Does your Alde heating work well on EHU? (1 Viewer)

[Southdowners]

We rarely stay on sites so have only used our heating with gas. We’ve decided to stay on a marina which has hook up but we’ve found that our heating doesn’t seem to work very well. We each had our usual shower this morning and the second shower wasn’t particularly hot, which isn’t the case when on gas. The heating also doesn’t seem to be working very efficiently. We were told to set the kw setting to 1 - we had it on 3kw.

Has anyone else found the same problem or can anyone offer advice as to what the problem could be?

 

[CazPaul]

It works much quicker on Gas than electric, you need to have it on much longer on EHU before it heats up
Why don't you start it on gas and after its warmed maintain it on EHU
There's probably nothing wrong with it, it's just normal.

 

[Steve and Denise]

Ours works well on either 9mtr van have you got a 3kw element fitted some vans only have a 2kw but even then you should have plenty of hot water.

 

[Southdowners]

We called to ask what input setting to use 1, 2 or 3kw and were told to use 1 kw. How would we find out whether we have a 3 kw element. We didn’t bring our user manuals with us unfortunately.

 

[tonyidle]

I leave mine on 2kW electric & gas. The gas only kicks in when needed - most of the time it only uses mains. If you are having a shower make sure you use the Boost facilty otherwise if heating is on the HW won't reach max. As well as inhibiting the pump Boost also increases max HW temperature. There are a couple of You Tube videos on settings.

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[Southdowners]

Thanks for your replies. I think we’re probably expecting too much from ehu.

Thanks again

 

[Steve and Denise]

Give Alde a ring at Wellingbough they are really helpful.

 

[BobtheBass]

Ours gets lots of hot water on 1kw and heats quicker on 2kw. We have never tried 3kw!

 

[PORKSTER]

I get mine going on Gas and then switch to electric 3 sometimes trips the electric as the sites arnt giving enuff amps.

 

[Theonlysue]

World class heating for motorhomes and caravans | Alde UK

Comfortable heating all year round in all weathers. We are a world leading company which developsand produces heating systems for motorhomes and caravans.

www.alde.co.uk

Worth keeping all manuals in van. Don't know when you'll need them
About 5.5kw on gas, and up to 3 kw on electric.
If you switch the hot water on boost, it's on for half an hour. Also, the heating stops on boost so all the power goes to heat up the water. I trust you dont leave shower running all the time when in it?

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[Vipar]

If you don’t want to keep the manuals in the van take a picture with your iPad or phone less weight to carry around

 

[Littlewheels]

If you want a serious supply of hot water from your Alde system I recommend the “ Alde flow system “

The Alde Flow is our latest ingenious invention, expanding the heat exchange surface to pre-heat the water entering the Alde 3020 Compact HE boiler. This provides continuous hot water.

The Alde Flow is more compact and lighter weight than conventional marine calorifiers, and integrates seamlessly with the Alde 3020 Compact HE system, so no manual switches or valves are required. The Alde Flow has an integral pump, so when the boiler's circulation pump is inactive, continuous hot water is still available. Indeed once fitted, your hot water is limited only your fresh water and gas supply!

 

[DaveandJen]

Heating / water using gas will probably produce at least double the kW's available from most site supplies. We normally run our Alde heating and water between 1 and 2 kW when hocked up to the site supply (depending on the supply available) and top up with gas when required.

 

[jongood]

We rarely stay on sites so have only used our heating with gas. We’ve decided to stay on a marina which has hook up but we’ve found that our heating doesn’t seem to work very well. We each had our usual shower this morning and the second shower wasn’t particularly hot, which isn’t the case when on gas. The heating also doesn’t seem to be working very efficiently. We were told to set the kw setting to 1 - we had it on 3kw.

Has anyone else found the same problem or can anyone offer advice as to what the problem could be?

Have you tried the boost setting?

 

[DuxDeluxe]

It works much quicker on Gas than electric, you need to have it on much longer on EHU before it heats up
Why don't you start it on gas and after its warmed maintain it on EHU
There's probably nothing wrong with it, it's just normal.

That is exactly what I do

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[TheBig1]

the 1kw setting is little more power than a cheap travel kettle

 

[Abacist]

Alde work in kW but sites work in Amps so you need to know and use the formula so as not to select too many kW on your Alde or you'll trip the electric supply! You also need to ask the site what the maximum Amps supplied is available.

First start by converting kilowatts to watts, which can be done by multiplying the power in kW by 1,000 to get the number of watts. Finally, apply the Watt's Law formula and divide the number of watts by the voltage (240) to find the Amps.

So 1 kW = 4 Amps
2 kW = 8 Amps
3 kW = 12.5 Amps

As has been said gas works best and fastest but why not use what you have paid for?

 

[Southdowners]

If you want a serious supply of hot water from your Alde system I recommend the “ Alde flow system “

The Alde Flow is our latest ingenious invention, expanding the heat exchange surface to pre-heat the water entering the Alde 3020 Compact HE boiler. This provides continuous hot water.

