Truma Heater on 2004 Swift Lifestyle

[sjones]

Dear all

Now the cold weather has arrived, we have noticed that when we put our electric switch in the highest position on the truma heater, after about three quarters of an hour the heater goes off, and there is no way we can get it to come back, but then without any adjustment it will come back on after about half an hour of it's own accord and then stay on, can anyone shed any light on this intermittent fault?

 

[RogerL]

It's not an intermittent fault - it's a specification fault - this problem has been around 8-9 years since the Ultraheat was introduced.

The thermostat is badly positioned and is affected directly by the heater so stays off far longer than it should.

To minimise the effect, adjust the power setting to suit the outside temperature once the caravan is up to temperature and shuts off the first time. We find that the 1000w setting will maintain a difference of 10-15 degrees depending on the wind - in other words if it's not too windy, 1000w will give use 21 inside while it's 6 degrees outside.

There are two solutions - Truma make/sell a remote thermostat sensor kit which needs to be fitted where it's not affected by direct heat, only circulating air as intended. The cable is then run to the back of the heater where it plugs in the control box. Some dealers will fit this free-of-charge so it's worth a try. - Gary at ArcSystems http://www.arcsystems.biz/ has a similar sensor kit but the sensor is fitted at the bottom of the heater onto the gas thermostat, elegant in it's simplicity and it's cheaper.