# Alde Vs Truma



## clayton9 (Aug 16, 2006)

I was wondering people's thoughts on Alde Vs Truman. I know about the more even heat The Alde system gives you, but does anyone know the gas consumption and the amps? 

Thanks in advance.


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## ubuntu1 (Jan 14, 2008)

*Alde v Truma*

For me Alde everytime. I work on both and they are very good heating systems (both part of the same company). Alde gives a better all round van warmth and its quiet (except when they put the circulating pump in the wardrobe next to your head)

On electric they offer various settings and both draw similar amounts of power. If your off grid then both will flatten your lesiure batteries at about the same rate.

Its horses for courses, both good, it just depends on what suits you.


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## stewartwebr (May 27, 2005)

For me having owned both it's like chalk and cheese. The alde every time, nice even heat and no noise or dust blowing around. Even better when the system has the heat exchanger for use when the engine is running. A nice warm van with hot water when you reach your destination for free.

I could never go back to Truma blow air. Never liked it even when it was practically the only option

Stewart

Edit : iPad changing words for me ;-)


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## Glandwr (Jun 12, 2006)

Do you mean the Truma wet system? We have a 3 truma boilers one hot water and hot air habitation, one hot air in the cab and one wet under floor system that incidently has an Alde pump but I don't know if that's a replacement. 

As to chioce, under floor wet system every time for me Alde or Truma.

Dick


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

Glandwr said:


> Do you mean the Truma wet system? We have a 3 truma boilers one hot water and hot air habitation, one hot air in the cab and one wet under floor system that incidently has an Alde pump but I don't know if that's a replacement.
> 
> As to chioce, under floor wet system every time for me Alde or Truma.
> 
> Dick


We have exactly the same Dick and i agree completely, the Truma Aquatherm wet underfloor system is lovely, sat at this minute with it nice and warm and it even heats underneath the bed.

Paul.


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## Vennwood (Feb 4, 2007)

I'd vote for Alde every time but there are some big differences. I cannot comment on the Aquatherm system as I have no experience of it.

1. The Alde takes a lot longer to warm the van up from cold than the Truma blown air. This can be a big consideration if you are in and out all the time.

2. The Truma is much noisier than the Alde and not so good for folks that use contact lenses.

3. The Alde is easier to control the temperature whereas the Truma is more difficult due to drafts, air rising or doors open.

4. In my opinion the Alde uses more gas - when compared with vans of a similar size. This can be important if your gas bottles are small or you are on the continent.

5. I.m not sure about the latest Truma blown air systems but the Alde had a better control system where you can pre set start/stop times and temperature settings

Just my two pennyworth


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## Glandwr (Jun 12, 2006)

As I said our van has both wet and blown air. Advice in documentation is 1. Use both at same time to heat up quickly then rely on wet system for tick over maintenance of temperature. 2. The wet system is more energy efficient and can be operated on EHU or gas.

I'll add that as well a contact lens user anyone with sinus problems would benefit from a wet system.

Dick


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

Glandwr said:


> As I said our van has both wet and blown air. Advice in documentation is 1. Use both at same time to heat up quickly then rely on wet system for tick over maintenance of temperature. 2. The wet system is more energy efficient and can be operated on EHU or gas.
> 
> Dick


I think that is way I will be heading. Currently we only have the wet system but it does not seem to cope very well. I hasten to add this is not the fault of Alde but more related to van layout which restricts where convectors can be installed. Yourself and Vennwood make some good points.

peedee


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## ob1 (Sep 25, 2007)

Have to agree with earlier postings. I always get a dry and stuffed up nose (nothing to do with ventilation) when using Truma heating. Have had the Alde system in three vans now with no problems and is a must as far as we are concerned - and no cold areas.


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## clayton9 (Aug 16, 2006)

*thanks*

thank you for your postings. this has all helped making the decision a little easier. Just waiting to find out whether the swift fit the heat exchanger as standard as there was nothng about it in the brochure, however when i lifted the offside sofa there was a switch and what i thought looked like an addtional circulation pump, which i read you have to have with the heat exchanger.

thanks agin


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Alde*

If you are having Alde and will use it off EHU a lot, Go for an LPG tank or refillable bottles.

In Cold weather, 3kW is required to make good use of the system on a large van. And then it may still need a gas boost. If you can only use 2kW of Electricity (due to site amps). In cold weather, on a big motorhome, you will need to use gas too.

