Carver 3000 Heater Service.

[Ian4624]

My 1992 Bailey PageantCD Auvergne is fitted with a Carver 3000 heater. It has become difficult to light (it has a manual peizo spark igniter) and when eventually lit there is a yellowish tinge to the pilot light flame. I am not confident that it is now safe to use and would like to service it if possible. It appears that fully servicing the heater will not be possible without removing it from the 'van. I presume that if I entrusted this work to a caravan service centre, even if they would accept the job on such an old 'van, then it would have to be removed from the 'van with the obvious increase in expense etc. I have access to the installation instructions and assume that it will be possible to remove the heater from the 'van by reversal of those instructions.
Has anyone successfully done this before?
Does anyone know whether a service kit is available for this heater?
I would prefer to do the job myself with the assistance of a friendly gas engineer, or actually watch someone doing it, as when I entrusted my 'fridge service to a mobile service I didn't see what was done and the 'fridge was definitely not removed to access the back of it.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Ian,

Easy part first, No there isn't a standard service kit for the heater, the service engineer evaluates the appliance and should only change any parts that might need to be changed.

Now the slightly more difficult point. In domestic and commercial installations you must be Gasasfe registered competent to legally attempt to work on any gas appliance or installation.

Caravans are a special case but the fact you have asked for information about how to remove the heater and your admission you tried to watch what the fitter did with your fridge sadly suggests you are not familiar with the products and if you value you and your families safety and I must tell you not to attempt removal or repairs.

Refer the work to competent caravan gas fitter.

 

[Damian]

The simple answer as to whether you can service the fire if you have never worked on them before is NO., it is not a DIY job and no self respecting gas engineer would assist if you were to try as it leaves too many possibilities of danger to you and your family.
Carver parts are getting harder to obtain and you would not have the necessary test equipment to set it up again after it has been removed.

Also, no gas engineer will "sign off" any work done by you as it would be illegal to do so.

 

[Gafferbill]

Hi Ian 4624........your way forward is to contact Gary at ..........

http://www.arcsystems.biz/
He will help you with advice and spares.

 

[ProfJohnL]

If my memory serves me correctly, in 1992 most the the Carver 3000 was still based on the Truma SL 3002 / SLP3002, so replacement parts should not be a problem, but your fitter will be able to obtain parts as required.

 

[gary]

Your memory is perfect John, The 3000 is simply a rebadged Truma 3002 so all but identical to the current Truma 3002. Needless to say then, (apart from the gas valves control rod), all parts are fully interchangeable.
I might add though, ask for a part for a Carver 3000, or indeed it's predecessor the SPL3002, (there's even a clue there!), the answer will be negative, ask for Truma 3002 part and it's yes sir how many do you want!!

As for DIY and as an example I've just finished a fire today, due to someone 'playing' and without going into detail but finding and putting right the mistakes, bottom line is it's cost somewhat slightly more than double what I'd normally expect to charge?!!

 

[ProfJohnL]

Your memory is perfect John,

Thank you Gary, but these days its far from perfect....... I think......

 

[Ian4624]

The matter is now resolved.
I visited my storage site earlier in the week and as luck would have it there was a gas qualified mobile service technician on site working on another van. I approached him for advice and he agreed to check over my heater whilst he was on site. Suffice to say that he gave it a clean bill of health so the matter is now resolved.
As an aside. As I mentioned, I have a copy of Carver's installation, operating and fault finding instructions. The lighting instructions as per Carver differ slightly from the instructions within the Bailey owner's manual. I had previously had some difficulty lighting the heater when following the Bailey instructions which is one of the reasons why I thought that there may be a fault. When following the Carver instructions the heater lit first time without any problems whatsoever.
For the record, ProfJohnL and Damian, I take note of and appreciate your words of caution and advice not to mess with things I know nothing about and am not qualified to mess with. I had no intention of blithely ripping out the fire and pulling it to bits. I started the thread in an attempt to obtain advice and opinions as to the way forward with my apparent problem. I had approached various caravan outlets in my area with my concerns about the heater with a distinct lack of success. The common response was the classic sucking of teeth, "well that's rather old", " I don't know much about Carver heaters, I don't think they are made now and we will not be able to obtain spare parts", "bring the van in and we'll have a look at it but cannot promise you anything." With regard to my comment about not seeing the fridge engineer service my fridge. I was simply trying to point out that as I was not present I do not know what, if anything, he did.
Thanks Gafferbill for you pointer to "Arc Systems". They would appear to be very useful if I do have any problems in the future.
Gary, I presume from your post that you are the Gary from Arc Systems and I fully appreciate your comment about repairing a heater which someone had been "playing" with. For future reference please. If I do have a heater problem I suppose that the heater will have to be removed. What is your procedure for having the heater removed and shipping it to Nottingham for your attention? If it is not appropriate for you to respond within this forum, please feel free to PM me.
Thank you everyone for your input.
Ian.

 

[ProfJohnL]

...................
Gary, I presume from your post that you are the Gary from Arc Systems and I fully appreciate your comment about repairing a heater which someone had been "playing" with. For future reference please. If I do have a heater problem I suppose that the heater will have to be removed. What is your procedure for having the heater removed and shipping it to Nottingham for your attention? If it is not appropriate for you to respond within this forum, please feel free to PM me.
Thank you everyone for your input.
Ian.

Ian You are correct about Gary. He is a good source of information and help on the Carver heating equipment, and the Truma products. See his web site for the range of products he deals with .

With regards the removal of any gas appliance in your caravan, it's a certainty that it needs a gas pipe connection to be broken, and depending on the appliance, a flue pipe also. Unless you are competent with LPG gas fitting, its far better to refer it to a registered LPG fitter, and the same applies to the refitting of the appliance. Such fitters will have the experience, knowledge and equipment to ensure the job is done properly and fully tested for safety.

 

[gary]

With regard to removing a fire or any other gas appliance with a view to sending it to me for service, first, removing is very different to re-installing, as it is re-connection to a gas supply/flue pipe that requires the far greater care.
However even taking it out is beyond some people, so and as I have considerable experience of quickly sussing out who can and who cannot, (after thousands of times talking to such varied people on the subject), I sometimes explain how and just as often refer them to a local and known to me service engineer,