Truma ultra water heater

[GingerPete]

We have a Bailey Burgundy series 5 which we have had for nearly 20 months and our water heater has broken down twice, first time in May 2007 it was repaired by our dealers who did insinuate at the time that we had indeed broken it by not having it full before switching it on. We had another lesson from them in the operation of the water heater.

We have operated it successfully on a couple of occasions and we were happy that it was repaired. This weekend we were lucky enough to go to Brighton where we wanted to use the water heater. We filled it up as told and after making sure the water was flowing evenly we turned it on by the electic supply. We did not get any hot water all weekend. It also would not work on the gas supply. We changed the fuse and still no hot water.

We feel that there could be a fault with the water heater, has anyone else had same or similar problems.

 

[JTQ]

As it is apparently not working on either electricity or gas which are separate systems, might suggest that your problem is more likely to be with getting the water to flow through it.

It needs water flowing through it whilst a HOT tap is open to displace any hot water that might be in it.

Do the indicators light up showing its powered on each system.

When on gas is the exhaust flue getting warm? It should be obvious, both by warmth and sound that its burning gas by going near the exhaust.

One possibility that would inhibit the water flow is that the non return valve in the feed to the unit is stuck closed.

 

[JTQ]

As it is apparently not working on either electricity or gas which are separate systems, might suggest that your problem is more likely to be with getting the water to flow through it.

It needs water flowing through it whilst a HOT tap is open to displace any hot water that might be in it.

Do the indicators light up showing its powered on each system.

When on gas is the exhaust flue getting warm? It should be obvious, both by warmth and sound that its burning gas by going near the exhaust.

One possibility that would inhibit the water flow is that the non return valve in the feed to the unit is stuck closed.

Or the non return valve is simply installed the wrong way round!

 

[Surfer]

I think that there is a possibility that your dealer is talking absolute rubbish. These heaters have a trip on them and if there is no water in the boiler it trips. To re-set all you do is switch off the mains supply to the boiler, wait about 5 minutes, and then switch on the power again obviously making sure that there is a water in the boiler this time. If on gas, you need to remove the cover off the outside flue.

 

[GingerPete]

Thanks for the quick replies,

The first time the water heater broke, it was both the gas and electricity and also this time it is on the gas and electricity.

Phoned Baileys technical department today and he basically said that they never go wrong and that we could not have filled it with water. This was also the opinion of the dealers where we bought the caravan.

We had both sink taps running on hot and the water was flowing smoothly, before we attemtped to light the tank.

Can anyone offer us more advice as to what we would be doing wrong.

This is our sixth caravan our fourths with a water heater and have never had any problems in the past. This is, however, our first Bailey.

 

[JTQ]

To move forward in knowledge you might do the following test.

"Fill" the Truma with water and leave on mains for half an hour before switching off.

Place container under the Truma's drain tube and then set the drain valve to dump the water.

If you get no water then it is not filling in the first place.

If you get plenty of water, then if it's cold the heater is not working, if it's hot then the boiler is okay and its a water flow problem.

If you get water and its cold on electricity then clearly you could explore the same with gas heating.

We then know if it's a boiler or water system problem.