1st trip done
Hi All,
You may have read my previous posts regarding the arrival of our Bailey Motor Home and the problems we had upon hand over.
Well! this weekend was our 1st ever trip in our MH............... and we had a great time. We went to Anglesey, the weather was atrocious but it didn't stop us having a great weekend. Last night we were sat in our Van with the wind and rain howling outside, but we were snug with the Central heating and a few Gin & Tonics watching the T/V with crystal clear reception. We do now have a snagging list for the dealer to sort out but no real problems.
A few questions, the Alde wet central heating was great & our Van was really warm, but it somehow switched itself off in the night and we woke to a cold Van. We were on EHU & we'd set the CH to 18c but it was off in the morning. When we woke the panel said it was in day or night mode (can't remember which it was) & the temp gauge was greyed out. I fiddled with it and got it working fine again. The handbook is pretty basic and it says we should go online for more info which I will do but was hoping you Guys could help out.
We have just got back home now and realised that we've left the Gas bottle switched to open. Does this matter greatly? We are going away in the Van again on Wednesday so will it be okay until then? Or should I go back to the storage yard. (I'd rather not unless it was needed)
Our handbook says the most efficient method of heating is to have the boiler on both Gas & EHU, which contrasts to what the dealer said. The dealer said that we should always use EHU for the heating unless we're wild camping???
Another thing, what a joy it is to empty the toilet cassette 
, I forgot to add the blue liquid which didn't help. What does the blue liquid do? And can you recommend a particular brand and place to buy it.
A lot of questions I know, but the main thing is we had a great time 
Comments
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So glad you had a good time and that your snagging list is small.
With the toilet check out the thread bio pods Spain, much shorter than the original 😆. We use Lidl biological pods, sachets not tablets, drop one in cassette and use. We don't like the smell of the 'blue' pricey and messy too, but will use Elsan organic fluid.
Can't help with the Alde heating, I'm sure someone will be along to help very soon.
Gas should be turned off whilst travelling whoops you won't be alone! I feel you're off again on Wednesday I'd leave it and turn off as soon as you arrive.
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I think we all experience a steep learning curve when we first get our motorhomes. Not familiar with the Alde system. As far as leaving the gas on at the cylinder whilst travelling, no problem with the Bailey has it has a special regulator which will switch off in the case of a shock. You can if you wish use the gas heating whilst on the move.
David
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Using Alde on gas plus electric will warm the van up much quicker than electric alone. Many people use both fuels to get the van up to temperature and then turn the gas off. Electric alone will then keep it at the set temp unless the weather is very cold.
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"You can if you wish use the gas heating whilst on the move."
Not with all vans. Refer to your handbook.
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It does say in the handbook that gas and EHU used jointly is the most efficient but it doesn't mention whilst on the move. But the dealer said it was fine to do so. But he did say we shouldn't run the fridge on Gas whilst on the move!!! Any idea why this is? How do people keep the food in the fridge cool whilst travelling? Is battery power enough?
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The battery will keep the fridge cool on the move.
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FB , just switch to 12volt when traveling and it will keep your food cool , and if you have a freezer box in it it will keep things frozen , we keep ice-creams in the freezer and they stay frozen all the time ,even when we go off site for the day
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Two years ago in April we were on our first site of the season. Heating fine and then realised ha tit had shut off. I new that the dealership had faffed a little, read something about 'boat mode' that I did not understand and after reading the blurb did a factory reset. Problem solved except set to run on gas. Just amended that to Electric and all was fine
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"read something about 'boat mode' that I did not understand "
I would really like to know what is different between Boat Mode and Caravan Mode? Anyone got any clues.
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As mentioned above, gas can be used to speed up that initial warm up. Some Alde systems on motorhomes will also use engine heat whilst you drive along so you arrive at site toasty warm. Where fitted, there is usually a knob on the left of the drivers side of the dash board to control this.
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Gas bottle will be OK 'on' providing all the gas using appliances are switched off and your storage yard doesn't have a policy that all gas bottles have to be turned off. It would be worth seeing whether your gas regulator a crash cut sensor. If it does [look in te manuals you have], then you can drive with the gas on - useful for heating the van on the move - although some places will forbid such practice eg petrol stations, tunnels, ferries. Opinions vary whether you should leave on the gas when travelling!
The blue liquid is supposed to break down the toilet waste and make the tank smell better. Some CLs which have a septic tank do not like you using 'blue' - green is more environmentally friendly. Alternatives to liquid are the gel sachets whether from Aldi/Lidl or from firms like Thetford. To avoid using any chemicals, get a SOG system fitted; it might not make you popular with those on the adjacent pitch, nor will it save you money, but it is the best for a non chemical solution to breaking down waste.
Carry on enjoying!
