Alde heating

[xtrailman]

I am interested in buying a caravan with Adle central heating.

Having looked on the Adle site, and looked through the manuel, the only possible negatives i can see are possibly noise at night from either the pump or blower, the latter i assume is for gas use.

As the unit is sometimes under the sleeping area, obviously we would not welcome any undue noise as we are light sleepers.

Any comments on with this system would be appreciated.

 

[jacky3]

we have just purchased a new caravan with the alde heating system.the unit is under the front offside seating in ours,as we have an end bed.yes you can here the pump clicking in and the noise of the header tank when pump in action,but it does not disturb your sleep as much as i was dreading.it is a very good system,the heat is evenly distributed through out the caravan.there is no blower to this system,its just like your house heating but on a smaller scale.now we have it i wouldn't go back to any other system,you'll love it.

 

[JTQ]

A possible negative is that you have to have 12 VDC power to use it at all. This is possibly not an issue but if like us you caravan normally without EHU its something to be aware of.

Consumption is about 1 amp. The alternative basic Truma units can be used up to setting 3 without the blown air so these can be used without consuming DC giving out some heat.

The Alde needs 12 volts for the combustion fan and when in space heating mode for the heating circuits circulating pump.

You realise that it also heats the "hot" water so a single unit serves both purposes.

They take longer to respond initially than a basic Truma in that a mass of water has to be heated before heat becomes available to warm the caravan. This is not really much of an issue if you plan for it, such as putting it on well before a trip so the bulk of the water both "hot" and the heating circuit is pre heated. Also it has a programmable timer so can be set to come on whilst your out and before you rise. This is IMO a big plus but needs a time investment in understanding how to use these controls. Its one of these thing where the handbook becomes clearer to understand once you have fathomed out how to use the system; as someone recently said you need an "ology" degree to understand the instructions. Is not that bad but requires a bit of effort to use at its best.

As a heating system its streets ahead comfort wise to any blown air system we have encountered. Yes it has its associated noises, generally more pronounced on start up than when ticking over. If like us you might need to slightly reset the pipework if the installer has left an aluminium pipe "leaning" against a bit of the furniture; this only involves firmly gripping the pipe and silicone rubber coupling and just tweeking the "fit".

Once you have had it I suspect you will specify it in any further vans you might acquire, the level of comfort it brings is addictive.

 

[xtrailman]

Thank you both for your informative replies. I gathered from a forum search that the programmer took some working out, but i spent 25 years having to constantly learn new programming systems, its a pain but as you say necessary to get the most out of the system.

Just one last question, do you have a means of just having the heating element on at night, but without the circulating pump, to act in some way as a convection heater.

As it is now we set the convection heater on to the 500 watt setting, at heat 6, during the nighttimes.

 

[JTQ]

There is no convection heating as such. However because the boiler is maintaining 8 odd litres of "hot" water plus about 2 circuit litres at 70 degrees then it emits some wild heat to the area its housed within. In our case the wardrobe is pretty warm.

But the unit is very well insulated so the heat loss and thus that available to warm the van itself is minimal.

If on electrical heating, this heating of the water all happens in silence; if on gas then periodically the burner audibly fires up.

We set our night time space temperature to 9 deg. It rarely comes on but IMO if it does it is needed and the noise accepted.

I feel putting it under the bed is a poor design choice, primarily due to the noises.

 

[xtrailman]

appreciate your detailed reply JTQ. That was my concern the under bunk position.

we only use electric hook ups, only use gas as a standby.

 

[JTQ]

I presume you know you can download the user manual here : -

http://www.alde.co.uk/manuals.php
As your on electricity the noises will be minimal if the circulating pump does not need to cut in.

I have had vans with a Truma Ultra heat water boiler under the bed and the wild heat was not a trouble with these making the bed too hot so from that point the Alde under the bed should be okay. The idea of the noise from it firing up on gas is of more concern, but realistically in the van wherever its located its going to be pretty close by.

