blown air pipe running outside under the floor, insulating this will improve matters considerable.
The kitchen cabinet is often fitted over a wheel arch, much larger than required holes for clearance over the arch are used, the resultant draught, (gale more like!), coming from behind the fridge can be eliminated by sealing the gap on the fridge side of the centre cupboard, I simply used an old tea towel.
Blown air outlets blowing toward the fire upset the temperature control, adjusting these or even blocking off completely can actually improve overall heating.
Everything installed and working as it should, there is no good reason why the electric heating should not work very well and keep an even temperature to suit your needs.
However, it must be remembered the van needs to be warmed through thoroughly, (not just the air), before the heating is turned down. While the vans cold it will constantly drag heat from the air and this in turn needs constant topping up or the van will always feel ‘draughty’. It's most useful then while particularly cold to use gas as well for the first couple of hours, also, if the heating is off during the day to turn it back on at the first sign of a chill.
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