Heating
Hi all, I have been busy reading stuff, watching You Tube videos etc, but would like some of your advice on using the heating in our Van.
We took some equipment over to it yeasterday and I put the heating on,(Truma) on mains hook up. all seems fine. questions are: do you set the stat, put the fan on auto and leave it on all the time when in the Van? do you have it on through the night?
Does anyone use it on Gas aswell?
Its all a learning curve for us as back in the early 80's all our Lunar Clubman had was a Gas fire and certainly no hot water or shower.
Thanks in advance.
Ian.
Comments
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When it’s cold I leave the heater on all the time, including through the night. I usually turn the thermostat down slightly if I’m going out for the day and again when going to bed. I never use the fan on auto, I’ve found it best to use it on manual on quite
a low speed, if its running fast it doesn’t seem as efficient in warming other areas of the caravan, particularly the end bathroom .I have only used the heater on gas two or three times and I have used it the same as I do when on an electric hook up.
Just try a few ways and find out what works best for you.
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Hi, I can only agree with Whittakerr, we use our van all year round and have tried all ways to use the heating to find out the best way for us, we usually end up using the heater its self and turn off the blown option, mainly used on electric hook up.
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Thanks both,
Can I assume it's also the norm to run the hot water on mains hook up all the time as well or is there any benefit to using gas to get things going quicker when pitching up?
Ian.
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I run the water heater just on electricity, it only takes about 20 – 30 minutes to get a tank full of hot water and these plenty to do when setting up so I’ve always got hot water by the time I need it.
Once the water heater is on, it stays on all the time until packing up.
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Not scaremongering, but if you use the blown air heating extensively, have the fan checked and serviced occasionally. Dust in the bearings can build up over the years and has been the cause of (thankfully rare) fires, Pembrey about 4 years ago for example.
It only takes a few minutes to take the cover off and clean the dust with a soft brush.
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I have the control set on gas and electricity mix 2. It is quicker to heat up that way and works far better. Do be aware though that on ours the electricity 2 setting can draw 9 amps. I found out the hard way on a site with a 10 amp supply.
I set the control at 18 when we are in in cold weather and turn it down to 8 or 10 at night and 15 when we go out. I am not convinced by the accuracy of the thermostat and often find we have to adjust it from time to time.
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I have the control set on gas and electricity mix 2. It is quicker to heat up that way and works far better. Do be aware though that on ours the electricity 2 setting can draw 9 amps. I found out the hard way on a site with a 10 amp supply.
I set the control at 18 when we are in in cold weather and turn it down to 8 or 10 at night and 15 when we go out. I am not convinced by the accuracy of the thermostat and often find we have to adjust it from time to time.
Write your comments here...Do you mean the 1Kw setting when you say 2 ? Mine is the old type with a switch for 500w 1000w and 2000w (as I understand it) that shoul only be about 4 amps ?
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As with all appliances designed to be used on different fuels, if you usually only use electricity for your heating, hor water and fridge, it is a good idea to run them on gas every so often.
Otherwise you may find that when you NEED to run them on gas, they will not work.
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I have the control set on gas and electricity mix 2. It is quicker to heat up that way and works far better. Do be aware though that on ours the electricity 2 setting can draw 9 amps. I found out the hard way on a site with a 10 amp supply.
I set the control at 18 when we are in in cold weather and turn it down to 8 or 10 at night and 15 when we go out. I am not convinced by the accuracy of the thermostat and often find we have to adjust it from time to time.
Write your comments here...Do you mean the 1Kw setting when you say 2 ? Mine is the old type with a switch for 500w 1000w and 2000w (as I understand it) that shoul only be about 4 amps ?
Write your comments here...2000w is around 8 amps
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Sorry, I should have phrased the question better. I was trying to say if 2 = 1000? ,that's about 4 Amps.
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As with all appliances designed to be used on different fuels, if you usually only use electricity for your heating, hor water and fridge, it is a good idea to run them on gas every so often.
Otherwise you may find that when you NEED to run them on gas, they will not work.
The CL we were on last weekend had a power cut so put heating on gas ok. Had a major job getting the external cowl off the fridge vent to put that on gas! Managed and it fired up but good idea to run it occasionally Kj.
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Going back to the original question.
Yes you can run on both gas and electric. The gas side is more powerful if you the Truma ultra heat system then 3kW gas and 2kW electric. If the van is very cold then makes sense to run on both as the fabric of the van absorbs a lot of heat to warm it up.
Most of our experience was on non-ehu but when we did use it on Ehu I found that the thermostat function was largely decorative. So I found the best think to do was to switch down fire to the 500w setting which keeps putting a low level of heating out throughout
the night. The best thing to do is use it a see what works for you.0 -
I am reluctant to run the heater during the night on gas, even though we have a CO detector. IF on EHU with a low amp rating I sometimes turn the heater off for a few minutes when cooking, The water heater, electric hob, battery charger, water pump, lighting and radio can all add up and it can be a pain if the power trips out, Cooking also helps to heat the van. Once cooking is over then heater back on, it's only the flick of a switch. That's why it is useful when arriving on site to ask how many amps the EHU has.
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We rarely use the fan on the heater but if we do, we have it on a low speed, not on 'Auto' because it can blow cold.
Most times though, we just have the heating on electric and no fan.
We put it on the highest setting (2kw I think) then adjust it on the thermostat.
In really cold weather, we leave it on all the time, but turn it down on the thermostat while we're out and while in bed.
The water heater we turn on when we arrive and turn off when we leave - leave it to the thermostat to turn off when required.
We don't use gas for heating or water heating and have never found it necessary.
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We caravan all year round on EHU sites, and have never, as yet, needed to run our heating on both gas and electric. In fact we very seldom have to run it on the 3kW setting. We also always switch it off whenever we run other electric appliances such as the
kettle or Micowave. Insulation in the van is so good that once warmed up we can do without the heating for a period, and alway switch the heating off before going to bed. Only in the extreme cold do we ever think of switching it back on during the night.0 -
I have the control set on gas and electricity mix 2. It is quicker to heat up that way and works far better. Do be aware though that on ours the electricity 2 setting can draw 9 amps. I found out the hard way on a site with a 10 amp supply.
I set the control at 18 when we are in in cold weather and turn it down to 8 or 10 at night and 15 when we go out. I am not convinced by the accuracy of the thermostat and often find we have to adjust it from time to time.
Write your comments here...Do you mean the 1Kw setting when you say 2 ? Mine is the old type with a switch for 500w 1000w and 2000w (as I understand it) that shoul only be about 4 amps ?
No sorry ours is a more modern version where you set everything using a screen. There are two levels for the electricity input one and two. The first allows you to draw up to 3 amps for the heating and water and the second up to 9 amps. I did not check
what the hook ups were on a commercial site and it turned out they were only 10 amps and blew the fuses.0 -
I have the same system as wildwood. Some readers might not appreciate that a couple of years ago the manufacturers changed over the type of heating systems being fitted, and after that vans no longer had an identifiable actual "heater". After that all heating was distributed by either warm air through vents or via radiators if the wet system was fitted.
TF
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certainly some UK MHs still have a 'heater', Autotrail, for instance....ive never seen such a device on any continental MH, but cant comment on continental caravans.
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certainly some UK MHs still have a 'heater', Autotrail, for instance....ive never seen such a device on any continental MH, but cant comment on continental caravans.
I think that the continental caravans still tend to have a gas fire as standard. Truma therm system springs to mind
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