Truma Varioheat Retrofit

[DavidK]

Hull #26.

I recently purchased Hull #26 and took it almost straight to Elkhart so Truma could install a new furnace. Unfortunately, a week went by where they didn't answer my emails and when I got there, I waited outside for 25 minutes for someone to show up at the door. It's a ghost town. 

When I finally got to speak to a person, they said they were all headed to Germany for some corporate celebration and wouldn't be able to install it for a while (more than a month). Well, I don't live in Indiana, so I went home with no furnace.

I then went to ebay and purchased a used Varioheat furnace. Everything looks great, but it appears the only way to operate it is with a Truma CP Plus control panel. I had hoped it would simply  connect to my thermostat.

Does anyone know if I can get a control panel separately, or better yet, does anyone have a diagram for the data cable that would allow me to directly trigger on/off for the furnace?

Thank you for your help.

-David

[Patriot]

Hi David,
Welcome to the fourm.

In May of 2023, Oliver Service retrofit our OLEll with the newer quieter 13.5 BTU Truma Aventa AC. While at the service center I asked Jason Essary who is now the Director of Sales and Service if the techs had ever retrofit the Varioheat furnace to which he replied no. At the time, he said that it would be a very expensive and really involved (labor intensive) retrofit and not something that Oliver would ever consider doing. 

As for the control panel, I do think you can purchase it separately as we opted to purchase and have this control panel installed when we had Oliver install our new Truma AC. The control panel in our case serves as a back up should the Truma AC remote fail. 

I suggest you give Oliver Service a call (888) 526-3978 and ask if they have ever retrofit the Varioheat furnace. To my knowledge they have not.

Please post up what you learn from Oliver. 

Patriot 🇺🇸

 

 

Edited December 12 by Patriot

[SeaDawg]

@DavidK truma will not usually install nor warranty a unit bought on ebay, or from anyone else but truma.

Hull #26 would indicate an elite 1, which truma told me years ago they would retrofit. With their equipment,  at their shop.

In the early elites, it's a pretty easy swap. We have no ducting, so no retrofitting there, like early elite 2's .

Good luck.

[jd1923]

Truma products are not for DIY-ers! My understanding is that they will not sell replacement parts but must be dealer installed.

A Truma service tech installed about 8 SoftStart units in Truma A/Cs at the recent Texas Rally. From what I heard at the rally, the SoftStart had to be installed by Truma Service to retain product warranty. Wow, not a considerate policy! This aftermarket part can be purchased anywhere for under $300 and any first-year installer can splice the few wires and strap the part in place in a half hour or so. 

You can read here many positive testimonies for Truma products, yet also many posts reporting product issues. Truma seems best for those who had them OEM installed by OTT and those who service their Olivers with OTT.

Why did you want Truma? You may have hit a dead-end on that used heater, or perhaps you can source a used control panel somewhere. Best wishes.

Edited December 12 by jd1923

[DavidK]

11 hours ago, Patriot said:

Hi David,
Welcome to the fourm.

In May of 2023, Oliver Service retrofit our OLEll with the newer quieter 13.5 BTU Truma Aventa AC. While at the service center I asked Jason Essary who is now the Director of Sales and Service if the techs had ever retrofit the Varioheat furnace to which he replied no. At the time, he said that it would be a very expensive and really involved (labor intensive) retrofit and not something that Oliver would ever consider doing. 

As for the control panel, I do think you can purchase it separately as we opted to purchase and have this control panel installed when we had Oliver install our new Truma AC. The control panel in our case serves as a back up should the Truma AC remote fail. 

I suggest you give Oliver Service a call (888) 526-3978 and ask if they have ever retrofit the Varioheat furnace. 

Please post up what you learn from Oliver. 

Patriot 🇺🇸

 

 

It's a super easy swap with the Suburban cassette furnace that is original. The newer Olivers have ducting and all that, so it makes sense that they don't retrofit those. I've confirmed with everyone that it's possible (and quite easy). After my experience with Truma directly trying to get an appointment for them to do it, I just decided to save time and do it myself. I was surprised that the unit doesn't just plug into a basic thermostat. So now I need a Truma control panel. 

Oliver service btw, continues to be outstanding. They reply almost immediately. I wish I had been close enough for them to do it, but they also have a pretty good lead time for service.

[DavidK]

7 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Truma products are not for DIY-ers! My understanding is that they will not sell replacement parts but must be dealer installed.

