A lot of heater chatter

ED In response to George and Stella Matthews’ plea for help regarding their noisy heater (July 2011, p11), a lot of you got in touch with ideas and suggestions. Here are some:

Tap the outer casing with your finger if the rattle is coming from that. First check that none of the louvres that direct the air out of the heater are touching each other. They can be easily separated with your fingers if needed.

If these are OK, then insert two screws either side about 20mm from the top (see below). Adjusting the springs that hold the cover in place tends not to be a permanent fix.

If the cover is not causing the problem, then confirm this by removing the cover (pull the gas control knob top left up, pull the cover forward and unplug fan control knob). Tapping the remaining parts of the heater with your finger will confirm this.

Then, the most likely cause of a rattle will be either a loose battery box or displaced thermostat (thin copper pipe swollen at the end).These can be found at the bottom of the heater and can be clicked back into place.

I don’t know what heatshielding Auto-Trail puts around the heater, but this could possibly rattle. Again, tapping around with your fingers should find the rattle. If it’s internal to the heater, you will need a service engineer to attend to it for safety reasons.

Malcolm Kerman

My Truma is a S3002 model that I think was designed for a caravan and fitted in our motorhome because there was nothing better at the time.

Because our Orian Zeta was built in 2008, we decided a quieter journey was more important than the looks and so fitted the following:

Near the bottom of the outer casing, we put two small brackets to secure the casing to the bed frame on one side and the toilet door frame on the other. Looking through the louvres at the top, there were unused holes in the back of the outer casing. Using a magneticbladed screwdriver, two extra screws were used to secure the casing to the wooden surround.

Finally, we made sure that the louvres were tilted away from the heat exchanger inside the heater. (The heat exchanger moves from side to side and was rubbing on the louvres of the outer case.)

The only problem is that we have to remove these extra screws when the ’van goes in for a habitation service, then put them back afterwards.

Val and Howard Bolt

I had this problem on a previous Auto-Trail and traced it to the 230V element behind the heat exchanger coming into contact with the heat exchanger unit, which my dealer sorted out.

We also had to change the element since it was grooved where it had been rubbing.

Derek Clarke

We also had trouble with noise in our Auto-Trail Apache, trying everything from wrapping the cooker shelves to emptying things out gradually to try and find the cause.

Eventually, by tapping the front of the Truma S3002, I heard the same noise.

I took the front off and saw that the electric heater element should be located in a U-shaped bracket. Placing it back in the bracket, problem solved. A few weeks passed and a slightly different noise started and got worse, to the point I felt like ripping the fire out. I took the front off to make sure the electric element was in place, and it was. After a few more removals of the front, I noticed that, in a very small area, the fins on the aluminium heat exchanger were shiny; this lined up with a fin on the front cover, which had been in contact with it. I tried bending the fin in the front cover, but each time it still caught the fins behind. I then ground off a small amount of the offending fins on the aluminium heat exchanger, just enough to stop it catching.

I then put the front cover back on and the motorhome has never been so quiet and the heater works perfectly.

Tony Cutt

I had a similar rattle in our Swift Escape 664, which has the same electric/gas heater, the Truma S3004. I contacted several dealers/manufacturer for possible reasons/solutions, all without success.

In desperation, to end the ‘rattle’, I investigated, being fully aware of my limitations.

I removed the cover by simultaneously pressing both closure legs outwards, the cover then unlocks and can be pivoted from the bottom for removal. Checking all the fixings, nothing seemed amiss.

Using a torch, I peered to the rear of the heater and saw the extract flue, which seemed to be rigid, but was within a larger flue. Closer examination and using slight force, there was movement between the two metals. I temporary plugged the gap and, hey presto, rattle disappeared. Eureka!

Next I went onto the web to find suitable ‘packing’, and discovered fire rope, which is used as insulation inside wood-burning stove doors and similar appliances, completely non-flammable and readily available in various thicknesses and flexible.

I purchased a reel and gently forced the rope up between the two metals, ensuring the rope