# Alde heating on Bailey Approach Autograph



## Foghorn-Leghorn (Jul 10, 2010)

Anybody with a Bailey motorhome had issues with there Alde heating system ? Last night the temperature dropped to -5 and I left the heating on all night at maximum on gas and the warmest it got to was 20c which is not warm enough for the Mrs .
Have also tried it on 240 ac in conjunction with gas and its no better.
I have a separate thermometer inside the van and it concurs with the Alde temp display .
Our dealers is closed until the 5th of January so cant seek any advice there and were supposed to be going away but SWMBO say's no chance if the Motorhome's not going to be warm enough


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## MrWez (Sep 25, 2011)

Not had a problem with it - 20 deg C would be far too warm for me to get a decent nights sleep! Last time we were out it was down to -3 deg C and it was quite warm enough in the van for us, we were running on a combination of gas or EHU.

I've not had the opportunity to run on gas only, have you tried setting the Alde control panel to the 3kW setting when connected to EHU? Are any of the vents blocked?


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

Alde heating is known for taking a bit longer than blown air to bring the van up to temperature but once at temperature it should be comfortable

it can also run on GAS & Mains electricity at the same time

is there a particular are of the van that is cold ? eg cab ? any drafts ?

maybe there are not enough radiators installed for your required level of comfort

if this is the case perhaps some blower fans would help to boost the heat output from the radiators 
Alde supply a range of different heaters apart from radiators eg cab carpet heaters and heaters to fit under the front seats and heat exchangers with blowers on see there website

ALDE.SE

ALDE.CO.UK

Is all your pipe work & radiators hot ?

where is the pump ? if its on the boiler it maybe adjustable and allow you to increase the pump speed - worth a go ?


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

Is the fluid level in the header tank topped up to the required level? Are all the rads getting hot? Might there be air in the system and the system needs bleeding?


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

+1 for air in the system.

We have always found the Alde heating to be very efficient. There is a white dot on the temp controller (between number 3 and 4 if I remember correctly), that should give around 20 degrees. if you are on max then try bleeding it. You will need to keep checking the fluid level while you do it.

Look for hidden radiators, such as in the bathroom, under seats and in the false floor (if a winterised van).


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## JohnandChristine (Mar 19, 2012)

We've not been out on such a cold night yet, but do you close your dashboard vents to stop draughts ?
We also have a silver screen which helps a lot too.


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## stewartwebr (May 27, 2005)

I guess it's all around the thermal qualities of your van. An external thermal screen over your front windscreen makes a huge difference. But that is not answering your question. We were in Germany a few years ago with a temperature of -16 degrees. The heating struggling. I found increasing the speed of the pump helped greatly. Mine was set at 3 out of I think 6 levels. I turned it up to 5 which pumped more fluid around quicker and heated the van better. Of course the faster it is pumped the quicker it cools leading to needing to be heated more increasing gas consumption. 
At the time of the low German temperatures we used 15kg of gas in 3 days. 

Hope this helps

edit

On the vans I have owned the pumps have been located on the actual boilers not the fluid tanks and the speed is increased by turning the small plastic spindle on the end of the pump head. Not sure how you increase the speed of the ones located on the fluid vessels but sure you can. 

Stewart


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## dpsuk999 (Mar 25, 2012)

I have had my van upto +28 in the van when the outside temperature was around -4. This was on 3kw and gas. It sounds like you may have air in your system and some of the radiators arnt as warm as they should be. Go round each radiator and try and identify any which appear colder than the others. There will be radiators hidden all over so hunt them down. Bleed from the highest bleed point, normally the radiator in the bathroom/shower. Also check the fluid level in the header tank and top up if required. Also check the pump speed and increase if necessary.

Also I never realised until I found the info on the net that depending on the difference in the set temp and the actual temp controls how much power the boiler needs and regulates it.

If electricity of 3kw and gas is selected the boiler regulates it as follows:

+0.7c pump 33% electricity 1kw
+0.5c pump 66% electricity 2kw
+0.0c pump 100% electricity 3kw
-0.5c pump 100% electricity 3kw gas step 1 33%
-1.0c pump 100% electricity 3kw gas step 1 66%
-1.5c pump 100% electricity 3kw gas step 1 100%
-2.0c pump 100% electricity 3kw gas step 1 100% step 2 33%
-2.5c pump 100% electricity 3kw gas step 1 100% step 2 100%


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## Tony0851 (Apr 4, 2013)

Hi Foghorn
We are away in our van now and have Aldi heating. It took some getting my head round it but found it very good. If we want to get the van very warm quick. I put the electric to 2 kW because any higher it will trip the electric hook up. I put the gas to on and rack the temp up to 28. Once it's to your liking turn the thermo down. Warm as toast hope this helps


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## stewartwebr (May 27, 2005)

This may not help with the OP question as I assume when the temperature would not increase above 20Degrees he had the control panel set to the max. 

I have found in some of my vans that setting the control panel at a comfortable 20 Degrees did not feel comfortable and the van was not actually at 20 Degrees. To overcome this issue you can calibrate the control panel to + or - 5 Degrees in the settings menu. I have found this makes a huge difference as you can see by how the control panel switches on electric and gas depending on the variance of temperature. 

I would suggest speeding up the pump and increasing the temperature settings in calibration section of the control panel. Failing that go for the air lock issue. 

Good luck.


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## weldted (May 1, 2005)

*Alde heating*

As mentioned there is a means to adjust the temp show on the heating control panel by up to + - 5' also I have found on mine to only bleed it with the pump off. Our pump ic in the header tank and is at the highest point of the system. I have an ELDDIS Aspire 255 and find the Alde heating system excellent much better the my previous vans blown air. We have a radiator behind each settee and on along the outside wall of the rear French bed. It is important than air is free to circulate through the fins as this system works by warming the walls of the van which In turn radiate heat. You will lose a lot of heat through the cab windows, and it will help if you put the cab heater to the recirculating position to stop any cold air coming through. Good luck


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## teensvan (May 9, 2005)

Hi.
On our Burstner 748 we found the heating not wonderful unless we had outside/inside screens all cab air vents closed and a thermal curtain across the cab area. A lot of cold can come in from around the caravan door area check it is 100% sealed and you cannot see daylight around the seal. We also fitted up on small curtain poles inside the blinds towel curtains which pull very easy back and forward. Ann did a grate job stitching these up while we lived in it for 7 1/2 years. Not an easy job bleeding the pipework keep the header tank topped up and run the pump on max to get fluid flowing.

Hope this will help.

steve & ann. ----------- teensvan


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