Whale water/heating unit as fitted to 2021 Autosleepers

[MillieMoocher]

Morning all

I’m looking for some help please from anyone who has a Whale combined water heater/van heater as I’m having problems with mine and am fed up with waking up cold in the night! We picked the van up on 5 May “box fresh”.

The 2021 Kingham comes fitted with a combined water and heating boiler by Whale. The system will run on electric, gas, or a combination of the two. So far pretty standard stuff and what we are used to on previous vans (albeit they were Truama units)

The first night we stayed away in the van, we had been using combined power source all day and turned the heating level down on the control panel so we didn’t get too hot overnight. However at 4 am we both woke up as we were cold, in fact the thermometer showed it was only 5 degrees in the van!

The heating had cut off, and was showing a locked out panel with a fault code that relates to no gas supply or gas being supplied at less than 30mb pressure. I reset the panel, and fired it up again and the boiler started straight away. The fuel source still being combined gas and electric.

We have give or take 25 litres of gas in the tank and of course the system had worked perfectly all day so the 30 mb aspect seemed odd too.

I put it down to user error..

However we have now been away for a further 3 nights and every night we have had the same issue. Except the one night I experimented and left it on electric only, it worked perfectly that night.

So it seems that whenever the gas is involved overnight, it falls over.

I contacted Whale for guidance but got a useless regurgitation of the manual telling me how to clear the fault code, which I’d already told them I was able to do. It was clearly a generic reply as my email was very clear what the issue was and what the motorhome was. The reply mentioned the water heater as well as actual heating and “ if it is fitted to a motorhome”. So I’ve given up with Whale who failed to reply 2 days ago to my very polite “ thanks but that didn’t really help” email.

I’m in contact with the dealer but in the meantime wondered if the collective could shed any light on the issue...

 

[tonyidle]

Morning all

I’m looking for some help please from anyone who has a Whale combined water heater/van heater as I’m having problems with mine and am fed up with waking up cold in the night! We picked the van up on 5 May “box fresh”.

The 2021 Kingham comes fitted with a combined water and heating boiler by Whale. The system will run on electric, gas, or a combination of the two. So far pretty standard stuff and what we are used to on previous vans (albeit they were Truama units)

The first night we stayed away in the van, we had been using combined power source all day and turned the heating level down on the control panel so we didn’t get too hot overnight. However at 4 am we both woke up as we were cold, in fact the thermometer showed it was only 5 degrees in the van!

The heating had cut off, and was showing a locked out panel with a fault code that relates to no gas supply or gas being supplied at less than 30mb pressure. I reset the panel, and fired it up again and the boiler started straight away. The fuel source still being combined gas and electric.

We have give or take 25 litres of gas in the tank and of course the system had worked perfectly all day so the 30 mb aspect seemed odd too.

I put it down to user error..

However we have now been away for a further 3 nights and every night we have had the same issue. Except the one night I experimented and left it on electric only, it worked perfectly that night.

So it seems that whenever the gas is involved overnight, it falls over.

I contacted Whale for guidance but got a useless regurgitation of the manual telling me how to clear the fault code, which I’d already told them I was able to do. It was clearly a generic reply as my email was very clear what the issue was and what the motorhome was. The reply mentioned the water heater as well as actual heating and “ if it is fitted to a motorhome”. So I’ve given up with Whale who failed to reply 2 days ago to my very polite “ thanks but that didn’t really help” email.

I’m in contact with the dealer but in the meantime wondered if the collective could shed any light on the issue...

What you describe appears to relate to a gas pressure issue. My first thought, as it only happens at the coldest time of day, is that you're using butane. If not it suggests that either the regulator is faulty or that the heaters pressure sensor is over-sensitive.

 

[MillieMoocher]

Looks like I’ve got to the bottom of this after talking to the service guys at the dealers.

Luckily for me they knew exactly what I was talking about and what was happening.

They advise that it is a fault which Whale know about, and is to do with the flu not working as it should under certain atmospheric conditions/temperatures. When these specific conditions are met, the boiler shuts down as part of its safety mechanism. This is a good thing as the bed on the Kingham is over the boiler!

The dealer has other vans affected, including one of the technicians own vans, and Whale are supposedly working on the solution. Not all vans with Whales are affected, just certain models.

Kind of a case of watch this space, and as soon as the fix is available they’ll sort it.

This might of course help any other owner who is having the same issue as me - if you do have the problem it’s definitely worth reporting to you dealer so they can help push Whale for the fix.

 

[Jonno1103]

We have both the under floor boiler and the underfloor warm air heater. We've found that if we pack too much in the under seat storage above the heater it will go into fault when on gas or a combination of gas/230v.

