Heating thermostat

[Beehpee]

Hi all, well here we are at sunny Moreton in marsh, on our first day away, never having been away in a caravan at this time of year a slight problem has shown up, Bailey in their wisdom has chosen to fit what I think is the thermostat for the heating having been fitted at a full 3 inches from the roof, you can imagine that when I stand up the temperature at head height is perfect as per the setting, at sitting level the temperature is much less, trying to find a temp where it’s ok at all levels isn’t easy, I vaguely remember reading on here that I can fit another thermostat and if so where do I do it, I thought of trying to trace the wiring for the high level thermostat and unplugging it and fitting another, so any ideas or advice is much appreciated.

BP

 

[otherclive]

Hi all, well here we are at sunny Moreton in marsh, on our first day away, never having been away in a caravan at this time of year a slight problem has shown up, Bailey in their wisdom has chosen to fit what I think is the thermostat for the heating having been fitted at a full 3 inches from the roof, you can imagine that when I stand up the temperature at head height is perfect as per the setting, at sitting level the temperature is much less, trying to find a temp where it’s ok at all levels isn’t easy, I vaguely remember reading on here that I can fit another thermostat and if so where do I do it, I thought of trying to trace the wiring for the high level thermostat and unplugging it and fitting another, so any ideas or advice is much appreciated.

BP

Can’t help on the location of an additional thermostat. But the siting of your thermostat beggars belief. Wonder if the developers actually use the caravans. Our stat is at shoulder height when seated and we can get nice and cosy.

 

[Beehpee]

 

[Beehpee]

I am right in thinking this is the thermostat aren’t I ?

sorry lousy picture

BP

 

[Hutch]

We just turn up the heating until we are warm sitting down . Never notice a difference standing up or sitting down. Even with programed heating on our 2013 coachman everything is fine.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Some makes of heater can have a remote thermostat sensor, I don't know if yours can have one fitted.

You could try using a fan to circulate and mix the air.

 

[Damian]

Some makes of heater can have a remote thermostat sensor, I don't know if yours can have one fitted.

You could try using a fan to circulate and mix the air.

The picture shows the remote thermostat !!and the whole purpose of a heater is to heat the van without having to resort to an additional fan !!!

The position of the remote is , to say the least, ridiculous but then again its what the makers "think" is a good place, however misplaced that thinking is.

If BP can get to the wire at the back of the thermostat, and if it is long enough (if not there is a longer length available) it can be relocated lower so that it is less likely to shut off the heating until the majority of the van has reached a desired temp.

 

[Beehpee]

Morning Damian, I have been waiting for a sensible answer to my question and I thought when I posted my query that a sensible answer was most likely to come from yourself, your knowledge re caravans is well known, thanks for the reply.

BP

 

[Jcloughie]

View attachment 973

Apart from the height, is that by the door?

The original sensor on mine is built into the control panel and that’s just next to the door. It’s a better height but affected by door openings. Like you, I thought it needed to be close to the seating area and at a sensible height. I got the remote sensor accessory, I fitted it under the shelf, front centre. There is an improvement, but not a massive one.

The wire run in my case was fairly easy to hide.

John

 

[Damian]

There are a couple of ways of dealing with this.
The first is as my previous post above, if the wiring is easily located and can be re routed to a better place, but that of course will leave a hole where the sensor is fitted now.

The second is to obtain another sensor and disconnect the current one and fit and connect the new one where you want it to be, at lower level , like at floor level or thereabouts.

 

[Jcloughie]

I don’t know which heating Beechpee has but mine has provision for a second sensor. You can then switch between the two.

I would worry if put at low level it might be affected by the low level vents. Our van used to be very chilly around the ankles. I cured this by following a suggestion by Buckman. Small (80 w) electric under carpet heater, Without doubt the best accessory I have added to our van. Fitted by a rheostat, so comfortable.

John

 

[Sam Vimes]

The picture shows the remote thermostat !!and the whole purpose of a heater is to heat the van without having to resort to an additional fan !!!

That may be the intent but although my knowledge of many different types of van is limited it would seem to me that distribution of the heat usually falls short of the intent.

Heat rises and although convection currents try and circulate the heat, caravans are not that well insulated or draught free. In addition the implementation of the blown air systems leaves much to be desired in some cases. Its not unusual in some buildings and houses to have ceiling fans to encourage circulation of heat, particularly in the case of high ceilings.

Of course there are design constraints on caravans in regards of space, weight and routing of heating (not to mention cost) but even so maybe it could be done better. I've found - again limited experience - that the further away from the blown air heating unit the colder the temperature. Ducting not lagged and usually through the areas which have vents to the outside.

In the case of my Elddis I think the pipe/layout arrangement has not been considered very well. The under slung heater has a warm air inlet vent that is within 75cm or so of the outlet vent so much of the heat gets sucked out straight away. At the other end of the van the areas are much cooler. Fortunately the main warm air inlet vent has a flap to reduce its output which then helps balance the heat. This is the only controlable vent whereas years back my vans had flaps on all vents.

Our van used to be very chilly around the ankles. I cured this by following a suggestion by Buckman. Small (80 w) electric under carpet heater, Without doubt the best accessory I have added to our van. Fitted by a rheostat, so comfortable.

Good tip John, must look for one of these.

 

[otherclive]

I thought that the underslung combi wasn’t a gods idea compared the the Truma S3002 combined gas/electric heater with blown air ducts. Both our current van and the previous one (7m) used this system which gave good heat throughout the van. Although with the previous one I insulated some forward running external ducting feeding the lounge area. The Truma heater gives a gentle warmth into the central core of the caravan which then allows the ducted air to feed the extremities.

 

[Jcloughie]

Good tip John, must look for one of these.

