Whale heating cutting out

So the latest request for help please, having now sorted the non working solar!

The 2021 Kingham comes fitted with a combined water and heating boiler by Whale. The system will run on electric, gas, or a combination of the two. So far pretty standard stuff and what we are used to on previous vans (albeit they were Truama units)
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The first night we stayed away in the van, we had been using combined power source all day and turned the heating level down on the control panel so we didn’t get too hot overnight. However at 4 am we both woke up as we were cold, in fact the thermometer showed it was only 5 degrees in the van! 

The heating had cut off, and was showing a locked out panel with a fault code that relates to no gas supply or gas being supplied at less than 30mb pressure. I reset the panel, and fired it up again and the boiler started straight away. The fuel source still being combined gas and electric.

We have give or take 25 litres of gas in the tank and of course the system had worked perfectly all day so the 30 mb aspect seemed odd too.

I put it down to user error..

However we have now been away for a further 3 nights and every night we have had the same issue. Except the one night I experimented and left it on electric only, it worked perfectly that night.

So it seems that whenever the gas is involved overnight, it falls over.

I contacted Whale for guidance but got a useless regurgitation of the manual telling me how to clear the fault code, which I’d already told them I was able to do. It was clearly a generic reply as my email was very clear what the issue was and what the motorhome was. The reply mentioned the water heater as well as actual heating and “ if it is fitted to a motorhome”. So I’ve given up with Whale who failed to reply 2 days ago to my very polite “ thanks but that didn’t really help” email.

I’m in contact with the dealer but in the meantime wondered if the collective could shed any light on the issue...

Whale are normally very helpful and there is even a lady who comes on here occasionally.  Telephone them and have a chat - I am sure thay will be helpful.
One thing that does occur to me - as it has happened on cold nights I wonder if your lpg has a high butane content which is not gassing properly?

Looks like I’ve got to the bottom of this after talking to the service guys at the dealers.

Luckily for me they knew exactly what I was talking about  and what was happening.

They advise that it is a fault which Whale know about, and is to do with the flu not working as it should under certain atmospheric conditions/temperatures. When these specific conditions are met, the boiler shuts down as part of its safety mechanism. This is a good thing as the bed on the Kingham is over the boiler!

The dealer has other vans affected, including one of the technicians own vans, and Whale are supposedly working on the solution. Not all vans with Whales are affected, just certain models.

Kind of a case of watch this space, and as soon as the fix is available they’ll sort it.

This might of course help any other owner who is having the same issue as me - if you do have the problem it’s definitely worth reporting to you dealer so they can help push Whale for the fix.

Hi 
Just joined this group and collected my Fairford Plus MQ 8 days ago. My son posted about Gas Heating Error Code 1 (exactly same as issue described) - hence couple of questions please:
1. Has there been any update on the Whale Fix ?
2. What can be done for use off grid if it keeps tripping ?
3. If its a Whale design fault is there any recourse or are we supposed to just accept it?
V worried if its a structural issue as we cannot even reset it (BTW visiting dealer in the morning but quite alarmed to read 'Millie The Moocher' post.  )

I’ve not had any update on the situation re the fix I’m afraid.

We have always been able to reset the system so far, so it’s possible that your problem is more severe than ours. Oddly we can run on gas/ gas electric during the day, it’s just overnight it doesn’t seem to like. 

I am a bit unimpressed that the 2021 vans have been released with this fault but for me we rarely aren’t on hook up (our next off hook up is September) so I am happy to wait for a fix.

I’m more pleased that the safety devices cut in and we didn’t get carbon monoxide poisoning..

I suppose it might be worth asking AS if they will refit the van with the Tuma system that they used to use - they may be amenable to this - but personally I’m just going to wait for the fix I think.

Please keep us posted as to how you get on

Really helpful and great first experience on this forum (despite my angst re the Whale issue)

Certainly will keep you and all up to date on any devs.

A long shot but just in case:  We had the same symptoms (with  Truma): kept cutting out intermittently and saying no gas.  Eventually the problem was solved: we'd had the van undersealed immediately after purchase new, and some of the spray had got on to the gas regulator - and had partially blocked the pinhole which in turn affected the pressure. A new regulator was fitted, and we've had no problem since.

Could your regulator's pinhole be partially blocked - underseal? road muck?

Cymro

A quick update on this thread....

Van is now back at dealers to have the fix made to the heating.

The solution is likely to be two fold, firstly a change to the flue system using a modified part Whale have come up with as a solution to the problem, and secondly replacing the gas regulator .

Got to say so far the dealer (SMC Newark) have been excellent getting the problem resolved. I get to pick the van up again on 2 August, timescale in booking in and picking van up are entirely around my availability as opposed to any delays caused by the dealer.

I’ll post another update when the van is back, hopefully fixed!