trauma heating

hi all . i have juat taken delivery of a 2002 symbol , immaculate condition , inside and out, so thrilled , but trying to find how eveything works ! tried to test the trauma blown air heating today , it blew air , but cold air !  So i looked at the owners handbook that came with it , and it says something about filling the water heater if i am reading that right ?  Also the tap water had no hot , water pump was working , could hear it and pump light on , water in the fresh water tank , what am i doing wrong ?  It does.nt sound right that i have to locate the water heater inside and fill it , better fess up , lady newbie , so be gentle with me

Hi lion heart
Welcome to the forum from chilly Bridington,someone who is more knowledgeable with your van will be on the forum soon.
Boaby

Not entirely familiar with the Truma system you have, but, before doing anything else try this.....

Firstly, you will not have to fill any tank from the inside of the vehicle.

If there is a cover on the outside of the vehicle, see below, it MUST be removed, it will have TRUMA written on it, just pull it off (if there is one!) and store it carefully, pull from bottom of cover.

1 Is the fresh water tank absolutely full, in other words, if you connect a hose to the fill point, continue filling until water overflows through the fill point.
2 Whilst doing that, check underneath the van to see if there is water coming out anywhere
3 If so, that could/would likely be from the hot water part of the Truma drain cock, you'll need to read your manual to find out where it is and how to close it.
4 Once all above done, ensure water pump is switched on and open just a cold tap, pump should run and water (perhaps after a bit of spluttering as any air is displaced) should run freely. 
5 Now close cold tap and open a hot one, ensure the pump is again running. If so, and no water is coming out of hot tap, leave hot tap open, the pump will be filling the hot water heater of the Truma system. Eventually ( it'll take circa 9 ltrs to fill it) water should start to come out of the open hot tap (again after some spluttering as air is displaced)
6 Once water is flowing freely, close hot tap and ensure cold tap also closed. The pump should now stop as its pressure switch closes.

If all above is successful, then refill the fresh water tank to replace the "lost" water used to fill the water heater.

That should have the water side of things sorted.

As to the heating of the air, check the following..... (firstly, if there is a cover on the outside of the vehicle covering the heater air inlet and exhaust, ensure it is removed, it's plastic about the size of a paperback book. (This MUST be removed or the gas will not light)

1 Ensure the gas is turned on, and that there is actually any gas in the tank. Do this by lighting all the rings on the cooker, and leave them on for a few minutes to see that the flames are constant. If so, you have gas!
2 There are shut-off taps for the gas supplies to all of the gas users, usually combined in a group under or in a cupboard somewhere. Find those and check that all are open, if the cooker worked, ensure the others are in the same position.
3 Assuming you have gas and the shut-off taps are open, try the warm air heater again. It is thermostatic, so ensure the temperature on the  thermostat is at maximum. It should work, when you switch it on listen for an audible click, this is the gas igniter, one thing though, if there is a cover on the gas air inlet/exhaust, on the outside of the vehicle, ensure it is removed, as stated earlier.

After all that, and still not working, I would suggest a motorhome dealer has a look at it for you, I certainly wouldn't fiddle with anything else.

Please let me know how you get on.

Hello Lionheart and Ian.  I have just been looking at a photo of a 2003 symbol and it seems possible that the heater vent (almost certainly on the offside) could be below an opening window.  If this is so, there will be a mandatory switch which will be open if the window is opened and this will prevent the heater from operating. Keith

KMRTOPAZ wrote:Hello Lionheart and Ian.  I have just been looking at a photo of a 2003 symbol and it seems possible that the heater vent (almost certainly on the offside) could be below an opening window.  If this is so, there will be a mandatory switch which will be open if the window is opened and this will prevent the heater from operating. Keith

LionHeart seems to have disappeared, so annoying, both of us put effort into trying to help a newbie, wonder if its worth the bother?

IanH wrote:

KMRTOPAZ wrote:Hello Lionheart and Ian.  I have just been looking at a photo of a 2003 symbol and it seems possible that the heater vent (almost certainly on the offside) could be below an opening window.  If this is so, there will be a mandatory switch which will be open if the window is opened and this will prevent the heater from operating. Keith

LionHeart seems to have disappeared, so annoying, both of us put effort into trying to help a newbie, wonder if its worth the bother?

He visited at 5.51am today, so not disappeared.

Thanks Peter L
Hopefully memory will now be jogged! BTW claims to be a Lady Newbie in post?

Just trying to work it out alone so not easy , did'nt see any point in posting til i had something to add , thanks for advise , the water heater housing which is under the bench seat looks like it is a sealed unit , so i cannot check the position of the lever as displayed in the handbook , as vertical for open and horizontal for closed , there is a wire on the floor running into the heater with a yellow lever type switch on it , pressd it and it hissed like sending water into the heater , but as i am not sure what i am doing i stopped , no such switch shown in h book , i filled fresh water tank up to overflowing as advised and tried hot water , nothing , then looked outside , water leaked out ! bit dissapointed , as paid a lot for the van and only had it 1 week , the dealer i bought it from is on holiday in spain atm so bit stuck , i did get the truma heating working  though , and yes i am a lady , have a son around from time to time , but he  is no expert , so i have no water now as it has all gone !

Your leak could be the dump valve which should be explained in the handbook.
Have a look and get back if you cannot find it

gef wrote:Your leak could be the dump valve which should be explained in the handbook.
Have a look and get back if you cannot find it

Almost certainly correct. Also explains the lack of hot water, or even cold water coming out of the hot taps.

Lion heart, I guess your location is not the Haslemere near High Wycombe otherwise I could (Covid safe) help you out if you wanted.