 

[FrankL0]

Morning all

I’m looking for some help please from anyone who has a Whale combined water heater/van heater as I’m having problems with mine and am fed up with waking up cold in the night! We picked the van up on 5 May “box fresh”.

The 2021 Kingham comes fitted with a combined water and heating boiler by Whale. The system will run on electric, gas, or a combination of the two. So far pretty standard stuff and what we are used to on previous vans (albeit they were Truama units)

The first night we stayed away in the van, we had been using combined power source all day and turned the heating level down on the control panel so we didn’t get too hot overnight. However at 4 am we both woke up as we were cold, in fact the thermometer showed it was only 5 degrees in the van!

The heating had cut off, and was showing a locked out panel with a fault code that relates to no gas supply or gas being supplied at less than 30mb pressure. I reset the panel, and fired it up again and the boiler started straight away. The fuel source still being combined gas and electric.

We have give or take 25 litres of gas in the tank and of course the system had worked perfectly all day so the 30 mb aspect seemed odd too.

I put it down to user error..

However we have now been away for a further 3 nights and every night we have had the same issue. Except the one night I experimented and left it on electric only, it worked perfectly that night.

So it seems that whenever the gas is involved overnight, it falls over.

I contacted Whale for guidance but got a useless regurgitation of the manual telling me how to clear the fault code, which I’d already told them I was able to do. It was clearly a generic reply as my email was very clear what the issue was and what the motorhome was. The reply mentioned the water heater as well as actual heating and “ if it is fitted to a motorhome”. So I’ve given up with Whale who failed to reply 2 days ago to my very polite “ thanks but that didn’t really help” email.

I’m in contact with the dealer but in the meantime wondered if the collective could shed any light on the issue...

Hello. We are away in our 2020 Warwick XL in The Lake District at the moment on a month long tour.

A week ago, whilst near Durham, the Whale water heater control panel displayed a fault code 1, a ‘no flame’ error. However, the heating is working just fine.
Our dealer Marquis Northants arranged for us to go to Marquis Durham and they fixed the problem stating that a vent hose was very tightly fitted and they had fitted a new one. All was well.
Today we have awoken to the same fault code and we have no hot water again. It being Sunday, Marquis are not open today but I can call them tomorrow. I see a trip to Marquis Lancashire (Preston) coming up!

In trying to understand the issue, is the heat provided for the hot water provided by the same boiler as provides heat for the space heating? I know this is the case for the Truma combi boiler systems and presume the Whale will be the same.
that being so, it seems odd that we can get heat from the boiler for space heating but no heat for water heating.
In any case, the control won’t allow selection for electric only heating either. We have 10A EHU here.

Sounds like it may be a sensor/sender issue to my untrained eye.
Any one had anything similar and got any useful suggestions please? TIA, Frank

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Jonno1103]

Hello. We are away in our 2020 Warwick XL in The Lake District at the moment on a month long tour.

A week ago, whilst near Durham, the Whale water heater control panel displayed a fault code 1, a ‘no flame’ error. However, the heating is working just fine.
Our dealer Marquis Northants arranged for us to go to Marquis Durham and they fixed the problem stating that a vent hose was very tightly fitted and they had fitted a new one. All was well.
Today we have awoken to the same fault code and we have no hot water again. It being Sunday, Marquis are not open today but I can call them tomorrow. I see a trip to Marquis Lancashire (Preston) coming up!

In trying to understand the issue, is the heat provided for the hot water provided by the same boiler as provides heat for the space heating? I know this is the case for the Truma combi boiler systems and presume the Whale will be the same.
that being so, it seems odd that we can get heat from the boiler for space heating but no heat for water heating.
In any case, the control won’t allow selection for electric only heating either. We have 10A EHU here.

Sounds like it may be a sensor/sender issue to my untrained eye.
Any one had anything similar and got any useful suggestions please? TIA, Frank

Whale don't make a combined system similar to the Combi's, it's usually an 8L water boiler and a separate heater mounted to the chassis under the floor

 

[MillieMoocher]

Whale don't make a combined system similar to the Combi's, it's usually an 8L water boiler and a separate heater mounted to the chassis under the floor

I’d second this as regards what is fitted to our Kingham. I have one instruction set called “ Gas & Electricl Water Heater”, and other booklet called “ Gas & Electric Space Heater”, so 2 units that operate independently.

 

[MillieMoocher]

Ok guys, a quick update to this one..

Today I dropped the van off at SMC Newark so they can put the fix in place.

Looks like it will be a 2 pronged attack, changing the flue for a modified one Whale have made available to resolve this problem, and also changing the gas regulator.

I was told that when they have sorted this before for others, sometimes the flue change fixes it, sometimes the regulator fixes it, but doing both always fixes it!

