Alde Heat Exchanger (1 Viewer)

[Chipster]

With the Alde heat exchanger, do you run the central heating pump for heat in the hab area on the move? And switch pump off during summer?

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Are you talking about the engine heat exchanger?

If so, no. It's separate from the central heating so running the pump has no affect on it at all. There will be a vent in front of the heat exchanger. The heat comes from that vent only, it doesn't go around the whole system.

You open the control on the dashboard and that's it, you don't need to do anything else.

 

[Chipster]

I've just found this.

http://www.alde.co.uk/itemdetails.php?itemId=58

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[Deleted member 29692]

I've just found this.

http://www.alde.co.uk/itemdetails.php?itemId=58

Fair enough I didn't think it worked like that. To be fair I've only ever switched ours on once to see if it worked. I didn't notice the heating pump running though.

I'm off in the van on Tuesday so I'll put it on then and see when happens.

 

[Chipster]

Thanks. Would be interested as it looks like we're heading down the Alde road I wondered if you can manually control the pump because you'd only want heat during winter. Or is it clever enough to warm water and heating independently?

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Thanks. Would be interested as it looks like we're heading down the Alde road I wondered if you can manually control the pump because you'd only want heat during winter. Or is it clever enough to warm water and heating independently?

The way I understood the system to work is that the pump only runs for central heating. If you only want hot water it doesn't run. It's a stored water boiler so it heats the water that is sat in it. The system is hot water priority so you won't get any heat until the hot water is up to temperature. This is when you are using the normal 3010 controller.

I'll dig out the paperwork for our system and see what it says about the heat exchanger. I have a couple of jobs to do in the van this afternoon so I'll also have a look at the exchanger and see if I can see where the pipes go.

I know it's a optional extra to the system, you don't get it as standard when you order Alde. It may be possible to spec it in different ways, I didn't spec our van so I don't know.

Personally if it's very much more money I probably wouldn't bother with it. I find the cab heating/aircon system perfectly adequate for travelling and the standard Alde system heats things up quickly enough when you stop. Would anyone really park up, switch the engine off and want to get straight into the shower?

The Alde system is brilliant. We wouldn't ever buy a van that doesn't have it now. It knocks spots off of all the other alternatives.

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[pappajohn]

Thanks. Would be interested as it looks like we're heading down the Alde road I wondered if you can manually control the pump because you'd only want heat during winter. Or is it clever enough to warm water and heating independently?

On mine, the 3030 compact, you can have heating without water in the boiler :ie drained down, but you must have water in the heating system.
There are two cylidrical water jackets and the one closest to the flame is the heating.
That is enclosed in the hot water jacket which relies on heat transfer from the heating jacket and if there is no water it simple heats the air inside the jacket.

You only control the heating pump not the boiler via the room thermostat, the boiler has its own internal temperature control thermostat.

Different models have different controls and functions.

 

[makems]

I've found with ours that you need to switch the central heating on to get the hot water circulating. Without the CH pump working, the hot water from the engine doesn't circulate to the heating system.
I usually forget to do this so regularly arrive at a site expecting to have hot water only to be disappointed

 

[mitzimad]

pump only come on when the heating demand is on

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[Chipster]

OK. So my understanding is you run the circulation pump to warm the convectors in the van? I assume the residual heat within the convector circuit warms the hot water but probably not to full temp?

 

[Steve and Denise]

On our system the circulation pump needs to be on constant when driving this is simple to do in the menu. The switch for the heat exchanger is only that,the circulation pump is to send the Alde fluid round the van in turn warming your van and hot water.

 

[pappajohn]

OK. So my understanding is you run the circulation pump to warm the convectors in the van? I assume the residual heat within the convector circuit warms the hot water but probably not to full temp?

Correct but it isnt residual heat, its full temp heat.
The aluminium convector pipes leaving the boiler are hot enough to cause skin burns and that heat is transfered to the hot water jacket.
The internal boiler thermostat on mine is factory set at 80°c but can be lowered to 70°c
The water leaving the tap WILL result in scalding if not mixed with cold.
Dangerous, yes, but thats how it is.

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[jongood]

Ours works as follows.

Turn the heating onto electricity and set the thermostat to the required level.

Turn on the separate circulation pump on the dash.

As long as the selected temperature is higher than the ambient it will then heat the whole vehicle and the HW, so when you arrive the whole MH is warm and there is hot water at the taps

To avoid heating the MH in summer weather there is a tap on the heat exchanger ( like a WM tap) that turns it off.

Some alde systems also allow you to preheat the engine.

Jon

 

[Chipster]

Ours works as follows.

Turn the heating onto electricity and set the thermostat to the required level.

Turn on the separate circulation pump on the dash.

As long as the selected temperature is higher than the ambient it will then heat the whole vehicle and the HW, so when you arrive the whole MH is warm and there is hot water at the taps

To avoid heating the MH in summer weather there is a tap on the heat exchanger ( like a WM tap) that turns it off.

