lol i was just going to post some thing about the same thing we just ordered a new elddis which has alde heating and was wanting to know if it is all gas or can the water be in electricity as the carver ones my friend has the older type in his van and it is much better than the blown air system more like home central heating he says he will nnot buy another van with out it now.
The alde system works on both gas and electric, it is athe best system by far, all the van will be warm not just part, easy to programe with the 7 day control, the anti freeze is put in from new. It has been around for many years and is also used in boats.
I want to know where the heat emerges from. If the radiators are concealed behind furniture, doesn't it leave a cold spot at ankle level?
Can't say that a lack of heat in the caravan has ever been a problem - in fact blown air can quickly be too warm. But I like the sound of the programmability of the wet system.
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We have the Alde heating in our Sterling Searcher. Since 2008 Swift Group have fitted it in their top range twin axles and are now using it in all top range vans.
Buccaneer and Elddis have also used it. It is fitted to many Continental vans too.
We find it excellent, virtually silent in operation on electricity, on gas you can hear when the gas ignites.
We will have the Alde heating in our Lunar Delta TI (not got it yet so can't comment on it's use). The dealer explained that they fill up the system with water/anti-freeze and it gets drained down and re-filled each year at the annual service. Each trip you have to 'bleed' the little valve on the heated towel rail before you use the heating to prevent air-locks.
Quote: Originally posted by Viggo on 13/9/2010
I want to know where the heat emerges from. If the radiators are concealed behind furniture, doesn't it leave a cold spot at ankle level?
Can't say that a lack of heat in the caravan has ever been a problem - in fact blown air can quickly be too warm. But I like the sound of the programmability of the wet system.
The heat comes up behind the seat backs as there are vent boards, and in some places the rads are concealed and have mesh above to let the heat out. We don't find we get cold feet.
It is very easy to control via temperature settings, with a night-time set-back temp too, and there is a HW boost system if needed. Electricity is 1kw, 2 kw, some have 3 kw, on gas it gives 6 kw, so faster heat-up on gas. Both can be used together if needed.
Quote: Originally posted by feemcg on 13/9/2010
We will have the Alde heating in our Lunar Delta TI (not got it yet so can't comment on it's use). The dealer explained that they fill up the system with water/anti-freeze and it gets drained down and re-filled each year at the annual service. Each trip you have to 'bleed' the little valve on the heated towel rail before you use the heating to prevent air-locks.
The system should not need drained and refilled every year, the Alde recommendation is every 2-3 years. The level of fluid should be checked regularly and topped up if required.
And once all the initial air is vented it should not need vented again unless you add more liquid.
we have just been away for 4 months and not had to vent, or add fluid.
Quote:
Originally posted by jennifernn on 13/9/2010The heat comes up behind the seat backs as there are vent boards, and in some places the rads are concealed and have mesh above to let the heat out. We don't find we get cold feet.
Does the furniture itself get warm, at all?
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Got the Alde heating in our Fleetwood van and to be honest very rarely use it, found it took too long to heat up so use a fan heater. In winter when we go out sometimes put the Alde heating on to warm the van up for when we get back then switch back to the fan heater
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Quote: Originally posted by jennifernn on 13/9/2010The heat comes up behind the seat backs as there are vent boards, and in some places the rads are concealed and have mesh above to let the heat out. We don't find we get cold feet.
Does the furniture itself get warm, at all?
Not really. The pipework runs right round the van so does emit a little heat in any area it runs through.
In our van, the boiler is under the fixed bed, when you lift the matress you can feel it is warm under the bad. There is a rad down the outside of the bed, the heat comes up the side between the vent board and the wall.
Next the pipe runs behind the cooker and through the cupboards under the sink, we are considering insulating the pipe here as the cupboards would be ideal for storing fruit/veg, but mainly we keep them in the fridge presently.
From there it goes to rads under the front seats and the front window. Again it comes up between the vent boards and the walls. Next it runs back to the bedroom area again, with a rad in the space under the window, boxed in with a mesh grille on top. And finally to the rear bathroom where there another 2 similar rads. And so back to the boiler.
It does take longer to warm the van initally than the warm air, but warm up on gas is faster as it is more powerful. What we do if it is really cold is put on the Alde on gas and our "back-up" little fan heater on 1 or 2 kw depending on the EHU, then after about 30 minutes we can turn off the fan heater and switch the Alde to electricity.
Once the van is warm you just leave the Alde running and use the temperature settings to control it, so the whole fabric of the van stays warm.
My previous van, a Fleetwood had the alde system. It worked very well but had 3 issues for me.
1, Due to the vent boards to allow the heat to come of the radiators the length of the bed was reduced by at least 4" (100mm) . Not good at 6'3"
2, The timer is quite complicated to set, so bad we woke up one night sweating at 32 degrees C. We stopped using the timer after this and just used it manually.
3, It is slow to warm up, needs at least 30 minutes to get going, although you can get it faster if you give it 3kw electric and enable the gas also for an additional 3kw.
We are big fans of Alde units and it is a must have in choice of our vans. Our present one is in a Hymer. Its under the wardrobe not under the bed so it does not cause the bed to be too warm when in hot water mode. It is also installed above the radiators so it does not suffer from thermosyphoning. Both these issues that can happen with poorly executed installations.
The controller certainly warrants the investment of 20 minutes study to understand as knowledge of how to set it brings out some of its strengths. In this respect its just like home central heating, you can set it to come on in time to wake to a warm van and set it so the van never drops too cold in the night but have the van at sufficiently cooler temperature for a good nights sleep.
As there is not a single heat source as standing directly by a Truma heater there is a sense that the van takes longer to heat up. In reality the van as a whole can heat up more quickly that with Truma units as depending on specification the Alde can belt out a massive amount of heat. Up to 3 kW on electricity and 5.5 kW on propane [even more on butane], so you can be punching out up to 8.5 or on butane 9.4 kW.
Used intelligently you should not find the van is not warm enough, certainly if you initially use gas in support of electricity. We in really cold storage conditions leave it set on its minimum 5 degree setting to save off any risk of frost damage, and if going away index it up to 23 for an hour before leaving home.
We have one serious criticism, not directly addressed at the Alde but the application. It does supply very hot water, normally 70 but potentially up to 80 degrees. This is way too hot for humans and even the pipework of the installation can suffer. Where they are used the hot water system really ought to be fitted with an inline thermostatic blending valve set to the industry standard of 43 degrees. Then there is no risk of scalding and advantage can still be taken of that large amount of stored energy for long showers etc.
Quote: Originally posted by JTQU on 14/9/2010
We have one serious criticism, not directly addressed at the Alde but the application. It does supply very hot water, normally 70 but potentially up to 80 degrees. This is way too hot for humans and even the pipework of the installation can suffer. Where they are used the hot water system really ought to be fitted with an inline thermostatic blending valve set to the industry standard of 43 degrees. Then there is no risk of scalding and advantage can still be taken of that large amount of stored energy for long showers etc.
Good point - and one that doesn't just apply to the Alde system. My Truma on mains electric delivers hot water at an unadjustable 70C.
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Topic: Heating systems in new caravans
