We used to have a Bailey Moselle and the heater kept the caravan lovely and warm. We now have a Coachman Amara and the heater is a Truma Spaceheater 3002 - never tried it on gas but when it is running on the electric the caravan never seems to warm up. The caravan is an Amara 535/4 with a fixed bed, the heater is opposite the kitchen area and sits next to the door under a drawer, its warm to touch and if we switch the blow air on to try and get the heat out the airvents the air just blows out very cool, so we only switch the dial on to either 1000 or 2000 and turn the dial up to 8 or 9 max and its just a trickle of warm air coming out. Are we doing something wrong? This is our fourth caravan and never had such a "cold" heater before!
Coachman Amara heater
- Thread starter Lorraine_5040934
- Start date
I have a Coachman and was disappointed with the heater on electric until I discovered the awning heater pipe had become disconnected, therefore all the heat was going to an open ended pipe in the outside locker.
I simply blocked the pipe with a sponge ball and now all the heat goes in to the van.
Regulate the airflow with the flaps and don't have the fan on too fast.I hope this helps.
I simply blocked the pipe with a sponge ball and now all the heat goes in to the van.
Regulate the airflow with the flaps and don't have the fan on too fast.I hope this helps.
Damian
Moderator
This subject has been discussed many times on the forum.
I hope Gary does not mind, but I have copied his excellent overview which I hope will give you the information you need.
The Truma fan speed control has three settings, off is in the middle and left or right gives, manual fan speed, or, 'A'utomatic fan speed.
Below is my general advice on how best to use the electric heating, at least it should give you a good start:
The Ultraheat's wattage settings are there so you can make use of low amperage hookups, 500W for 6A, 1000W for 10A and 2000W for 16A hookups, their not there to adjust the temperature of the van.
The Ultraheat is thermostatically controlled, therefore the wattage used will simply mean the fire is heating for shorter or longer periods. Where the problems arise then is if the temperature control is not working correctly, this is often due to the heat from the elements directly affecting the sensor itself, it's within the control switch. This means the heat brings the temperature sensor up to that set on the dial and the elements switch off, you and the vans are still cold but the sensors toasty and takes forever to cool before switching the fire back on!!
Due to this and particularly overnight, it's become something of an urban myth to set it at 500w or 1000w, this or that number on the dial and fan speed setting. In truth what's happening is the available heat is not capable of reaching the set temperature so never switches off, it's a useful work around but not how it should work.
The real solution is to fit a 'remote' temperature sensor and attach it to the gas fires sensor, if a remote is already fitted, it to will usually react better if moved to this location.
Setting the fan on manual speed means the fan runs at this speed regardless of the amount of heat being produced, I would suggest manual fan is only for use without heat for cooling in summer, if infact it has a use?!
Setting the fan to 'A'utomatic allows the heat produced to control the fan speed 'up' to the speed set on the dial, you can then, keep this set maximum low and therefore quiet over night perhaps
Automatic means the fan will run slowly initially and speed up as the air passing through gets warmer, doing it this way allows heat and fan to be switched on together and doing away with waiting xx minutes as often suggested.
I would suggest as a start and during the day, the wattage selected is as high as the hook up allows and then fan speed set to maximum on Automatic.
This provides the maximum heat if required and the fans speed will respond to change in temperature, ie, fast when heat cycle is on and slow when heat is off.
After that you can fine tune to suit your own needs
Other heating problems concern the control board, the elements are switched on and off by relays and the contacts burn out, particularly the two 1kw relays. If this happens you may think you have it set to 2kw but only one element is working, finally perhaps leaving you with just 500w working when both 2kw and1kw settings no longer work.
(Note, relays will still be heard to 'click' but unless you have heat, their not working)
The 12v for control also comes from this board and the transformer sometimes packs up, apart from no heat, you will lose the green light in the switch if this happens
Lastly and also if no heat is forth coming, there are two safety thermostats, one at least of these has a habit of self destruction which stops all heating on electric! If the lower 125C thermostat trips, it automatically resets when it cools. However, the 175C limit stat is a 'self hold' and cannot reset once tripped until the mains supply to the heater is switched off, once mains supply is off, it will then cool and reset automatically.
The control switch itself seems generally reliable but the odd one does fail.
The numbers on the dial represent roughly 4degs and 9 is 32degs or thereabouts, this in theory makes 6 or 7 'normal' but it's what feels comfortable that matters not the number.
