# ALDE Compact 3010



## happygolucky (Jul 18, 2006)

Our van is coming up 5 years old and I have been advised to change the glycol mix in the heating. I have been quoted £250 from our servicing dealer to do the job, apparently it takes 3 hours to do. Seems like a lot of money.

I have been told that a special pump has to be used which removes old coolant and introduces new in the same process without risk of creating an airlock.

On looking through the various manuals it does seem to be a straight forward job to do manually, albeit awkward to get to all the bleed points in the van. I am capable of doing the work.

Your experiences and advice would be appreciated. I wondered if anyone attempted this job themselves, and is it as straight forward as it seems? 
Thanks
Brian


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

that is about £70 per hour incl vat.and parts plus disposal of old fluid.no crawling around, no awkward finger cutting,or carpet staining.better still no comeback if it fails. worth every penny.

cabby


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

Did mine on the Alde 3000 system.

It is a bit of a clart on but got there in the end. It would have been easy peasy if Alde had fitted a drain tap somewhere. :roll: 

It is best done on a slope. Open all bleed valves on the radiators once you have removed a hose at the low point and have a bucket handy.

It took a bit of time to get all the air out. I found the best way to get the last of it out was to drive the van for a while. Luckily Gateshead is like Rome.... built on 7 hills. :lol:


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## thieawin (Jun 7, 2006)

One of the things Brownhills wouldn't/couldn't/didn't do on my N&B with a 3000 system, so I am going to Travelworld in Telford this weekend and leaving the van for a week and Sylmar from Market Drayton (who deal with Alde systems on canal boats), are going to sort it whilst it is there.

If you go to Alde.co.uk there is a list of regional specialists. some of whom are mobile and will come out to you and do the service at your home.

Shame they won't come over to the IOM, not even in a narrow boat!

http://www.alde.co.uk/


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

It all depends on the individual model of van, some are a proper sod to bleed. I would happily pay it took me many hours on my van when I refilled after replacing the heater. I was in Spain when my heating failed and couldn't find any company willing to bleed the system after replacing the heater, Alan.


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## happygolucky (Jul 18, 2006)

Appreciate your comments everyone, i need to think about this. A mobile technician might be the best option.
Thanks again
Brian


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

it really can be a simple job

as long as you know where all the bleed valves are - they should be at all the high points in the pipe work so wherever the pipe work rises up - before it goes down or along vertically there should be one.

my installation also has a switch to allow the pump to run at a higher speed to assist with the refilling & purging

crikey I would drive to Bournemouth & do the job for you for £250 all in !

by the way ALDE recommend a 2 year interval if I remember correctly

have a search on this website as there is plenty of info already posted

ps I use as recommended by alde Comma Supercoldmaster antifreeze available in 1 or 5 litres

antifreeze


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## happygolucky (Jul 18, 2006)

Thanks Trek.
If I did the job I was going to use 5year antifreeze, to do that all has to be drained as I gather the two types do not mix well. 
Brianw


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Don't depend on bleed valves being well placed. They are put where they can be reached. Some will make it easy and some will not. I took my van to specialist dealers in Spain and they spent half a day without bleeding it enough for the heating to run. I then contacted a UK specialist who told me it was a sod of a job and just to keep at it. I did and after another four or five hours it ran. If you try starting the heating too often when there are still pockets of air you may end up locked out due to overheating and need to have the burner reset.

Another thing to be aware of is that if you try running the heating before the coolant is running clear and without air bubbles or air pockets the pump may whip it up into froth which can take ages to settle out.

I am sure it is easy on some vans, but equally sure you won't know till you have tried it.

I have done it twice but I know it's difficult on my van unless you have the kit to do it under pressure.

You will be lucky if you find all the bleeders first time around and it may not be possible to catch what comes out of them with anything other than a bit of tissue because they are in corners where you cannot place a container under them. Mine are of a type which does not allow you to fit a pipe to them so tissue is the only option. You cant let it run into the underfloor area because the quantities are considerable, Alan.


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

Over the years I did a lot of pressure testing which involved filling vessels, removing all the air pressurising and then draining down afterwards.

Doing my own change of fluid was made marginally more difficult by poor design by Alde. It is much easier when done on a slope and the Alde instructions recommend that when I have looked. As long as you drain at the low point and open ALL bleed nipples, it is easy enough to drain down. One of the problems I had was that I later found radiators that I did not know existed ie: in the Thetford compartment and the 2 in the overcab (which we only use for storage).

When filling, the low level bleed nipples can be closed as long as the higher ones are left open to remove the air. If the van is on a slope there should be no airlocks in that area.

My fluid had never been changed from new (8 years) and indeed I had bother with the automatic bleed valve on the boiler afterwards. There was rubbish in it when opened up. The 5 year antifreeze should last that length of time and I would be inclined to ignore the Alde 2 yearly change recommendation, antifreeze has improved lately.


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## DSL2 (Mar 6, 2008)

On what grounds does it supposedly need replacing every two years? I'm guessing because of loss of ability to cope with low temperatures during storage when not in use?

I plan on using a vacuum pump fluid extractor from the expansion top up tank to remove a modest amount, then top up into that then run it to mix the new stuff and repeat a few more times to increase the low temp ability. Got to be easier than going through all the phaff of airlocks & bleeding the system.

I did mention this route to an Alde tech guy at the motorhome show last year, he could see no reason as to why that wouldn't do the trick!


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Point*



cabby said:


> that is about £70 per hour incl vat.and parts plus disposal of old fluid.no crawling around, no awkward finger cutting,or carpet staining.better still no comeback if it fails. worth every penny.
> 
> cabby


I agree. Great if you can do it yourself. But I think the £250 is a fair price, no matter how easy it may seem.

Like Cabby mentions.... "Stain" just one drop on a carpet or bit of furniture and many on here would be wanting £££'s in repairs or compo or dragging the company who did it through the small claims court.

TM


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## happygolucky (Jul 18, 2006)

Yes i think antifreeze is much better than it was, i only thought about having to change it because the dealer mentioned it when i booked the water ingress check. 

Alde recommend changing largely because of the loss of corrossion protection (I believe) but there is a risk of the antifreezing point deteriorating. That is of course easy to check. My view has been the antifreeze mix does not operate under the same sort of environment as your engine and all grades of antifreeze last well these days in engines. 

I like the idea of bleeding through a fresh mix over time in a similar way that you bleed brakes. I have also looked at constructing a pump system similar to the Alde one. Need to investigate more before i do that. 

The water ingress check is not till late summer so i have time and can wait till it is a bit warmer before doing the job, or deciding to let the dealer have my money. 

Thanks for all your input. 
Brian


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## hbspc (May 1, 2005)

*Diy*

Do it your self, you can by the glycol mix in any good car factors, all you need to do is vent it and run system then vent again


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