Bobil Hybrid vs Truma - How to they compare?
- Bobil Vans
- Mar 21
- 4 min read
A question we get asked all the time is how does our system compare to the Truma Combi Boiler. Despite us being a little biased, as we do sell competitive kits to the Truma, we'd give a brief overview of the advantages and disadvantages of each system, including our own competitor the Bobil Air Hybrid.
Truma Combi
The Truma Combi Boiler is one of the original hot water systems used in caravans and campervans. They are a well established company, having been in the market for over 75 years. They focus on selling heater and hot water systems for campervans,
Truma Combi Advantages
All-in-1 Install
The Truma Combi Boilers are an all-in-1 system, meaning they come as 1 unit, the heater, hot water tank, blower box and such, and you just connect a few things together and plop the whole thing down in a cupboard and forget about it. Very easy install.
Established Company
Being over 75 years old, Truma are a worldwide company so spare parts, service centres are spread throughout the world, with many companies well versed in Truma products, meaning you have support almost anywhere you are.
LPG Friendly
If your camper has LPG, then Truma are well connected to the LPG heating systems and you you can run their heater units off LPG directly.
Truma Combi Disadvantages
Expensive
One of the biggest downsides of Truma is that they are expensive. Not just expensive to buy in the first place, but also expensive to repair (as it often requires a qualified persons to work on the system). The equivalent heating system will set you back £1500-£2000!
If it breaks, you're toast
If the unit breaks, then your entire heating AND hot water system are completely offline, until you have it fixed. Having everything bundled up in 1 unit is risky if you don't have any backup heating, or the versatility of being able to only run the heater or hot water, like in our kits.
Bulky
The all-in-1 design means the unit is quite a beast and rather large to find a home for. Fitting it inside smaller cupboards might prove trickly, especially when contending with water pipes, wires, heating ducting and cupboard fronts.
Bobil Air Hybrid
Our competitor to the Truma unit is our own Bobil Air Hybrid System + Autoterm Diesel Heater kit. Both this kit, and the Truma Combi Boiler can heat air and heat water via diesel and electrically. Below are the advantages and disadvantages of our Bobil System.
Bobil Air Hybrid Advantages
Cheaper
The Bobil Air Hybrid + Autoterm kit starts at just over £1,000 for the full kit, meaning it is almost half the price of a regular Truma system.
More Versatile Install
Rather than being an all in 1 unit, we decided to allow for flexibility when designing our kits. This means our kit is more able to be installed in tighter spaces, as the flexible rubber hose can be bent almost anywhere you like. In theory, you can place our kit pieces at opposite ends of the vehicle if you'd like.
12V functionality
Unlike the Truma units, you can heat water electrically directly from your batteries using the 12V power. Not only this, but with the built in functionality of the Smart Controller this allows you to heat water for free when your batteries are full and you have excess solar coming in.
Can add to existing heating system
If you already have a diesel air heater, which are extremely popular in campervan conversions, then you can halve the cost again for our system by only buying the hot water tank part - our Bobil Hybrid System, rather than having to rip our your diesel heater to put in a Truma system.
Bobil Air Hybrid Disadvantages
Smaller Service Centre
With us being a small company, especially compared with Truma, we don't have worldwide repair centres if you're in need of a repair for your Bobil Kit. We have have several authorised companies who know our kits well scattered around the UK though, which you can find here.
Some assembly required
Our kits or not a get it out the box, plug in and play type system, they come with some assembly required. This includes wiring and plumbing, through we have recently reduced the complexity with our newest iteration of the kit.
Compatibility
If you are wanting the full functionality from the Bobil Hybrid kit, then you'll need to connect our controller to your diesel heater. If you have especially a Chinese style diesel heater, due to the impossible complexity of all variations of the Chinese heater software, we can not guarantee compatibility for full automation. Worst case scenario is that you'll have to turn the heater on with one controller, and control our kit with a 2nd controller which isn't the end of the world, but an extra step none-the-less.
Conclusion
As you can see, it really depends exactly what you are after as to which system is best for your needs. Most van conversions are done on a budget so price is one of the most important factors. Both our system and the Truma system will heat hot water and provide hot air for your campervan, but other factors like compatibility, repair centres, installation space and confidence all play a role in deciding which one is best for you.
Comments