Alde 3000 heating system (1 Viewer)

[356boy]

We are looking at getting a van with the old Alde 3000 heating system, what is it like running on the gas and does it take forever to heat up, is it very effective. Thanks

 

[tonyidle]

Works more quickly on gas than mains. Full op on mains is 3kW and on gas 5kW. I wouldn't now consider any other form of heating.

 

[DerryW]

We have Alde 3020HE (don’t ask me what all that means). With regard to performance it takes c20mins to heat the van when on gas and nearer an hour on EHU.

We’ve got into the habit (if on EHU) to start on gas then when warm enough switch to electric.

The thing that suprises me is how little gas it uses, even if using gas alone.

 

[bigtwin]

As a heating system, you can’t beat it.

Ian

 

[Googlebot]

It’s an excellent system!

I had it in a caravan, once when it was -4 we arrived back at the caravan and it was -4 inside too, middle of winter. Within an hour it was more than comfortable and that was heating up a tank of water too.

One excellent feature is the hot water boost, it cancels the heating for 20 mins and increases the glycol temperature and just heats the water, excellent if you like long showers or the whole family needs a shower one after the other.

It’s very controllable and you can select 1000w, 2000w, 3000w on electric and gas. Also any combination of the gas and electric so you can have 8KW of power if you are on 16 amp hookup with the gas. Again, brilliant for long showers or very cold starts.

We did find it had a bit of lag, it very quickly went from just too cold, to just too hot. We tried the external thermostat and never really sorted it before we got rid of the van.

It also had an excellent function where you could attach an ammeter clamp (at extra cost) to the incoming mains. You then selected what amperage supply you were on and it would automatically turn the heating elements down or up so if you put the kettle on for instance, it would turn the supply down. No more tripping the supply which was brill.

Annoyingly, most manufacturers fill the system with the 2 year antifreeze which is nuts as the 5 year isn’t much more. You do need to change this when needed.

I would have it again, you can also plumb it into the engine somehow so you get free heating while on the move.

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[tezza-alli]

We have the Alde 3020he in our van. You will find in comparison to blown air systems it will take longer to heat up.

The boost for hot water is good but in the mid of winter the van will cool down a bit whilst its on, we use it every time we shower and there's only the two of us, we obviously use a lot of hot water.
There is an extra cylinder that can be added to give more capacity if you have a place to fit it?

Our van is quite large and if it was below freezing inside it would take a long time to get up to a comfortable temperature, baring in mind its got to heat the coolant and get the radiators hot before heat will start to permeate.

Ours has the heat exchanger which allows us to run it from the engine whilst driving which heats the whole van and gives us a tank of hot water and a hot van when we arrive. Well worth having!

A good system but not perfect and could have been so much better but that's a typical of leisure industry manufacturers.
It's quiet and very comfortable when in use just like radiators at home. Blown air is a lot dryer heat!

Bare in mind the coolant will need to be changed every 2-5yrs depending on type used.

With Autogas getting harder to find we have now fitted a diesel heater as well and that gives us a lot more control with two systems.

 

[DavidG58]

Now I understand how it works better , having had two services at Alde HQ and had a detailed explanation, we leave gas and electric on all the time, it will use either or both, only using gas if electric not performing well enough

Very good system, we have the 3010 but have upgraded controller to colour touch screen which was a game changer

 

[funflair]

Now I understand how it works better , having had two services at Alde HQ and had a detailed explanation, we leave gas and electric on all the time, it will use either or both, only using gas if electric not performing well enough

Very good system, we have the 3010 but have upgraded controller to colour touch screen which was a game changer

As long as you have set "priority" to gas I know you knew that David but just added it for the benefit of others.

 

[DavidG58]

As long as you have set "priority" to gas I know you knew that David but just added it for the benefit of others.

Nope, didn’t know that but don’t think I have that option, mine is a lot older system than yours

 

[funflair]

Nope, didn’t know that but don’t think I have that option, mine is a lot older system than yours

I thought it would be in the menu on the colour controller, if not I think you are right that the system will default to electric if it has it available.

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[DavidG58]

I thought it would be in the menu on the colour controller, if not I think you are right that the system will default to electric if it has it available.

I am pretty sure Alde told me it would also bring in the gas as well as electric if not heating quickly , but as you say prioritise electric if available

 

[walburga]

I've got the older Alde 3000 system, works ok, takes an age to warm up on gas, more so on lekky. Good bit is that it works using mechanical sliding switches, not touch screens. Never let us down, and not complicated to run.

regards
Allen

 

[funflair]

I am pretty sure Alde told me it would also bring in the gas as well as electric if not heating quickly , but as you say prioritise electric if available

Agreed, did on our Flair

 

[bigtwin]

A good system but not perfect and could have been so much better but that's a typical of leisure industry manufacturers.

Can you expand on that a little?

Ian

 

[tezza-alli]

Can you expand on that a little?

Ian

Hello Ian,
It would be better with a larger hot water storage so it didn’t need to turn the heating off when boosting the hot water (not a problem in summer) it’s not enough for two good showers in colder weather in my opinion.
Also most people don’t know that you have to drain the hot water side regularly to maintain an expansion gap in the tank or the seams will eventually split, poor design.
Friends who live in there’s have had to replace the unit due to this, it’s a known fault with them.

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[bigtwin]

It would be better with a larger hot water storage

Agreed, but I guess that since they can be fitted in smaller vehicles size may be a consideration. However, the option of an additional/larger tank could be a consideration.

Also most people don’t know that you have to drain the hot water side regularly to maintain an expansion gap in the tank

True.

Thanks for taking the time to explain your thinking.

Ian

 

[funflair]

Alde flow would overcome the problem of tank size as it gives virtually unlimited hot water.

 

[356boy]

I've got the older Alde 3000 system, works ok, takes an age to warm up on gas, more so on lekky. Good bit is that it works using mechanical sliding switches, not touch screens. Never let us down, and not complicated to run.

regards
Allen

Allen, when you say takes an age to warm up on gas, what are we talking half an hour or so

 

[canopus]

From my experience of the Alde 3000 system. The original circulating pump is not much bigger than an egg whisk. It’s mounted within the header tank. It didn’t take long to heat up on gas, longer on electricity.
When we had the last service on the boiler carried out at Alde, we had new circulating pump fitted on the boiler. This pump is far more efficient than the egg whisk type.

Inline circulation pump | Alde

www.alde.co.uk

 

[walburga]

Allen, when you say takes an age to warm up on gas, what are we talking half an hour or so

Yes, on gas probably take about 30mins before the rads got quite warm...the pipe run nearest the boiler (in the washroom/loo would be too hot to touch), I've got the inline pump that canopus refers to, set at speed 2. I found that after about an hour I could switch from gas to leccy set at 1Kw.
The temptation when you're on ehu is to start the heating system on 2Kw (or even 3Kw)...now that will take a long time to warm up.

Allen

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