Alde Central Heating, Pros & Cons

[joanie]

We did look into the different heaters when we bought our last 'van and I didn't fancy Alde. We have the truma blown air and find that if you put the heating on just before the sun goes down then it works fine. We have the option of the remote control using the truma i net but didn't take it up.

[Disco4]

If that includes labour & 5 year fluid it's a very good price

Special offer, £50 off. Checked & definitely 5 yr fluid.

[Pebble]

matelodave, on 20 Nov 2016 - 4:38 PM, said:matelodave, on 20 Nov 2016 - 4:38 PM, said:matelodave, on 20 Nov 2016 - 4:38 PM, said:matelodave, on 20 Nov 2016 - 4:38 PM, said:matelodave, on 20 Nov 2016 - 4:38 PM, said:matelodave, on 20 Nov 2016 - 4:38 PM, said:

The ideal way is to put it on both gas and leccy so that you get the full performance of the heating system however that will still be constariend by the installation and whether theres loads of stuff wodged in the lockers restricting the airflow around the heating pipes.

 

On our 2016 Delta, the hottest convector (the one you can feel the hottest air rising from) is the behind the o/s sofa, closest to the boiler but also the one with a drop vent where the boiler is. This gives the natural air circulation that the convectors need.

 

Now some bad design points which may be common to other 'vans:

 

Front sofa back rests - lean against these with perhaps four people seated and with the blinds closed, there's not a lot of space for the hot air to rise as the backrests compress. Also take a look at how little a gap there is on the wall boards behind the backrests - when the boiler's kicking out heat, just pull the backrests forward slightly and feel how much more heat rises. We've ended up with additional battens to increase the gap so the air rises more freely.

 

Pull the blinds right down above the front sofas and again there's very little gap for the air to rise. We leave a 1-2" gap at the bottom and don't close the blinds completely. Enough to cover the window but not enough to block the gap.

 

Transverse island beds - there's nearly always a convector at the head of the bed. When the mattress is pushed right up against the headboard, there's very little space for the hot air to rise as the mattress closes the natural gap. We've had to fit a full width board to prevent the mattress squashing up against the convector. Not too much of an issue as most prefer the bedroom area a bit cooler than the lounge at night. Yes, we run our Alde 24/7 as the dog sleeps in the lounge at night at 19 degC, otherwise we'd run at 16-18 degC but again, depends on the time of year - cool autumn and spring or very cold winter.

Edited November 20, 2016 by Pebble

[xtrailman]

Thanks for that picture xtrailman. ..what a difference from the old digital one we have. ........just had a thought, we never ever used the blown air facility on our old Truma or Dometic fires, we didn't think it at all good,,,we just used the fire.

 

geofff

So did we.

Did try the blown air but it was just a waste of time due to near 4 M off outside duct, and i wasn't about to start trying to insulate it.

 

Previous caravan on blown air was cosy warm due to virtually no outside piping.

We have the Truma Combi blown air system in our current van, but will be getting Alde with our new van in January. We are extremely happy with the blown air system and a little bit apprehensive about the Alde, but there's no choice, other than to choose a different van. I think Swift have the right idea in their Challenger range - you can choose which you want. If you look at the tech spec for the challengers it gives the weights with both (Alde slightly heavier), but payload remains the same.

 

I sincerely hope I'm one of the people singing the praises of Alde in due course.

 

Just a thought on the use of a fan heater - if this warms the van up initially, surely the Alde will cut out as the van is up to temperature?

Not if you have set the set point high enough.

Special offer, £50 off. Checked & definitely 5 yr fluid.

Bargain.

[Upyonder]

We have the Truma Combi blown air system in our current van, but will be getting Alde with our new van in January. We are extremely happy with the blown air system and a little bit apprehensive about the Alde, but there's no choice, other than to choose a different van. I think Swift have the right idea in their Challenger range - you can choose which you want. If you look at the tech spec for the challengers it gives the weights with both (Alde slightly heavier), but payload remains the same.

I sincerely hope I'm one of the people singing the praises of Alde in due course.

Just a thought on the use of a fan heater - if this warms the van up initially, surely the Alde will cut out as the van is up to temperature?

In the same boat (or should that be caravan) as you. Hope its as good as they say.

[KontikiKid]

I have Alde and have had it in two motorhomes. I would not have a motorhome given yes given, if it had Truma fitted! I had many issues with Truma - failed 12v bit, failed electric elements, all sorts.

 

Alde is silent in use, warms throughout and if you like blown air, you can even have a couple of Alde fan heaters fitted

 

Russ

[Alan Stanley]

 

On our 2016 Delta, the hottest convector (the one you can feel the hottest air rising from) is the behind the o/s sofa, closest to the boiler but also the one with a drop vent where the boiler is. This gives the natural air circulation that the convectors need.

