Carver 3000S

[biggirafe]

Hi
Our Blown Air Heating won't light. I've been in touch with ARC SYSTEMS in Nottingham. Gary has asked me to send him the unit and he can referb it for about £130.

Does anyone know of Arc Systems? Are they good and is the a good price to have the unit serviced considering he thinks the Gas Valve Unit will need parts and a thorough going over?

A local Motorhome service centre has already looked at it and turned down working on it as its a 1994 unit.

Thanks in advance.
Mark n Nicole

 

[Deleted member 967]

Hi
Our Blown Air Heating won't light. I've been in touch with ARC SYSTEMS in Nottingham. Gary has asked me to send him the unit and he can referb it for about £130.

Does anyone know of Arc Systems? Are they good and is the a good price to have the unit serviced considering he thinks the Gas Valve Unit will need parts and a thorough going over?

A local Motorhome service centre has already looked at it and turned down working on it as its a 1994 unit.

Thanks in advance.
Mark n Nicole

That sounds very reasonable for a service. Brownhills spent hours sorting out our Truma blown air heater and then told us it was un-serviceable cost of labour £1000. Cost of replacement heater from Truma close on £1500 got same one from Wandahome near A1/M62 junction for just under £1000. Brownhills even suggested that we pay for the new heater to be put in where they had taken the old one out. They did eventually fit it at no further cost.

I have stripped the old S1800 type Carver heaters and the burner units usually burn the gauze into holes. Have you tried removing the little mica window (very careful - fragile) and lighting the fire manually by using a gas match into the hole? I found this worked where a cobweb was shorting the igniter to earth so stopping it sparking.

Broken or loose wires from the igniter could also prevent it firing up. Probably the flame failure device if it lights but wont stay on.

 

[biggirafe]

That sounds very reasonable for a service. Brownhills spent hours sorting out our Truma blown air heater and then told us it was un-serviceable cost of labour £1000. Cost of replacement heater from Truma close on £1500 got same one from Wandahome near A1/M62 junction for just under £1000. Brownhills even suggested that we pay for the new heater to be put in where they had taken the old one out. They did eventually fit it at no further cost.

I have stripped the old S1800 type Carver heaters and the burner units usually burn the gauze into holes. Have you tried removing the little mica window (very careful - fragile) and lighting the fire manually by using a gas match into the hole? I found this worked where a cobweb was shorting the igniter to earth so stopping it sparking.

Broken or loose wires from the igniter could also prevent it firing up. Probably the flame failure device if it lights but wont stay on.

Thanks John
Thats another Brownhills horror story I've heard. When we were looking for a van we went to our local brownhills to have a look see, the very high prices they were asking and the obvious poor state of some of the vehicles put us off very quickly.

I agree £130 seemed good, mind you that may well go up if he needs to replace lots bits which is why I was hoping someone had used them before. Too often I have sent things off and then recieved the call that they need to do 'xyz' at an extra cost and you are held to ransom. I really don't want to start messing with it. It all seems very fragile and rusted where it sticks out of the bottom of the van. Thats something I can't fathom, I understand it needs to come out of the bottom of the van to work but mine has absolutly no protection, does anyone know if there should be a protective cover /shield of any sort?

 

[Deleted member 967]

This site will give you an idea of the price of spares

Trumatic S3002 L P Gas Heater Spare Parts

The heater air intake vent is under the floor usually secured by very small nuts.

There will be the vent and then a plate also secured by small nuts. When these are removed the fire will lift into the van. Also the gas feedpipe will need to be turned off and disconnected.

A liberal spray of WD40 a couple of times with time to soak in will help before you attempt to take the unit out.

The chinmey vent may also go out underneath or up through the roof in which case that will need to be disconnected

 

[biggirafe]

This site will give you an idea of the price of spares

Trumatic S3002 L P Gas Heater Spare Parts

The heater air intake vent is under the floor usually secured by very small nuts.

There will be the vent and then a plate also secured by small nuts. When these are removed the fire will lift into the van. Also the gas feedpipe will need to be turned off and disconnected.

A liberal spray of WD40 a couple of times with time to soak in will help before you attempt to take the unit out.

The chinmey vent may also go out underneath or up through the roof in which case that will need to be disconnected

Thanks John
I've now got the unit out and on its way to Arc Systems, they are on the web. My wife called him this morning and reckons he is a really nice guy, really willing to help and provide loads of advice on the heater and motorhome / caravan heating in general. he will also send us a new seal for the exhaust / Chinney connection when he sends it back.

I'll let you know how we get on with getting the unit fixed. Its in a pretty bad state, I don't think its been properly serviced for many years. A lot of the nuts and screws holding the bits together are like you say rusted up, all it takes is someone to give it a once over once a year to ensure everything is clean and free from rust, it amazes me that the previous owners had a MH worth in excess of 25k yet they did not do some of the basics to protect their asset.