Truma ultraheat 2kw tripping

[Steptoe1971]

Hi guys thanks for your time
I’m new on here and have a massive problem with my van I’ve owned it for a few years now and I have found this issue to be annoying now when turning on our heater on 240v electric on 500 -1k all is fine except when turning to 2k after a while it trips the cb the cb on board is a F&S C45N c6 415v IEC898 6KA
I have read previously that this is wrong and should be at 16a cb can someone please help me on this as I have the complete heater assembly stripped it looks like a bomb site I’m getting frustrated as I just can’t pinpoint why it trips
Thank you Pete

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Steptoe,

The name Trueheat is not make we find or are familiar with in the UK. I see there is an Australian company of than name, I suggest you try them for more information.

 

[Damian]

From your description I am guessing that your heater is actually an Ultraheat, made by Truma and possibly rebadged for Australian use.

The Australian company only seems to deal with cooking appliances.

If that is the case then the CB should be 16a, not 6a as on 2Kw setting the fire will draw 8Amps.

Also the F&S circuit breakers are cheap Chinese rubbish that have a tendancy to fail with monotonous regularity.
Replace with a better well known alternative, such as Hager.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Damian,

As far as I can establish Truma use their generic name Truma in all the markets they operte in. They have an established distribution and service network in Austrailia. So I strongly suspect the Trueheat is nothing to do with Truma.

The mix of a 2kW heater and a 6A CB suggests the heater was not origonal. 6A CB at 230V (Au standard same as UK) will only power up to 1380W (1.38kW) and would explain why the 2kW setting trips the breaker

I agree some of the cheap MCB's are a pain in the neck, but if a 6A unit has been fitted then assuming the Aussies follow their wiring codes and practice, it probably means the cabling is only rated to 6A, and swapping the CB to a 16A could expose the wiring to an overload.

Steptoe needs to check the capcity of the wiring before upgrading the CB.

 

[Steptoe1971]

Sorry it should have said Truma ultra heat
Oooops typo

Hello Steptoe,

The name Trueheat is not make we find or are familiar with in the UK. I see there is an Australian company of than name, I suggest you try them for more information.

 

[Damian]

Hello Damian,

As far as I can establish Truma use their generic name Truma in all the markets they operte in. They have an established distribution and service network in Austrailia. So I strongly suspect the Trueheat is nothing to do with Truma.

The mix of a 2kW heater and a 6A CB suggests the heater was not origonal. 6A CB at 230V (Au standard same as UK) will only power up to 1380W (1.38kW) and would explain why the 2kW setting trips the breaker

I agree some of the cheap MCB's are a pain in the neck, but if a 6A unit has been fitted then assuming the Aussies follow their wiring codes and practice, it probably means the cabling is only rated to 6A, and swapping the CB to a 16A could expose the wiring to an overload.

Steptoe needs to check the capcity of the wiring before upgrading the CB.

Oh for goodness sake !!
I think it was quite clear in my post that the company Trueheat only dealt with cooking appliances, but that it "may" have been a possiblilty that it was a rebadged Truma, only a possibility!!!!!!!!

It has since become clear that it is indeed a Truma Ultraheat, in which case it needs a 16A CB.

As far as the rest of your post is concerned, as I work with caravans on a daily basis I do not need a lesson in Electrics thank you, I am fully qualified and fully up to date with the regulations .

Back to the question, and a possible answer.
If the Ultraheat was fitted after the fire, as is common on quite a lot of vans, the whoever fitted it did a very bad job by wiring it in to the 6A CB as it would never work on full setting.
As an aftermarket fitment it should have been wired to its own 16A CB, but I am guessing the fitter who did the fit could not be bothered to adhere to the recommended way of doing it.

 

[Hutch]

Who said Steptoe 1971 was in Australia, come on lads read the posting, the chap needs help.
Bye the way, welcome to the Forum, which caravan do you have this may help a bit more.
Hutch.

 

[Damian]

Who said Steptoe 1971 was in Australia, come on lads read the posting, the chap needs help.
Bye the way, welcome to the Forum, which caravan do you have this may help a bit more.
Hutch.

The idea that the OP was in Australia was the reference to Trueheat which is an Australian supplier of gas cooking ranges for the commercial market.

It makes no difference what van it is, it is the actual item which is causing the problem and that has now had my guess of it being a Truma Ultraheat confirmed and that it is simply connected to the wrong size CB.

 

[Hutch]

Who said Steptoe 1971 was in Australia, come on lads read the posting, the chap needs help.
Bye the way, welcome to the Forum, which caravan do you have this may help a bit more.
Hutch.