This is the one I got, Buckman recommended it, It has worked well for about 4 -5 years, but only about £80 then. There are other makes.

I use it in conjunction with one of these as they get too warm without.

John

 

[ProfJohnL]

The picture shows the remote thermostat !!and the whole purpose of a heater is to heat the van without having to resort to an additional fan !!!...

Yes Damian of course the purpose of a the system should be to heat the caravan.

My comment was incomplete, I should have said as a temporary fix an fan might help until the problem can be sorted.

 

[Beehpee]

Hi all, yes that is the thermostat right next to the door, perfect positioning or what, the heating system is truma blown air, the van doesn’t have a fire just vents around the van, I can’t fault the distribution of the heat, it gets to all of the vents throughout and it’s a good temperature it’s just simply the location of the thermostat, I’m away in the van currently and intend to dig deeper when I get home, the full height fridge has the fuse box in a cupboard under it and a cupboard above the fridge that’s about 15 inches high, the thermostat would be in a void behind the the cupboard and it wouldn’t surprise me if it goes down to the floor and makes it’s connection at the fuse box, on the outside there are 2 vents for the fridge/freezer, one at the top and another at the bottom, these will be first a place for me to look and then at the back of the fuse box, it wouldn’t surprise me if the only way to access the thermostat would be to remove the fridge, if so I’ll forget it and learn to live with it, I do wonder if the thermostat connection might be on the back of the heating system control panel.

BP

 

[Beehpee]

 

[Beehpee]

This is the heating system panel and water heater control which is on opposite side of the van near the sink, could this be location of connection of the thermostat

 

[Jcloughie]

Yours might be different, but in mine, the first sensor it in built into the control panel. But said panel has a tiny socket in the back to add a second and third one wherever they are wanted. Only one will be used at a time and you can switch between them.

Have a look on YouTube, yours may be similar.

Alde recommend 1 metre height but that’s a very congested height in vans.


John

 

[ProfJohnL]

Yours might be different, but in mine, the first sensor it in built into the control panel. But said panel has a tiny socket in the back to add a second and third one wherever they are wanted. Only one will be used at a time and you can switch between them.

Have a look on YouTube, yours may be similar.

Alde recommend 1 metre height but that’s a very congested height in vans.


John

This thread is a good example of how the position of a thermostat can lead to customer disappointment.

The heater's manufacturer may have gone to considerable effort to ensure the thermostat was accurate, and turned the heater on and off at the set temperature measured at the site of the thermostat. But if the site of the thermostat is not thermally representative of the space needing to be heated, then the user's experience will lead to the impression the heating is not working well. Yet in truth the thermostat s doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

I know from past professional experience how caravan manufacturers will often ignore the detailed advice from appliance manufacturers with regards the optimum components and where to fit them to best effect. This compromises performance sometimes leading to customer complaints to the appliance manufacturers, when in fact the appliance is working perfectly, the problem is the way the caravan manufacturer has installed it.

 

[Buckman]

On our Lunar the sensor was located at eye level so you had frozen feet. Thye then added an additional sensor at floor level which made a big difference.

 

[Beehpee]

Home from our mini break, first visit to Moreton in Marsh and ticks all the boxes, clean and tidy and although we had no intention of using the showers etc my wife just had to put her head round the door and her response was it looked perfectly ok, the thermostat issue was less of a problem in fact not a problem at all, we got used to it to the extent that we managed perfectly ok, that issue might come again when temperatures drop further but I’ll wait and see, lots of you might think I’m getting soft but we usually go for fully serviced pitches, this time we had to go for no serviced pitches, there is going to be serviced pitches in the near future but not yet, I decided for 3 nights we’d be fine, I’d forgotten how much water we get through, obviously the more often I had to fill the aqua roll the more often I had to then empty the wastemaster, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and when we go again it will be on one of the new serviced hard standing pitches. My better half enjoyed the Xmas market and I was happy to tag along and carry the numerous purchases, so overall verdict is a great weekend.

BP

 

[Jcloughie]

Was it a dedicated Christmas market, or their normal street market, (which is excellent), with some Christmassy things. Only ask as many Christmas markets have been cancelled.

John

 

[Beachball]

Home from our mini break, first visit to Moreton in Marsh and ticks all the boxes, clean and tidy and although we had no intention of using the showers etc my wife just had to put her head round the door and her response was it looked perfectly ok, the thermostat issue was less of a problem in fact not a problem at all, we got used to it to the extent that we managed perfectly ok, that issue might come again when temperatures drop further but I’ll wait and see, lots of you might think I’m getting soft but we usually go for fully serviced pitches, this time we had to go for no serviced pitches, there is going to be serviced pitches in the near future but not yet, I decided for 3 nights we’d be fine, I’d forgotten how much water we get through, obviously the more often I had to fill the aqua roll the more often I had to then empty the wastemaster, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and when we go again it will be on one of the new serviced hard standing pitches. My better half enjoyed the Xmas market and I was happy to tag along and carry the numerous purchases, so overall verdict is a great weekend.

BP

Hi Beehpee I am pleased you enjoyed your mini break & the Xmas Market

 

[Beehpee]

Morning, I’d call it a Xmas market and it was certainly largely Christmas merchandise that was for sale, we purposely got there for first thing on Saturday morning and it got off to a slow start with the majority of people including us and the traders keeping face masks on, we left early enough that we felt perfectly safe, I’m glad we went early because early afternoon I went out in the car to get fuel and driving past the market I don’t think I’d have liked to have been there then as it looked to me to be much busier.
My wife and I have survived the pandemic thus far and with faint light at the end of the tunnel we are not relaxing our guard at all, we are if anything becoming more cautious, stay safe all.

BP