Some alde systems also allow you to preheat the engine.

Jon

Thanks. That's cleared it up and makes perfect sense now!!

 

[Neilfg]

We have Alde 3020 with the Heat Exchanger, but I think works slightly differently to that described above, bear in mind we have 2 switches on the dashboard, one is marked up Alde has 3 positions (Off, little fan, big fan) the other switch is just on off and I think may have a small red light.

As I understand it works in 4 modes:
1. Off
2. To warm van and water whilst driving, just set the 3020 panel to on and set the temperature required, gas and electric off, circulation pump comes on and the water etc.. is heated.
3. Pre heat engine, if the heating has been on and the engine is cold and you want to preheat engine before starting then switch the Switch on the dash on this starts a Heat Exchanger Circulation pump (I think) in the engine area to circulate/transfer heat from Alde heating system to the engine. (this is an option to the HeateExchanger)
4. To heat the cab (provide extra heat for the cab), uses the 3 position Alde button just activates a fan to circulate air from the Heat Exchanger/Radiator into the cab floor supplements the cab heaters whilst driving.

To warm the van and water whilst driving does not require any switches in the cab to be on, just to set the temp on the 3020 panel so that the circulation pump comes on, this definitely works, I am not sure what other panel settings need to be but with Gas and Electric off it does work.

The manuals are really vague on this, all I have found are installation guides, had to speak to an Alde engineer to get this explained properly.

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[peterc10]

Can item 4 be used when parked up and using gas or electric to heat the water? In other words can it be used as fan heater on site?

 

[Neilfg]

Can item 4 be used when parked up and using gas or electric to heat the water? In other words can it be used as fan heater on site?

It cannot heat the water, it is just a fan 2 speed for the Right hand cab area, which helps distribute heat through the cab floor area.

There are lots of user, installation and service manuals for Alde, but could do with a sort of scenario manual, e.g when driving and it is cold you do this, when camped and cold you do this, when hot this etc... The van manual covers some of this but I need one for my specific setup, still not sure I have got to the bottom of all the various combinations.

Strangely, I find myself really wanting to use the van in sub zero temperatures to test out the engine preheat and the cab heating in anger now

 

[peterc10]

Did not explain myself well. I meant can it be used to boost the heating output when on site and using gas or electric heating. A sort of fan heater. The new van we are getting has Alde with this booster, but we are more used to Truma blown air. Wife likes to stand in front of a hot air stream to warm up sometimes.

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[Neilfg]

No, the fan is/are not that powerful, it is to encourage the heat distribution around the cab area, not sure if it warms when stationary (will try it when out next time). We also had Truma before and I would warm up feet by putting them in front of vents. Alde seems to be a much more gentle heating system unless you get near any of the Aluminium pipes (v.hot), the whole van is a much more even temp.

We have not had the system through a winter yet so still novices but so far, it has been really good, very pleasant. I wish I had asked more questions about how to use it during the hand over, they explained accurately what each button did, but I forgot some of it and did not fully connect the buttons/switches, the vents and the control panel settings together, after all I was not a novice I had a van before I know what Alde is I have read the brochure, doh!!

 

[Seine]

Are you talking about the engine heat exchanger?

If so, no. It's separate from the central heating so running the pump has no affect on it at all. There will be a vent in front of the heat exchanger. The heat comes from that vent only, it doesn't go around the whole system.

You open the control on the dashboard and that's it, you don't need to do anything else.

Hello Nicknik
I bought a A Class Rapido about six weeks ago ,and without turning on the system I find that the floor gets Warm, I've been told the it's the heat exchanger, How do I turn it of?.My van is a 992HP, mMercedes 3.1 .
Oh it's got ALDI Heating.

Seine.

 

[Seine]

Hello Nicknik
I bought a A Class Rapido about six weeks ago ,and without turning on the system I find that the floor gets Warm, I've been told the it's the heat exchanger, How do I turn it of?.My van is a 992HP, mMercedes 3.1 .
Oh it's got ALDI Heating.

Seine.

In France now.

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[Deleted member 29692]

Hello Nicknik
I bought a A Class Rapido about six weeks ago ,and without turning on the system I find that the floor gets Warm, I've been told the it's the heat exchanger, How do I turn it of?.My van is a 992HP, mMercedes 3.1 .
Oh it's got ALDI Heating.

Seine.

There will be a round control knob about 1.5-2 inch diameter on the dashboard. I can't find a picture of it.

On my van it's low down to the right of the steering wheel but that's a Fiat chassis.

It's like an old fashioned mechanical fan control. It will be fitted in a gap somewhere and not look like part of the standard Merc dashboard.

Make sure it's closed.

I'll be picking my van up from storage tomorrow so I'll take a picture then and post it.