Truma, Madly, Deeply

Derbyshire 1-2 July

Post from John

Home, one day at work then off again.

Late last year our Truma Combi unit (heating and hot water) stopped working on electricity, although it was still fine on gas. When we had Theodora serviced early this year, the dealer said it needed a new PCB; having installed it (and relieved us of a fair chunk of cash) they pronounced it fixed.

Errrrm – no.

As we discovered in Spain, things were better in the sense that power was actually getting to the unit, but nothing was coming out. Back in the UK, we phoned the dealer, who said it could be one of several different problems, and they would have to take out the unit and send it off to Truma’s UK headquarters. Ruth phoned Truma to ask their opinion; they promptly said “Why don’t you bring it directly to us?” As they are not impossibly far away from us (Foston, near Derby), we booked Theodora in for the morning of Thursday 2^nd.

We stayed the night before at a Caravan Club CL about 4 miles away; The Boars Head Hotel, near Draycott-in-the-Clay. This turned out to be a good choice; a decent sized, fairly level, field behind the hotel, with electricity provided, for £13 per night. We ate a tasty stir-fry in the hotel bar, with the added bonus that Ruth could watch Wimbledon on the big TV.

We arrived at Truma at 8.00am next morning and drove into their workshop bay; having parked the van, we were shown to the staff restaurant, where we could sit and enjoy a tasty bacon cob and coffee whilst the work was carried out. Two and a half hours later we were on our way, having had new heater elements fitted for (we thought) a reasonable price. We were extremely impressed with Truma; helpful over the phone, and knowledgeable and efficient at the workshop. We’d certainly recommend dealing with them direct if you have problems with your heating unit.

Calke Hall (NT) was the venue for a lunch stop and short wander, then back home ready to go back to work on the Friday.

Phew.