Truma Frost Protection Valve

paulhelenwilko

paulhelenwilko

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Hello all,
Just nipped up and fetched the motorhome from storage to give it a checkover as it went straight into storage after the habitation service a few weeks ago and we wanted everything shipshape for the New Year.
The water had been drained so first thing was to close the frost valve and put some water in and get the heating going. I found that I couldn't get the taps running properly and realised that water was coming out of the frost valve.

I checked the frost valve and the button was in and the top lever was in the correct position, yet water was still coming out. I tried turning the top lever and the button stayed in, yet water was still coming out. tried turning the top lever 90 degrees but the button would not pop out. Did this several times with no joy. The frost valve is adjacent to the boiler and I had been running the heating about half an hour whilst trying this.

IMG_7662.JPEGIMG_7668.JPEGIMG_7664.JPEG
On returning to the storage I had another try and the button did pop out once when I turned the top lever, but after resetting and trying again it just stayed in.

Anybody got any thoughts ? Is the valve faulty ?

Paul
 
from the posts I have read, those valves seem quite troublesome and people use things like clothes pegs clipped on to stop them opening.
 
wildebus said:
from the posts I have read, those valves seem quite troublesome and people use things like clothes pegs clipped on to stop them opening.
Click to expand...
The type on mine you could do that but Paul's one is like a contained unit and a turn valve by the looks of it whereas my valve is a different type which I thought they were all the same David ,but you learn everyday
 
paulhelenwilko said:
Hello all,
Just nipped up and fetched the motorhome from storage to give it a checkover as it went straight into storage after the habitation service a few weeks ago and we wanted everything shipshape for the New Year.
The water had been drained so first thing was to close the frost valve and put some water in and get the heating going. I found that I couldn't get the taps running properly and realised that water was coming out of the frost valve.

I checked the frost valve and the button was in and the top lever was in the correct position, yet water was still coming out. I tried turning the top lever and the button stayed in, yet water was still coming out. tried turning the top lever 90 degrees but the button would not pop out. Did this several times with no joy. The frost valve is adjacent to the boiler and I had been running the heating about half an hour whilst trying this.

View attachment 61719View attachment 61720View attachment 61721
On returning to the storage I had another try and the button did pop out once when I turned the top lever, but after resetting and trying again it just stayed in.

Anybody got any thoughts ? Is the valve faulty ?

Paul
Click to expand...
I have the same valve fitted in my van and have noticed something similar. When switching to the drain down position manually sometimes the button only pops out a tiny amount but when I depress it and let go again it fully pops out. It has only ever done this when checking it (it's just one of the checks I do periodically) but whenever I've done it to actually empty the boiler it has always worked ok. So it appears to hesitate a bit when there is no head pressure behind it from a full boiler, not sure if that is normal or not though.
 
Just been back to the Motorhome storage. Would you believe it the button has ‘popped’ out on it’s own overnight. Tested several times and the button seemed to be ‘popping’ out reliably.
So now I will fetch it tomorrow and fill with water and test if the valve is closing.
If not, I might just put in a t piece and drain valve .
 
wildebus said:
from the posts I have read, those valves seem quite troublesome and people use things like clothes pegs clipped on to stop them opening.
Click to expand...
Clothes peg , plus a screw or nail pushed through the hole, to sit on the clothes peg.
My first ever trip problem. Found out eventually, every time you turn the 12 volt off, the frost valve opens. After 2 very cold nights, the 3rd,with heating was aaahhhh!
 
I sometimes have a similar problem the frost valves opens as soon as a tap is turned on
 
fetched it out of storage today. Closed the frost valve and filled with water. The valve stayed closed. Tried a few open and closes and all now seems well. So I don't know why it was stuck open (with the button in the closed position).
Have been to Jacksons and purchased pipe, hose clips and T piece so I can quickly bypass the frost valve if it goes wrong at an inconvenient time.

What a palava !

Paul.
 
Palava. 👍 Great word.
 
Those frost protection valves need to be a bit warm to stop them dumping. If it has opened and you put the heating on then fill the water whilst the weather is below 5 degrees, there's a good chance that the water you put in will be cold enough to trigger another frost protection dump. You need to let the van warm up a bit before putting the water in. Then let the water warm up a bit before running it past the frost protection valve.
 
We had a discussion with our local MH expert and as we go out in pretty cool weather his suggestion was the classic KISS one.

We took it out. No bother now and no dumping over night of our precious water.

Palaver - definition of palaver by The Free Dictionary​

https://www.thefreedictionary.com › palaver
palaver ( pəˈlɑːvə) n 1. tedious or time-consuming business, esp when of a formal nature: all the palaver of filling in forms. 2. loud and confused talk and activity; hubbub 3. (often used humorously) a conference 4. rare talk intended to flatter or persuade 5. a. an argument b. trouble arising from an argument vb

B2
 
It cuts in at between 6 and 8C. Our boiler is on over night at 15C. On return obviously we drain down. We have run it like this for 2years+ with nno issues. Each to their own eh? We manage the palaver knowledgeably.

B2
 
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