Truma ultraheat

[Fellwalker]

Hi hope this forum of wise caravanning experts can help us.
We recently bought our first van a bailey burgundy s6 which we are very happy with, even though we are complete newbies we have got to grips with most things regarding caravanning and are really enjoying the freedom and mostly stress free life of our new van. However there's one thing regarding our truma ultraheat, everything we have read about the heater says we have a fan heater which will blow war m heat out of the various vents around the van. However the top of the heater only has one dial on it to the left which is for ignition when starting with gas . The right hand side on top just has a blank switch. On the wall we have the dial with 500 1000 and 2000 and the 1-9 dial for thermostat etc. so my question is how do we get the fan working to blow the heat throughout the van through the vents. We are wondering if the dealer who sold us the van has changed the heater that originally come with the van .
Thanks in advance for any help

 

[bertieboy1]

Hello Fellwalker,
The switch with the selection 500,100,2000 Watts selects the output of the heater and the 1 to 9 is the thermostat settings.
Not sure about the second switch on top of the heater you mention,normally this would be a rotary switch for controlling the fan (blown air system) you talk about.
The outer ring of this switch selects the control of the fan - AUTO - OFF - MANUAL.
In auto the fan speeds up as the heat exchanger in the heater gets hotter.
Off means the fan is off.
Manual means the fan is on and running at the speed selected (1 to 5)
The inner knob graduated 1 to 5 controls the fan speed (1 for slow and 5 for faster)
When auto is selected the fan speed will gradually increase as the temperature rises to the speed selected by thr inner knob (1 to 5)
When manual is selected the fan will immediately run at the speed selected by the inner knob (1 to 5)
From your description I cannot determine what type of switch your heater is fitted with.(rotary or rocker types)

 

[Fellwalker]

Hi bertieboy thanks for your reply
On top of the heater there is one dial on the left which you push down and turn to ignite the heater using the gas which is numbered 1-10. To the right of the heater on top were there is usually a switch or dial which turns on the fan which you rightly describe in your post is not there , there is just a blank circle were the switch would usually be . So to clarify I have one dial on top of my heater, would post a picture but can't work out how to do it .
So I cannot work out how to put the fan on thanks

 

[Damian]

It is quite possible that Bailey utilised a different control for the fan heater.
If you could take pics of all the controls you can find in the van it would help, specifically one possibly marked Trumavent
To post pics have a look in the Our Website part of the forum , there are details how to there.

 

[bertieboy1]

Fellwalker,
You don,t say what model of heater you have,I've done search on "truma Ultraheat" and the only heater I can find that fits your description is an "Ultraheat Solo".
On this model the blown air system is an optional extra.
It has the ignition and gas heater controls on top LHS and blanking plates on top RHS.
Are you sure van has or should have blown air heating system fitted.

 

[Damian]

First question which should have been asked before,,,,,,,,what year is your van?

 

[chrisbee1]

I had a Burgundy S6 and the heater had two rotary switches and worked exactly as bertieboy described. From what I can remember the manual said this is the standard fit. I'm wondering if there was a fault with the fan system and someone simply removed the switch and fitted a blanking plate before selling the 'van. :evil:

 

[Damian]

I am pretty sure that the S6 was originally fitted with a 3002 gas fire with Ultraheat and TEB fan.
That would indeed be the situation relating to the controls on both sides the fire, Gas on left and fan on right.
The thing to do is access the back of the fire and check to see if the fan unit is actually fitted .or has it been removed for some reason.

 

[RogerL]

I am pretty sure that the S6 was originally fitted with a 3002 gas fire with Ultraheat and TEB fan.
That would indeed be the situation relating to the controls on both sides the fire, Gas on left and fan on right.
The thing to do is access the back of the fire and check to see if the fan unit is actually fitted .or has it been removed for some reason.

Bailey used the Truma 3002 with Ultraheat on Pageant and Senator ranges from 2001 to my knowledge, possibly earlier.

It's possible that the heater's front panel has been replaced, wrongly, with one from a basic 3002 - if the fan unit is there on the back, and the multi-plug visible somewhere in the heater housing, it may be possible to replace the blanking plate with the correct dial control.

