ALDE Heating (2 Viewers)

Gordybe

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Apr 16, 2013
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Has anyone had experience of the ALDE heating for motorhomes. Is it any goood?
 

maz

Jan 26, 2011
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Has anyone had experience of the ALDE heating for motorhomes. Is it any goood?

Yes, I had it in my last van. Because it's a 'wet' heating system with radiators around the van it heats up the whole fabric of the van, rather than just blowing hot air from vents. I liked it if I'm on (unmetered) hook-up for a while because it keeps the van nice and cosy. But it does take a long time to heat the van from scratch on electric alone. You can always use the gas to give it a boost to start with tho'.

Off hook-up I found it heavy on gas to keep the van at the temperature I wanted. Whereas the Truma system I've got now uses much less gas and still keeps the van nice and warm. However, blown air heating can be heavy on the batteries if you use it a lot. Alde uses a pump to circulate water round the system with lower battery usage. The system can be very quiet in operation on electric - providing the in-tank pump isn't in the wardrobe next to your head when sleeping!

HTH :Smile:

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pablomc

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Apr 20, 2010
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Ours is great. Even works via a heat exchanger when travelling, so always toasty and as a bonus hot water available on arrival at our destination.
 

bluemog

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Feb 11, 2012
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Great system but.......!

I have Alde heating in my Elddis Aspire and it's a great improvement from my previous experience of blown air systems in caravans however........ It does take longer to heat up on arrival at site but does allow me to have it on whilst travelling, therefore alleviating the stress from HWMBO. It also doesn't creat the dry, dusty atmosphere in the van of blown air which is a must for asthma sufferers.

I find I'm forever fiddling with the controls trying to get the 'perfect' temperature and the bottom row of icons is impossible to understand. Who wants to set their heating for 3 months in advance and only when the moon is on the wane??? Far too complicated so I stick to the basics.

I'm also forever bleeding the towel rail in the bathroom which airlocks virtually every trip.

I'm becoming more competent in using the system but always forget to turn it down at night and invariably wake up lashed in sweat but HWMBO describes it as 'cosy!'

As stated, a vast improvement on past exeriences but can be overcomplicated.

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icantremember

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I find I'm forever fiddling with the controls trying to get the 'perfect' temperature and [HI]the bottom row of icons is impossible to understand[/HI]. Who wants to set their heating for 3 months in advance and only when the moon is on the wane??? Far too complicated so I stick to the basics.

I'm also forever bleeding the towel rail in the bathroom which airlocks virtually every trip.

I'm becoming more competent in using the system [HI]but always forget to turn it down at night[/HI] and invariably wake up lashed in sweat but HWMBO describes it as 'cosy!'

I agree that the control panel takes some sussing out and is unnecessarily complicated but is worth the effort.

You need to learn the bottom row 'cos then you set a lower temperature through the night but make sure the clock is set correctly.:Cool:
 

maz

Jan 26, 2011
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I find I'm forever fiddling with the controls trying to get the 'perfect' temperature and the bottom row of icons is impossible to understand. Who wants to set their heating for 3 months in advance and only when the moon is on the wane??? Far too complicated so I stick to the basics.

I'm becoming more competent in using the system but always forget to turn it down at night and invariably wake up lashed in sweat but HWMBO describes it as 'cosy!'

Mine was in an older van (a '55) and the controls were fairly straightforward. I had a normal domestic programmer fitted which over-rode the thermostat on the control panel and worked pretty well. Sounds as if they might have gone a bit OTT in the later versions.

Yes, the heat exchanger was good but not fitted to all Alde systems. Mine also had the 3kW of electric elements - most vans only have 2KW I think?

Talking about 'cosy': my van had a high fixed bed over a garage and there were Alde radiators running full length across the head and foot end of the bed. No way of switching them off so I had to stuff socks in the radiator vents to try and keep the temperature down. :Smile:
 

canopus

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Yes, as the lovely Val has stated, we have Alde (pronounced Alda by the way) in our Conc and its the dogs doodahs as far as we are concerned. We had Truma blown air in two previous vans and you definately get cool spots.

Re consumption we were out over Easter for 6 days with no hook up. The Alde was on 24/7 and the battery bank was trickel charged from one solar panel. We were snug as bugs in rugs in the Conc and we had copious hot water to boot. Used just over 1 x 11kg bottle (gas low) which included cooking as well. :thumb::thumb::thumb:

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Steve and Denise

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Hi Ken
As you may remember our Rapido has the same Alde heating system, we had four days at Newark and another two days in Melton total six days in the snow and wind etc we used almost two full 11kg of gas, as you say 24/7 we had it set at 22 ish can't fault the system but my wife said she would have liked more hot water in the shower. I think it produces around 8 litres on the high setting I have not checked this yet as men can shower very frugel we will know more after Peterborough:Smile:
 

