Alde Compact 3010 problem

Aug 4, 2005
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Looking for some information/advice from any of you knowledgeable folks out there.

As per the title I have a problem with the water system in the caravan. Decided today to sterilise the water system, connected up the aquaroll with the Milton solution, ran it through the pipes and left it for about 20 minutes. When I went back to the van I noticed a damp patch underneath, there was a slight drip from a plastic drain pipe under the van and not the main drain pipe for the entire system. Inside the van I found the pipe led from a plastic,red coloured, right angle connection that was fitted to the red coloured water pipe that went into/came from the top left hand corner of the boiler unit. I remember a couple of years back having a similar leak with another van and Damien from here advise it was a non return valve which had failed and to replace it (a simple enough job as it turned out). Today I tried to finish off sterilising the system as usual by flushing through with fresh water and here is where the real problem starts. Initially all was well, water running smoothly, then there was a sudden and very noticeable change in noise, seemed more like air being drawn in than water and water flow stopped completely. I switched the tap off and as normal the pump kept running to fill up the water tank before stopping but it sounded as though it was blowing bubbles so pump was promptly switched off at mains.
Looking on the Alde website at their spares catalogue it seems that the valve that was leaking is a domestic water connection with non return valve part number either 3000 472 or 572,( both are pictured together with no clear identification). They are slightly different to the connection I have as on mine at the top their is a right angle bend before connecting to drain pipe.
So does anyone know - are any of those connections shown in spares catalogue the same as mine with merely a modification?
And more importantly, would a complete failure in the non return valve lead to complete failure in the system to deliver water to the tap?
I will be onto my local dealership maintenance department later in the week, just hoping someone here can reassure me it is not a major problem hopefully.
Thanks in advance for any info.
Robert
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Hello Rob,

I'm not familiar with the alde system, so I cant offer advice about specifics, but in othe water systems teh failure of a none return or over pressure valve certainly could affect the water flow to taps etc.

and such requests for detailed information on a specific part are best handled by someone who cna see the model you have and understands the product. So for the most reliable and SAFE solution I suggest you get an Adle dealer to check it out.
 
Aug 4, 2005
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Hi Prof,
I've already fired an email off to Alde's Technical Department asking for specific info on replacement non return valve and some more general info on the whole problem. It was also always my intention to contact local dealership maintence dept. tomorrow once they open. Suppose I was really looking for re-assurance that this was only a simple, easy to remedy fault.
Thanks for taking the time to reply anyway.
 

Damian

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Mar 14, 2005
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Hi Rob,
Leaving the central heating pipes out of the situation as I believe they are not causing a problem, th eonly water inlet and outlet for the domestic water is via a blue inlet and a red outlet assembly.
The red outlet does indeed contain a non return valve and if that has failed, then water will be dumped outside thevan and none or very little will come out of taps.
I do not see the numbers you refer to in my catalogue, but do have 3000-471 or 571.for the hot water outlet
The only difference ids that one is for John Guest semi rigid 12mm o/d pipe and is a simple push fit, the other is for 1/2 inch flexible pipe and is held on by a jubilee clip
 
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Damian-Moderator said:
Hi Rob,
Leaving the central heating pipes out of the situation as I believe they are not causing a problem, th eonly water inlet and outlet for the domestic water is via a blue inlet and a red outlet assembly.
The red outlet does indeed contain a non return valve and if that has failed, then water will be dumped outside thevan and none or very little will come out of taps.
I do not see the numbers you refer to in my catalogue, but do have 3000-471 or 571.for the hot water outlet
The only difference ids that one is for John Guest semi rigid 12mm o/d pipe and is a simple push fit, the other is for 1/2 inch flexible pipe and is held on by a jubilee clip

Thanks Damien. The numbers were, as you said 471 or 571, my error,brain thinking 1, finger typing 2!.
The existing valve on the unit is held in place by a jubilee clip but is slightly different from the ones shown in the spares catalogue in that on the topside rather than being just a straight vertical join it is a right angle bend before the drain pipe pushes on. Don't know if that will make any difference. Do you know which reference number refers to the one with jubilee clip fitting?
 

