Draining Alde Wet Central Heating
Help! Today I tried to drain the antifreeze from the heating system in my Swift Challenger as it is now over two years old. I found and removed the drain plug (which is in the floor immediately above the motor mover) and about 2 litres
of liquid came out and then it stopped. Despite opening the bleed valves, removing the pump and pressure release valve, nothing further trickled out. I even siphoned fluid out of the pipes in the header tank but there should still be about 10 litres still
in the system. What can I do to remove it?
Comments
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Oops this is in the wrong place can someone move into Caravans. Thank you
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according to the ALDE tech sheet, the amount of glycol in the boiler (not the whole system, i guess) is 3.5 ltr.
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Just makes me wonder why Alde don't use the longer life in the first place
It is not down to Alde it is the manufacturer. Mine was specified for 2 years. However the original mix was wrong and so at about 18 months old Alde refilled with 5 year fluid.
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The alde system 3000 series contains the following, model and radiator dependant Liquid volume, glycol mix: 4,1 liter Liquid volume, fresh water: 8,4 liter.
To drain fully you may have to tilt the caravan forward towards the boiler and ensure all the bleed valves are open or alternately use a simple syphon pump on the outlet drain.
the following may be of help http://www.hansreckweg.dk/campingnorden/alde_3000_servicemanual.pdf
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I did ours 2 years back. First ascertain from Swift the volume of fluid in your system, then buy enough concentrated antifreeze for at least a 40% glycol mix.
Open drain and catch what comes out so you can measure it, I got about 3-4 litres out in one go. Close drain and add that amount of water, circulate the system well. Repeat several times.
When it looks like only water is coming out, use a hydrometer to measure the specific density of the emerging fluid. Repeat until you are satisfied it is just water.
Close drain and add concentrate from your calculated amount required, up to midway mark. Circulate for a few seconds to draw it down. Run off some more water if you still have concentrate to add, until it is all added.
Circulate well, vent air, top up with water as required.
Took me a morning to do. Ours holds 13 litres of fluid.
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Having read that KjellNN I don't feel so bad about the £80 it cost. Still doesn't excuse Bailey for filling it with 2 year in the first place to save a few pence. However, at least it does not need doing for another 5 years, and we really love the heating.
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Having read that KjellNN I don't feel so bad about the £80 it cost. ....
That's basically how you'd do it on a car. Other than tipping the car on its head, you'll likely not be able to drain all the coolant from the block, so you drain what you can, top it it etc as Kjell said. You just need to be able to drain enough off to
add enough antifreeze to get to the required mix.0 -
I did ours 2 years back. First ascertain from Swift the volume of fluid in your system, then buy enough concentrated antifreeze for at least a 40% glycol mix.
Open drain and catch what comes out so you can measure it, I got about 3-4 litres out in one go. Close drain and add that amount of water, circulate the system well. Repeat several times.
When it looks like only water is coming out, use a hydrometer to measure the specific density of the emerging fluid. Repeat until you are satisfied it is just water.
Close drain and add concentrate from your calculated amount required, up to midway mark. Circulate for a few seconds to draw it down. Run off some more water if you still have concentrate to add, until it is all added.
Circulate well, vent air, top up with water as required.
Took me a morning to do. Ours holds 13 litres of fluid.
Agree with SteveL £87 + VAT all in is worth more to me than the time taken to do it.
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Thank you for your helpful comments. I was in fact alongside a mobile caravan engineer who was planning to replace the heating fluid when this problem occurred. My local Swift Dealer had plans to charge me £200 for the job!
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I was actually anticipating a problem with air in the system, but in fact had no problem at all.
Being retired I have plenty of time to do such jobs, plus then I can be sure it has been done properly.
When we first got the van, new, we had terrible problems with low fluid levels and air in the system.
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Thanks to all who responded to my request for help. I tried tipping it, up and down, shaking it and turning it upside down (well I would if I could!) all to no avail. I couldn't drain it and I couldn't fill it. Whilst I readily accept that some of you have
successfully changed the liquid, in the end I had to call in the engineer, with his specialist Alde pump. Following this experience I will call him again in 5yrs to repeat the task. Expensive - yes, but effortless!!0
