Which form of water and space heating ?

[RayS]

Considering a new caravan. Options for these services would be the Whale blown air heating (with the unit undeer the floor) plus Whale water heater, or the combined Alde system.
Being a great fan of the 'keep it simple' school, and having read the Alde book requiring a change of the glycol every two years,plus the troubles of getting all the air out of the system etc, plus the fact that a 'common mode' failure would deprive me of both heating and hot water in one go, my current preference is to go for the two individual Whale units.
But, and it's quite a big but SWMBO likes the idea of not having fan blown air to move the dust around (yes, I've expained about convection) etc. The Alde solution comes as part of a package with an additional price tag around £2k, but from many years of fixing things I shouldn't have needed to fix, I am more concerned about things continuing to work than this amount of extra.
So if anyone has experience, good or bad, of either or both of these options, I would very much appreciate your comments

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Ray,

In terms of keeping things simple then the Whale solution has the edge, but Alde have been producing heating product for years where as Whale are relative newcomers to the party. The oldest player is of course Truma who like Whale can offer a two part heating solution.

From a technical point of view, The layout of the caravan can have a big influence on the practical effectiveness of a blown air system. Long runs of duct with several outlets are bad news. In some caravans I have actually created a complete loop, which acts like a hot air ring main, and this has produced some very effective heating solutions at the extreme ends in caravans. But it does make the system slightly more complex to install. The fact the hot air is forced does help to reduce stratification from floor to ceiling.

By comparison the Alde wet systems are easier to install because of the smaller bore delivery systems. and they too can produce effective heat distribution to the ends, but as you note they rely on convention which can sometimes lead to stratification leaving cool feet and warm heads.

There will be little to choose between the heating efficiency of any of the systems, but each system will stand or fall principally on the care & thought in the design of the installation within the caravan.

You make your choice and pay your money!

 

[Surfer]

ALDE system takes a lot longer to heat up the caravan and on a very cold day, almost the whole day. As hot air rises, you suffer from cold feet until caravan warms sufficiently. Biggest drawback is not having a fan which coudl be used in the summer to shift cool air around the caravan. Secondly you have the weight of the system which cuts into your user payload. ALDE requires a 12v source to work so if your battery goes flat, no heating or hot water!

 

[Gybe]

Blown air system every time. Blown air is almost instant heat compared to the slower wet system. I'm with Surfer, during hot days and nights blown air cools the caravan and draws in cooler ground air and keeps hot air moving out of the roof vents. We're not fond of aircon and during 40c + days and hot nights in southern Europe being without blown air would be unbearable.
We're water people and are usually caravanning at the coast. Blown air directed into the bathroom is brilliant after a day in the sea and makes for a good drying room.
????? We've never noticed a dust problem with blown air heating