Damian

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Hi Rob,
From what you describe it seems to me that the wrong fitting has been put on your unit as neither of the ones I have shown are held in place on the boiler by a jubilee clip.
They are both a compression fitting , with 3000 - 471 being the one which has the spigot to go into a 1/2 inch o/d flexible pipe, which is held by a jubilee clip.
3000 - 571 is the John Guest push fit exit , but still a compression fitting to the boiler.
The compression fitting is the same as the one you changed on the Ultrastore, in fact it is the same item used on both the Ultrastore and the Alde boiler, which is not surprising as Alde is actually part of Truma
 
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Damian-Moderator said:
Hi Rob,
From what you describe it seems to me that the wrong fitting has been put on your unit as neither of the ones I have shown are held in place on the boiler by a jubilee clip.
They are both a compression fitting , with 3000 - 471 being the one which has the spigot to go into a 1/2 inch o/d flexible pipe, which is held by a jubilee clip.
3000 - 571 is the John Guest push fit exit , but still a compression fitting to the boiler.
The compression fitting is the same as the one you changed on the Ultrastore, in fact it is the same item used on both the Ultrastore and the Alde boiler, which is not surprising as Alde is actually part of Truma

Hi Damien,
More likely to be my inadequate description rather than wrong part. The existing one is connected to the red water pipe by jubilee clip not to the boiler. It is connected to the boiler by a screw type fitting, as you say, the same as the one I changed on a previous van. If only I had mastered the art of adding a photograph to my posts!
Thanks again for your help.
 

JTQ

May 7, 2005
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Was the system working directly before using the Milton solution? Are we to understand you believe the Milton was the cause?
The reson I ask is that with my Alde 3010 I have on three occassions developed leaks at the Jubilee secucred hot water fittings. The water temperature can be so hot it softens the plastic tubing and so leads to leaks.
I dont know of a solution but tighten the Jubilee clips on the hot water pipework every so often; I usually find I can tighten them a bit.

I have looked into replacing them with silicone tubing but not got round to doing it; its not cheap.
 
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JTQ said:
Was the system working directly before using the Milton solution? Are we to understand you believe the Milton was the cause?
Hi JTQ,
No I don't think the Milton had anything to do with it all. I only mentioned the sterilising of the system as that was how and when I discovered the leak. I had previously thought there was a leak in the system as on my last outing the water pump would regularly switch itself on for a split second as though it was topping up the water system. I had checked all visible internal joints for a leak without success and was going to change the "O" rings on the external connection to the aqua roll to see if that would fix it. It wasn't till Sunday, when it wasn't raining for a change, that I noticed the drip from the pipe going onto the dry concrete that I realised it was the non return valve that was leaking.
As an update for anyone unfortunate to have the same problem. I emailed Alde on Sunday afternoon asking for information on the correct replacement part. I received a reply from them at lunchtime today (Monday) which I thought was pretty good service.
Below is a copy of their email
Boilers with serial number greater than 91458 use 3010-571.
http://www.alde.co.uk/downloads/alde_cat_21.pdf#page=20

Boilers with serial number equal to or less than 91458 use 3000-571.
http://www.alde.co.uk/downloads/alde_cat_21.pdf#page=55

To be sure of obtaining the correct part, you should check you boiler's serial
number, located on the boiler plate and also on the service ticket (in plastic
sleeve on side of boiler).

The 3000-571 used a plastic compression fitting boiler-side that was more
susceptible to breaking O-rings than the 3010-571 (which has SpeedFit fitting
boiler-side).

http://www.alde.co.uk/downloads/alde_prices_21.pdf
It is unlikely to be symptomatic of a larger problem.

Regards,

Alde UK Team
A visit to my local caravan servicing dept this afternoon meant that I now have correct
spare part, fitted in 5 minutes this evening and I will give it a full check this coming weekend.

Thanks to all who replied.

Robert
 

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