Contaminated burner.

[nickmessitis]

Hello my caravan a swift 2024 exclusive has been in the workshop for nearly 6 months bar 2 days in September.

It was taken in to the workshop in may 2024 with a gas failure error message talking about checking the 12v connection. This page won't upload my photo BTW

When the workshop looked at it they said they would contact Aldi. They advised me the problem was related to a faulty PCB. I asked if burner needed replacing they said no. The workshop advised me they had checked the heating and it was working alright as it had been tested.

We got the caravan back in 11th September and took it away for 2 days. The heating failed again straight away with another different error message this time saying the there was a fan failure. Unable to attach photo because of size.


The workshop are now telling me the burner is contaminated with oil and the regulator needs replacing which they say we have to pay for when it is still under warranty with swift.

I just don't understand how the burner has been contaminated when they told me in September when we got the caravan back that everything was ok.

How can the burner become contaminated when we haven't been able to use the heating. Can anyone please advise. Thanks nick

 

[Jcloughie]

In order to upload photos you first need to reduce the size. The method will be different depending on your oporating system.

Alde have great customer service. Try phoning then direct. If possible, do it from the van where you can do tests that they suggest.

+44(0)1933 677765

Alde UK: World class heating for motorhomes and caravans

Comfortable heating all year round in all weathers. We are a world leading company which developsand produces heating systems for motorhomes and caravans.

www.alde.co.uk

John

 

[otherclive]

This link might help if you are using Apple.

Image size too large

Very frustrating on this forum every time I go to post an image it’s too large, from mobile or desktop.

forums.practicalcaravan.com

 

[Buckman]

Firstly when was the caravan actually bought i.e. month and year. Was the caravan taken into the workshop in May 2024 or May 2025? This could be crucial for the repair being under warranty or not.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Oil contamination? Like you, I'm rather concerned by this diagnosis. How did the company come to that conclusion?

It must be at least 8 years ago there was a spate of problems, where regulator and some gas appliances became contaminated with an oily waxy residue. There were two suspects as to the source of this, one was the natural residues that come with commercial LPG and just normal sit in the bottom of the gas cylinders or the more likely oily remnants from the flexible pig tails between the cylinder and the regulator.

By design the regulator should be mounted above the LPG cylinders such that any residue form the pigtails runs back to the cylinder and not into the regulator. In some models of caravan th regulator had been fitted to low and the pigtails drained into the regulator.

Some regulator designs were more affected than others and could begin to malfunction. Normally the first signs were problems with gas appliances where small amount of gas was used and where the burner was low down so residues might collect and pool. The appliance would often become difficult to start or run.

As the problem built up larger appliance's would begin to falter either due to the regulator loosing gas pressure control, or becasue the residues had started to invade the appliance's gas control valve or the burner injectors.

By 2020 I'm pretty sure all the caravan manufactures were fitting regulators above the cylinders to prevent this problem, so I would be very surprised if your 2024 caravan was suffering from this problem.

So this begs two questions from me.
Is there actually any oil or heavy ends (LPG residues) in the regulator or in the Alde heater, or is it something else that's causing the problem. And secondly if it is oil where is it coming from and how?

If either of the above scenarios are in play, then I have to advise any work needed to identify or resolve the problem must be carried out to a professional standard and if you need an evidential report to support a further claim either under Warranty or for a claim under the Consumer Rights Act it must be carried out by competent approved engineer.

 

[Mel]

Buckman and many others on here have a wealth of knowledge about CRA 19 and your rights.
I was going to suggest that you give up on the Dealer and find a Swift Approved for Warranty workshop and get them to do the warranty claim and work. I have good experience of using one locally to fix the pano window and can recommend them if you are in the East Midlands.
However stepping away from the Dealer might not be a good move if you are going to reject the van or invoke CRA19.
Perhaps the folks on here who understand this better than me can comment.

 

[IanB1485]

@ProfJohnL I'm still seeing newish regulators ( latest was 18 month old) failing due to oil contamination -on cutting it open it was gross contamination and fitted on a camper which the owner used 'refillable 'bottles' . The worst case I've seen was the whole of the gas pipe under a twin axle was full of oil, blocking off the whole gas system.We don't know the gas set up of the OP and if since getting the caravan back after the initial fault what sort of gas cylinder they were using to supply the caravan. and how it was handled.
Giving both the OP and the workshop the benefit of the doubt . The initial fault after being fixed the flue may have been tested to ensure complete combustion, but why would you if the declared fault was the pcb. Oil contamination in the burner would throw out the CO/CO2 balance as the oil burns off and will produce a 'sooty flame' and smoke coming out of the exhaust vent.
It may have been OK after the pcb was replaced and as the burner is hidden on an Alde unit (as it is on a truma combi) it wouldn't have been obvious unless smoke was seen coming out the exhaust if gross oil contamination was present and the OP may not been aware that the gas bottles were faulty in that excessive oil was present and this got past the pigtail and regulator into the ALDE unit which usually at the front of the van and quite low down so not much chance of oil draining back