Hot water + drainage issues

Richard G wrote:It may be a basic question from a person of my experience but

How can i use my heating etc in my 2021 Broadway EL as it has now auto drained the boiler and cannot reset as its still cold . Even if i do reset and heating works how can i prevent it dumping again when i am driving? Presumably best keep heating on all the time when parked up.

Away this weekend, will take my Bedsocks!

Vehicle is supposedly with Winter Pack option. Not really very effective.

I agree with Cymro.  You don't need the HW tank to be full of water to run the heating.  I don't fill/prime the water system until I arrive at a site by which time the cab heater and sun (if there is any) is often sufficient in cold weather to raise the temp around the Truma frost valve so that it will stay shut.  If not, I put the Truma heater on as soon as I arrive at the site and that cures it in minutes if the valve is exposed.  It is possible to run the Truma heating whilst the van is being driven but so far I haven't done that.  It wouldn't bother me if the Truma valve dumped the water whilst driving.  I always carry a small water container in the van so we can have a brew etc en route.  As a precaution on site we turn the water pump off at the EC700 CP when we leave the van.  Even though we leave the heating on low when we leave the van there is a risk that the heating will fail whilst we are away or there is a power outage causing the Tuma valve temperature to drop and then open.  In these circumstance I don't want the pump to come on and empty the fresh water tank and eventually burn out.

I don't know if you have a Shurflo pump.  I do and a few months after it was fitted it did the unthinkable and failed.  It was very cold at the time and whilst the temperature had risen sufficiently to shut the Truma valve, the thermal mass of the pump may have meant it was still frozen.  This is just my theory but when I turned the pump on nothing happened.  When it was replaced under warranty the technician doubted this was the cause of the failure.  However, I now take care to ensure the pump is above freezing before I use it.

From memory, from my Warwick days, as Cymro says the space heating can be run with the water heater tank empty.
The tank dump valves, again from memory opens to dump at +3c and can be closed again above +7c.
As the air and water heaters are co located running the air heating easily heats up the area around the dump valve to more than 7c.
If you are living in the van and, presumably have some form of heating, even an electric heater plugged into EHU mains, it is very unlikely indeed that the internal ambient temp will get below 3c. If at home, then you should manually drain the water heater anyway with the manual valve and close it again when next filling the water tank.....

inspiredron wrote:The OP has a 2001 van. IMHO unlikely that he has an automatic dump valve. I cannot run Truma on my 2012 van with 2 knobs to control the Combi 4e (not the digital control) I cannot use the Truma unless the control panel is on - which it isn't it the engine is running. Nor can I use the EC328's timer to switch the heating on.

Comments about the Truma frost valve related to Richard G's query rather than the OP's.  Interesting observation from Paul.  On my Nuevo there is no gas drop hole in the under seat locker where the Truma frost valve is located.  That said, if the seat isn't lifted and our Duvaleys moved to expose the Truma valve, it takes longer to warm the valve up.  Once it has warmed up and the HW tank filled, sufficient heat finds its way down the HW pipe to the Truma valve to prevent it from tripping, providing the heating is on.  The coldest temperatures are at night when the Duvaleys aren't in the locker which helps heat circulate around the locker from the heating duct that passes through it.  When its cold my wife likes to take the Duvaleys out of the locker an hour or so before they are needed so that they warm up at bit which also helps.

Page 19 of the Combi(E) instruction states:

"Truma supplies a heating element (part no. 70070-01) as an accessory, which is plugged into the FrostControl and fixed in place with a retaining bracket.  This heating element heats the FrostControl to approx. 10 degrees C when the Combi is switched On.  This means that the boiler can be filled sooner, irrespective of the temperature in the installation compartment."

Cymro referred to this in an earlier post.  I have no experience of it.  I would have thought the same effect could be achieved if needed by using a hair drier.  Following the advice also given on page 19 works for me:

"When the temperature at the FrostControl is below approx. 7 degrees C, first switch on the heater to warm the installation compartment and FrostControl.  After several minutes, when the temperature at FrostControl is above 7 degrees C, the safety/drain valve can be closed."

The Combi(E) instruction doesn't say this but I am reasonably confident that once the HW tank is full, heat from the tank is sufficient to stop the valve temperature dropping below 3 degrees.  The pipe length between the valve and the HW tank is short by design.  That said, it would be shorter still if the Combi had been mounted the right way around by A-S.

The temperature is forecast to rise quite markedly tomorrow and it doesn't look as though Christmas is going to be a cold one so I don't think you need to worry about this.