Truma Combi 4 in Broadway EL

Not off to Willersey this time Boaby, trying Marquis in Suffolk this time as its nearest to us and can go through the warranty.

Hi cc
Ask for Paul at ipswich he is highly recommended sorted my truma good man. Insist even or ex stow caravan tech.
Have you tried out the van since you have been back for fault.
Geof

No I was going to plug it in shortly and see what happens. I became so despondent since posting the video after fixing the Brabantia clothes line back I've not been back in it since!  

I arranged with a Paul at Ipswich for the van to go in, not sure if it's the same Paul as you mention though. Fingers crossed my experience is better this time around.

CC

No not the same two Pauls you need tech paul
Geof

We had out Truma 4e repaired at our dealers. They diagnosed the fault ( mains elements blown) ordered the parts and fitted them in 4 days. 
We are away in the van now in France, it's b****y freezing here, but the heater seems way more efficient than it used to be. It was -3 outside last night and we had to keep turning the heating down. We eventually had it set at 17 degrees and that was hot. ( thermometer showed 17as well. At the moment we are running on mains and gas.

Speaking to a Truma engineer at the NEC last week he confirmed that scaling of the elements does occur due to heating/cooling effect but that with any water in the UK, that would not turn into a problem. However if you spend a lot of time in areas with very hard water - the example he gave was Portugal - then it will be a problem over time. The efficiency of the elements drops and then they burn out. He has seen elements with 'inches' of scale around them.

Peter Brown wrote:Speaking to a Truma engineer at the NEC last week . . .  

So did I Peter, to ask about the excessive heat that escapes from them. She admitted that the cylinders are not insulated, and that they reach 120 degrees Celsius! No wonder the drawer above and the wardrobe get so hot.

She advised against putting any insulation on or around the cylinder because it would overheat. My suggestion that the thermostat should control the temperature made no difference to her advice, so either there's something in there that I don't understand - or she was being over cautious, as so often happens these days.

Any ideas Peter - or someone else who knows about these things?

Dave

All I would say is that when I first approached Truma at the NEC a few years ago I asked if they had an engineer on the stand. The reply was "we are all engineers" and I cannot fault any advice I've been given by them either face to face or over the phone.

Well we visited Marquis Suffolk yesterday, really friendly bunch of guys.... After looking at the Truma Combi they say a heating element has failed and the best bit is "It's not covered under the warranty" so much for the Marquis Automarq Industry Leading Warranty! Does it cover anything!!??

Anyway... Was told new heater element is around £130 plus labour, a figure of around £450 was mentioned which seems a heck of a lot of money!

Our Broadway only had 6k on the clock so has hardly been used, so I'm a bit bemused that we've had a replacement fridge and now replacement elements in the heater, never mind all the other issues encountered.

Anyone else had an element fail? and if so does this sound about right? By the time vat is added it's not gonna be cheap! It's a shame Truma don't have service centres scattered around the country.

CC

Cruising Comet wrote:Well we visited Marquis Suffolk yesterday, really friendly bunch of guys.... After looking at the Truma Combi they say a heating element has failed and the best bit is "It's not covered under the warranty" so much for the Marquis Automarq Industry Leading Warranty! Does it cover anything!!??

CC

I'd be very much inclined to phone Truma- or even take it back to Truma- and point out that this is frankly not good enough. If you had bought the thing yourself, other than via Marquis/AS then surely you would have had the usual EU guarantee of fitness for purpose etc. That you bought it via a third party should not affect that  I would hope ? Have Marquis/As not got rights under the EU guarantee and can pass them on to you by not charging ?

We've always found Truma helpful and, when we took the van back with a faulty C4 heater, they were very efficient, charged nothing and provided an excellent meal in their subsidised canteen.

MrsCC has just been onto the warranty company and it now appears it is covered under warranty, so we will see what happens... Have to admit I'm not totally convinced or confident that they will cover it but fingers crossed 

Have to say our experience of Marquis Suffolk was way better than that of Marquis Northants, much friendlier and polite, overall a much better experience. 

I agree.  Truma central service is near Derby and there are a few CL/CS sites in the area.  We had a smell problem that they improved.  It never actually went away totally.
You say that you have done only 6000 miles but how many nights camping?

safariboy wrote:I agree.  Truma central service is near Derby and there are a few CL/CS sites in the area.  We had a smell problem that they improved.  It never actually went away totally.
You say that you have done only 6000 miles but how many nights camping?

