Warning Elddis Encore tank heaters will drain your battery flat if temps drop

[Trek]

Warning Elddis Encore tank heaters wired with no override switch so will drain your battery if temps drop

Elddis in thier wisdom have fitted a winter pack to mates Encore which included fresh and waste water tank heaters and the leisure battery went flat on the first night at the ski resort

After some rooting around we worked out that he had tank heaters and that these had drained the battery we then worked out that the tank heaters were automatic and depended on temp and there was no means of switching them off so no override
(We couldnt find the fuse as Nowt marked as tank heater )

we were left with no alternative other than scramble underneath and disconnect the wiring to the heaters at both tanks

Battery hopefully will recover using a gennie though as it is in an uninsulated / unheated box below the floor it is struggling

When he gets back he will need to get some form of manual override fitted

 

[trevskoda]

Put some antifreeze down waste for that tank,use 10ltr containers for drinking/cooking and dont fill fresh water tanks in winter.

 

[Trek]

Waste tap left open so draining straight into a bucket , temp not below freezing yet so fresh ok for now

Elddis designers must have assumed that their customers would be on a 24/7 electric hookup

What a blz#dy stupid idea

 

[nabsim]

You are assuming they had designers Trek lol

 

[Molly 3]

My auto sleepers has tank heater's as part of the winter pack with switchers .it sounds very wrong that their are no switchers .it could be heating empty tanks . has anyone else had this problem ,is their an elddis forum that could advise..

 

[cronkle]

My auto sleepers has tank heater's as part of the winter pack with switchers .it sounds very wrong that their are no switchers .it could be heating empty tanks . has anyone else had this problem ,is their an elddis forum that could advise..

There is a FaceBook page 'Elddis motorhome owners'. This issue has been discussed in recent months. External water tanks - very British. My Accordo has an internal freshwater tank. When I bought it I was pleased that Elddis had appeared to have learnt about freezing water (later discovered that the drain-down system included 18" of exposed pipe underneath van, although I did a bit of a mod to sort that) but later versions of the same model had an underslung water heater putting unheated water outside the body of the vehicle whilst travelling. They also don't seem to have grasped that most motorhomers know how to overcome the possibilty of frozen grey water i.e. leave the valve open.

I can't help feeling their comfort zone is caravan designing and they are withdrawing into it after a bit of a push earlier this decade.

 

[Molly 3]

There is a FaceBook page 'Elddis motorhome owners'. This issue has been discussed in recent months. External water tanks - very British. My Accordo has an internal freshwater tank. When I bought it I was pleased that Elddis had appeared to have learnt about freezing water (later discovered that the drain-down system included 18" of exposed pipe underneath van, although I did a bit of a mod to sort that) but later versions of the same model had an underslung water heater putting unheated water outside the body of the vehicle whilst travelling. They also don't seem to have grasped that most motorhomers know how to overcome the possibilty of frozen grey water i.e. leave the valve open.

I can't help feeling their comfort zone is caravan designing and they are withdrawing into it after a bit of a push earlier this decade.

These tank heater's draw about 8 amph each .battery suicide.. ...elddis???????

 

[Trek]

Mate heard back from Elddis there is a tank heater isolating switch at bottom of fuse board

Of course its not labelled and not mentioned in handbook
(and looked as though it was main power switch for fuse board)

At least it has one shame its not illuminated when on

 

[Eric Eke]

Warning Elddis Encore tank heaters wired with no override switch so will drain your battery if temps drop

Elddis in thier wisdom have fitted a winter pack to mates Encore which included fresh and waste water tank heaters and the leisure battery went flat on the first night at the ski resort

After some rooting around we worked out that he had tank heaters and that these had drained the battery we then worked out that the tank heaters were automatic and depended on temp and there was no means of switching them off so no override
(We couldnt find the fuse as Nowt marked as tank heater )

we were left with no alternative other than scramble underneath and disconnect the wiring to the heaters at both tanks

Battery hopefully will recover using a gennie though as it is in an uninsulated / unheated box below the floor it is struggling

When he gets back he will need to get some form of manual override fitted

On my majestic 285 I could not understand my flat batteries with solar power 350 wats turns out the the water heaters cut in a 5c along way above freezing no way of turning them off put they are supposed to have a float switch so emptyed both tanks and batteries lasted no problem
Not the best solution will find wires and fit a switch

 

[Trek]

Hi Eric

There may already be a switch ,, just not labelled or in manual

As per my post above no 8 on 22 march :-

heard back from Elddis there is a tank heater isolating switch at bottom of fuse board

Of course its not labelled and not mentioned in handbook
(and looked as though it was main power switch for fuse board)

At least it has one shame its not illuminated when on

the switch may be a round black switch on the front of the fuse box