Most modern caravans will come with an oven and a microwave fitted as standard.
There are several different types of oven but they all work in the same principle. They run primarily on gas but some also have a 240v hob plate fitted. The hob has 3 gas rings (with one 240v hob plate if fitted). There is a separate grill with an oven below. All are fitted with a safety feature called a thermocouple which will shut the gas off if the flame has gone out, some are fitted with an extra safety feature that requires the hob lid to be in the fully raised position before the oven will work.
As with the ovens, most caravans are now fitted with a microwave that operates in the same way as the one at home, they run on 240v so will only work when plugged into the mains.
The Truma Combi water and space heater can run on either 240v, gas or if needed, both. There will be a main switch located in the caravan that supplies the Combi with 240v. This needs to be switched on to give the heater power. On a Swift caravan the main 240 supply switch is on the main ECU (silver box under the bunk) and will illuminate orange when switched on. To indicate the power is being received by the Combi unit, a plug symbol will appear on the main screen in the bottom right hand corner. If this is not present, the heater will not work on 240v
There is a central dial (pictured above) which acts as a selection knob, and an enter button.
To turn the system on, press and hold the central knob, and the panel will light up. Most of the time the heater will turn on when the system shut down button or main power button is activated.
To insure the heater has 240v, there is a small plug symbol in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. If this is not present, make sure the 240v button on the main control board under the seat is pressed and illuminated.
The first this to select is the power source. Press the central knob and scroll over to the icon with a gas bottle with two flashes next to it. In normal use either use the ELE 2 (2 KW) setting for winter space heating and hot water, or the ELE 1 (1 KW) if you will not be using the shower or heating in the summer months. Of course, if you are not plugged in the the only option is the gas, so select this.
Once the desired input is selected, press the central knob and either press the back button, or scroll to the heating or hot water to set those.
To operate the heating, press the central knob and a set of icons will appear on the top of the screen. Select the motorhome icon and press the knob again. To start with the system will say off, TWIST the knob until the desired selling is shown on the screen. This will not be an exact temperature as it is not calibrated and each caravan is a different size but you will get used to what the numbers relate too fairly quickly.
With the requires number flashing, press the knob again, and then to confirm your selection, press the back button to the left of the main knob to exit.
A flame symbol will illumate in the top left hand side of the screen to indicate the heating is on. (This symbol is not the best choice in my opinion as it confuses customers into thinking the heater is working on gas, but this is not the case as the power input is selected in the section above.)
The symbol will flash as the heater warms the caravan to the desires setting and will be solid when the temperature has been reached.
Fan Speed.
The fan speed will automatically set to ECO when the heating is activated, but can be increased to boost by selecting the fan icon at the end of the icon row, depressing the central knob, selecting BOOST, pressing the knob again to lock the selection in, then exiting with the back button.
(On early modules there was a legionnaires disease setting when the heater would heat up in the night to kill the bugs, then the fan would blast the hot air into the caravan to remove the heat which would sound like Challenger taking off, if it happens, this setting can be over ridden in the settings menu)
Hot Water
To use the hot water, press the central knob and select the second icon along which is a thermostat with wavy lines. It will be set to OFF. Twist the knob to select either ECO, HOT or BOOST.
Use ECO if you are just using the system for a bit of washing up, HOT if you will be using the shower and BOOST if you will need a shower after a shower. This setting will turn the heating off for 45 minuets so the system can put all its energy into the hot water. The system will revert back to normal after this time.
Settings
There are a number of setting that can be accessed on the bottom row of icons, the main ones being the time, and a timer, but most people will set the temperature at the beginning of their stay and leave it at that. For further information on this I would refer you to the handbook.
Fault Finding
Click Here to see all the fault codes.
Remedy fault H 507 / 516 / 517 (gas supply interrupted)
Note: If the fault 507, 516 or 517 is displayed in the heater's control panel, switching the control panel on and off does not help. This does not delete the fault, but blocks the heater for 15 minutes. The heater is also blocked for 15 minutes if the fault 507, 516 or 517 is deleted four times without the gas supply being established.
Remedying flashing fault 507 / 516 / 517 (gas supply interrupted)
The fault code 507, 516 or 517 flashes because the heater is still in a 15-minute blocking time. This was possibly caused by the heater control panel being switched off or because the heater's 12-Volt supply was interrupted. The heater is also blocked for 15 minutes if the displayed fault is deleted four times without the gas supply being restored.
Drain down.
To insure the system is not damaged during the winter months it will need to be drained down
• Open all tank drain valves to drain onboard and external tanks, and leave open.
• Open the safety drain valve (yellow handle) next to water heater, and leave open.
• Fully open all the taps and shower mixer, move mixer position to the middle, and leave all taps in the open
position.
• Unscrew the shower head and shower hose, shake out remaining water and allow water to drain. It is advised
to leave the shower head and hose disconnected.
• Run pump for a short time, until all water is expelled.
• Disconnect the inlet pipe to the onboard water pump, mesh filter and outlet pipe, and re-run the pump for a
short time, to ensure all the water is removed. Leave the system disconnected during storage. (the system will should be fine if this step is not carried out, but if you want to be sure it wouldn't hurt.
The caravan is equipped with a Thetford Cassette toilet that has a fresh water holding tank for the flush water and a waste holding tank for, well you know what.
Above is the water fill up point through which the fresh water flush tank can be filled. We don't recommend traveling with too much water in the tank as it will slosh about and adds weight to the caravan normally at the rear of the van, which isn't ideal.
A Flush additive can be used in the fresh tank, this helps lubricate the pump and keeps the tank free from mould build up.
Press the blue button that is situated on top out the toilet and a pump.
This will flush water around the bowl. A handle at the front of the unit just below the bowl can then be slid across to allow the contents of the bowl to pass into the cassette.
The blue chemical must be put in the cassette each time it gets emptied, to do this follow the instruction on the bottle and pour the required amount into the cassette through the bowl, and add some flush water.
When full, the Cassette can then transported to the waste deposal point, normally situated near the toilet block.
The gas system runs the cooker and provides back up to the water heater, space heater and fridge if the is no 240v present. All caravans from 2008 onwards will have a Truma bulkhead regulator situated in the front gas locker compartment. A high pressure hose is then attached to this and is connected to a gas bottle.
We recommend using Propane gas (Red bottles) as it is a much cleaner gas and has a lower freezing point so can be used in winter. Butane will stop working efficiently at around 4 degrees and has a higher oil contend to can block up the regulator and appliances.
Insure the bottle is correctly fitted using the gas hose provided. The propane fitting is a LEFT HAND THREAD so needs to be unscrewed, to screw it in. A correct sized spanner must be used to tighten the fitting into the bottle. The bottle can then be turned on and the gas system used.
A common problem is that the regulator can block up with oil and stop working. If you have little or no gas coning into the caravan, insure the bottle is turned on and the internal switches are in the correct position, if there is still no gas then the regulator will need to be changed by a competent person.
There are two size, 8mm and 10mm. Most caravan are 8mm.
To insure you don't get this problem, when you have finished with the gas system, turn it off at the bottle and light the hob to remove the excess gas that will remain in the system. This is especially important over the winter months when the oil in the gas goes thick.
