Alde Repairs
I have a twelve month old caravan with alde heating. The system is filled with five year fluid.
My problem is that one of the rubber Horiz Elbow Connectors with Bleed Screw has developed a small slow leak and needs replacing. Obviously the dealer will do the work under warranty if I take the van to him or he will free issue the parts and 1l of mixed fluid if I wish to try and do the job myself. Another option is a mobile approved engineer to come and complete the replacement under warranty but with me paying his call out charge.
Taking the caravan to the dealer or using a mobile engineer are broadly the same cost to me at £100 so I'm thinking can I do the replacement without the need for a complete drain down? has anyone needed to change a rubber hose and what was their experience?? did you drain down etc.
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Hello, I had to do repair to Alde system while on tour in Germany. The aluminium pipes near the boiler had been touching and rubbed holes in both the flow and return pipes. The repair was carried out by getting rubber hoses from Alde Germany to replace the damaged sections of the aluminium pipes. The system was drained and the liquid saved, the drain is a rubber hose going through the caravan floor with a red plug in it, secured with a the usual spring clip. The repair took about 1 hr to carry out, then the system was refilled and bled. You will need to drain the system so the liquid at the repair is below the repair area. Concentrated or ready mixed coolant with the correct specification can be purchased at reasonable cost on line.
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Many thanks for that information.
Did you bleed the system after filling as you would a domestic central heating system using the bleed points or use an Alde pump? My concern having watched the Youtube videos is I don't have a pump and am not sure if you can successfully bleed the system without one?
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I have changed my fluid two times, bleeding by gravity on each occasion, so with my van it was doable.
However, key was finding "all" the bleeders, if I recall 5 of them. [ I have them documented now! ]
These were not readily accessible, requiring some undoing of the furniture. Finding all was a real challenge, I missed one and failing to establish circulation had to really hunt for it.
Given knowledge of both where these bleeders are and how the furniture best comes apart beforehand, nothing would have been, or second time round, was difficult, just being systematic.
The "right" G13 fluid is readily obtainable through autofactors as Comma GG40. An acceptable G12++ alternative even more readily available from Halfords as Comma G40 [note confusing single and double "G" in brand names]
Without access to all bleeders, I suspect you will also fail if relying on the use of gravity alone, but could probably win with the filling pump kit.
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As it has a bleed screw, would I be correct in thinking that it is a high point in the system? If this is the case then as long as you have good access around this joint, you may well be able to replace the joint without draining the full system and with little or no mess.
The key points are to have this joint as high as possible. The joint is damaged, so You can make a hole in the bottom on the joint, to just drain the joint and localised pipework of fluid- but this is only possible if you can get a container under it to catch the fluid.
Once the fluid stops, change the fitting and refill / top up and vent. As the rest of the system should be full, you will only need to replace the same amount as you’ve removed and the vented fitting that you’ve replaced should be all you need to vent.
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The system needs to be bled as you refill. I have changed the fluid twice without using a pump. It is not possible to drain the system completely using gravity so mu method was to add clean water and drain until only clean water came out. Using concentrated fluid to refill I used a hydrometer to monitor the concentration, and also the amount of cooling liquid used. When the hydrometer showed a protection temperature of -25 deg C I stopped adding cooling fluid. It is important to bleed, otherwise circulation is not guaranteed.
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Thanks guys.
I don't need to drain down completely and will reuse what fluid is drained just topping up as needed with ready mixed Adle solution.
You've convinced me to do this job myself and will cancel the mobile engineer booking on Monday.
I have only seen two bleed points on my system so will check to see if there are any more before I start.
Taking FaWC point yes the drain point is at a high point in the system and if I tip the van low at the back it will be even higher and I can drain from there - Thanks for that suggestion. I might also screw a piece of plastic under the reservoir cap which might create a vacuum.
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Sealing the cap will help but you will have to also seal the overflow pipe and the small air tube that are on the reservoir bottle
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I've done a fair bit of work on my ALDE system, the DRAIN bung probably wont drain the system at the point you want, unless the DRAIN bung is near the leaking pipe.
My advice draw a plan of how your pipework goes around your caravan, it only takes a few minutes, I didn't do an oblong to represent the caravan just drew along the page going up and down as appropriate.
On my Coachman Pastiche 575 2016 the drain bung would only drain the rear bathroom from the towel radiator to the other side of the transverse bed, about a 1/6 of the caravan. Towel radiator being the high point on one side of the bung, the expansion bottle the other.
It may then become apparent that the DRAIN bung wont actually drain the system at your repair location.
You could purchase pipe clamps to isolate a section or use them to help drain that section down, I have wrapped tape around a hose pipe to match the internal diameter of the Alde pipe, so I can then drain the fluid away into a bucket.
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Autobleed at Alde boiler too.
Also at that location there is a one way valve
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The key points are to have this joint as high as possible. The joint is damaged, so You can make a hole in the bottom on the joint, to just drain the joint and localised pipework of fluid- but this is only possible if you can get a container under it to catch the fluid.
The theory is that you only need to drain the local section of the joint but at worse it drains everything above the joint.
The reason that there is a bleed screw on the joint, is because it is a high point where air will collect.
From my experience, I would expect it to be a straight forward job, only factor that would change that would be the access to do the work - if the access is poor then I would expect to drain the system properly as I may need to remove a larger section just you replace the joint.
Look for the simplest route!
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the radiator across the front of the van is held in place by two brackets attached to the front seat. These brackets allow the radiator to move laterally and I think the radiator should have also been secured to the caravan as per all the other radiators. Once the radiator is free access to the leaking joint will be adequate. (see photo)
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Looking at the picture it does look a little tight, but the angle could be deceiving.
The joint between the air vent and the fitting appears to be leaking.
Is that a crimped joint or is the air vent screwed in? Looking at the replacement might answer that. If it’s screwed in the maybe it’s a simpler job of unscrewing it and reselling with PTFE (plumbers white tape)
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from scratch marks on the bulkhead I'd say the top of the valve has been rubbing against it due to free lateral movement and the valve being slightly angled towards it hence the leak.
I've a feeling that if I free the radiator in the photo I will be able to possibly raise the joint to gain access and aid reduce fluid loss while changing the union..
In answer to yr question it would seem to be screwed into the rubber and without access to the underneath can't be unscrewed.
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for completeness.
I received the new elbow last week and with some trepidation fitted it the next day.
I lowered the back end of the van as much as possible and drained the system from the old joint I was replacing by simply making a hole in it. I'd say less than 1/2 a pint of fluid drained out before it stopped and I was able to remove the old elbow and fit the new one. I put the drained fluid back into the system expansion tank and fired up the heating. Everything worked fine with no leaks. May need to bleed the system while away next.
Saved £100 very happy. Many thanks for all your advice.
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