 

Now some bad design points which may be common to other 'vans:

 

Front sofa back rests - lean against these with perhaps four people seated and with the blinds closed, there's not a lot of space for the hot air to rise as the backrests compress. Also take a look at how little a gap there is on the wall boards behind the backrests - when the boiler's kicking out heat, just pull the backrests forward slightly and feel how much more heat rises. We've ended up with additional battens to increase the gap so the air rises more freely.

 

Pull the blinds right down above the front sofas and again there's very little gap for the air to rise. We leave a 1-2" gap at the bottom and don't close the blinds completely. Enough to cover the window but not enough to block the gap.

 

Transverse island beds - there's nearly always a convector at the head of the bed. When the mattress is pushed right up against the headboard, there's very little space for the hot air to rise as the mattress closes the natural gap. We've had to fit a full width board to prevent the mattress squashing up against the convector. Not too much of an issue as most prefer the bedroom area a bit cooler than the lounge at night. Yes, we run our Alde 24/7 as the dog sleeps in the lounge at night at 19 degC, otherwise we'd run at 16-18 degC but again, depends on the time of year - cool autumn and spring or very cold winter.

Poor installation of any heating is the cause of more problems than the actual equipment in many cases.

[Tin_Snail]

Perfect system IMHO.

 

If you need an initial boost. Just use gas and electric together. Simple.

 

I've topped ours up once in 18 months.

 

Just make sure there are no obstructions that prevent the warm air circulating, otherwise your lockers get toasty warm but your 'van won't!.

Edited November 20, 2016 by Tin_Snail

[xtrailman]

I have only ever needed to top mine up once, a few days after i changed the fluid.

You shouldn't need to either top up or bleed normally

[thesecretcaravanner]

Hot off the press, literally.

We arrived at our van on Friday night temp -3 at 8 pm, all skylights with a layer of ice on them!

Heating on at 3kw then off to the pub,arrived back about 10 pm, the temp was 10 degrees,so not exactly fast.

However once it's up to temperature it is very good, no cold spots, pretty easy to control toasting all weekend, after the initial warmup.

What we did at the weekend was, heating on all friday night,Temp set at 17 degrees, in the morning turned it up to 22 degrees and left it on all day until 11. 30 pm then turned it off but set timer for 6. 30 am on Sunday.

Checked our meter and we have used 15 kwh over 2 weekends so not very expensive.

So cost around a £1 per weekend.

Overall better than blown heating but a bit on the slow side, the remote app sounds great but it is a bit pricey at £313 if it was £100 I would buy it. The other odd thing is the timer only seems to switch the heating on not off.

I believe it only runs for the one 24 hour cycle then turns off,unless programmed to come on again.

Edited November 20, 2016 by thesecretcaravanner

[Tin_Snail]

I have only ever needed to top mine up once, a few days after i changed the fluid. You shouldn't need to either top up or bleed normally

Really?

 

It's an un sealed system in which the water gets very hot, I would expect some evaporation at least.

Edited November 20, 2016 by Tin_Snail

[smino0_1]

with the heater on a motor home you should have the heat exchanger . so when driving it uses the engine to warm the c/h. there is also a additive that can be used to prolong the the life of the seals etc. we do find the wet system does not create a 1 min hot next cold etc. wet =constant temps thru out. we keep our at the house so in always plugged in and heated before we leave and left at 5degree to stop and freezing.

[Easy T]

WHen we bought our present caravan I did not really fancy the Alde. Seemed an expensive, weighty, complication. However the 'van that we wanted came with Alde fitted. Now I love it

[Davedave]

Hello

 

Just thought worth mentioning that of course you can use a stand alone fan heater to rapidly boost initial heat up, I do all the time.

It does not cause main caravan heater to cut back as long as thermostat set higher on that than standalone fan.

[xtrailman]

Really?

 

It's an un sealed system in which the water gets very hot, I would expect some evaporation at least.

Yes really.

 

why would i post the statment if it was untrue, since my fluid change (a year late in year 3) i have carried 1 L of 50/50 fluid as yet unused.

[fred]

To reiterate what others have said. The Alde system is potentially very good but it does depend on installation. Alde quote approximate heat outputs for their convectors. From memory it is about 440W per metre. So if your caravan has 3 x 1 metre convectors fitted then you have a heating system that is 1300W not 8kW. And if the airflow is restricted then the efficiency goes down further. This weekend I suppose it took about 90minutes to heat from about 6 degrees to about 20 degrees which sounds like a longtime but it has got to heat the whole fabric of the van and that takes a lot of heat energy to achieve.

 

One think I did have fitted and in my opinion is £20 well spent is the battery back up for the controller. So it does run like a domestic central heating time clock. Saves me having to get out of bed to switch it on in the morning

[IanV8]

Had it in a van in 1980 and had it in six vans since, would not consider a van with anything else.

 

Had two control board failures, both fixed FOC under warranty.

 

Never changed the fluid.

 

Use it all year round even when off ehu.

 

Ian

[Easy T]

Why switch it off at night? we just turn it down to 17C and when I get up at or just after 6am I turn it up.