The idea that the OP was in Australia was the reference to Trueheat which is an Australian supplier of gas cooking ranges for the commercial market.

It makes no difference what van it is, it is the actual item which is causing the problem and that has now had my guess of it being a Truma Ultraheat confirmed and that it is simply connected to the wrong size CB.

I can see Pete, edited his original posting, so maybe I missed the original posting which may have mentioned a True heat unit. All I was asking was for Pete to confirm which van so everyone could maybe help.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Who said Steptoe 1971 was in Australia, come on lads read the posting, the chap needs help.
Bye the way, welcome to the Forum, which caravan do you have this may help a bit more.
Hutch.

Based on Steptoe's original question he told us he had a Trueheat. That was not a name I was familiar with, so I did an internet search. It turned up an Australian company. As their products are not used in the UK it seemed logical he could be down under. We do have a couple of antipodean members.

Steptoe's posting has now been changed to Truma Ultraheat, which radically changed things. The advice about the circuit breakers is still valid.
.

 

[Dustydog]

Back to the OP.
It only trips on 2k. Possible one of the TODs is faulty. Or the 2k element has an Earth leakage.
Note he has the whole appliance in bits.
Steptoe when you finally reassemble ensure you use a new exhaust manifold gasket to avoid CO leakage into the caravan.
As a matter of course with it all in bits why not just change both TODs, note they are different and the heater element as well. Not that expensive in relation to the time you expend.

 

[Hutch]

Hello Damian,

As far as I can establish Truma use their generic name Truma in all the markets they operte in. They have an established distribution and service network in Austrailia. So I strongly suspect the Trueheat is nothing to do with Truma.

The mix of a 2kW heater and a 6A CB suggests the heater was not origonal. 6A CB at 230V (Au standard same as UK) will only power up to 1380W (1.38kW) and would explain why the 2kW setting trips the breaker

I agree some of the cheap MCB's are a pain in the neck, but if a 6A unit has been fitted then assuming the Aussies follow their wiring codes and practice, it probably means the cabling is only rated to 6A, and swapping the CB to a 16A could expose the wiring to an overload.

Steptoe needs to check the capcity of the wiring before upgrading the CB.

Oh for goodness sake !!
I think it was quite clear in my post that the company Trueheat only dealt with cooking appliances, but that it "may" have been a possiblilty that it was a rebadged Truma, only a possibility!!!!!!!!

It has since become clear that it is indeed a Truma Ultraheat, in which case it needs a 16A CB.

As far as the rest of your post is concerned, as I work with caravans on a daily basis I do not need a lesson in Electrics thank you, I am fully qualified and fully up to date with the regulations .

Back to the question, and a possible answer.
If the Ultraheat was fitted after the fire, as is common on quite a lot of vans, the whoever fitted it did a very bad job by wiring it in to the 6A CB as it would never work on full setting.
As an aftermarket fitment it should have been wired to its own 16A CB, but I am guessing the fitter who did the fit could not be bothered to adhere to the recommended way of doing it.

I think The Prof post is very true, if as you suggest it was fitted wrongly then it is possible the wiring is not adequate for the heater and suggesting just fitting a 16 amp CB is very irresponsible,

 

[Damian]

The Ultraheat comes with the mains wire already attached and is more than adequate for the purpose.

Fitting a 16A CB is far from irresponsible, as long as it is for the heater alone, or including the battery charger.
Maybe I should have been a bit more specific in my post and made it abundantly clear that what I meant was to fit a separate CB, not actually change the 6a unit as that would be powering other small draw items.

 

[Shariba]

Wow. I just bought in NZ a second hand Ellis caravan which was bought in from UK (which many are, in fact there are agents here). I joined the forum because my caravan trips the EARTH LEAKAGE Circuit breaker when the “switch” in the caravan is turned on. It came from UK (not Australia)

 

[Damian]

First thing to do is check your mains cable for any damage and each wire (pos, neg and earth) for continuity and cross check between each to ensure they do not cause the problem.
Then with all the circuit breakers off and all the appliances off apply power to the van and see if the main RCD trips.
If that stays on, turn each CB on in turn and see which one , if any trip.

Then start with one appliance at a time and turn it on, make sure that water heater is full of water before turning that on, and see what causes the trip.
When you have isolated the problem item, come back for more help in how to solve it.

 

[Steptoe1971]

Hey guys thank you so much for your advice on this subject today I replaced the 6a Cb to the 16a as suggested works a treat I do however apologise for the confusion as to the heading it is a Truma heater and not a trueheat not sure how this happened but hey it did lol
Thanks again all seems well
Pete