# Truma 3200 Heater repair



## Teutone

*WARNING: *Do not work on a gas appliances if you are not confident about this sort of work. Getting things wrong with gas can result in DEATH. I am just a DIY mechanic and provide these pictures for your entertainment only. Not meant to be a guideline or proper repair instructions.

When we bought the Motorhome in 2011 the seller assured us that "everything works" but experience has teached me not to rely on these statements. We bought for a good price and I wasn't too bothered about the appliances. I had loads of old caravans (for motorsport) and a few makeshift motorhomes in the past and knew that "mobile" stuff can be quite troublesome because a lot of owners are not paying the needed amount of attention (and care!) to keep these in working order. They just look at it like at a home appliance and believe they are as undestructable as these.
On first closer inspection I found 3 problems:

-- water boiler NOT working at all
-- hot air heating NOT working at all
-- Gas heater a bit temperamental

Water boiler was sorted in 10 mins. The plug of the control unit had jumped of the circuit board because there was no means of keeping it there.
Zipties cost 0.01pence  when bought inbulk....

I will jump a few steps and go right to the job. Sorting the randomly firing heater.
( last year I have replace the Thermocouple already but that didn't solve the problem)

Heater with cover removed






Next remove the "igniter box" Just pull it forward.





Take out the "Adjuster Rod" (I just make these names up, no idea what they are called from Truma)
Just pull it upwards, it's not held by any clips or screws.
This Rod is a good example of how people threat these items. Because of the heater was working a bit ramdom sometimes somebody must have used a lot of force to convince the heater to work. The rod was bend and twisted so fat that the knob in the dial was all over the place.





This is the "adjuster valve" where the rod is sitting in.





The heater is held at the bottom flange with 5 screws (into wood in my case) Remove these.
To get to the right hand screws you need to unclip a small copper cylinder sitting at the right hand side.
CAREFUL here, it's connected to the heater with a thing copper wire and if you sanp that off your heater is scrap.
It takes a fair amount of abuse but I wanted to point this out just in case.





Now the "flue pipe" needs to come off. Undo the screw with a cross head screw driver almost all the way out of the bracket.





turn the "retaining ring" about a quarter anti clockwise to release it





the pipe can now be pulled out. the orange bit is the gasket. This is the moment to INSPECT the gasket and see if it's not brittle or bit missing.
This gasket prevents the exhaust gases from entering your living area, so keep an eye on it.





Pipe fully pulled out. *BEWARE:* the end of the pipe is *SHARP*. Do cut yourself.





Next I am going to remove the "gas supply pipe". I held the smaller middle hex with a spanner and remove the right hand collar nut with another





Now the heater can be lifter out. *BEWARE: *There are some bits sticking out of the bottom flange (see next picture). Make sure you don't drag the heater too much over the edge of the cutout on the floor to not damage the "thermocouple wire" which may be brittle because of age.





Screw driver points to the thermocoupel wire I mentioned above. Mine looks so nice and shiny because it's new. Replaced it at a previous attempt to cure the heater woes.





Now comes the real repair. I needed to remove the bottom cover which give accress to the "burner chamber". Just hel by a clip.
Lift clip off with flat blade screw driver





this bracket can now be lifted off and swiveled away





the camber can be "hinged" off, not the two little hooks at the right hand bottom corner of the chamber lid




there is a little mesh falling out. Don't panic, it's not boken :banana:





Now you can see what is causing my heater to fire up randomly. The wire of the "igniter" has a fire resistant heat shielding
which as you can see is brittle and broken at a few places. This will allow the electricity generating the spark
at the electrode next to the burner to escape and just fire wherever it can find ground!
(that's the same thingie as seen on your gas hob at home where the little spark jumps the flame into life)





picture showing the thermocouple I have fitted (where my finger points)





Now you can either buy the whole igniter from Truma or if you are tight fisted like me, you just buy a tiny amount of heat sleeve insualtion
for pennies and just resleeve the cable from the plugs end. You don't need to take the igniter out! Just feed it from the plugs end over the cable till it reaches the igniter





another shot for good measure





Now re-assemble in reverse order :wave: Heater fired up at first attempt

*WARNING: *strictly speaking you need to fit a new "olive" every time you open up a gas fitting. Just wanted to point this out.
Use leak detection spray BEFORE you fire up the heater.