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Thanks all for the replies, you've been most helpful. This morning I rang Alde Customer Service who gave me more advice on the heating & it would seem the problems I had were user error
. Basically I'd set the timer to run night mode and day mode at the same time without realising so it didn't work at all. But its all a learning curve. When I rang Alde they said system on my Van has a crash sensor which shuts off the Gas in the event of an accident. He said the gas was fine to run whilst travelling but it want something he do out of personal preference.We're going away again this weekend & I feel a lot more confident. When we ordered the MH I had a lot of concerns because of the cost etc but even though we've had problems with delivery and snags, I can see were going to love touring.
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Re the Alde heating. You had best download the instructions as they are much more detailed and explain the difference between day and night mode and how to set the system so that it goes off at night, and comes on in the morning, unless the temperature drops below a level that you have set yourself.
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Something I've just found out about Alde heating system. We noticed that there was a significant and noticeable discrepancy between the displayed inside temperature on the panel and the actual temp in the van (we have a thermometer which we moved around the van and used this to check)
So, to rectify this go into service mode on panel and select thermometer mode then the temperature 'off set mode' should appear. You can now 'calibrate' the temp up or down by several degrees on the panel to match that in the van. The temps should now read pretty much the same. Apologies to all who already know this.
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Thanks Deleted User User and also to EasyT, I think rather than mess about I'll do as you suggest set it to the temp we want and then drop it down when we go to bed. We're going away to Oxon Hall in Shrewsbury this weekend so I'll give it a go.
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No messing about....just follow the instructions. Once set up it will remember your settings, so it is not something you have to do that often.
The Alde has many useful features, why not make good use of them? Would you not take time to learn how to work your home CH?
The night set back (as I call it) allows you to set a lower overnight temperature, but have a warm van in the morning. Once set up, it can be turned off and on if you wish, but we just leave ours on to do its own thing.
On ours, we set it to drop to 13 degrees at 11.30pm as we prefer a cool bedroom, then in the morning we have it start to warm up to 18 or 20 degrees from 7am.
The times are set, and the overnight temperature, but the morning one will be whatever you leave the thermostat set to.
During the day, we adjust the temperature manually according to what we are doing.......18 degrees if we are out, 20-22 degrees if sitting watching TV in the evening.
Other useful features in the extended menu are the offset, as described by micky, the power monitor (may be an optional extra), the turning on/off of the beep, and the Legionella setting.
The water boost function is great when showering in the van.
For faster warm up use both fuels, once hot you can turn off the gas, but the boiler will sort of do this itself.
The way it is set up is that it will use electricity by preference, and only use gas (assuming you have allowed it to have gas) when necessary.
So to start it will run flat out on both fuels, then gradually use less gas, then go to max electric only, then cut down the kilowatts.
For things to work correctly, you need to have the time and day set. If you do not have a battery back up fitted, it may lose the time/day setting each time you move on. This happens with caravans, but no idea what happens in MHs.
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If like me, once the basics are mastered, you will go on to enjoy most of the bells and whistles this system holds.
One small feature I found is that although the brightness of the screen can be adjusted it was still too bright on the dimmest setting at night, I like a dark bedroom. To eliminate this you can invert the running display on the panel. If you touch the menu button the following screens return to the original display mode whilst you need this.
It really is a wonderful system and one worth utilising to the full. Enjoy it FB🤗.
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I have this on my iPad, most useful!
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Once again thanks to all for the replies.
We've just got back from our 2nd trip which was to Shrewsbury. Once again we had a great time and we got used to the Van and its features far more. Our snag list is growing, today the interior passenger door panel just fell off onto Mrs FB. Its under warranty so when it goes back to the dealers they'll have another job to do. We're being philosophical about the snags and just enjoying ourselves. Life's too short to worry.
Its back to work for us both tomorrow to earn the pennies for our next trip which will be on Thursday.
Oh by the way, I'm still not liking this emptying of the toilet canister business!!!
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Not sure what make of cassette you have but on the thetford there is an orange button on top at the opposite end to the spout. When you start to tip the cassette to empty pressing the button stops a vacuum forming inside resulting in lots of splashing ad glooping. If you do not do this there is a danger of getting splashed.
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FB, there's an orange button on the top close to the tank opening, which you should be pressing so as to allow air into the tank so making pouring easier. You then add water to the tank, swill around and do the emptying process again. This should ensure that the tank is cleaned out, if not repeat process. When satisfied that the tank is empty and clean add a litre of water and whatever "elsan" fluid or pod you use and then it's ready for use again. Hope this helps.
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Yep and its a good idea not to shake it too hard - can do some damage so I was told! You might be interested in using laundry pods when you have used up your blue bottle - they make emptying easier still! Whole thread on it in Tips for ......
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