Truma heater under seat metal heat shield

I’ve discovered that the metal sheet on the underside of the bench seat is quite a bad source of rattling… I’m guessing the sheet is there to shield from heat more than a safety precaution? Any other campers or motorhomes I’ve seen including our last don’t have this sheet so don’t think it’s necessary so planning on removing it, just curious if anyone else has removed theirs? 

It’s definitely an original fitting and I just tightened the screws in my van to stop it rattling. It should be one of the easier rattles to fix as there is not much to it.
Edit… yours appears to have at least one screw missing.

Dbvwt wrote:It’s definitely an original fitting and I just tightened the screws in my van to stop it rattling. It should be one of the easier rattles to fix as there is not much to it.
Edit… yours appears to have at least one screw missing.

Yes the screw that’s missing I removed to see how easy they come out  

Originally I put some styrofoam between the sheet & the bed slats which helped but then I noticed the sheet is actually hitting against the Truma boiler, so during transit this is where a great deal of the rattles I’m experiencing are coming from, it flexes quite a bit as not very rigid. 

Unless anyone can justify why this sheet needs to be there I’ll be removing it, our last van was just the same with the Truma under the bench seating & that didn't have a shield & as stated previously I’ve not seen this feature on any other motorhome or Campervan I’ve looked at before… so really don’t think it’s necessary

The shield is on our Sussex Duo, even with it in place the underside of the bed can get rather warm, without it I think it would be too hot to be comfortable to sit or sleep on.

Paulmold wrote:The shield is on our Sussex Duo, even with it in place the underside of the bed can get rather warm, without it I think it would be too hot to be comfortable to sit or sleep on.

That's my thought as well.  We have a drawer above our Truma which is a great place for warming things.  On the plus side the Truma is very accessible compared to ours.

Just a suggestion… if the sheet is touching the Truma in transit and causing the rattle then perhaps it has bowed downwards over time? How about simply turning it upside down, I’m sure the screw holes will align, if not then drilling a small fixing hole or two is not hard.

Paulmold wrote:The shield is on our Sussex Duo, even with it in place the underside of the bed can get rather warm, without it I think it would be too hot to be comfortable to sit or sleep on.

Thats a fair point Paul, but our V-Line was exactly the same & as it was on my side I sat & slept over it without noticing anything to be fair, maybe the Auto-Sleeper bench depth is less that the V-Line was so maybe it’s closer to the underneath side of the bench maybe in our Broadway

Dbvwt wrote:Just a suggestion… if the sheet is touching the Truma in transit and causing the rattle then perhaps it has bowed downwards over time? How about simply turning it upside down, I’m sure the screw holes will align, if not then drilling a small fixing hole or two is not hard.

Good point, it doesn’t appear to be bowed just very close fitting to the Truma heater, with just a touch it touches the Truma hence my thinking when travelling along the road it will be constantly flexing & hitting against the Truma unit, when we picked up this Broadway it had a multitude of really bad rattles which I’m slowly correcting, our last Broadway EL floated down the road with barely a rattle anywhere but that did sit much lower whereas this one sits much higher & reminds me more of our old Nuevo which again was a harsh ride & full of rattles when we got it…

I did a "get rid of the rattles" exercise when we first bought the van, the heat shield I just drilled and put extra screws in, doesn't rattle now, If it is a tad too low why not put some thin packing strip under it.

I am rather wary of the high level of heat being ducted out of my Truma when on gas. The unit is under the French bed at the extreme rear of the van and has a wooden casing over it. Early on we had a disconnected hose (about 1.5 metres from the heater unit) where the heat that escaped was enough to melt two adjacent water pipes and scorch the vinyl flooring. This was repaired and I removed the wooden panel fitted across the bed behind the heater to improve ventilation and access. However I shudder to imagine the effect if one of the upper outlet ducts on the heater came adrift and the hot air was directed onto the bedding. As it is we get some pretty hot smells from under there, so one of my upcoming jobs is to provide some additional heat protection covering the ducts and heater outlet ports. I am thinking of using a couple of surplus fibreglass fire blankets to loosely lag the ducts, and may put a piece of fire board under the bed, or I might just replace the wooden box over the heater unit with a fire board box. Still thinking about it!

Personally I would not be permanently removing any manufacturer fitted heat shielding. However sheet metal is not really the best way since it will transmit heat and as you say it can rattle. I might consider replacing the metal sheet with a piece of calcium silicate fire board.

Don't tell me we've finally found an advantage for the Whale heater.

The metal sheet on the duo, caused me to spend several hours in A&E! I was resetting the dump valve when I sliced a very deep cut in my thumb.

I have now fitted an edge protector and added a note on the shield to warn of injury, incase protector comes off.

How about a blob of heat resistant silicone on heat shield, let it go off ,which will stop the rattle, having put extra screws if nessesary.

rgermain wrote:The metal sheet on the duo, caused me to spend several hours in A&E! I was resetting the dump valve when I sliced a very deep cut in my thumb.

I have now fitted an edge protector and added a note on the shield to warn of injury, incase protector comes off.

Thanks for the tip, yes I’d already thought about that as it’s such a thin sheet very easy to cut yourself 

Kdc wrote:How about a blob of heat resistant silicone on heat shield, let it go off ,which will stop the rattle, having put extra screws if nessesary.

I’ve gone round & tightened the screws, some just turn & wont fully tighten so may put a couple of fatter screws in or like you say add some additional screw fixings, there isn’t enough ideally anyway. I managed to slightly bend the panel in the centre so it sits slightly higher, so will see how I go with that as the general consensus seems to be to leave in place, not really sure how hot it gets under the bench considering stuff like the Charger & Leisure battery are located pretty much next to the Truma unit, as said previously & I know I’m repeating myself but I’ve never seen a heat shield like this on any other camper or motorhome with the same type of bench seats / beds 

The Truma installation instruction states: 

"The distance between the appliance and surrounding furniture items or vehicle components must be at least 10 mm at all sides. The distance between the warm air ducts and adjacent heat-sensitive parts must be at least 10 mm.
There must not be any heat-sensitive materials beneath the appliance (e.g. floor coverings such as PVC, cables etc.), since high temperatures can occur at the base of the appliance."

It sounds as though your installation is borderline at the top if the heat shield touches the Combi.  My installation has no heat shield but I reckon the gap between the bottom of the drawer above the Combi and the Combi is at least 130 mm and as I have said the drawer gets pretty warm.  As Bargee has intimated, the foam in the seat cushions may well be heat-sensitive albeit fire resistant.  Other campervans and motorhomes you have seen without a heat shield may have had a solid rather than slatted seat base and more space above the Combi.

Hi Caraman

Our last van a V-Line had the Combi heater beneath the bench of a similar height, it also had slats… this photo which I took shows the area under the bench where the battery was located & the Truma was on the left side sadly out of frame but gives you an idea, the locker was a lot more confined than the space under the Broadway & we had the heater on quite a bit in the four months we used it, heat buildup was never an issue that i noticed. 

I wonder if the difference is in how the heater is used. Mainly EHU or mainly gas. In our caravan, where we always used sites, we virtually never used the gas. Now we virtually never use sites so we use gas a lot more. Different heaters of course. But the Truma does produce a lot more output under gas than under electricity, and there seems to be no control option, no Gas 1 / Gas 2 options.