We are in process of changing our 'van and am looking for experiences of the different current heating systems.
My initial impressions are:
Whale blown air: Suffers from noisy fan. Fan means EHU essential.
Truma Combi blown air: Very slow to heat water when space heating is on. Fan means EHU essential.
Alde wet system: Good but convected heat means 'van is slow to heat from cold.
Advice/experiences of UKCS members would be appreciated.
Alde all the way. OK, there may be a heat-up time but by the time we arrive on site, get power, water and TV set up and OH has got the coffee on the go, the van is starting to warm up. In the case of our new caravan arriving in Feb we can use a smartphone to turn on the heating so it is nice and toasty when we arrive (seasonally sited). Together with the Alde underfloor heating, we don't ever expect to be cold.
Our last caravan had Truma blown air and I was never warm. The air coming out of the vents was always bordering on cold. Saying that, my father in law had a 1996 caravan with Truma blown air heating and it was that effective it dried your eyeballs out.
The "quality" of the installation makes a lot of difference with all these systems. If there is inadequately sized, located and amount of ductwork then blown air can't perform efficiently; and if the van maker penny pinches and does not put in enough radiators and design for adequate air flow over them Alde can't output is rated kWs.
Done properly we think Alde is streets ahead in the comfort it offers.
If you are going to winter camp off EHU then only the now rarer "S" series Truma convector heaters can give some heat without consuming battery power. Finding new vans with this system is difficult these days as it so inhibits the van's layout.
The speed to have a warm spot can be helped when on EHU with Alde and others, by running the system on gas and using the available electricity to power a fan heater aimed at where you are. Once warm it is not in our experience needed and in most cases the system can be switched from gas to electrical heating.
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Topic: Whale, Alde or Truma Heating?
