Propex Heater Thermostat Issue

[psybear]

Hi folks.

Just spent my second night in my new conversion. As was the case on the first night, I had problems with my Propex heater.

Heater comes on fine and heats the van up well, then cuts out as you would expect when it hits the set temperature. My issue is that it has to get really chilly before the thermostat finally kicks in again and turns the heater back on.

Mine is the twin knob type - I will post a pic - and I experimented with the bottom knob, trying higher heat settings, but the behaviour remained. This made for a very uncomfortable night's sleep, with me either being too warm or (more often) too cold.

I'm wondering if the thermostat itself is defective, or is this type of thermostat just not very efficient? I see that there is a digital version available - supposedly an easy replacement - and it's not that expensive.

You'll see the mounting position in the photograph - it's actually very handy to reach when I was sleeping on the RIB bed but perhaps isn't ideal? Heater vent is at floor level just on the right of the sliding door, so it's venting underneath the extended RIB, if that's relevant. Pop-top was down.

I'd appreciate any input from other users.

 

[Pete C]

I have noticed similar behaviour with our Propex heater, with the same thermostat, in a similar location.
We don’t tend to use it overnight, just for a quick blast to get things warm, so it hasn’t been an issue for us.

Can’t really help with a solution I am afraid.

Pete

 

[Bargy62]

I have the same with mine they seem to have an over run after it gets up to temperature which blows out cold air before it totally turns off

 

[oldiebut goodie]

They are solid state thermostats I believe so I doubt that there is any means of adjusting the hysteresis unlike on the old mechanical thermostats.

 

[psybear]

At least I'm not alone then!

Anyone any idea if the digital one would have a more effective thermostat?

 

[roadtripper]

It'll also be down to the cycle time of the heater. If start up is costly in terms of fuel or wear then you will want a wide hysteresis to minimise cycles rather than starting and stopping it all the time. They may also have an anticycle feature that stops the heater firing up again for a period of time even if you call for heat again.

 

[Drive Wayne]

Oh I do like that Hysteresis word you taught us @roadtripper ! Nearly as good as my wife's "he hasn't any idea about "etiquessy" whatsoever" comment tonight during tea! My daughter an English A level all round clever soul, snorted her linguine! At least you have taught us simpletons the meaning of the word! Thank you!

 

[psybear]

I admit I had to Google that word....