Heyupluv

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Maz and Steve are correct...its slow heating up and uses a lot of gas.
If on 16amp hook up it's fine....(campsites) so in the uk you will be ok....now in France, Spain, Portugal, a lot of the sites are 6 amp or 10amp fuses...there is the odd few 16amp or on some sites you can pay extra ....so the Alde heating is not that good.....ours have 3 settings....1kw, 2kw, 3kw, ....so the 6amp ehu will get you (1380w) so the 1kw setting on electric just heats the water, 10amp ehu will get you (2300w) so 2kw this heats the water and a bit of warm back ground heating...you could keep boosting with gas!!:Doh: , 16 amp ehu will get you (3680w) so the 3kw gets you hot water and hot heating...all over the van front back even the garage..with a control stat to regulate ..but don't forget you will be using the electric for other items, fridge,TV, receiver, laptop,any cooking, etc....:Doh::Doh: and the heating takes around a hour to warm up on electric...
Now Gas that gets the heating and water hot quite quickly.....but it uses up your gas supply very quickly one 11kg bottle in 7 days using it on gas for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours at night...expensive..the Truma system uses less gas but does seem to have some hotspots and coldspots....it's horses for courses...it depends where you intend to camp/tour...UK or abroad...campsites or Aires...but don't forget when wildcamping, what you don't pay for night fees.... you can spend on gas for heating
 

canopus

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Steve

Tell your lass that when douching you wet yer sen first, then soap up and then rinse off. This concept is a difficult one for the fairer sex. Women have to wash their hair several times - shampoo then rinse, conditioner and another rinse. If the water runs cold :ROFLMAO: tell Denise you dont have to wait too long for it to heat up again. Might be a bit chilly in yer birthday suit though. :Eeek:

Still prefer the Alde to Truma :thumb:

See you both at Whitby :thumb:

Ken & Lynda

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Jul 28, 2010
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found this thread interesting
a water heating system in a motorhome?
even Big American RVs dont seam to do that

how much extra weight are you putting on to your chassis with a water heating system?
my blown air is hot in a few mins is very easy to set can be used on the move
and is not so heavy in real terms

i would hate to think about the damage should it leak
 
Sep 29, 2009
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my current swift has alde. agree with all thats been said, in adition swift only has space for 6k bottles so very expensive to run off hookup.and short time between filling up. newer models have a less complicated touchscreen panel. this is available from alde as an upgrade its plug and play 10 mins to fit yourself and a worthwile upgrade.

its all worth the extra cost in use. and will be a priority if i change the van:thumb:
 

Clayton9

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Just joined today

Hi there funsters.

I have been here a while on read only and have decided to join. Look forward to reading all the threads and posting some in good time.

Bit about me. Living in durham with partner and have a bessacar E582 this is my fith motorhome in 9 years.
I love the freedom motorhomes give us. Im 44. Partner 34.

Regards Troy.::bigsmile:::bigsmile:::bigsmile:

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Terry Gill

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Jun 13, 2012
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ALDE Heating concern

Has anyone had experience of the ALDE heating for motorhomes. Is it any goood?

Hi - I first saw how the ALDE system worked at the last NEC show. The makers had a special see through model of a caravan and one could see all parts and how it is put togther.

I must admit I was quite surpised of the 'old hat' the way the system convects heat via the 'radiators'. It uses series of spaced square fins to which the hot water pipes run through, thus expelling heat by convection as the warm air rises and cools the water in the pipes.

This principle was used in offies in the 80s. What happens over a period of time is that dust from above and what sucked up from below collects between these fins, along with other things like cobwebs, dead insects and alike.

Eventually this debrib builds up and releases itself into the vans environment causing musty smells, just like the smell you get when you switch on an electrical heater that has not been used over the summer. This is not ideal especially for dust allergy sufferers I'am sure.

So you must regualrly vac out these fins. However having seen how most coachbuilders have just about permantly sealed the system to look like attactive radiators with no access points for cleaning I myself would not be rushing to buy a van with ALDE, especially for the extra cost well.
 
May 6, 2010
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Yes, as the lovely Val has stated, we have Alde (pronounced Alda by the way) in our Conc and its the dogs doodahs as far as we are concerned.

Yes I can confirm after several visits that the Aldi heating pronounced NETTO by the way :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: in Ken & Lynda's (Canopus) Concorde is very good indeed :thumb::winky::winky::reel::reel::reel::reel:
 

canopus

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Yes I can confirm after several visits that the Aldi heating pronounced NETTO by the way :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: in Ken & Lynda's (Canopus) Concorde is very good indeed :thumb::winky::winky::reel::reel::reel::reel:


I did'nt bring you up to so insolent - you cheeky bugger :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

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Rapide561

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Aug 5, 2007
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We are new to Alde heating and after some issues with a very noisy header tank, a visit to Alde UK to resolve it by replacing the 12v pump in the header tank with a 12v inline pump on the boiler it is much better.

We have the heat exchanger too.

I have wrote a few articles about Alde, and our experiences so farLink Broken

We also fitted the load monitor - excellent little gadget.

Russell
 

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