Another problem not caused by the heater itself is long runs of un-insulated blown air pipe running outside under the floor, insulating this will improve matters considerable.
Everything installed and working as it should, there is no good reason why the electric heating should not work very well and keep an even temperature to suit your needs.
However, it must be remembered the van needs to be warmed through thoroughly, not just the air, before the heating is turned down. While the vans cold it will constantly drag heat from the air and this in turn needs constant topping up or the van will always feel 'draughty'. It's most useful then while particularly cold to use gas as well for the first couple of hours, also, if the heating is off during the day to turn it back on at the first sign of a chill.
I hope Gary does not mind, but I have copied his excellent overview which I hope will give you the information you need.
The Truma fan speed control has three settings, off is in the middle and left or right gives, manual fan speed, or, 'A'utomatic fan speed.
Below is my general advice on how best to use the electric heating, at least it should give you a good start:
The Ultraheat's wattage settings are there so you can make use of low amperage hookups, 500W for 6A, 1000W for 10A and 2000W for 16A hookups, their not there to adjust the temperature of the van.
The Ultraheat is thermostatically controlled, therefore the wattage used will simply mean the fire is heating for shorter or longer periods. Where the problems arise then is if the temperature control is not working correctly, this is often due to the heat from the elements directly affecting the sensor itself, it's within the control switch. This means the heat brings the temperature sensor up to that set on the dial and the elements switch off, you and the vans are still cold but the sensors toasty and takes forever to cool before switching the fire back on!!
Due to this and particularly overnight, it's become something of an urban myth to set it at 500w or 1000w, this or that number on the dial and fan speed setting. In truth what's happening is the available heat is not capable of reaching the set temperature so never switches off, it's a useful work around but not how it should work.
The real solution is to fit a 'remote' temperature sensor and attach it to the gas fires sensor, if a remote is already fitted, it to will usually react better if moved to this location.
Setting the fan on manual speed means the fan runs at this speed regardless of the amount of heat being produced, I would suggest manual fan is only for use without heat for cooling in summer, if infact it has a use?!
Setting the fan to 'A'utomatic allows the heat produced to control the fan speed 'up' to the speed set on the dial, you can then, keep this set maximum low and therefore quiet over night perhaps
Automatic means the fan will run slowly initially and speed up as the air passing through gets warmer, doing it this way allows heat and fan to be switched on together and doing away with waiting xx minutes as often suggested.
I would suggest as a start and during the day, the wattage selected is as high as the hook up allows and then fan speed set to maximum on Automatic.
This provides the maximum heat if required and the fans speed will respond to change in temperature, ie, fast when heat cycle is on and slow when heat is off.
After that you can fine tune to suit your own needs
Other heating problems concern the control board, the elements are switched on and off by relays and the contacts burn out, particularly the two 1kw relays. If this happens you may think you have it set to 2kw but only one element is working, finally perhaps leaving you with just 500w working when both 2kw and1kw settings no longer work.
(Note, relays will still be heard to 'click' but unless you have heat, their not working)
The 12v for control also comes from this board and the transformer sometimes packs up, apart from no heat, you will lose the green light in the switch if this happens
Lastly and also if no heat is forth coming, there are two safety thermostats, one at least of these has a habit of self destruction which stops all heating on electric! If the lower 125C thermostat trips, it automatically resets when it cools. However, the 175C limit stat is a 'self hold' and cannot reset once tripped until the mains supply to the heater is switched off, once mains supply is off, it will then cool and reset automatically.
The control switch itself seems generally reliable but the odd one does fail.
The numbers on the dial represent roughly 4degs and 9 is 32degs or thereabouts, this in theory makes 6 or 7 'normal' but it's what feels comfortable that matters not the number.
Another problem not caused by the heater itself is long runs of un-insulated blown air pipe running outside under the floor, insulating this will improve matters considerable.
Everything installed and working as it should, there is no good reason why the electric heating should not work very well and keep an even temperature to suit your needs.
However, it must be remembered the van needs to be warmed through thoroughly, not just the air, before the heating is turned down. While the vans cold it will constantly drag heat from the air and this in turn needs constant topping up or the van will always feel 'draughty'. It's most useful then while particularly cold to use gas as well for the first couple of hours, also, if the heating is off during the day to turn it back on at the first sign of a chill.
Many thanks for your very helpful reply, I didn't fully understand about the supply on site and most caravan clubs are 16amp (when the site isn't full. Will certainly try out your suggestions - thank you.