 

[Jennifer_374461363]

We have the Alde system in our van (Sterling Searcher), indeed we bought it because we wanted the Alde system.

We use it mainly on electricity. I am a very light sleeper. The boiler is under the fixed bed, the pump in the wardrobe.

I do not hear the pump running. The boiler starting up has never woken me, but if I am already awake I can hear it clicking on and off.

It is an excellent system, you will never go back to blown air after having an Alde.

 

[xtrailman]

Thank you both, i am convinced its a step forward, and that's what i want with my next caravan.

 

[Jennifer_374461363]

When you get the van, you need to take an hour or 2 to sit in it with the Alde manual and get used to how to set it all up. Also make sure that you have the controller permanently wired to the battery or you will lose some of your settings every time you tow. I would ask that question specificall of the dealer or manufacturer.

As you have looked at the manual you must have a pretty good idea of what is possible. What you cannot do is set it up to go on and off at various times like a home central heating timer can. Rather you need to set a time in the evening for it to step down to an overnight temperature, say maybe 12 degrees, and a time in the morning for it to step back up to your normal daytime setting.

The hot water is always heated if the system is powered and the water system filled, so when in summer you do not want space heating you just set the operating temperature to a minimum below which you do not want it to fall, say maybe 18 degrees (still maintaining the night-time set back).

If you are out during the day, it is best to leave the space heating running (if on mains) but maybe turn the temperature down a little. That way the van never gets too cold.

When arriving on site, if heating from cold, it does take a good hour to get up to temperature on electricity, gas is much quicker. We always carry a small fan heater for emergencies, so we sometimes set this going for a quick warm up while we heat the Alde on gas, or gas + 1kw if we are on a decent EHU.

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

to prevent the heating from coming on at all, just switch the circulation pump off on the contol panel, there is no need to alter the temperature.

 

[xtrailman]

Again, thank you all for the good feedback.

Must say i thought they would be some negative comments?

 

[JTQ]

Unlikely from those that have owned and know about the Alde

 

[oldievanner]

We have alde heating in our Heritage, and agree with all of the above.One maybe negative point, have only used ours with an EHU, but a neighbour used his over xmas, in the snow, on gas, and said that it used a large quantity of his 6kg bottle over two days, but it was minus 5deg outside and 25deg!! inside. He said his old van with truma heating would never have got that warm,and he would probably given up and come home.As stated once you have had a van with Alde heating you won't want anything else.She who must be obeyed worked out the controls in about five minutes, so it can't be that hard!!!

 

[Mikey1]

I had the Alde heating on a Fleetwood i owned and it was great the whole van was toasty and much better than the normal fire.

Downside i rally alot (without EHU) and found the battery draining down quickly and large gas comsumption.Could never have the just the heating on had to have the hot water on as well and this water was very very hot with no means of turning it down.

Things might have changed on that front,still rate it very very highly.

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

The water does get very hot when running on gas, but we don't have a problem with it, it just a case of being careful if we happen to be using the shower.

We wouldn't go back to blown air heating - ever!! LOL

 

[Jennifer_374461363]

Wendy, on our Alde (the 3010) there is no switch on the controller to turn off the pump,yet leave the hot water to be heated, the only way is to set the space heating temperature lower.

When showering we use the 30 minute temperature boost on the hot water, gives plenty of water for a shower.

Peter, your good lady must be a very fast reader! Even to read once through all the instructions took me 15 minutes. Setting everything up from scratch will take at least 10 minutes. Then you need some time to let it heat up so you can play with it all!

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

Ours is the Alde 3000 (2006 Bessacarr) so obviously they've done away with that switch - seems daft to me!

As we're off tomorrow, I've just been and put the heating on in the 'van, I only had to switch the pump on, the programme thingy was showing the factory set 21 degrees with the flame showing (meaning the heating will come on with the pump switched on) no adjustments needed!!

 

[Jennifer_374461363]

That's progress for you!

I don't think there is any difference in the actual boiler, but the programmers are all electronic now.