So far I‘m very impressed with SMC, I’ll report back once I collect the van on 2 August*

Fingers crossed!

Out of interest they did have a number of new and used MH (Globe cars, Autosleepers, Pilote, Knaus, Frankia) for sale even if the prices made my eyes water!

* timing over dropping van off and collecting it is down to my availability as opposed to any attempts by SMC to be difficult

 

[mwoodssg12]

What was the outcome of your visit to SMC? We are suffering similar issues with our 2020 Fairford. Thanks

 

[barry1954]

Morning all

I’m looking for some help please from anyone who has a Whale combined water heater/van heater as I’m having problems with mine and am fed up with waking up cold in the night! We picked the van up on 5 May “box fresh”.

The 2021 Kingham comes fitted with a combined water and heating boiler by Whale. The system will run on electric, gas, or a combination of the two. So far pretty standard stuff and what we are used to on previous vans (albeit they were Truama units)

The first night we stayed away in the van, we had been using combined power source all day and turned the heating level down on the control panel so we didn’t get too hot overnight. However at 4 am we both woke up as we were cold, in fact the thermometer showed it was only 5 degrees in the van!

The heating had cut off, and was showing a locked out panel with a fault code that relates to no gas supply or gas being supplied at less than 30mb pressure. I reset the panel, and fired it up again and the boiler started straight away. The fuel source still being combined gas and electric.

We have give or take 25 litres of gas in the tank and of course the system had worked perfectly all day so the 30 mb aspect seemed odd too.

I put it down to user error..

However we have now been away for a further 3 nights and every night we have had the same issue. Except the one night I experimented and left it on electric only, it worked perfectly that night.

So it seems that whenever the gas is involved overnight, it falls over.

I contacted Whale for guidance but got a useless regurgitation of the manual telling me how to clear the fault code, which I’d already told them I was able to do. It was clearly a generic reply as my email was very clear what the issue was and what the motorhome was. The reply mentioned the water heater as well as actual heating and “ if it is fitted to a motorhome”. So I’ve given up with Whale who failed to reply 2 days ago to my very polite “ thanks but that didn’t really help” email.

I’m in contact with the dealer but in the meantime wondered if the collective could shed any light on the issue...

Hi have the same problem how do you reset please

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[barry1954]

Morning all

I’m looking for some help please from anyone who has a Whale combined water heater/van heater as I’m having problems with mine and am fed up with waking up cold in the night! We picked the van up on 5 May “box fresh”.

The 2021 Kingham comes fitted with a combined water and heating boiler by Whale. The system will run on electric, gas, or a combination of the two. So far pretty standard stuff and what we are used to on previous vans (albeit they were Truama units)

The first night we stayed away in the van, we had been using combined power source all day and turned the heating level down on the control panel so we didn’t get too hot overnight. However at 4 am we both woke up as we were cold, in fact the thermometer showed it was only 5 degrees in the van!

The heating had cut off, and was showing a locked out panel with a fault code that relates to no gas supply or gas being supplied at less than 30mb pressure. I reset the panel, and fired it up again and the boiler started straight away. The fuel source still being combined gas and electric.

We have give or take 25 litres of gas in the tank and of course the system had worked perfectly all day so the 30 mb aspect seemed odd too.

I put it down to user error..

However we have now been away for a further 3 nights and every night we have had the same issue. Except the one night I experimented and left it on electric only, it worked perfectly that night.

So it seems that whenever the gas is involved overnight, it falls over.

I contacted Whale for guidance but got a useless regurgitation of the manual telling me how to clear the fault code, which I’d already told them I was able to do. It was clearly a generic reply as my email was very clear what the issue was and what the motorhome was. The reply mentioned the water heater as well as actual heating and “ if it is fitted to a motorhome”. So I’ve given up with Whale who failed to reply 2 days ago to my very polite “ thanks but that didn’t really help” email.

I’m in contact with the dealer but in the meantime wondered if the collective could shed any light on the issue...

Is there a code for resetting the system?

 

[MillieMoocher]

barry1954 apologies for delay, I’ve not been on for a couple of days…

As regards resetting, there isn’t a code, you have to push certain buttons in a sequence. There is an explanation in the manual, which of course you may not have. If you need a copy of the relevant page then drop me a PM and I’ll send you a photo. I need to do an airport run to drop a relative off so it might be early afternoon before I can send it to you.

 

[pat100]

Hey MillieMoocher!
Did you ever solve this problem of Whale Space Heater going into lockout when running on gas in cold weather?

 

[pat100]

Ah! I found Millie's answer on another thread. She had the heater replaced as they couldn’t fix the fault.