Truma Combi 6E
I am restoring an old caravan with a 21’ body and am trying to decide on the heating system to install. I have owned vans with the old Truma blown air that worked to a fashion and the Alde system which works well. My dilemma is the Alde system is twice the price of the new Truma system which would also be easier to install but is it any good? I believe the Truma system is fitted to some of the new Baileys, what are people’s experience please?
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We have a caravan with the new Truma 6E combi fitted. IMO it is far better than the previous Truma 4 which we had in our MH.
The ability to set the heat by temperature degrees, you can have it set to 1kw or 2 kw, the fan can be set to eco or high which is great when you first set up as it heat s the van so much quicker.
The same with the water temperature either eco or high, only put it on high if we are going to be showering then back to eco for normal use.
The control panel is so much easier to operate as well.
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The Truma 6e is fitted to a lot of caravans and motorhomes. We have one and, despite initial misgivings due to not having the fire, we’ve found it works far better than expected and we're happy with it.
The only problem we experienced was due to poor connection of the water pipes - a build issue. I have read of problems with the Sargent controls but can’t recall hearing anything derogatory about the 6e itself. Much will depend on the installation of the heater vents, both in position and quantity of them, and on positioning the thermostat but that would apply to any system.
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We have this system in our Knaus caravan and it works fine. It is very easy to set the controls, and has been trouble free so far, and the van is nearly two years old. We would not spend the extra on Alde although we have had in our last van.
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since the chane to the later CP Plus control panel, these units seem to be pretty good.
weve have Combi 6e in our last two vans and they work very well.
yes, they arent radiator systems and fluid heat up rates are far different to air ones, and theres no useful heat exchanger that comes with many MH Alde installations, but as a straight forward, fairly simple, effective heat/hot water system its hard to beat.
whale are now bringing in some units that fit underfloor and take up no space in the van which might be worth checking out...
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We've found our Combi E to be very efficient and don't miss the fitted 'fire' in our previous caravan one bit. It's very controllable and can be set on a timer if required.
The only downside is the cost of spares for them. Our caravan is only 4 years old but we have had one of the two heating elements fail so it will only run, at present, at 1 kW. This is OK for the summer and we can always use the gas as a booster but it really needs to be done if I ever want to sell the caravan. The cost to have the heater repaired is over £350 for the element kit which includes two elements a number of gaskets and washers and a number of replacement nuts, all to replace one element. There is also an equal cost to actually have the parts fitted by a Truma trained engineer - essential, apparently, as it isn't straight forward. The whole of the unit needs to be removed to access the elements. A lengthy job I have been told by three different engineers.
Hey ho, the joys and costs of caravanning
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the original Truma heaters were gas only, the later addition of the electric elements is a sop to the uk market where electric is often inclusive of pitch fees.
continental branded vans usually come with gas only versions to represent their camping market....a minumum amount of electic (or none) included and metered after that. cheap continental gas makes better sense over expensive metered electric.
i agree the van might be at a disadvantage if sold missing an element, but if the purchaser were a largely continental traveller this might not be an issue.
good luck.
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Truma system fine, never had an issue.
One thing to note is that it requires ducts throughout the van. This is usually very good for the front of the van close to the unit and under the bench couches in the lounge but if you want it all the way to the back some caravan manufacturers drop the duct out of the van underfloor and pop it back up at the far end. This does limit the heat availability to the places furthest away from the unit and loses a lot of heat if you run outside the van. Apart form that always found it a reliable unit that can heat a big van very quickly.
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agreed, but this is just poor design.....
take a caravan and mount the combi on the opposite side to the door, somewhere central. this should give even heat to both ends and allow pipes to run under furniture without exiting the van..
ive seen some brands mount the unit right at the rear and users are cold up the front....some even fit reducing pipes to fit under furniture (rather than make sufficient space for full sized ducts) and flow is strangled and, again, users are cold..
we had a van with the combi behind the MH door....first thing it did was to run the piping under the door, outside the van....doh!
heating has to be 'designed in' not 'bolted on' after the layout is complete and theres no room for the unit where it should be..
as it happens, this isnt an issue with vans like ours with a double floor as the pipework can ease from one side to another without issue.
in fact, the van benefits from this as it heats the 'void' between the floors making it warm, also protecting the water tanks/pipes/electrics from cold.