AFAIK, the Truma heater internals can be fiited left or right-handed to clear any underfloor obstructions - in which case, the left/right controls are interchanged - at least that was true of the earlier SB1800 but may not be for the S3002.

 

[gary]

If you have or had blown air originally,then you will have blown air outlets in sight at various places around the van just above floor level, these will have large light brown convoluted ducting pipes attached to them inside bunks etc.
The fan unit itself is also large and looking of feeling behind the fire will without doubt confirm it's presence, or not!.

Given this is all there and the fire top control switch is missing, Truma also do a wall mounted black matchbox sized switch with speed dial knob and red slider switch that you may find close by the fire

 

[Fellwalker]

Hi thanks all for taking the time to reply and for trying to solve our problem .
First of all the year of the van is 2008 and when I read about other vans of this year advertised they all state they have blown air heating. After looking at all your advice I'm convinced that the dealer has swapped the front cover of the heater before we bought the van as there is indeed a blanking plate on the top right hand side of the heater. When we get time to go upto the storage site we will try to get the cover off the heater and see if there is a fan at the back of the heater. If there is , is it pretty straight forward to add the fan switch needed , we obviously haven't got the DIY skills for this but we would consider someone doing this for us if it is pretty straight forward and inexpensive
Thanks again

 

[Damian]

The fan is fitted to the back of the fire and cannot be seen by taking the fire front off.
If the fire is fitted with a wardrobe above it there should be a panel in the floor of the wardrobe which you lift to get access to the back of the fire, if under a drawer you need to remove the drawer to get limited access to the back.

A 2008 van should definitely have a fan fitted.

 

[gary]

Re-reading and to quote a bit of Fellwalkers original post; so my question is how do we get the fan working to blow the heat throughout the van through the vents.
So that would strongly suggest vents are present, therefore removes doubt it did/did not originally have blown air and fan and switch should be present?

 

[Dustydog]

I had a Bailey S5 Pageant, FIL had a S6 Pageant and we now have a Senator. All have the Truma S3002 as per the following video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1m1gwmxHxU

Ho long have you had the caravan? Whee did you buy it?

 

[Fellwalker]

Yes there are vents around the van two at the front near the seating one at side of fixed bed and one in the shower room also noticed beige coloured wide pipes under the bed. The heater is under a draw so will try to get draw out and see if I can see anything . We bought the van in June from a small dealer in standish . Does anyone know if it's difficult to add a fan dial to the heater, if as I suspect the heater cover has been changed and we do indeed have a heater with a fan . Am I literally looking for a fan at the back of the heater

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Fell walker

Thistle is a mystery that makes me take a step back and think.
Why was the original front casing , switching and pcb removed and replaced with a blank?
Is it possible to talk to the dealer in Standish and ask why? Maybe he could put you in contact with the last owner.
I suspect the modification has been done deliberately because of a previous failure. Sorry to be negative but warning bells are ringing for me.

 

[Fellwalker]

Hi recently had a full service on the van and the heater was checked so we know there's no issue with the heater. When we bought the van there was a few thinks that we're not working for example the microwave and some of the spotlights so the dealer took them out of another bailey van and swapped them. But we did not even notice the heater so it makes me think has he changed the front cover or completely changed the whole heater out of an older van as the original was not working

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Fellwalker

I smell a rat here.
You need to go to a Bailey main dealer or consult a professional expert like Our Damian

 

[Damian]

I agree it does seem odd that for some reason the fan switch has been removed, but nothing surprises me with some dealers.
The fan unit you are looking for is quite large metal unit fitted to the back of the aluminium fire enclosure and is connected to the air tubes which are quite obvious at the bottom of the fan unit.
The fire surround on the front, where the blank is located, that just pushes out and the fan control just pushes in and is connected to the wiring loom by a small plug which plugs onto the switch PCB.(as your switch has been removed the connecting wire and plug could be anywhere in the vicinity of the right hand side of the fire, you may have to trace it from the fan unit).

If you find the wire and want a switch let me know, I have one which you can have for less than you would normally pay.

 

[Fellwalker]

Thanks for all your help and advice guys will dig a little further to try to get to the bottom of this mystery