couple of little niggles

[Kitty1]

Hi all

We're completely new to caravanning and have to say Love it! Love it! Love it!

We have a couple of little niggles though which I wondered if any of you guys (or gals) out there could help us with.

Our fridge doesn't seem to work when hooked up to the car electrics. It hasn't been too much of a problem since we haven't travelled very far yet but I wondered what I might be doing wrong.

The other problem is the electric water heater which has worked perfectly until now. Last time out when I switched it on at the main switch it tripped all the electrics in the van and the ehu point (a quick way to get to know your neighbours). We heated the water by gas but wondered what the problem might be. I'm pretty sure there was water in the tank when I switched it on, but if there wasn't could that have caused any damage.

 

[Dave_374330759]

The fridge only works efficientley when running from the mains or gas. The battery setting is used to help maintain a cold fridge whilst you are travelling and only works whilst the car engine is actually running. You really nead to cool the fidge down before you travel. The fridge works by heating the refrigerant which circulates by the thermosyphon effect which cant be very efficient when the van is bouncing all over the place whilst moving.

The problem with the water heater sounds as though its either burnt out and short circuited to earth or water has got into the element and shorted it to earth - usually caused by turning it on without water in the tank.

Its relatively easy to check if you've got a test meater with a resistance (ohms) setting. Make sure the van is not connected to the mains before doing any work on the electrical system.

Check the resistance across the two element wires which should be somewhere between 60 and 120 ohms. No reading means an open circuited element. Then check the resistance between the element wires and the element body (earth) you shouldn't get a reading or it shoud be very high (megohms). A low reading indicates a short circuit to earth which will trip the circuit breaker

Sometimes though you can get a high resistance between the elemet and earth if the heater hasn't beeen used for a while and it has dried out - the breaker then trips after some time as water percolates into the element.

Its easy to change the element, they are expensive though at

 

[Kitty1]

Thanks for that Dave, the problem is that even with the car running and the main switch to car, the light on the fridge flashes, which I think indicates it is not working.

As for the water heater, I think a friend has a meter so I will get him to check. I thought there was always water in the tank unless you drained it down eg for the winter. Ho hum, there's a lot to learn.

 

[Dave_374330759]

The flashing light sounds like the engine is just idling fast enough to get the relay "chattering" Try running the engine at a fairly fast idle, there is a voltage sensitive relay in the car that will only switch when the voltage from the car alternator is high eneough to avoid the car battery from discharging into the caravan.

 

[SirRogerFFS]

The flashing light sounds like the engine is just idling fast enough to get the relay "chattering" Try running the engine at a fairly fast idle, there is a voltage sensitive relay in the car that will only switch when the voltage from the car alternator is high eneough to avoid the car battery from discharging into the caravan.

Dave we found a good tip is if possible run fridge all night on hook up( at home ) or even gas to get it down in temp and then while you are driving the relay should open and just keep that temp down .

Happy caravaning

Sir Roger