A Truma service tech installed about 8 SoftStart units in Truma A/Cs at the recent Texas Rally. From what I heard at the rally, the SoftStart had to be installed by Truma Service to retain product warranty. Wow, not a considerate policy! This aftermarket part can be purchased anywhere for under $300 and any first-year installer can splice the few wires and strap the part in place in a half hour or so. 

You can read here many positive testimonies for Truma products, yet also many posts reporting product issues. Truma seems best for those who had them OEM installed by OTT and those who service their Olivers with OTT.

Why did you want Truma? You may have hit a dead-end on that used heater, or perhaps you can source a used control panel somewhere. Best wishes.

For some reason, not for DIYers in North America. Europe and Australia, no problem. I can get parts from Europe, but I'm hoping to wrap it up. Truma is good stuff and I really wanted the Aquago Comfort Plus with water recirc. Truma said they wouldn't mess with the plumbing, but they would have installed the regular Comfort and the Varioheat. I would have had to go home and come back a month or two later. So I just did it myself and got the Comfort Plus. 

Olivers are easy to work on because of the space between hulls. I'll post all of my retrofit work when I'm done. The water heater install actually has gone pretty smoothly, but that's because it came with the controller. I should have been more careful with the furnace. I assumed it would work with a regular thermostat.

[Patriot]

23 minutes ago, DavidK said:

Truma is good stuff and I really wanted the Aquago Comfort Plus with water recirc.

Yes, agreed it’s really good stuff and all our Truma appliances have really served us well. Great move by Oliver to transition over to all Truma products. Zero complaints here.

A little Truma trivia. The Truma Coporation is actually named after US President Harry S. Truman! 😊🇺🇸 Truman was instrumental in the his role in the Marshall plan which really helped Germany become industrialized after WW2. 😎

Wishing you well with your retro fit @DavidK let us know how it works out. 

Patriot🇺🇸

Edited December 12 by Patriot

[DavidK]

10 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

@DavidK truma will not usually install nor warranty a unit bought on ebay, or from anyone else but truma.

Hull #26 would indicate an elite 1, which truma told me years ago they would retrofit. With their equipment,  at their shop.

In the early elites, it's a pretty easy swap. We have no ducting, so no retrofitting there, like early elite 2's .

Good luck.

You are correct! Truma and Oliver will retrofit this furnace. Getting an appointment and driving across the country is another matter altogether. It's very straight forward.

[Patriot]

2 hours ago, DavidK said:

You are correct! Truma and Oliver will retrofit this furnace. Getting an appointment and driving across the country is another matter altogether. It's very straight forward.

Good news! When I asked Jason about the Truma retrofit,  I was asking about this being done on an OLE2. A lot more duct work to be done for sure. No duct work on the LE1 will might make it a pretty straight forward install. 

 

Edit- you may want to double check with Oliver on the Truma retrofit. 

Edited December 12 by Patriot
New info added.

[Rivernerd]

15 hours ago, DavidK said:

Does anyone know if I can get a control panel separately, or better yet, does anyone have a diagram for the data cable that would allow me to directly trigger on/off for the furnace?

I could not find one for purchase  online.

I wonder if Oliver Service would sell you a Truma CP Plus wall control, with connecting cable, out of their inventory, with the understanding that the warranty would be voided?  Sounds like you have the DIY skills to do the install.

With Truma's limited service locations, the warranty has little value to me anyway, living in Idaho.

[DavidK]

2 hours ago, Rivernerd said:

I wonder if Oliver Service would sell you a Truma CP Plus

No, they would not. 😞 It's tough living out in the wilderness away from everything.

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, DavidK said:

No, they would not. 😞 It's tough living out in the wilderness away from everything.

Likely not allowed to per their Truma agreement. I found 4 on eBay. Two in the UK for $200+ and two in Australia for $400+!

[DavidK]

Good news, I called Truma and they are going to ship me the controller and temperature sensor. Should be here in a few days. It was about $400 with shipping. I just barely got my order in, they close the warehouse until January. Truma support is great too once you get ahold of them and if it's not a 'protected' part.

[Ollie-Haus]

I’ve dealt with U.S. Truma on three occasions regarding warranty issues. Twice with our C73 portable cooler, both times they shipped out a new cooler no questions once it was determined the control system had failed.
 

The third occasion was when the Aquago water heater outer cover plate had started developing cracks in various locations. They shipped a new cover plate and frame assembly immediately no charge.
 

You usually have to wait in a queue for a while to speak to a representative, but they are more than happy to address your issue if possible on that call. Make sure to have your data plate information before you call.