Fleetwood Heritage, shower problem

[Angela_5067919]

We own a Fleetwood Heritage and was wondering if anyone else has experienced problems with the shower.

The hot water is left on overnight, when we try and shower in the mornings, we are are unable to get a one full shower out of it. In our other caravan that got stolen, an Abbey Impression, we were able to get 2 showers out of it.

It has been back for warranty work, it is a year old, when i mentioned this to the guy there, he said that they checked it and they managed to get the hot water mixed with cold running for 3 minutes, who can shower in 3 minutes? He told me that most people now use the shower block on site, but what about CL's that don't have shower blocks.

We bought this particular one with the large shower room at the rear to now be told it is not really meant for showering in, but ok just for a rinse off!!

Does anyone else own one of these, if so i would be grateful for any comments.

The other thing we have a problem with is the central heating. if we have it on 2kw, it makes lots of gurgling bubbling noises, but it is ok on the 1kw setting.

 

[trevor123]

Hi Angela, how much water do your heater hold? our hold about 10lt, we can get 2 shower out of it, but what we do is wet the hair+body first, turn off shower wash hair+body with shampoo then rinse off, never had any problem, but we do leave the water heater on all the time, you must have a air lock some where,next time you use the van when you use the water heater open all the taps let the water run for awhile but don"t let the water out side run dry because of the pump, good luck.Trevor

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Angela,

Fleetwood fit the Alde Central heating system to the Heritage. From my recollection (and I could be wrong) the Alde does not store as much hot water compared to the Carver/Truma systems. I also recall that the burner is shared between central heating and the hot water which makes its recovery time longer if the central heating is being used. These two issue will make showering more difficult.

 

[Denise_5041461]

We also have a Fleetwood Heritage. According to the handbook the Alde tank is 8.4 liters. We normally get 2 showers out of the heater and a bowl full of washing up when on gas or electric. We have always used the same method as Trevor in all our vans without any problems.

The heater when on electric is silent but when on gas can sound occasionally like a jet engine going BUT I do prefer this heating system to all the others on our previous vans as the temperature stays constant even in the middle of winter.

 

[Dave_5040181]

How ridiculous to suggest that people don't use their showers ! It is laughable when you go back and challenge sales people on the shortcomings of their vans. Personally I avoid using shower blocks as I find it far mar comfortable using my own rather than padding about outside. I'm not too keen on seeing people wandering about in dressing gowns either as it reminds me of being in hospital !

 

[DERYK_5095763]

I was interested to hear your comment about using the Alde System in winter. I bought my Heritage two months ago and have used it a few times since and find that it takes hours to get the van from c.5 deg to c. 20 deg when I first get to it. Like you, I find it keeps a constant temperature with good heat distribution throughout the van, but do you find it takes ages to warm up in the first place?

 

[JimC]

Hi Deryk

I have the Trumatic S3200 in my van and find that to heat the van up quickly use the gas option or both. The gas is 3400 watts and the electric has maximum of 2000watts.

Regards Jim

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

Deryk,

We have the Alde central heating in our van and to get it to warm up quickly use both gas and electricity to start with. It soon gets it warm.

 

[DERYK_5095763]

Wendy, Jim

I have used both gas and electric together (2.2kW and 5kW respectively) but it can still take about 3 - 4 hours to get from c. 5 deg to c. 20 deg. This power input is nearly 50% more than I had in my previous van (Avondale Rialto - only a slightly smaller van) which had a Truma unit heating the air directly. With that, I would need to turn the gas off within 30 - 60 mins or I'd be too hot. I have spoken to the dealer since yesterday; he said that something doesn't sound right so I will take it back.

Whilst writing, have you ever had a problem with O-rings being dislodged in the shower valve due to ice? I can't get any cold water through the shower as of last week though it was perfect before. I had drained the system completely a few weeks before. The dealer suspected the above cause, but if he's right how can you prevent it?