Alde heating Question

[Thingy]

One for those with Alde heating. Please bear with me if I misname part of it.

When turning on the heating from cold, we are getting a bubbling in the system, quite obviously air. This manifests itself in what i would describe as a "header tank", located on this caravan in the wardrobe. I had wondered whether the system needed bleeding as in a domestic system and queried my dealer on this when it went in for some warranty work. The dealers service department intimated that this was normal as it disipates within a few minutes. The heating is working fine, its just a bit disconcerting to think there is air in there.

Is this normal or do I have a system that needs bleeding.

 

[otherclive]

One for those with Alde heating. Please bear with me if I misname part of it.

When turning on the heating from cold, we are getting a bubbling in the system, quite obviously air. This manifests itself in what i would describe as a "header tank", located on this caravan in the wardrobe. I had wondered whether the system needed bleeding as in a domestic system and queried my dealer on this when it went in for some warranty work. The dealers service department intimated that this was normal as it disipates within a few minutes. The heating is working fine, its just a bit disconcerting to think there is air in there.

Is this normal or do I have a system that needs bleeding.

This may help.

https://www.alde.co.uk/manuals.html
I used to tell my team to go and read the Book of Reference or RTFM as a good starting point.

 

[Thingy]

Thanks OC. I know how to bleed it, but is it normal for a bit of bubbling in the expansion tank for a few minutes at first use.

 

[Mel]

Our Alde bubbles and gurgles like a bubbling gurgling thing every morning when it starts up. Always assumed it was normal. It is loud enough to wake me up so it is now programmed to come on at a later time.
Mel

 

[waffler]

We’ve had two Alde systems and never had gurgling or bubbles in the header tank. The only noise we get is creaking from one pipe. The water in the header just vibrates a little when the pump goes.

 

[JTQ]

Has your Alde got a circulating pump near the boiler?
If so it might be set at too high a speed, because this is how they are delivered to the dealer and part of the pdi involves setting it back at its normal speed. Unfortunately it is far from unknown for dealers to forget to reset the speed, even if they ever bother doing a pdi.
You might need a mirror to see it, but on the pump's motor rear end is a knob, it turns to alter the pump speed. It should be set to position 2, ie nearly the slowest. When set slow the gurgling will be lower than if set too fast, it will also not be so noisy as it initiates the flow up to speed.

When convenient to do so really get the fluid very hot on gas and electricity, say set for a temperature of 30C, and let the pump run for 10 or so minutes. This getting the fluid really hot serves to clear dissolved air from the fluid and that aids having a quieter system, a procedure that should have happened during a pdi, but often overlooked. After a long winter layup, repeating this is prudent.

 

[Thingy]

Good shout JTQ. I finally got round to having a look at the pump setting and yes, it was turned right up. Dropped it down to a smidge above two and its beautiful now.