I've found another installation problem that seems to be common to most makes of van?
On site with others over New Year I've been sorting out a few alleged Truma heater problems, what I've found is a problem with fridge/kitchen cabinet installation!
What I found was a large gap at the back of the kitchen unit where it fits over the wheel arch, this is allowing cold air to come through from the fridge vents unabated and exit into the van from under the oven.
All the owners assumed as there is a gas drop hole under the oven that the draught was from there and nothing could be done.
What I did was simply use a tea towel to block of the gap over the wheel arch on the fridge side of the centre cupboard, this reduced the draught from here to zero, cured or at least improved the alleged heating problem and proved the gas drop hole is not the cause.
Another problem on a fixed bed Lunar was a hot air vent on the end of the bed facing forward, this was blowing hot air straight back at the fire and switching it off to early, this vent then should be kept shut.
On site with others over New Year I've been sorting out a few alleged Truma heater problems, what I've found is a problem with fridge/kitchen cabinet installation!
What I found was a large gap at the back of the kitchen unit where it fits over the wheel arch, this is allowing cold air to come through from the fridge vents unabated and exit into the van from under the oven.
All the owners assumed as there is a gas drop hole under the oven that the draught was from there and nothing could be done.
What I did was simply use a tea towel to block of the gap over the wheel arch on the fridge side of the centre cupboard, this reduced the draught from here to zero, cured or at least improved the alleged heating problem and proved the gas drop hole is not the cause.
Another problem on a fixed bed Lunar was a hot air vent on the end of the bed facing forward, this was blowing hot air straight back at the fire and switching it off to early, this vent then should be kept shut.
What Gary has reported illustrates three important points,
Firstly, often a product is accused of not working correctly when in fact it is, but other factors outside the responsibility of the appliance manufacture conspire against it.
Secondly that some caravan manufactures are still ignoring the appliance manufactures installation instructions.
And thirdly, that some caravan manufactures are still making poor design decisions about the installation of appliances and equipment. I know that Carver when they were around offered to vet or help advise manufacturer's with decisions on product installations. They even had a a large cold room facility to help with detailed design of systems. Not all manufactures availed themselves of that service.
Firstly, often a product is accused of not working correctly when in fact it is, but other factors outside the responsibility of the appliance manufacture conspire against it.
Secondly that some caravan manufactures are still ignoring the appliance manufactures installation instructions.
And thirdly, that some caravan manufactures are still making poor design decisions about the installation of appliances and equipment. I know that Carver when they were around offered to vet or help advise manufacturer's with decisions on product installations. They even had a a large cold room facility to help with detailed design of systems. Not all manufactures availed themselves of that service.
lorraine
I would ensure that you are getting 2kw, it could be that you are only getting say 1kw.
I would use a multimeter on the 10amp range, and use it inline with the supply.
But get a competent person to do this for you.
I would ensure that you are getting 2kw, it could be that you are only getting say 1kw.
I would use a multimeter on the 10amp range, and use it inline with the supply.
But get a competent person to do this for you.
Hi,
I too have an Amara, although the 520/4. I too found the same as you , that is until I read some time ago on this forum that if you set the wattage to the highest setting but keep the fan on number 3 max, it works a treat. The higher the fan setting the more cold air will be blown with the heat. As I said 2 1/2 to 3 works for us.
I too have an Amara, although the 520/4. I too found the same as you , that is until I read some time ago on this forum that if you set the wattage to the highest setting but keep the fan on number 3 max, it works a treat. The higher the fan setting the more cold air will be blown with the heat. As I said 2 1/2 to 3 works for us.
I had the same problem in my Lunar Lexon. With the blower on the thermostat cut out before the van got warm. I fitted a remote sensor and it cured the problem. This consists of a long wire with a jack plug on one end and the sensor on the other. If you put your hand down the back of the fire at the bottom left hand side there is a grey box with a jack socket, push the plug in there and run the sensor to the coolest part of the van, i put mine at the side of the bed. Job done , this then overrides the built in system. Never had a cool van after that.
Graham
I'm please that it has worked for you but the recommended position for the remote sensor is attached to the gas sensor. Gary (Arc Systems) has recommended this position since 2004 - Truma caught up around 2007.
Mike
I'm please that it has worked for you but the recommended position for the remote sensor is attached to the gas sensor. Gary (Arc Systems) has recommended this position since 2004 - Truma caught up around 2007.
Mike
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