TM


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## clayton9 (Aug 16, 2006)

*Re: Alde*



teemyob said:


> If you are having Alde. Go for an LPG tank or refillable bottles.
> 
> TM


I currently have Gaslow 2 X 11g, however the gas locker on the Bolero only houses 2 X 7g, so i will be going for an underslung tank.

great reading peoples experiences as the manuals and tech specs say the Alde system uses less amps on 12v and slightly less gas...i really like the sound of the heat exchanger just cant work out whether Swift have included it.

thanks for the reply


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Our wet central heating is Alde type with a 5kw diesel powered Eberspacher Hydronic doing the heating. I would recommend a diesel heater, fuel usage is really quite low, hardly noticeable except in extremely cold weather. Having previously has gas powered hot air heating I think the gas used a lot of fuel.

Regardless, I think wet central heating is best. Ours runs underfloor and along the seat backs, simply superb, Alan


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

Our van is 8.5 metres long and has Alde heating. On electric alone if left unattended 1kw will give about a 20 degree C rise. I tested it. so if you use the 3kw setting you can bake if the thermostat is turned up.

C.


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## clayton9 (Aug 16, 2006)

CliveMott said:


> Our van is 8.5 metres long and has Alde heating. On electric alone if left unattended 1kw will give about a 20 degree C rise. I tested it. so if you use the 3kw setting you can bake if the thermostat is turned up.
> 
> C.


Thank you. I think Swift will only put the 1KW and 2KW options in. so its nice to know that this will give us enough heat. The van we are looking at is 7.7 metres so this shoud be fine.

thanks for the posting


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*kW's*

From Alde Website.......

Dimensions: Height 310 × Length 490 × Breadth 340 mm
Weight: 14 kg
Max gas power output: 5.5 kW (propane), 6.4 kW (butane)
Max electric power output: 2 kW (UK spec) or 3 kW (European spec)
Max gas consumption: 405 g/h (propane), 460 g/h (butane)
Gas pressure: 28-30/37 mbar (I3+)
Fluid capacity: 8.4 L (fresh water), 3.5 L (glycol)
Max fluid pressure: 3000 mbar (fresh water), 500 mbar (glycol)
Max current: 1 A (start-up), 0-0.6 A (LPG), 0-0.2 A (230 V)
Min flue length: 0.5 m (side), 2 m (roof)
Max flue length: 1.5 m (side), 3.5 m (roof)

So if you have the UK Spec 2kW fitted. You will have a max 8.4kW Output using a combination of Gas (Butane) + Electric. Note the ALDE recommendation of using Propane for the UK.

TM


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## DSL2 (Mar 6, 2008)

Just for info-

Tested my 9.2mtr trucks Alde system during the week on a -5c night with the 2kw setting on. 

The truck temp was set at & achieved 20c during the day, then as the temp fell away over night it dropped down to 16.5c unable to hold station without the gas to assist.

Now saying that I hadn't bothered to put the silver screens on or draw the internal blinds which may of helped it hold station.


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## clayton9 (Aug 16, 2006)

DSL2 said:


> Just for info-
> 
> Tested my 9.2mtr trucks Alde system during the week on a -5c night with the 2kw setting on.
> 
> ...


hopefully with the silver screen and the blinds closed it shoud acheive it. Am i guessing thst the control panels tells you the temp in the van, and the temp you are trying to achieve??


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## DSL2 (Mar 6, 2008)

Clayton, exactly right!


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## clayton9 (Aug 16, 2006)

DSL2 said:


> Clayton, exactly right!


Thanks, the swift manual on line isnt the clearest thing to read.


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## dipsie (May 30, 2008)

Clayton, we have a Swift Belero 680FB and we have a 6Kg and a 11Kg Gaslow systen fitted, it was a tight fit, you have to fit the 11Kg first, but it is possible. We have looked at the new Bolero but to change our's which is'nt three years old yet and only done 11,000 miles our dealer wanted £20,000, I think we will put up with the blown air. Bernie T


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## statenisland (Aug 17, 2007)

Good evening,

I am considering buying the new Bolero 724FB and looked at the Alde website for more information on the heating system.

