A nasty niff!- Auxillary Heater first use

[Robert May]

It has been a baptism of fire for my MP; 500 miles North Devon to Stirling via Edinburgh Airport in one hit with breaks every 3 hours- It is a relaxing joy to drive! I'm 1200 miles so far this week with another 250 to do before I'm home this evening.

My first overnight required a little additional warmth at 3am so I clicked the remote, got warmed up just as I should, no problem. However the warmth was accompanied by a nasty and worrying electrical smell from under the van, the sort of stalled starter motor stink.
I've assumed this was a 'first use' smell as there were no flames, smoke or blown fuses. Has anyone else experienced this? Does the stink go away or do the flames, smoke and blown fuses turn up next time?

(The tea in the van is horrid, a mild TCP flavour so the water system is getting flushed through a few times this weekend)

 

[Wilnx005]

I had this when first using my new heater - I think its normal - worth keeping an eye on it though, just in case.

 

[Robert May]

Thank you. Do you recall how many times or how long before you didn't notice the smell?

 

[BabaJen]

It's normal to smell a bit on first firing up but after getting warm it should go away,

As the exhaust is external to the vehicle you should not really notice any significant smell after a few times starting up.

 

[Katie]

Yes, mine smelt to begin with but fine after a couple of times
Re the tcp taste to the water - this has been a common experience for caravans over the years
We had to have all the pipe work replaced in one van because it was a huge faulty batch that leached the taste into the water system (harmless supposedly) I’ve never used the water from the van for drinking because it always seems to taste a bit different - just refill a bottle from the campsites taps