[JTQ]

 

One think I did have fitted and in my opinion is £20 well spent is the battery back up for the controller. So it does run like a domestic central heating time clock. Saves me having to get out of bed to switch it on in the morning

Whilst the optional battery backup is a nice to have feature it is not as often believed needed to retain the settings. The "extra" it brings is it retains the clock, ie the actual time, the other more complex programming, timings and temperatures are retained even without it. Therefore you only have to get your mind round setting the "clock" to the right time; with a little investment in reading the manual and using the panels, even the older digital one, things are not that much of a challenge. One big effort that will be needed anyway to get the program as you want, and 20>30 seconds on arrival at site to set the clock.

Having said that, I do think it is unbelievably petty that the van builders don't simply include this in the standard build,

[fred]

Why switch it off at night? we just turn it down to 17C and when I get up at or just after 6am I turn it up.

That's exactly the temperature my is set to for its night setting it just does it automatically. When you are at home do you manually control your central heating or use a time clock?

[Tin_Snail]

Yes really.

why would i post the statment if it was untrue, since my fluid change (a year late in year 3) i have carried 1 L of 50/50 fluid as yet unused.

I wasn't doubting your statement about how often you had topped yours up or saying it was true.

 

I was querying your subsequent statement about it shouldn't need topping up. The system clearly does from time to time. As I say I have done mine once in 18 months of ownership.

[Durbanite]

 

On our 2016 Delta, the hottest convector (the one you can feel the hottest air rising from) is the behind the o/s sofa, closest to the boiler but also the one with a drop vent where the boiler is. This gives the natural air circulation that the convectors need.

 

Now some bad design points which may be common to other 'vans:

 

Front sofa back rests - lean against these with perhaps four people seated and with the blinds closed, there's not a lot of space for the hot air to rise as the backrests compress. Also take a look at how little a gap there is on the wall boards behind the backrests - when the boiler's kicking out heat, just pull the backrests forward slightly and feel how much more heat rises. We've ended up with additional battens to increase the gap so the air rises more freely.

 

Pull the blinds right down above the front sofas and again there's very little gap for the air to rise. We leave a 1-2" gap at the bottom and don't close the blinds completely. Enough to cover the window but not enough to block the gap.

 

Transverse island beds - there's nearly always a convector at the head of the bed. When the mattress is pushed right up against the headboard, there's very little space for the hot air to rise as the mattress closes the natural gap. We've had to fit a full width board to prevent the mattress squashing up against the convector. Not too much of an issue as most prefer the bedroom area a bit cooler than the lounge at night. Yes, we run our Alde 24/7 as the dog sleeps in the lounge at night at 19 degC, otherwise we'd run at 16-18 degC but again, depends on the time of year - cool autumn and spring or very cold winter.

We hated the ALDE heating in our 2011 Delta TI and the wife wanted us to trade in the caravan for one with blown air. Van took ages to warm up with loads of cold spots. Hated the heat at the head of the bed at night. As above it was due to the way Lunar installed the ALDE system. We managed to get Lunar to do a modification (see attached) which improved it 100% but it still was not right. Now with the current caravan Elddis have installed the system correctly and we would not be without ALDE heating.

[Pebble]

We hated the ALDE heating in our 2011 Delta TI and the wife wanted us to trade in the caravan for one with blown air. Van took ages to warm up with loads of cold spots. Hated the heat at the head of the bed at night. As above it was due to the way Lunar installed the ALDE system. We managed to get Lunar to do a modification (see attached) which improved it 100% but it still was not right. Now with the current caravan Elddis have installed the system correctly and we would not be without ALDE heating.

Seems Lunar have also modified the wall boards behind the front sofas for 2017. Seems to be a learning curve every year for some manufacturers. Surely it can't be that difficult to get it right first time?

[Guest]

My only criticsm of the ALDE system is when van manufacturers fit the towel rail as a bathroom heater. It's useless as a heating source especially when it's been insulated with a damp towel or so.

 

The radiator in our U3 Cadiz bathroom is much more effective than a towel rail. Bailey's have put a lot of effort with the system to improve it's performance. There are vents in the fronts of all the base lockers as well as on the top of the front drawer unit.

 

The wall boards behind the front seats andat the side of each of the beads have a decent clearance to allow the heat to circulate and there's a lot of finned radiator under the lockers - nigh on 8 metres of it (3. 2kw) together with the pipework which gives out a significant amound of heat. Even the aluminium door threshold bar gets warm because of the piping underneath it.

 

The only thing that thwarts it is stuff wodged into the lockers which can restrict the airlow

[DeeTee]

Seems Lunar have also modified the wall boards behind the front sofas for 2017. Seems to be a learning curve every year for some manufacturers. Surely it can't be that difficult to get it right first time?

Perhaps caravan manufacturers only read the installation instructions, as many people do, as a last resort. They seem to rely on "feedback" after installing the system. Unfortunately they never seem to admit their errors.

Edited November 21, 2016 by DeeTee