The Alde Flow is more compact and lighter weight than conventional marine calorifiers, and integrates seamlessly with the Alde 3020 Compact HE system, so no manual switches or valves are required. The Alde Flow has an integral pump, so when the boiler's circulation pump is inactive, continuous hot water is still available. Indeed once fitted, your hot water is limited only your fresh water and gas supply!

We have the Alde 3020 with flow with an additional 6 litre boiler.

On gas it’s great - not so good on EHU

 

[Southdowners]

World class heating for motorhomes and caravans | Alde UK

Comfortable heating all year round in all weathers. We are a world leading company which developsand produces heating systems for motorhomes and caravans.

www.alde.co.uk

Worth keeping all manuals in van. Don't know when you'll need them
About 5.5kw on gas, and up to 3 kw on electric.
If you switch the hot water on boost, it's on for half an hour. Also, the heating stops on boost so all the power goes to heat up the water. I trust you dont leave shower running all the time when in it?

Yes, we would normally keep all the manuals in the vehicle but they weigh a considerable amount. I did look at the Alde manual download at the time but didn’t find it gave any clue as to why our system didn’t appear to be working very well.

No, we don’t leave the shower running - more to do with conserving water supplies though.

 

[jongood]

the 1kw setting is little more power than a cheap travel kettle

I agree but it will maintain the temperature so if you re on a low power ehu and you want a shower you will need to turn on the gas to maintain it but better than starting from ambient.

While we're on subject some Alde systems also have the heat exchanger which allows you to run everything while your travelling.

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[Southdowners]

the 1kw setting is little more power than a cheap travel kettle

That’s interesting...

Initially we had the Alde control set to 3 kw. When we couldn’t work out what might be wrong we called the dealership and were advised to only draw 1 kw and so set it to that.

I’m now wondering if by setting the control at 1 kw we aren’t getting enough power to run it.

Our understanding is that you set the control to draw what the EHU supply is capable of. If you set it too high it will trip the EHU. We were surprised to be told to set it lower as we thought that an appliance will only draw what is necessary so it won’t damage anything by being too high. Is that correct?

 

[rb62]

There are usually two elements in the boiler a 1Kw and a 2Kw so both are on for 3Kw

 

[Southdowners]

I agree but it will maintain the temperature so if you re on a low power ehu and you want a shower you will need to turn on the gas to maintain it but better than starting from ambient.

While we're on subject some Alde systems also have the heat exchanger which allows you to run everything while your travelling.

The EHU here looks very new and hasn’t tripped out so I assume it’s capable of running 3 kw draw.

Yes we have the heat exchanger system - it works brilliantly.

 

[Abacist]

I pretty much keep all the paperwork and manuals in the van but its becoming a challenge as they now fill to bursting the N + B case supplied. I must thin it out when I get home! First to go will be the Zenec manuals in German! The Navigation system is a nightmare. You cannot save your route defaults like No toll roads, no ferries etc. so every time you turn it off the thing reverts to everything you don't want!

 

[jongood]

I pretty much keep all the paperwork and manuals in the van but its becoming a challenge as they now fill to bursting the N + B case supplied. I must thin it out when I get home! First to go will be the Zenec manuals in German! The Navigation system is a nightmare. You cannot save your route defaults like No toll roads, no ferries etc. so every time you turn it off the thing reverts to everything you don't want!

I'm starting to lean more towards google maps on the phone these days, it doesn't have the camper settings but I prefer to rely on eyes and common sense for that but it is always up to date and has better traffic info.

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[Southdowners]

We have a Blaupunkt sat nav. It work pretty well but for some unknown reason the display colours can’t be changed. That’s fine except that when inputting the co-ordinates the colour is light turquoise against a pale grey background. It’s impossible to read it. We have to crouch down on the floor holding a hand above the screen to try and get some definition to make the text visible.

I’ve emailed them a few times... the last time they said that they don’t market the product in Europe and gave me another contact address and I’ve heard nothing back from them.

I don’t get it... they’re a German company and it’s fitted into a German vehicle yet they don’t supply to Europe!

 

[Simon Select]

If you PM me I will send a link to the Alde Control panel instructions. It may be of some use.

 

[Southdowners]

I pretty much keep all the paperwork and manuals in the van but its becoming a challenge as they now fill to bursting the N + B case supplied. I must thin it out when I get home! First to go will be the Zenec manuals in German! The Navigation system is a nightmare. You cannot save your route defaults like No toll roads, no ferries etc. so every time you turn it off the thing reverts to everything you don't want!

I think we’ll do the same. Our manuals are in a briefcase the size of an overnight suitcase and it weighs a lot. I’ll just put the most important ones in another bag and take that next time.

 

[Southdowners]

If you PM me I will send a link to the Alde Control panel instructions. It may be of some use.

Hi, thanks for the offer. I think we’ve seen all the instructions. We downloaded the manual... is that the same as the instructions you have?

I think we understand the panel it’s the settings for the EHU input that we couldn’t work out. I didn’t find the manual too helpful in that area... I guess it’s because their heating system must be put into so many vehicles with differing onboard systems.

If your instructions are more detailed than those i’ve mentioned it would be great to have them.

 

[M-J]

Ours works fine, normally run it on 2 or 3, only been to one place where anything over 1 tripped the EHU when we boiled the kettle.

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