Do not get lazy with these things, if something seems wrong DO NOT USE a gas appliance.


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## Teutone

next problem to solve was the fan blower motor of the hot air heating.

when investigating this the first time I took the motor out and found a burnt tack on the PCB. I replace the track with a thin wire.
*BEWARE:* don't use a nice thick wire, the track was designed in the first place the be sufficient enough to carry enought current to operate the fan motor. That is has burnt was down to overload, for whatever reasons. Is you make the wire too thick, something else may blow.

Picture of the repaired PCB. Can you spot the wire?





Speaking to a TRUMA guy on the Motorhome show at NEC last year, I was sure what caused the track to burn out. The fan blower motor was 
worn out and required more power to keep going. Either the bearings or the brushes worn down. Listen to your fan blower, mine made some minor squeeling noises when you switched it off. 

So I bought a new fan blower motor. Decided to buy the whole assembly with the fan. From previous experience I know how imbalanced old 
fanblades can get through dirt deposits and I didn't want to put an old wheel on a new motor.

there it is, sixty quid ish





The fan blower is mounted behind the heater. when I took it out first time, I dismantled EVERYTHING, took the whole heater out and all the shrouds just to find that the clever people at TRUMA has added some slot holes which makes it possible to to take the fan out ON IT'S OWN by just loosening three screws and "turning" it off the screws. :mad1:

that where the fan blower is





that's one of the lugs the motorhousing sits on. see the slot? That's how you get it out without taking half of your interior apart 





cut a long story short, I have opened the housing, replaced the motor and all is working very well. The new motor blows much stronger than the one I took out. 

Very pleased to say the least


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## kimbowbill

Very good post, thank you for this


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## Jaspervan

*Thanks Teutone!*

VERY useful post...thanks for this. Although there are minor variations between your Truma heater and mine, (i.e. the bottom jet cover is secured by wing-nuts rather than a spring-clip), the basics across the range are very similar. There is one thing I would like to stress. Following your very helpful pictures, I would like to point out that it is very easy to locate the burner locating lugs in the cutouts of the cover incorrectly. If you do this the system will not fire up.
Once again, many thanks for your time and efforts in posting.

Jaspervan.


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## Debs

Teutone said:


> next problem to solve was the fan blower motor of the hot air heating.
> 
> when investigating this the first time I took the motor out and found a burnt tack on the PCB. I replace the track with a thin wire.
> *BEWARE:* don't use a nice thick wire, the track was designed in the first place the be sufficient enough to carry enought current to operate the fan motor. That is has burnt was down to overload, for whatever reasons. Is you make the wire too thick, something else may blow.
> 
> Picture of the repaired PCB. Can you spot the wire?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking to a TRUMA guy on the Motorhome show at NEC last year, I was sure what caused the track to burn out. The fan blower motor was
> worn out and required more power to keep going. Either the bearings or the brushes worn down. Listen to your fan blower, mine made some minor squeeling noises when you switched it off.
> 
> So I bought a new fan blower motor. Decided to buy the whole assembly with the fan. From previous experience I know how imbalanced old
> fanblades can get through dirt deposits and I didn't want to put an old wheel on a new motor.
> 
> there it is, sixty quid ish
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The fan blower is mounted behind the heater. when I took it out first time, I dismantled EVERYTHING, took the whole heater out and all the shrouds just to find that the clever people at TRUMA has added some slot holes which makes it possible to to take the fan out ON IT'S OWN by just loosening three screws and "turning" it off the screws. :mad1:
> 
> that where the fan blower is
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> that's one of the lugs the motorhousing sits on. see the slot? That's how you get it out without taking half of your interior apart
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> cut a long story short, I have opened the housing, replaced the motor and all is working very well. The new motor blows much stronger than the one I took out.
> 
> Very pleased to say the least



I serviced my heater, which is the same one, last year but without the blower, and I have Piezo ignition. Thanks for brilliant presentation, these heaters are brilliant. :hammer::bow:


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## schojac

*Many thanks*

Same has happened to mine. Many thanks for detailed info, will post addition when i have repaired.


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