Alde heating
we have just ordered another xaravan with Alde heating which is new to us. We hope this will be more effective than our present Truma system and hoped some of you can confirm this pleae?
Also wondered is it a faff to set up and does it maintain settings after being in storage etc?
Steve
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We have found it very good. But that must some extent depend on the quality of the installation. If it is skimped with less convectors then obviously you may not get it as warm as you want. Regarding remembering the settings in storage Alde sell a battery
back up system its not much arround £20 iirc but it saves settings on the controller so I think money well spent.0 -
We have it and think it's great. However we don't bother using the settings, just switch it on when we want hot water or heating. Simple that way.
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We find Alde is brilliant compared to the blown air systems of previous vans. It takes a little longer to warm-up but the heat is far more even.
The panel does not remember the time once turned off. This need resetting each time. It does remember the daytime and nighttime temperatures BUT turns them off each time its turned off, so you need to turn them both on after setting the time.
Just have a good read of the manual and you will soon get used to it.
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I find the system very good, no cold spots to talk of and an ability to zone the heating in bathroom, bedroom and living areas according to our comfort. Furthermore, we can use the excess engine heat to warm the alde system and thus the whole habitation area whilst driving.
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Thanks to you both for the reassurance. I may get the battery back up if I decide to programme some settings but suspect I will just turn on and off as info with the truma. Might try the remote app option and turn it on whilst out with the dogs.(boys and
toys etc...)0 -
Up to the blown air system in our first van it is brilliant. As others have said it will loose some of the settings without the battery back up, however it takes only a few minutes to set up again, once you are used to it. It is certainly a deal breaker in any new van or MH we may purchase. If it does not have the Alde heating, we will not consider it.
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Well we have booked Sandringham for the new year subject to the van arriving so it should be a reasonable test of the Alde and my ability to master it
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Up to the blown air system in our first van it is brilliant. As others have said it will loose some of the settings without the battery back up, however it takes only a few minutes to set up again, once you are used to it. It is certainly a deal breaker
in any new van or MH we may purchase. If it does not have the Alde heating we will not consider it.it was the deal winner for Penny too...
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Our pump is next to silent and it's 12v. If it is noisy something is wrong We have the pump mounted on the boiler not in the expansion tank
The battery back up means the settings are remembered and makes the operation automatic so I don't have to get out of bed to switch on the heating Or reprograme it everytime it is switched off simple really.
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The pump should not be noisy. How you got the correct amout of fluid in the system?
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Also wondered if bleeding the system is often required given how caravans bounce about on the road?
Steve
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Never bleed my system once in four years and I think mine is backed up from the 12v leisure battery. The settings remain constant. The only thing I alter now and again is the temperature and the boost to the hot water heating for 30 minutes.
peedee
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Thanks for all this positive advice.
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Only had a van with Alde heating 9months bled the system once, not because it needed it but because I thought I should
I don't think bouncing up and down has got much to do with it, more a case of cold fluid will contain more dissolved air than hot so when it heats up some of the comes out of the liquid and this collects at the high points and needs bleeding off. Ps remember the fluid will need to be changed after 2 years so an extra expense.
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Been reading this thread with interest as I am considering a Unicorn 3 next. I like the idea of operating the system with a smartphone. (I am a tech head)
My only real critisism of the Pegasus GT65 is the heating system. It really is very noisy. Effective but blooming heck!
Next door has the same caravan and despite a baflle being fitted I don't think its made much difference.
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Been reading this thread with interest as I am considering a Unicorn 3 next. I like the idea of operating the system with a smartphone. (I am a tech head)
My only real critisism of the Pegasus GT65 is the heating system. It really is very noisy. Effective but blooming heck!
Next door has the same caravan and despite a baflle being fitted I don't think its made much difference.
..We have a series iv pegasus and they no longer have the Whale system and ours is very quiet,
Just to put in my thought on the Aldi noisy pumps ,our friend had that problem but it turned out to be that it was set on a to high speed, evidently they are adjustable
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We have Alde heating brilliant bit of kit we normally run ours on 1KW setting, if you want to warm the van up quicker turn it onto 3KW takes between 30 and 60 minutes. Remember not to use high energy appliances with it on at 3KW once warm turn it down to
1KW.The hot water we leave on 1KW all the time and it gives you constant very hot water all the time. Would never go back to blownair again. As for the service every 2 years it's a small price to pay for something that is great.
Good luck with your purchase.
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Thank you Briang. We can't wait...
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How would you rate it running on gas?
I expect it's quite heavy on gas?
Lifted directly from the Alde faq section
Generally, when running on gas in the British climate, a 6 kg bottle of propane should last all weekend.
Does that answer your question?
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Only had a van with Alde heating 9months bled the system once, not because it needed it but because I thought I should
I don't think bouncing
up and down has got much to do with it, more a case of cold fluid will contain more dissolved air than hot so when it heats up some of the comes out of the liquid and this collects at the high points and needs bleeding off.Ps remember the fluid will need to be changed after 2 years so an extra expense.
The changing of the fluid has been discussed on here many times, there 2 types one supposedly with 2y life and one with a 5y life, I have a inibitor and anti frees testing kit, after 4y our van aldi fluid is still at 90% efficent.
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When the van is new you may need to bleed the system, depends on how good the manufacturer has been at filling it without getting too much air in. Ours (Swift) had a lot of air which did work its way out every time we towed for a few months, so we had
to keep topping it up.The controller is not exactly like your home CH one, there are no settable on/off times as such, but you can set it to reduce the temperature at a certain time at night, then step it up again at a certain time in the morning. More like a programmable thermostat
than a timer.We have the 12v pump in the header tank, it's never noisy unless the fluid is too low. When cold it should be about 1cm above the minimum level.
As well as battery back up, an accessory worth having, if it is not already fitted, is the load monitor. You set it to the amps available on the EHU and it will automatically cut off/cut down the heating kilowatts when you turn on other appliances.
NB, even if the "amp" setting shows up on the controller, this does not necessarily mean the load monitor is fitted.
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How would you rate it running on gas?
I expect it's quite heavy on gas?
With an ability if needed to pushout 5.5 kw of heat then yes, just as any other system pushing out that level of heat it will use a lot of gas.
The difference in efficiency between either of the heating systems is unlikely to be significantly different, so like for like the gas usage will be about the same. You might find with an Alde you use more gas than a blown air heated system. This is because it has to lift the whole van's temperature before it backs off whereas enough local heat could well ease down a blown air system; over a long time things would be balanced if the heating achieved throughout was balanced.
In winter with a cold bitter wind blowing outside I can empty a 10 kg bottle over a long [4 day] week end.
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We love our Aldi heating, never had any problems setting it up. The only criticism is that the pump, in the wardrobe in our Swift is noisy, I have considered upgrading to a mains powered pump which I think would be quieter.
Write your comments here...I have posted this before, but the noisy pump is easy to sort. I beleive by design the pump unit does not go deep enough into the header tank and as such the fluid swirls around, bit like your food mixture if it is not immersed
in the contents ( eggs and flour up the walll). So , just top up the fluid in the header tank to bang on max or slightly above and the noise will go. Note a small funnel is very useful for this.0 -
Lifted directly from the Alde faq section
Generally, when running on gas in the British climate, a 6 kg bottle of propane should last all weekend.
Does that answer your question?
Yes thanks, thats a serious amount of gas. Might have a re-think as we are off grid a lot.0
