Heating your van and water in winter?

All warm and toasty in here now. I decided to drop the Truma down to 20c and eco and deploy the 2kw convector heater as well. I think the Truma is hardly on now. Just keeping the bathroom warm. We did notice condensation in the cupboards so left them all open when we went out to stabilise / balance them. All seems good.

Will give the swings a miss. I fell off one last time.
 
We have the Truma combi and just use it as you would a domestic unit and it's been great . I have only had to replace the pcb, heating elements, weld the boiler, data cable, small fan , vac valve and balanced flue pipe and every one of those has been a separate breakdown and not one thing taking out another . Triggers broom springs to mind. I would like to think it should be OK for a while, not holding my breath though.
 
Fazerloz said:
We have the Truma combi and just use it as you would a domestic unit and it's been great . I have only had to replace the pcb, heating elements, weld the boiler, data cable, small fan , vac valve and balanced flue pipe and every one of those has been a separate breakdown and not one thing taking out another . Triggers broom springs to mind. I would like to think it should be OK for a while, not holding my breath though.
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That don't sound good. Or cheap!
 
I've been lucky with the heating, touch wood, the only one to give me any trouble was a used E4000 I bought off ebay.de for the self build, I wanted a good one as I had no idea how cold the van would be, when it worked it was brilliant, but I had it down to Truma in Derby three times and they couldn't fix it, so they put a new PCB in it and it worked okay after that.

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Truma E4000 blown air heater not working

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Sounds like its luck of the draw then really. As its panning out on this trip its pretty much getting used most of the time over the convector heater. Its just so much better. It hardly gets used over summer of course which is when we do most of our long term trips.
 
All a pack of wooses, no heating in my van, next you will be wanting blankets. 😂
Fact is there is a diesel heater but it has never worked, must take a look at it sometime or replace with a chinese one.
 
exwindsurfer said:
Just leave the bathroom door open Barry and the heat will warm that as well
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We must be posh, Jeff, 'cos our heating pipes have a foot level vent under the sink unit in the bathroom, and a hip level into the shower compartment :ROFLMAO:. The shower compartment vent is great for drying the silver external screen cover ready for the next night's condensation ... :ROFLMAO:

Steve
 
trevskoda said:
All a pack of wooses, no heating in my van, next you will be wanting blankets. 😂
Fact is there is a diesel heater but it has never worked, must take a look at it sometime or replace with a chinese one.
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How the hell do you go away in a van in a UK winter without heating Trev?

I've been to hot most evenings. Sat in a T shirt because Michelle has it set at 23c most of the time except overnight. Will be interesting to see how it copes when it gets much colder. Perfectly I would think
 
marchie said:
We must be posh, Jeff, 'cos our heating pipes have a foot level vent under the sink unit in the bathroom, and a hip level into the shower compartment :ROFLMAO:. The shower compartment vent is great for drying the silver external screen cover ready for the next night's condensation ... :ROFLMAO:

Steve
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Same on ours. The bathroom is like a sauna. Its partly why we elected to mainly use the Truma as it was intended as Michelle didn't fancy leaving the door open and its just better with the proper heating. Makes showering or using the loo so much nicer.
 
marchie said:
We must be posh, Jeff, 'cos our heating pipes have a foot level vent under the sink unit in the bathroom, and a hip level into the shower compartment :ROFLMAO:. The shower compartment vent is great for drying the silver external screen cover ready for the next night's condensation ... :ROFLMAO:

Steve
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I could easily put a heater vent Steve but no need .
 
barryd said:
Sounds like its luck of the draw then really. As its panning out on this trip its pretty much getting used most of the time over the convector heater. Its just so much better. It hardly gets used over summer of course which is when we do most of our long term trips.
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I always run the Trauma for an hour every time we go away at some point just to keep it going, there is usually at least one night when it is cool enough, never use the blower in anger just check it works.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
I always run the Trauma for an hour every time we go away at some point just to keep it going, there is usually at least one night when it is cool enough, never use the blower in anger just check it works.
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You don't get a choice with the blower on ours. Its either eco which is enough to maintain temperature or high which is faster but annoying as its a bit loud. It heats up much faster on gas of course but I have only ever used it on gas a couple of times. We ended up with a drip from one of the lockers above the front dinette on gas though as I think it heats up so much faster it causes condensation.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Openthe heki to its lowest posistion and it should be fine, it could also be cooking and kettling to blame and maybe someone talks too much :D :D
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Never thought of opening a roof light. Good idea. Will try it next time we have the heating on gas.
 
barryd said:
I love my new van and tomorrow will be the first winter trip. We were away all summer in it right into November and in the back end we were on hookup all the time as we will be over Christmas and New Year (I know not very well ard wild camper stuff but there you go).

So all through October and November I pretty much had the water set at 40 degrees all the time and the Truma blown air heating on most of the time. Generally on a low setting on eco when we were out. I suspect it will be the same over Christmas and New year but I did start wondering with us spending so much time away in it if the Truma units were designed for constant use. Would it make sense perhaps to just use a convector heater for space heating? We carry one anyway and a fan heater back up just in case. My thinking is you can replace a convector heater for twenty quid but I bet the Truma system will be a heck of a lot more if it fails. Just interested in peoples thoughts.
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Truma will heat water when on heat only setting thus if u have hard water in it there will be furring of the exchanger. Truma say defurr using vinegar, but dear old rapido boxed in my truma so no access, none, otherwise drain the unit and close the drain, remove top water hose and feed vinegar/ vinegar mix in, reconnect, heat cool, drain, flush, result! Unless somene knows better than me?
If on short UK trips we take 180L of softened water from home which depending on the weathet can last us 12-14 days using uber water saving measures, including two small washing up bowls, the rinsing one kept for washing up next time and so on.
Our shower head has an on off trigger on it - bril.
 
JQB said:
Truma will heat water when on heat only setting thus if u have hard water in it there will be furring of the exchanger. Truma say defurr using vinegar, but dear old rapido boxed in my truma so no access, none, otherwise drain the unit and close the drain, remove top water hose and feed vinegar/ vinegar mix in, reconnect, heat cool, drain, flush, result! Unless somene knows better than me?
If on short UK trips we take 180L of softened water from home which depending on the weathet can last us 12-14 days using uber water saving measures, including two small washing up bowls, the rinsing one kept for washing up next time and so on.
Our shower head has an on off trigger on it - bril.
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I suppose if you have a lot of time on your hands you could do it that way but:-


Dilute 2 litres of white wine vinegar into 10/12 litres of fresh water, introduce into your water system via your water inlet, (removing the filter if one is fitted for this process) open the taps to pull through to the heater and then leave the solution in the heater for 4 to 5 hours and then flush through with fresh water a couple of time s to reduce an possible taste then refill.
 
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How many of you leave the water on 40c or 60c constantly when on hookup? So far it's been on all the time on 40c. With the odd boost to 60 although it's boiling hot at 40c with the heating on most of the time. I wonder which is the most likely to cause wear. Leaving it on always or letting it cool and only putting it on for showers. I tend to boil a kettle for washing up.
 
barryd said:
How the hell do you go away in a van in a UK winter without heating Trev?

I've been to hot most evenings. Sat in a T shirt because Michelle has it set at 23c most of the time except overnight. Will be interesting to see how it copes when it gets much colder. Perfectly I would think
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Its the viking in me.
 
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