TRUMA'S NEW HOT WATER SYSTEM IS GO

One of the many innovations to be seen at the NEC is the new heater from Truma, now being fitted in Auto-Sleeper motorhomes

- Peter Baber

One big advantage of motorhomes over rather more basic forms of camping is the vehicle’s hot water supply.

But how often have you found that your washing-up, or your family shower schedule, has been interrupted by the need to wait for the boiler to heat up the water again? This can be a problem, even on those pitches where you are hooked up directly to the mains water supply.

Now, blown-air heating company Truma has introduced a new heater that should be able to solve that issue. And as a motorhomer in the UK, you could be the first to benefit from it, if you go for a new Auto-Sleeper motorhome this season.

Continuous hot water Truma’s CombiNeo heater, brought out in the year the German company has been celebrating its 75th birthday, provides continuous hot water while your water tank has water, or while you remain connected to the mains.

Truma UK joint managing director Martin Fitzpatrick is keen to point out that this is “continuous” hot water, not “instantaneous”. You do not get hot water as soon as you turn on the system. (Such systems, he says, are available in the US, but require a huge amount of energy to run and do not meet current European regulations.)

Instead, with CombiNeo you have to wait three minutes from start-up for the water to get to around 40ºC, suitable for washing-up, and eight minutes for it to get to 70ºC for you to enjoy a really hot shower. After that, it’s hot water all the time.

The system achieves this because, to put it very basically, within the boiler there is an auxiliary water circuit. This kicks in when you start using any water, and sends a small amount of water around the system to keep things super-hot.