Okay don't worry look inside where your water inlet is and follow the water pipes . It will be close to where your water was leaking from.  You will find a device with a knob on top and a button lower down.  Turn the knob and push the button in.  Then turn your pump on with hot tap open and check under van for leaks

Lion Heart - There are quite a few videos on YouTube that explain how to use motorhome features - including water and heating. Might be a useful starting point.

I don’t think a 2002 Symbol will have an automatic dump valve. Try watching this [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. Although this is newer than yours I don’t think they have changed much. You can see the drain valve, yellow, it must be parallel to the floor in either direction, when the lever is upright it is draining the water out.

Have a look at this video as well [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]   see if it helps.

Mike

Thanks mike ,watched video , so at least i know yellow lever i found was the correct one , i wil have another go tommorow , but i do think the lever was in correct position , bur when i put water in in tank , tried the hot water which failed to be hor , though i did have cold water coming out taps , and then all water poured down my driveway , thanks to all for advise

LH

IMHO this water "leakage" and/or lack of heating has to be one of 3 possibilities

1 There really is a leak, if you can get under the van or get someone else to it should be easy to see where from, ensure it is actually leaking for this inspection!

2 All (that I know of) caravan or motorhome water heaters have a drain, even if only from the hot water heater tank. This is vital for prevention of freezing during winter. Some are automatic, they open when temp reduces, others (like yours I suspect) are not. IN both cases there is a valve which can be manually opened to drain the boiler tank. It is near certain that yours is open.

3 Re the hot water not heating, are you 100% certain that the heater cover plate on the outside of the vehicle is removed, if not, then no heating of water is possible.

I'd put considerable money on option 2!!!

If you had water coming out of both taps, hot and cold then likelihood is that your drain valve is closed as water would not get in the hot water heater in the first place. When you fill your tank and run water from the taps then turn them off does the pump stop (after a few seconds) then if it does stop you haven’t got a serious leek that would put a lot of water on your drive. If it does carry on try to see where it is coming from. If it is a faulty drain valve you would see a steady stream of water underneath the van where the valve is, probably through a short plastic pipe. Water from leeks from other parts of the system could appear anywhere as the water finds its way out.

You say “than all water poured down my driveway” that suggests that your drain valve on your waste tank is open and what you are seeing is the water you have run though your taps down the drain into your waste tank and out the open valve.

Mike

Don’t know if this will help.
I thought I had a water leak just before I was going away last year.  Found that although I had closed the drain valve flicking it to horizontal, it had gone a little bit further so leaked!  I am now carful when closing the drain valve!
Good luck lion heart.  
Sue

it should be apparent as to whether the water is coming out of the fresh water boiler drain, the waste tank drain or both...
once this is established, it should be easy to offer the correct remedial advice.
boiler drain valves are a bit of a mystery to novices and, as above, my money would also be on this being open...

thanks to all for trying to help , just a thought , when i bought the camper , it had a up to date habitation report supplied with a check list , on the list it states , check fresh and grey water pipes for leaks , which it has tick against for pass , would have thought they would have made sure drain was closed , dated 27 june ! from what you are all saying the yellow switch , which must be open , is not same thing as the drain , so back to looking again tomorrow , want to get away in it , but feel i prefer to have it all tickety boo first

The yellow switch must be in the horizontal position to close the dump valve and stop water draining from the boiler,    the yellow switch ( leaver ) is the drain valve 

Open position
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Closed position
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

it is possible to get small pices of grit/dirt into the valve which can prevent it from closing properly....however, this usually results in a dribble (which fools the water pump into turning over when it shouldnt) rather than a steady stream...
sounds like the drain valve is open...

There doesn't seem to be a convention as to whether hab check techs leave a drain valve open or closed. It's probably a 50/50 chance either way.

I would assume an '02 Symbol has mixer taps, rather than separate hot and cold, so I'm confused when LH says that water is coming out of both taps? Indeed, if the dump valve was open no water should reach the taps as the pump shouldn't be able to build any pressure. This might suggest that the dump valve is closed and that the water is running through the taps, drawing from the sink, into the waste tank and the waste tank drain is open, hence water on the drive.

If all that is the case, then once the waste tank drain is closed all is working fine in the circulatory sense.

We seem to have leapt to the conclusion that LH wishes to heat water using gas, but it could be that she's on a mains hook up and wants to use electricity, I'm unsure on that point.

Whichever form of fuel she wishes to use I'd say top up the fresh water tank first to make sure you aren't trying to heat an empty boiler. Then turn on the pump, set the sink tap to hot and wait until a steady stream of water runs. This may be immediately or may take a while as the boiler fills first. Once you have steady stream through the tap, the boiler will be full and you can turn on whichever form of energy you wish to warm the water. Whilst you wait for the water to appear at the tap take a look under the van to ensure no water is running out. If it is you either have the dump valve open or a leak somewhere.

Thanks all , and to freelander , for photo , so i now know the yellow lever in my camper is closed , as the posistion is as shown with ridged part showing , So i filled up fresh water tank to overflowing again today , then ist or all checked with master meter , reading for tank , --full ! then rurned on sink tap on cold setting , you are right it is a mixer tap , water flowed well , pump on and workong , moved to hot water , cold also , let it run for a bit , then checking water meter again , gone down to half tank , pump then intermittant , so switched all off , to do no damage , and looked under camper , leaking out , large tank under , with big grey cap , put hand under , but hard to see exactly where from , it it is actual tank leak or what ?  when you speak dump valve does that refer to the yellow lever in the open posistion or is there another drain on the actual fresh water tank , right under the van that needs to be closed ? The water leaking out is coming from area of tank