Blown-air heating
Comments
-
Really? Judging by the reports of faults on this forum, I get the impression that vans are far from good these days.🙁
Agree with your first sentence though.
2 -
Ah, for ‘vans’ we should read ‘heating systems’. Thanks for clarifying👍🏻
1 -
You might have a different opinion if, like me you went from an excellent Truma system to a marginal at best, Whale blown air system. Which is also much much noisier than Truma.
Like the OP I had no previous experience of what was better so when we made our final choice on our new van we choose the Elddis dealer special based on it being 2 years newer than than the Swift Conqueror that we had seen and short listed, So I would strongly suggest that it would dictate what my next van has fitted.
I have asked our dealer if our heating system needs looking at and they assure me it's no different regarding performance and noise to any other identical van with that system.
0 -
We had an Elddiss but that was over 10 years ago, can't remember the heating as being noisy, I do remember the water pump however was noisy even when they changed it for a new one.
The same with the MH and the new caravan have water pumps noisy, embarrassing so at night time, all on board whale pumps I might add.
The Truma 6, I agree is hardly noticeable, I can even sleep with it on.
0 -
PeterR in my opinion the new caravan will not be as cosy as your current one with Also heating. I have had both a Truma blown air system in our first caravan - 2010 Lunar Quasar 556 and then Alde in a 2011 Lunar Delta Ti. The Alde system gave a much more even heat distribution from the floor to the ceiling, that was easier to control by setting the thermostat to our required temperature. Also the heat never felt as dry as the blown air. It is true that it takes longer to warm up, so, like others I had a fan heater to supplement the Alde system until it got up to speed.
2 -
we have a Combi 6E with the CP Plus control panel and its been very good, but is often regarded as a quirky unit, so its important to understand a little about how it works.
there are also some things to look out for regarding the Truma installation, as it's more critical to effective performance than with an Alde unit....keeping warm air warm over long pipe runs is much harder than keeping warm water warm.
whilst Truma goes to great lengths to produce the correct installation documentation, converters seem to go out of their way to create situations which hinder performance.
the unit needs to be deployed roughly in the middle of the van to ensure the heating pipes work equally....yet we often have units placed at the rear of 7m+ MH that leaves the cab cold....no surprise there.
similarly, the units need to be mounted east/west to ensure the gas exhaust is routed safely out at the nearest point and access to reset/fuses etc is not compromised....on one manufacturer forum following many issues it came to light they were mounted north/south and the on-unit controls (reset, etc) were hard up against the sidewall of the van with no access...one user had so many problems he had a hole cut in the side of his van to reach a fuse which kept blowing because of the unit's wrong location and subsequent overheating.
similarly, for vans with a single floor, like caravans, some thought is needed regarding the location of heating vents, being on the same side as the heater otherwise the pipes will have to cross the van, usually outside under the floor, not a good thing when a little planning could avoid it.
vans with double floors dont have this issue and the between floors pipework also produces a comfortable heated floor and keeps services like water tanks/pipes frost free.
the 'boost' setting on hot water or heating doesnt actually 'boost' it any more than the 'high'/'hot' settings, it merely closes down the other service to maximise that selected....more a priority setting.
the ability to set fan speed (with the CP plus) is probably the biggest useful change from older systems that rely on the fan running in proportion to heat generated....low heats could only ever produce low fan speeds....hence the apparent 'jet engine' sound when someone chose gas for the first time.
now, low heat power settings (900 watt when on low amp sites) can be made to 'go further' with a higher fan speed.
combi 4 and 6 both have the same electrical output (900/1800w) but the 6kw gas output is very powerful but can also be controlled...depending on the difference between the current temperature and the selected temperature, the unit will use 2/4/6kw in order to comply...the higher the difference the more power will be used.
a little understanding and a good, sensible, install will go a long way to allowing the unit to do what its designed for, a poor one may result in some teeth gnashing.
good luck.
1
happy to help.
