wet heating versus blown air

[TonyH1]

Hi, Wife and I spent well over an hour at my local dealer perusing new vans and have whittled choices down almost as far as we can. Even stood about over 20 minutes but not once did I get to speak to a sales person! So, I'm asking the real experts for a bit of info.

Whilst we don't want to be too cold, we don't like to be over hot either and in our current van we have the blown air system. With our variable weather we occasionally arrive back at the van with coats etc to dry out and hang them in the washroom, turn up the heating and close all the flaps into the living area. This results in the washroom becoming an excellent drying room and we have a small amount of heat in the living area which is ideal for us.

Now we come to the question! Is this scenario achievable with a wet heating system or is it a case of it's all giving out heat?

Many thanks in anticipation.

 

[Damian]

No, you cannot do the same with a wet heating system as a wet system uses a single pipe to transport the hot water round the van, so you get " all round" heat.
The van temp is set at the control panel.

 

[TonyH1]

Thanks Damian, that's what I thought, but hoped not, as the wet system is definitely becoming more common.

 

[RayS]

Agree it is becoming increasingly difficult to find van with blown warm air heating.
The solution to using toilet room as drying area may be to fit ( or get fitted if not yourself qualified) an electric towel rail which can be switched on or off as required.

Or use one of the electric tubular heaters to achieve the same end.

Swith for such a device needs to be away from the potentilaay we area. Typically rated at 150 to 100 watts these are relatively low demand units which make early mornin visits much more comfortable But should be professionally fitted.

 

[TonyH1]

Not sure what's driving the change, unless as a more expensive system there's more profit. Can anyone highlight a benefit for me? As far as I can find out it's less controllable, it needs regular fluid changes, takes longer to warm up but may be quieter in operation.

 

[Hutch]

My Coachman 560 with the blown air is almost silent, EXCEPT, when you have it on timer, and it starts in the morning sounding like a tube train coming into a station, this is only for about 3 or 4 minutes as it starts to get the van up to about 15c from about the 10 which we set it to for through the night time.

 

[crazyguider]

I wouldn't want a wet system because of the extra weight. I love the versatility of blown air, especially to be anle to use the loo room as a drying room. OH has made an extended pipe system which we hang higher up to dry quicker.

 

[Raywood]

I think it depends on the size of the caravan. Ours has a 5.6 m body and the blown air heats it quickly and efficiently, but my feeling is that if you go a lot beyond that it might struggle. The advantages are clearly simplicity light weight and costs of both fitting and maintaining. If you want a large twin axle then the wet system is probably better but for smaller caravans I doubt it.

 

[TonyH1]

Thanks Ray, I'm of a similar mind to you. Ideally I was hoping for some reports on the benefits of the wet system as this system seems to be more and more prevalent even on mid size/range vans.

 

[Lovo]

Hi Tony. We recently returned to caravaning after a four year break. When considering our new van we were skeptical about the blow air systems. The van we ended up buying was a Bailey pursuit with a Truma blown system. All I can say is it is brilliant, keeps the can snug even in the harshest snowdownian weather. You can even control it remotely via your smart phone. Great when the weather changes when your out and you return to a warm van. My sister has a wet system and has had several issues over the past three years.

Tony

 

[Mel]

We have previously had blown air but our current van has Alde. Good things about both, but imho the Alde heats the van more consistently and seems to keep the temperature more stable. It does take a bit longer to warm the van, but not that much. We didn't choose this van because it had Alde, but if all other things were equal I would pick Alde again.
Mel

 

[Craigyoung]

Tony ,
We've got the blown air system to in our baileys Orion , pretty much the same as Lovo has got , it's great for us , heats up quick and quietly , van at 7m and lovely and snug when we need it to be , and like people say we also use the wash room as a sort off dry room when need be .

Craig .

 

[RayS]

I researched both systems pretty thoroughly before buying my current van 3 years ago. The reported troubles with wet systems at the time - including the fact that a boiler fault would deprive you of both heating and hot water caused me to opt for a van with blown warm air and separate water heating.
The Whale space heater is under the floor giving more cupboard space. For quick warm up run it on gas and then revert to electric. Main problem has been with caravan makers poor installation rather than heater itself, but fault probably resulting from heavy use (160 nights/year) handled well by Whale under warranty.
Great pity that to get this you usually have to buy 'entry level' caravan but prefer this to all the draining/bleeding/refilling problems experienced by friends and reported on this and other forums.

 

[Travelling-Wilbury]

We can't seem to get any warm air out of our blown air system. The Truma heater on it's own works well and the fan works. However, when I switch the fan on to blow the warm air from the heater around the van it just seems to blow cold air out of the vents. The Boss has a fit if she's in the bathroom at the time.

 

[Woodentop]

We can't seem to get any warm air out of our blown air system. The Truma heater on it's own works well and the fan works. However, when I switch the fan on to blow the warm air from the heater around the van it just seems to blow cold air out of the vents. The Boss has a fit if she's in the bathroom at the time.

Do you switch it to manual or auto? If auto the 'stat may not be working - use manual. In addition make sure the temp knob in the middle of the power controller is fully clockwise. Also you can adjust the flap on the back panel to change the heating bias - we have ours roughly 2/3 to bathroom and 1/3 to lounge so the bathroom/drying room is always warm.

 

[Travelling-Wilbury]

Thanks Woodentop, we're away again on Saturday so I'll give this a go.

 

[Raywood]

Thanks Woodentop, we're away again on Saturday so I'll give this a go.

Given the weather forecast you probably will not need the heating so enjoy.
I do agree to get heat at the back going you might need to close the front vents but I find once you have it going it stays that way.