It states a 6kg gas bottle should last a weekend - that seems a lot of gas. Can anybody confirm this high usage?
It also says the temperature should be maintained at 10 degrees at all times - why? Can anybody explain?
It says too that LPG is not suitable due to additives. Is there any reason?

Thanks 

Brian


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## MyGalSal (Dec 8, 2008)

6kg does seem like a lot of gas for a weekend! I think it would last you easily a week - even in very cold temps.

Alde does use more gas than Truma but it is a much more effective method of heating. It is brilliant.

Can't think why it mentions 10 degrees. The only thing I can think at the moment is that somewhere I have read there is a factory default setting (which we have switched off!)for heating at some time in order to combat Legionaires thingy. 

We have Gaslow and fill up with LPG at all the usual places and have no problems at all. I haven't heard of anyone else having problems either.

Go for the Alde. It is brilliant!

Sal


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*LPG*



statenisland said:


> Good evening,
> 
> I am considering buying the new Bolero 724FB and looked at the Alde website for more information on the heating system.
> 
> ...


LPG is Calor, Butane or Propane as well as all the other refillable bottles.

Do you mean Autogas?

TM


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## Glandwr (Jun 12, 2006)

We have both. Wet and blown air. Wet is by far the best and is best if you have sinus probs BUT does take quite a while for the van to reach a good temp. 

I've not noticed a discernable difference in gas consumption but am convinced the wet system uses less battery power.

Dick


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Autogas*

From the ALDE website

"Autogas is a blend of propane/butane, and the ratio varies greatly across Europe. Although UK Autogas is mostly propane it also contains additives that may make it unsuitable for use in Alde system."

But some converters do fit ALDE and LPG Bulk Tanks!

TM


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## selstrom (May 23, 2005)

We have used our ALDE system for 5 years on LPG with no problem.
The amount of gas used by both systems will be very similar as I suspect both boilers efficiency are very similar. The main factors affecting gas usage are the vehicle size, degree of insulation and temperature difference between outside and inside. Having a engine heat exchanger will obviously reduce gas use.

Unless one uses Red Diesel the cost of using a deisel heater will be a lot higher than gas as it costs twice as much but only contains 1.5 times the energy of gas.


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## selstrom (May 23, 2005)

"Alde does use more gas than Truma but it is a much more effective method of heating. It is brilliant."

What evidence is there for Alde system using more gas than Truma?

Our motorhome is an 8.5m A class and if it is cold you can easily use 2 to 3 lt a day, we run our heating for 24 hours though the temperature at night is reduced to 17.


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## MyGalSal (Dec 8, 2008)

I don't have any actual evidence that Alde uses more gas than Truma, only an awareness that we need to fill up more often than when we had Truma - taking the usual varying factors into account.

As has already been said, it uses less battery - that I can measure more accurately because of the panel.

Sal

Edit: in my comparison of Alde/Truma I am basing it on the Alde in our current van, a Hymer 694 which is 7.3m with a double floor and double glazed cab windows and the Truma in our previous van a Hymer 654 which was 7m with a single floor and no double glazing.


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## statenisland (Aug 17, 2007)

Good morning,

Thanks for all the replies.

Teemyob - I would be obliged if you would give me the heads up regarding LPG/Autogas. I assumed Gaslow/other refillable cylinder owners filled up at petrol stations(in UK and Europe) using the same pump that gas powered cars used and therefore ran their MH heating off Autogas.

Clayton9 - Have you been able to ascertain if Swift are fitting an engine heat exchanger to the Alde system?

Brian


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

MyGalSal said:


> I don't have any actual evidence that Alde uses more gas than Truma, only an awareness that we need to fill up more often than when we had Truma - taking the usual varying factors into account.
> 
> As has already been said, it uses less battery - that I can measure more accurately because of the panel.
> 
> ...


An Alde 3000 on Propane is rated at 5.2 Kw and 6.0 Kg on Butane.

The rate of gas usage is 380 g/h on Propane and 430 g/h on Butane.

If somebody puts up the figures for a Truma then it will end the trauma. :lol:


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

747 said:


> [
> 
> An Alde 3000 on Propane is rated at 5.2 Kw and 6.0 Kg on Butane.
> 
> ...


Surely gas usage Aldepends on how high the thermostat is set.


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

I gave capacities, not how much it would use on an average day. The boiler with the higher Kw rating will burn the most gas.


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