Hi SB 

The Truma place you mention in Derby do they actually carry out repairs and servicing? If so I didn't realise they offered such a service?

Actually my figure of 6k was incorrect, the Broadway only had 4K on the clock when we got it (my work van had 6K) in the time we've had the Broadway we've had very few trips in it as there has always seemed to have been a problem of one sort or another, our first trip to Italy resulted in a failed fridge which took almost 5 months for Marquis to resolve, apart from 2 weeks in the Scottish highlands where the EGR failed and had to be replaced in Inverness, and two Motorhome shows Norwich & Newark the only other trips we've had are backwards & forwards to either Marquis or Auto-Sleepers to get stuff fixed! 

So in less than 18 months of ownership we've used it at most for 6 weeks camping 


CC

It is just off the A50 between Uttoxeter and Hilton.  You need to book.  For details look at the Truma UK web site.
I think that we stayed at BroomHill farm.  (Camping club CS) But there are others around.  This is about 2 miles from the Truma workshop.

We had our Truma 4E repaired due to failed mains heating elements. It was a couple of months out of the 2 year warranty and when I contacted Truma, they said they would supply the parts free of charge but I would have to pay labour.  Expecting a bill of around £200 for labour, I booked it into our dealer. 
A week later we got the van back with a labour bill for about £418!
5 hours work they reckoned. 
Heater now works perfectly, still smarting over the bill though!

Aye these dealerships really know how to hit the wallet, our local m/h dealership has a massive ex bus depot workshop so if you need to get out of the weather you pays yer money
Boaby

safariboy wrote:It is just off the A50 between Uttoxeter and Hilton.  You need to book.  For details look at the Truma UK web site.
I think that we stayed at BroomHill farm.  (Camping club CS) But there are others around.  This is about 2 miles from the Truma workshop.

Thanks SB I must make a note & remember that for the future 

hi cruising comet
glad ipswich was up to your expectations i hoped they would be as they are building a good reputation. i do believe you need to have a word with the dealership you brought from as from there webpage they have the highest level of service so i am sure they would want to put matters right but you probably need to look up your rights first.  i am sure if this is not resolved it is fairly cheap to go to county court where you should be able to get the right answer as i expect you payed  a large sum of money for the outfit.  this sought of publicity i think they would not want.  it seems what you purchased was not fit for purpose
geof

Thanks Geof

I don't think Marquis as a company are even bothered, bit like Auto-Sleepers they certainly don't seem bothered by Negative comments from its customers which I think is a mistake on their part, who am I to judge such a successful business? But we can judge with our wallets the next time we change motorhomes! 

Now in the New Forrest area and I've looked around this neck of the woods to get a new Truma valve but it's like finding a needle in a haystack! Found a shop in Ringwood who supplies nothing but Whale stuff with a massive selection of stock with just about everything you could want except any Truma spares of course! Also rang Webbs who couldn't help so have given up for now. Losing about 20% of water from fresh water tank a day as the drip is now a steady stream.

If I were at home my local camping shop in a tiny village has the Truma frost dump valves in stock which is typicle. So might just wait till I get back home.

Can someone just clarify about the push fit connectors on the Truma valve? Do they just pull apart and then pushing again? Or will I need to replace them? Just concerned onece pulled apart the seal won't be as effective?

Also our water pump is purging every now and again, I read in the manual that if the pressure is too high water will be expelled is there the slightest chance this could be the problem? I suspect it is the valve but just checking? 

Had a look under the van and the water is definitely coming from the Truma valve, there's no other outlet anywhere nearby I took a pic but a bit awkward to upload as I'm on camp wifi and on my iPhone.

Cheers

CC

Comet, just a thought, is it possible to drain down the system, remove the offending dump valve and join the two end pipes together with a small section of tubing and relevant connectors (possibly purchased from a local camplng shop), then refill is normal. This could keep you going until you get home to install a manual dump valve. The only problem with this idea is when you get home, you would have to be extra careful when you pull the pipes apart, to drain the system down, that you don't get water all over the flooring!

Oh well this is probably a rubbish idea - just trying to help!

I will go and lie down again.

Pete

Hi cc
Have you tried operating the valve two or three times fairly quickly mine got stuck earlier
Geof

I don't think Marquis as a company are even bothered, bit like Auto-Sleepers they certainly don't seem bothered...

Same group, same thing
PeteJ