Hi all,
As mentioned in my trip report, there were a few anomalies about
our trailer that I hoped to get some input on.
1) The trailer has a Truma Combi Eco Plus furnace/water heater.
It threw off error messages a couple of times. First was said
to be from blocked intake our outflow (found no blockage) and
second suggested there was a fault with the combustion air
motor. On top of that, I noticed a hot/burning
wire/electronics smell at one point. After a lot of googling,
I worked off the motor cover and gave it a spin with my
fingers. After replacing the cover, the unit seemed to work
fine.
I'm a little leery about this one, not wanting to get stuck
without heat when we're out some freezing night. My plan is to
call the dealer and discuss it with them. I'm not sure it's
worth dragging the trailer to them (almost 2 hours each way),
unless they feel strongly they should look at it. At the
least, I'll get it on the record with them.
2) I'm suspicious of the battery (Interstate SRM-24). It was dead
after just 5-6 weeks in storage (fully disconnected). After
conditioning and charging, it seemed fine--but after just a day
on electric heating it was dead again. The refrigerator was on
propane so there shouldn't have been a lot else drawing from
the battery. Am I expecting too much?
My impression from online searching is that this not a great
battery option. Should I be looking for something different?
Thanks for any inputs!
In article <slrnv08lrq.5uf.theise@panix2.panix.com>, theise@panix.com
says...
Hi all,
As mentioned in my trip report, there were a few anomalies about
our trailer that I hoped to get some input on.
1) The trailer has a Truma Combi Eco Plus furnace/water
heater. It threw off error messages a couple of times.
First was said to be from blocked intake our outflow (found
no blockage) and second suggested there was a fault with
the combustion air motor. On top of that, I noticed a
hot/burning wire/electronics smell at one point. After a
lot of googling, I worked off the motor cover and gave it a
spin with my fingers. After replacing the cover, the unit
seemed to work fine.
I'm a little leery about this one, not wanting to get stuck
without heat when we're out some freezing night. My plan
is to call the dealer and discuss it with them. I'm not
sure it's worth dragging the trailer to them (almost 2
hours each way), unless they feel strongly they should look
at it. At the least, I'll get it on the record with them.
2) I'm suspicious of the battery (Interstate SRM-24). It was
dead after just 5-6 weeks in storage (fully disconnected).
After conditioning and charging, it seemed fine--but after
just a day on electric heating it was dead again. The
refrigerator was on propane so there shouldn't have been a
lot else drawing from the battery. Am I expecting too
much?
My impression from online searching is that this not a
great battery option. Should I be looking for something
different?
Thanks for any inputs!
That battery is rated at 81 amp hours. For best battery
life you shouldn't draw it down more than 50%. A typical RV
furnance will use around 7 amps per hour.
Personally I would want someone to look for that burned
wire.
On Wed, 27 Mar 2024 17:28:12 -0700,
Technobarbarian <technobarbarian@gmail.com> wrote:
In article <slrnv08lrq.5uf.theise@panix2.panix.com>, theise@panix.com
says...
Hi all,
As mentioned in my trip report, there were a few anomalies about
our trailer that I hoped to get some input on.
1) The trailer has a Truma Combi Eco Plus furnace/water
heater. It threw off error messages a couple of times.
First was said to be from blocked intake our outflow (found
no blockage) and second suggested there was a fault with
the combustion air motor. On top of that, I noticed a
hot/burning wire/electronics smell at one point. After a
lot of googling, I worked off the motor cover and gave it a
spin with my fingers. After replacing the cover, the unit
seemed to work fine.
I'm a little leery about this one, not wanting to get stuck
without heat when we're out some freezing night. My plan
is to call the dealer and discuss it with them. I'm not
sure it's worth dragging the trailer to them (almost 2
hours each way), unless they feel strongly they should look
at it. At the least, I'll get it on the record with them.
2) I'm suspicious of the battery (Interstate SRM-24). It was
dead after just 5-6 weeks in storage (fully disconnected).
After conditioning and charging, it seemed fine--but after
just a day on electric heating it was dead again. The
refrigerator was on propane so there shouldn't have been a
lot else drawing from the battery. Am I expecting too
much?
