Broadway without a fire

Hi forgive me if it’s been covered before 

Am thinking of buying a 2012 broadway EL van but I understand it doesn’t come with a fire in place.

If so, is this a suitable choice for someone like us, who like to go wild camping and normally use our gas fire to heat the van until we get warm.

Also if we use the gas heating, are we going to trash the leisure battery more than we would with a gas fire?

Any thoughts by members would be very much appreciated and helpful. 

Thanks

Patrick

Hi Patrick
Welcome to the forum from Bridlington.
Boaby
P.S try phoning A/S at Willersey ,they might be able to retro fit a new gas fire for you ?  01386853511
Boaby

I have a 2012 Broadway and it utilizes blown air heating, although this works really well it does use 12v for the fan so yes the leisure battery will take a hit,
I have fitted a 120 watt solar panel which keeps the batteries topped up and have used the heater off grid to warm the van up but switch it off when going to bed, I just make sure I have a high tog duvet in the winter.

I have had the Truma blown air heating in many recent vans (Compulsive Van Changing Disorder here!) and always leave the gas heating on overnight if it stands a chance of getting chilly. The heater will not use any battery unless it is on and blowing. You just switch the thermostat to 10 degrees or thereabouts and only when the room temp goes below 10 will it turn on. When it is warmed up it switches off and the battery is not used. The fan isn't a very big electric user anyway. Don't worry, just use it

I must admit though, as a retired gas engineer I would rather have the old Trumatic fire (I presume you refer to the upright rectangular one fixed to a vertical panel with horizontal fins) than the new computerised blown air one. I fixed one of these once, took it to bits and looked at the pcb. "That pcb looks like £300 of anyone's money, I bet" I said to myself. Luckily it wasn't the pcb, just the thermostat. If anyone is interested the temperature sensor is the little black / dark brown button on the wall near the habitation door. These are the same as are used in domestic gas boilers and cost about £10, so don't let anyone fob you off with some tale that they are an expensive item!

PPS I personally wouldn't have the fancy heating with radiators and plumbing. Too much extra weight for one thing, pipes full of coolant, anti-freeze that has to be changed regularly by a qualified engineer, (of which I am one) and even more expensive computers to go wrong. I can't see the point of it. Perhaps even less point than having a heated grey water tank. Who on earth wants that??????

We used our Broadway ( with Truma 4 heating) all year round. We rarely use campsites so no electric hookups, but managed all through the winters keeping warm. Even 4 weeks in the Pyrenees. We had 3x 110 ah leisure batteries and 120watts of solar power and never came near to flattening the batteries. 
Mind you, we didn’t have a tv!

ajrm wrote:. . . We had 3x 110 ah leisure batteries and 120watts of solar power and never came near to flattening the batteries. 
Mind you, we didn’t have a tv!

You sound just like me. Pyrennees. Solar power. Several batteries (I think two is ample, one is probably enough but hey they only cost the same as a tank of diesel so you may as well have two or three if you have the space).
As for TV: If you are so bored with the place you have stopped at that you need to watch TV, get in the driver's seat and go somewhere interesting. That is what a camper is for.

a truma combi 4e will be fine in a smallish van running on gas. as said, it will use a small bit of battery power but not that much.
on thing with a fully plumbed system like the combi is that there will (should) be an outlet in all corners of the van, so the washroom can be heated at the same time, whereas a fire just heats from one point and to heat (say) the wash room, a door has to be left open.

Our fire heats the washroom, as it has the blown air as well, it is very toasty, going away soon so needs to be.

Our Broadway always felt cooler at the front. The Combi was under the French bed with just two outlets under the bed blowing past the kitchen to the front, and one in the bathroom connected to a heated towel rail. We kept warm up to -10 though it was still cooler if you sat in the cab seats. 
I don’t know how many outlets the newer vans have ( ours was a 2013) but more outlets would be better to ensure the whole van stays warm. 
Our latest van has 13 heater outlets and a heated double floor.

We experienced the older Truma combi in a bigger (non-AS) van than the Broadway and found it barely adequate but the thermostat was badly placed and there were insufficient hot air outlets for the size of the van. A fire would have been a definite benefit but I suspect the 4e will cope in the Broadway given its smaller size and, probably, more modern insulation. Much depends on the placing of the hot air outlets.

ajrm wrote:
I don’t know how many outlets the newer vans have ( ours was a 2013) but more outlets would be better to ensure the whole van stays warm. 
Our latest van has 13 heater outlets and a heated double floor.

When we bought our Broadway EK- new- in 2014 ( though built in 2013) it was sold as having the Winter Pack fitted. On inspection it turned out to have a 4kW rather than the 6kW Truma combi heater that is part of the pack.. AS took it back to fit the 6kW version and, at the same time, added another hot air outlet as this is apparently necessary with the 6kW heater. 

This was the first van we have had with blown air heating and it is much more comfortable than the previous 3 which all had a dual fuel fire. The problem there was that your head was hot but floor and feet freezing. In the first van the thermostat had been positioned directly above the kettle shelf so every time you boiled water the heating went off. We bought a portable thermostat for that so could move it around until we found a suitable position.

I have 200 amps of battery  and managed 5 cold nights OK .with power left .I am considering a relion 100 amph lithium battery  .waiting for advice from Sargent  as not sure  if the 328 is suitable  or not .

Quilter wrote:

When we bought our Broadway EK- new- in 2014 ( though built in 2013) it was sold as having the Winter Pack fitted. On inspection it turned out to have a 4kW rather than the 6kW Truma combi heater that is part of the pack.. AS took it back to fit the 6kW version and, at the same time, added another hot air outlet as this is apparently necessary with the 6kW heater. 

Well my gob is smacked! I am astonished as well.
How on earth can a manufacturer build a camper to a spec and leave out something like a 6kw heater and fit a 4kw heater. Don't they have any form of build routine or quality control? I've never heard of anything like that and in all my years of buying new and used campers I have never thought to check that it has the actual engine, or heater, or all the other gumph that the maker claims. Wow, you have to check everything nowadays, don't you?
I have recently found out that the solar panel on my Nuevo is actually 30 Watts (about as much use as a chocolate fire guard) and I thought I saw somewhere that it was 80 Watts, (almost good enough). Now I will have to dig out the spec and see what it says. Mind you, it is a 2015 so I doubt if A/S will fit an 80W panel now under Sales of Goods Act, specially as I am not the first owner.

burlingtonboaby wrote:Hi Patrick
Welcome to the forum from Bridlington.
Boaby
P.S try phoning A/S at Willersey ,they might be able to retro fit a new gas fire for you ?  01386853511
Boaby

Hi Seaviews
Did you purchase the Broadway EL from Springfield motorhomes in Bridlngton?, I had a look at it last February and it looked a nice van, I see they had reduced the price down a good bit too. 
Boaby