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Thanks for the helpful replies, If you excuse the pun I am warming to the idea of the Truma system but the unit would most likely have ro be fitted under the fixed bed. What are people’s experience with fan noise levels, especially at night?
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The unit is under my bed and I’ve not noticed any noise at all.
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I must admit that when we first had this van I was always creating errors because I had not done something or other. Having had years of the little dials on the Truma heating it initially seemed more complicated but you get used to a set routine of first having the master switch (12v) on before attempting to set the boiler to either heating or hot water. It also only allows you so many "mistakes" before you have to head for the cover David mentioned to press the reset button!
David
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The noise is not bad at all and if you set it on eco before going to bed the fan is very quiet almost inaudible. On standard setting the fan is not noisy but you do notice the cycling on off once at temp. The unit itself gives off a fair bit of heat and I set to 18c and ECO fan for nighttime. This unit is OK on electric and works fine but excels on gas (or dual fuel) if you want quick heat-up or tank of water.
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We have the Truma system in our Knaus and whilst I was a bit concerned that it wouldn't be as good as the Alde system we previously had, I'm quite happy with it. With the fan set on Eco it's virtually inaudible and we leave ours running at night if it's cold and can't really hear it. The only time it is a bit intrusive is if it's set to Boost on gas and electricity (Mix 1 or 2) but we only tend to use that to initially warm the van.
Whilst it does warm the van quicker than the Alde system, layout of the ducting is important and because of the number of bends - and the distance - between the boiler and our bathroom, the bathroom is not particularly well heated. We get round that by putting a fan heater in there just before we have a shower in the mornings.
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Our 19ft (internal) Swift has the Combi 4e under the offside front seat. As has been said, if I were fitting one, it would be as central as possible to give uniform heating through the van. Our rear bathroom is 'cool' at best, although I try not to use on gas which doesn't help. If we turned the thermostat up to warm the bathroom sufficiently, we would need the door open at our end!!
If you cant fit it centrally, then while you are building the van, fit extra heating in the bathroom - unless you are intending using gas or a combination of gas/elec regularly, as 1800w on electric only isn't sufficient to warm the bathroom - well not fo rmy wife anyway
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even with poorly placed units, the latest CP plus panel allows for use of HIGH fan speed setting which is far better than on the previous models.
this should help heat more distant corners, while those vents close to the heater can be partially closed to balance the heat.
whilst in Davids picture above, i see the unit is fairly central (Bailey 662 SE?) i also noticed there were three pipes heading rearwards and one forwards.....would two/two have been better for keeping the front lounge (with cooler cab) warm?...a regular criticism with Combi heating....cold cab, usually due to lack of vents and poor heater siting.....way back.
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you dont know much about this unit, do you?
the black pipe is the gas exhaust, the four beige pipes are the heating output pipes and the 'air inlet' is via a grill front right of the photo i have helpfully supplied for you
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Sorry but as on ours one of the beige pipes is to is an air inlet which resurculates the warm air to the heater to reduce the cold air from out side I have just checked our 6e in the van and there is not an inlet where your picture shows
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sounds like nothing ive ever come across....picture, perhaps?
theres no 'cold air from outside' ....it comes from inside the caravan/mh via the grill. the only bit that goes outside is the gas exhaust.
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Our 2017 UK built AS is the same as yours, Steve. The air intake on the Truma is behind a plastic grid fitted to the front of the bunk woodwork.
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im fascinated....please post a picture, thanks.
the air inlet (clearly marked with the blue (cold air) arrows) is just an open grid within the unit.
when hidden in lockers, bed boxes or built in (like ours) there is usually a plastic grill/opening in said furniture to allow air to reach the unit.
this seems to be the case on the Hymer, AS, Hobby (as described above) and our Carthago.
DK's van is a Bailey (like yours?) perhaps he could unravel the mystery?
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DK's van is a Bailey (like yours?) perhaps he could unravel the mystery?
All I can say is that in my picture up thread there are, apart from the black exhaust pipe four other heating pipes exiting the heater. One goes to the vent near the driver's seat, one goes under the double floor to exit in the habitation door area, one goes to a vent into the kitchen area the final one goes to the bathroom. The heater air intake is on the end of the heater cover and is black plastic near the exhaust pipe. I am equally puzzled by JVB's description. It is exactly the same set up on my last motorhome where the air intake can be clearly seen in the picture below which is also the same as BB's diagram.
David
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