Alde Heating

[SirRogerFFS]

Can anybody please shed a little light on the Alde Heating in my Sterling Elite Searcher .Whilst away on our last break I noticed the level for the heater in the wardrobe had dropped so I topped it up to the halfway mark and when we parked up at our storage I noticed the level had dropped again ,it had only just dropped below the sight glass.
Can anybody advise if this is normal or not.

Sir Roger

 

[rudski01]

Hi Roger
If youv'e been using the heating it tends to evaporate a bit out of the breather pipe next to the fill point. I've had to keep topping ours up over the past 18 months at least a few times that I can remember, I cant find any leaks on it so presume it's just natural evaporation. Maybe somebody can tell us different?

 

[Brum1]

Roger.
I have had Aldi heating for over 3 years. In that time the level dropped only once. That was during the first year, since topping it up with antifreeze it has remained constant.
You either have a leak or there is a relief valve device on the boiler that is faulty.

Regards

 

[JTQ]

With my Alde in a different van I cant fill it as high as I think it ought to be without it "throwing out" some fluid to return to the level it wants to be.
I can only have it at the minimum level when it is cold, add any more and it sorts itself out back to minimum.
Here are my thoughts on this.
I think there must be little bits of trapped air both in the pipework and boiler.
When the system gets hot this air expands quite a lot and can lift the level in the header tank much higher that the cold level.
Here with the circulating pump running it can "slosh" the fluid about and sometimes throw some out.
Then when the system cools the level goes down back to the minimum level.
Over time with use of the heating this large expansion decreases a bit; I suspect this indicates the fluid is progressively collecting the air as it is pumped about and changing temperature.
If the system is left for a month the level does not move, so I am confident there is no leak.

 

[Collin]

Hi Sir Roger, my straight answer to your question is no, it is not normal. In six years operating an Aldi system in my various caravans (the system is brilliant INMHO) I have never had to top up the fluid, so I think you need to check things out. Be aware that you cannot simply top up with water alone! I have always found the people at Aldi extremely helpful with queries. Good luck in solving the problem.

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

We've never had to top the fluid up in our four year old 'van.

 

[Martin_E]

You may find that when traveling that you may lose fluid out of the breather tube, you could try and block this off while traveling, when on site un bung the tube if fluid is comes out then this would answer your question.

 

[NigelHutson]

It might also be that it was not bled properly before you took delivery. As you travel air pockets may be dislodged and hence the drop in the header tank. I would certainly check that there's no air in the system first.