carver P4 spaceheater

by shantymanles Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:13 pm

The spaceheater in my W reg. Symbol is just blowing cold with an unpleasant hot plastic smell. Can anyone advise me of how to extract the Carver P4 from it's location under the bench seat, (it seems to be tightly boxed in) to enable me to examine and service same?
Thank you in anticipation,
Shantymanles.

by Paulmold Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:32 pm

I've removed mine from my Symphony and believe me it ain't easy. According to AS they put the heater in first, then build the furniture around it, stupid thing to do as it makes it impossible to service it as any gas appliance should be. Obviously you have to work from the top, sliding bench out to enable top panel to be removed, then undo what screws you can see, undo inlet and outlet pipes from where they are fastened under van, pull outlet hoses off and then pull up as much as you can to get access to the gas joint at the back, undo this and then lift up whole heater after removing more screws at base, with pipes still attached and pull the pipes through the holes in the floor. Simple, no it's not!
If heater cannot be repaired, then look at replacing with Propex or Truma blown air heater, they both fit in a similar way with inlet and exhaust pipes but you may have to adjust the holes in floor to suit. Second-hand P4's are like hens teeth as they were only fitted for around 2 years.

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by shantymanles Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:37 pm

Thank you Paulmold for your detailed modus operendi.
A frightening thought, but then, me being a hard-up pensioner with diminishing savings, I must bite the bullet and have a crack at it! Faint heart and all that........

In the meantime, I'll surf the net for the aforementioned "hen's tooth" with the pessamistic view that the present P4 is kaput!!

Thanks once again,

Shantymanles

by murph Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:54 am

Hi All, particularly Shantymanles,
Nice to see a thank you, this doesnt always happen.

Brian2

by TropicalGav Mon Feb 10, 2014 3:08 pm

Hi – I just thought I’d follow up on this and share my experiences with the group as I had the exact same issues (and the same registration Autosleeper Symbol!)

Firstly – there is a company in Staffordshire called A&R Electronic Developments, which specialise in the repair of these units ([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]). The service they offer is first class and the turn around times are very rapid indeed. Call them first to discuss your fault to get an indication whether it is actually repairable.

As Paulmold has said, the removal is tricky but I don’t think it’s too daunting. Just to elaborate on his excellent instructions, here was the exact procedure I followed:

1.    Get a nice padded mat under the van to lie on and wear eye protectors to protect your eyes from rusty flakes to unscrew the silver air inlet / outlet hoses from under the van. Unscrew the brackets that hold them to the van, straighten them out and then remove the mesh covers. Make sure that they dangle straight down with no obstruction so that they can easily be pulled back up through the access holes and into the van.
2.    Remove the bench seat completely by unscrewing the screws that hold it onto the metal sliding frame. The job is a lot easier if the bench isn’t in the way at all! Remove the right hand heater access hatch.
3.    Un-attach the wires that connect to the heater unit and unscrew the wooden panel that covers access to the gas inlet connector.
4.    Unscrew the top brackets that hold the heater in place, removing them completely, then unscrew the 2 screws that hold the bottom mounting brackets to the floor.
5. Unscrew the gas inlet connector.
6.    Unscrew the large side inlet and outlet hoses from the interior side of the van. Position them so that they won’t obstruct your removal of the space heater.
7.    You should now be able to ease out the space heater and the wooden mounting box underneath it and lift it straight out.
8.    Remove the wooden mounting box and unscrew the jubilee clips which hold the inlet / exhaust hoses to the heating unit (marking which is which and their positions so that you can attach them back in exactly the same position).
9.    Unscrew the large air inlet / outlet hoses (marking which is which)
10.    Send the whole unit off for repair.

Reverse the procedure for installation.

I paid £115 + postage and my re-conditioned and repaired Carver P4 unit is working like a dream again!

Happy journeying,

Gavin

carver P4 spaceheater

carver P4 spaceheater

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carver P4 spaceheater

good manners

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