My impression from online searching is that this not a
great battery option. Should I be looking for something
different?
Thanks for any inputs!
That battery is rated at 81 amp hours. For best battery
life you shouldn't draw it down more than 50%. A typical RV
furnance will use around 7 amps per hour.
Personally I would want someone to look for that burned
wire.
Very helpful, thanks. Regarding the smell, I'm not convinced it
was a burned wire (or component). Something hot, but maybe not
burned. Given the past history with the dealer (many, many months
to get a slide out repair), I'm not sure I want to take it to
them. It's still under warranty though, so it seems they would
be the best option.
Very helpful, thanks. Regarding the smell, I'm not convinced it
was a burned wire (or component). Something hot, but maybe not
burned. Given the past history with the dealer (many, many months
to get a slide out repair), I'm not sure I want to take it to
them. It's still under warranty though, so it seems they would
be the best option.
On 3/28/2024 8:29 AM, Ted Heise wrote:
Very helpful, thanks. Regarding the smell, I'm not convinced it
was a burned wire (or component). Something hot, but maybe not
burned. Given the past history with the dealer (many, many months
to get a slide out repair), I'm not sure I want to take it to
them. It's still under warranty though, so it seems they would
be the best option.
First, thanks for the report. I enjoyed it and am heading that
direction next week.
As far as the smell is concerned, first question I would ask is it the
first time the furnace was used? If yes, I would say it is normal. If
it is the first time for the season, it also could be considered normal
as dust and other unwanted things could have gotten in there and burned up. If it has been used before and it is not an initial burn off of machine
oils and such, you have to pay attention to exactly what it smells like.
There are webpages that give various examples of the different smells
and their causes and the action necessary if it fits the scenario.
If you DO think it was a burned wire or electrical component, you should certainly do a full inspection. If you are proficient in electrical diagnostics, I'm sure you could hook up a meter to make sure things are working within limits. The specs should be all in your documentation manuals. If not, I'm sure the stealer could. Good luck resolving this
and getting peace of mind!
In article <ZVjNN.729426$xHn7.256498@fx14.iad>, redydog@rye.net says...
Considering the 4 hour round trip and the other problems
you've had, my opinion is: Sometimes, paid-for convenience is
better than free aggravation. That assumes, of course, that
there is a nearby place that's competent enough to find the
problem and fix it.
You bring up a good point I hadn't thought of. For
warranty work on his apliances he isn't limited to the original
dealer. If it needs to be repaired any authorized service
center can do the work on his furnace.
On 3/28/2024 3:09 PM, sticks wrote:
On 3/28/2024 8:29 AM, Ted Heise wrote:
Very helpful, thanks. Regarding the smell, I'm not convinced
it was a burned wire (or component). Something hot, but
maybe not burned. Given the past history with the dealer
(many, many months to get a slide out repair), I'm not sure I
want to take it to them. It's still under warranty though,
so it seems they would be the best option.
First, thanks for the report. I enjoyed it and am heading
that direction next week.
As far as the smell is concerned, first question I would ask
is it the first time the furnace was used? If yes, I would
say it is normal. If it is the first time for the season, it
also could be considered normal as dust and other unwanted
things could have gotten in there and burned up. If it has
been used before and it is not an initial burn off of machine
oils and such, you have to pay attention to exactly what it
smells like.
There are webpages that give various examples of the
different smells and their causes and the action necessary if
it fits the scenario.
If you DO think it was a burned wire or electrical component,
you should certainly do a full inspection. If you are
proficient in electrical diagnostics, I'm sure you could hook
up a meter to make sure things are working within limits.
The specs should be all in your documentation manuals. If not,
I'm sure the stealer could. Good luck resolving this and
getting peace of mind!
I think the scope of the work (unknown at this point) would
determine your plan of action. There are a lot of good mobile
RV technicians. You might find one to come out and do an
assessment/inspection for a relatively reasonable fee. He may
or may not be cheaper in the long run than hauling it off to
the dealer.
We are getting into the heart of the RV season so leaving it
gathering dust at the dealership until it gets to the front of
the line might not appeal to you.
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