Truma Ultraheat not working on electric???

Mike Brace
Mike Brace Forum Participant Posts: 41
edited November 2016 in Caravans #1

Soooo....we're currently staying away in the van and tonight is foreast to be -3 where we are but the electric heater appears to have packed in....any ideas?

The relay clicks when it's turned on and the panel has power as the green light is on but no heat. It wasn't working when we first arrived but then seemed to start working so I just assumed that I did something stupid. However, it is completely dead now.

Can get heating on gas fine but would prefer not to run the gas all night.

Thanks in advance

Comments

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2016 #2

    do you have a blown air heating supplementing the fire...?

    if so, you can run this off gas, gently in the background, better than the fire i would suggest....Happy 

  • Mike Brace
    Mike Brace Forum Participant Posts: 41
    edited November 2016 #3

    Yes I do and it does work better than electric but a few people mentioned about having the van ventilated? Seems pretty pointless if that were true I have to say but it stuck on my mind.

    The manual doesn't say about having to ventilate on running the gas heater (other than the flue which is fitted etc) so I assume this was nonsense.

    Still, it would be nice to understand why the electric isn't working

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2016 #4

    mike, many continental vans have gas-only systems (the electric 1800w 'E' part being an option....) so, in winter (and there are some very cold ones in central Europe) they will be keeping their gas fired blown air systems ticking over gently.

    similarly, when we camp away from an EHU, our heating can only be gas driven...

    as long as exhaust outlets are clear, as are any drop vents, running on gas would seem the natural thing to to.

    good luck with the fault finding, at least you have a work aroundHappy

  • Mike Brace
    Mike Brace Forum Participant Posts: 41
    edited November 2016 #5

    mike, many continental vans have gas-only systems (the electric 1800w 'E' part being an option....) so, in winter (and there are some very cold ones in central Europe) they will be keeping their gas fired blown air systems ticking over gently.

    similarly, when we camp away from an EHU, our heating can only be gas driven...

    as long as exhaust outlets are clear, as are any drop vents, running on gas would seem the natural thing to to.

    good luck with the fault finding, at least you have a 

    mike, many continental vans have gas-only systems (the electric 1800w 'E' part being an option....) so, in winter (and there are some very cold ones in central Europe) they will be keeping their gas fired blown air systems ticking over gently.

    similarly, when we camp away from an EHU, our heating can only be gas driven...

    as long as exhaust outlets are clear, as are any drop vents, running on gas would seem the natural thing to to.

    good luck with the fault finding, at least you have a work aroundHappy

    Thanks - mind put to ease :)

  • Bakers2
    Bakers2 Forum Participant Posts: 8,192 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2016 #6

    I'm certainly not qualified in any respect re the technical side of things but we had a similar problem on electric, intermittent for a bit and went completely. We have two heat sensors in the Truma casing. Was intermittent when one broke and dead when both
    died.  New heat sensors quite cheap I seem to remember - paid a man to solve buy and fit. . I hope you are happy to snuggle up under some warm bedding

  • Mike Brace
    Mike Brace Forum Participant Posts: 41
    edited November 2016 #7

    Fortunately the van is under warranty as we only picked it up in September so I guess I'm lucky that it's happened now and not when the warranty expires!

  • Boff
    Boff Forum Participant Posts: 1,742
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2016 #8

    From the point of view of the electrical operation I believe that the Truma relays can fail.  From the point of view of the gas operation The heater should be room sealed so all of the combustion takes place outside of the van therefore safe to run overnight
    if neccesary. 

  • Vicmallows
    Vicmallows Forum Participant Posts: 580
    500 Comments
    edited November 2016 #9

    The Ultraheat is notorious for failure of (one or more of the 3) relays on the control circuit board.  These fail in such a way that the relays still sound as if they are operating, but in fact the contacts have failed (often welded in one position). 

    The most common failure mode results in the heater ONLY working in the 500W position; you could try this. (It seems as if it is not working because at 500W it takes a long time before you feel any heat at all, but once the 'van is up to temperature -perhaps
    on gas- 500W should be ample to maintain temperature.)

    Replacing the relays is not difficult if you are competent at soldering, but if still under warranty get them to fit a NEW pcb!.

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2016 #10

    The electric elements of my Ultraheat system would initially switch on but fail to come back on after the thermostat had switched them off. My tame caravan tech replaced 2 thermisters (?) ... about the size of a 5p coin & Voila ..... a working heater on
    all settings Laughing

  • neveramsure
    neveramsure Forum Participant Posts: 712
    500 Comments
    edited November 2016 #11

    In the last few years I have repaired my and the brother in laws Truma Ultraheat.As stated above the relays on the circuit board are of poor quality and often burn out.In both cases I changed
    the pcb’s for ones with beefier relays from a supplier on ebay.
    As yours is still under warranty I would let them sort it for you.Wink

    Good luck. Smile

  • Kaycee125
    Kaycee125 Forum Participant Posts: 1
    edited April 2023 #12

    Hi, I realise this is an old post, but I wonder if you can point me in the right direction to repair my ultraheat controller

    Mine is doing just as you describe, it switches on and works for a short while but the slightest disturbance makes it click off.

    It does this on all 3 heat settings.

    At £95 for a new one, I am happy to have a go at a repair as I'm not bad with a soldering iron.

    Cheers Kevin.

  • eurortraveller
    eurortraveller Club Member Posts: 6,829 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2023 #13

    Good heavens, haven’t caravans become needlessly complicated. A fan heater from Amazon will do the job for not much more than £10.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,302 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2023 #14

    If it’s that cheap it will probably also do a good job of setting your van ablaze if knocked over.🤔