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Subject Topic: Truma ultraheat blown air Post Reply Post New Topic
19/3/2013 at 4:20am
 Location: England
 Outfit: Elddis crusader superstorm
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Hi everybody looking for some advice regarding my truma ultraheat.
I own a 2008 elddis superstorm and when using the fire in convector mode it is lovely and warm. However when I switch to blown air heating the blown air is cool at best.
Does this sound like a problem with the fire or is it just a poor heating system.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks


19/3/2013 at 7:33am
 Location: Scotland
 Outfit: Coachman Highlander (Amara)
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Interested in the answer to this as well.


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19/3/2013 at 8:26am
 Location: Gloucestershie
 Outfit:  Fiat Ducato campervan
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It is best to get the fire hot first then put the blower on and the air will be warmer my caravan was nice warm last week at -2c outside and 20c in van


19/3/2013 at 8:26am
 Location: Walsall
 Outfit: Unicorn Barcelona 2 & Kia Sorento
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When you turn the air blower on it is necessary to increase the heat setting, usually by 3 or 4 markers. The blown air never really feels warm but if you leave it running the caravan will warm up. Remember the first heat will go into the pipe work. Finally the balance throughout the caravan will need to be balanced with the butterfly valve on the vent outlets. (Usually to send heat to washroom)

-------------
Regards

Steve




19/3/2013 at 9:09am
 Location: None Entered
 Outfit: Coachman Pastiche
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The ducts usually run underneath the caravan at least part of the way, so a lot of heat must be lost outside. I rarely use ours as it warms up much quicker without it.


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19/3/2013 at 9:33am
 Location: Lichfield
 Outfit: Coachman Amara 450
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This question has popped up before and I must admit that even I didn't understand how it worked either. Depending on the year of caravan depends on what switches you have installed but the principal is exactly the same. There is a switch with 500 / 1000 / 2000 and I was told that it depends on the site's electric hook up supply as to where to set this switch. If the supply is 16 amp you set it to the higher setting, 10 amp on the middle setting and anything lower on the lowest setting. I have provided a link which may help so if you play the video it gives you a better idea of how the system operates.

http://www.practicalcaravan.com/advice/how-use-truma-caravan-heater



19/3/2013 at 5:40pm
 Location: Walsall
 Outfit: Unicorn Barcelona 2 & Kia Sorento
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Always works better on gas

-------------
Regards

Steve




19/3/2013 at 8:30pm
 Location: Aberdeen
 Outfit: Coachman Pastiche 460 VW Tiguan Moti
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Not a problem, the book says blown air works with the gas fire on. when on electric the fan acts to cool down the electric elements hence after a while all you get is cool air at best.

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Robert (BoB)


19/3/2013 at 8:41pm
 Location: DURHAM
 Outfit: Mondeo TItanium 140 Avondale Mayfly 25
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Dont know what the problem is but my older van blown air works very well on EHU or gas, mostly use it on EHU [after all I`m paying for it] high and low heat elements and vairiable control on both. Wife`s always saying to me can I turn it down it`s too hot in here, toilet/ shower is like a sauna


19/3/2013 at 9:37pm
 Location: None Entered
 Outfit: http: www.arcsystems.biz
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My thoughts are these;

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 which switch the power to the elements off if things to hot. The lower one set at 125C will automatically reset after cooling, the higher 175C stat will hold itself off until power is removed, you must then switch off the mains supply to the heater and then it will reset automatically after a few minutes when power can be restored.
The lower 125C stat can fail when hot but well before it’s set temperature, this will mimic a relay fault and the heating switch off before the set temperature on the dial is reached. However checking the stat for continuity when cold will show a perfect reading, only way to be sure is to change it.

Note; if either thermostat is faulty it won't be able to reset, if faulty it can sometimes show itself by the vans main RCD tripping, but not always.

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 heavy draught coming from behind the fridge can be eliminated by simply sealing the gap on the fridge side of the centre
cupboard.
Any draughts coming from the front of the fridge should also be eliminated.
Fix bed models very often have large floor vents under the bed, these are only useful in storgage and are easily block with a towel while the vans in use,

It’s also known for blown air outlets to blow toward the fire and this will upset the temperature control, adjusting these to blow away 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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19/3/2013 at 10:43pm
 Location: North Lincolnshire
 Outfit: Bailey Pegasus Bologna Volvo XC90
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When we are away in really cold temps, I sometimes close the air vent in the bathroom which then sends more heat to the rear of the van. I agree that the blown air doesn't feel that warm but I find it effectively warms the van when left on.


20/3/2013 at 12:34am
 Location: England
 Outfit: Elddis crusader superstorm
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Hi
Would just like to say thanks to everybody who has taken the time and effort to reply to my topic.
Some of your answers have really provided food for thought and I'm going to check a few things out this weekend such as warming the van etc before switching to blown air amongst other ideas suggested.
My previous van was fitted with a carver fanmaster 5500 which when switched to blown air heating had the van red hot in a matter of minutes.
It is because of this that I raised the issue on here.
Thanks again for all your help and advice.


20/3/2013 at 9:45am
 Location: Lancashire
 Outfit: Caravan now Sold
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hi tell us how you get on.

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the only silly question is the one you do not ask.



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