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In defence of Alde boilers. Better than stoves and diesel heaters?


doratheexplorer

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4 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Nomad reckons you don't need a calorifier with the new model.

 

The old one also stores water so does not need a calorifier, but I find the antifreeze does not taste too good. :clapping:.

 

.................Dave

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1 minute ago, dmr said:

 

The old one also stores water so does not need a calorifier, but I find the antifreeze does not taste too good. :clapping:.

 

.................Dave

 

Er.

 

Why would you drink the hot central heating water?

 

Its on a seperate circuit to the drinking water.

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I'm a full time liveaboard and cc-er. I have a newish (2013) Aldi.  I use it as back up for the solid fuel heater.  But mostly it heats water because of the inconvenience of lugging gas bottles about. I think it's uses about a 500 g per hour lit.   That lasts me about 4 weeks per 13kg bottle just for hot water.    I was told the main point about Aldi us that they don't need servicing and never go wrong.  ( My hasn't in years )

Also calor gas is 35 quid.  You might have cheaper gas, but calor is the main gas bottles that marinas sell.

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42 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

The resident killjoy strikes again! ?

 

And you were the one complaining about your thread potentially being taken off thread, and yet you do exactly that.

 

I simply thought I'd missed something about the older model compared to the newer versions.

 

 

 

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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1 minute ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

And you were the one complaining about your thread potentially being taken of thread.

 

I simply thought I'd missed something about the older model compared to the newer versions.

 

I don't think so and I also think the 2xxx series are basically all the same burner and heat exchanger wise so I don't see how any can be more efficient than any others. The 3xxx series is a totally different beast. Alde 2xxx I understand are often operated incorrectly in respect of the heat control which, as I understand it, is more for altitude than heat. If its incorrectly set I understand it the boiler will be less efficient because of cycling and the wrong hysteresis in the boiler stat.

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There must be a good reason why Alde have discontinued the most popular gas guzzling models used on boats. Lack of demand?

 

I am deeply suspicious about the claim that they need no servicing. I have seen several where the central flue tube as corroded away into a mass of holes quite quickly. I would not like that on any boat of mine.

 

Pray tell where the dodgy garages are for refills in a way that it does not get redacted.

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7 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

There must be a good reason why Alde have discontinued the most popular gas guzzling models used on boats. Lack of demand?

 

I am deeply suspicious about the claim that they need no servicing. I have seen several where the central flue tube as corroded away into a mass of holes quite quickly. I would not like that on any boat of mine.

 

Pray tell where the dodgy garages are for refills in a way that it does not get redacted.

 

You can now legally fill gas cylinders (using an approved refill adapter) at 'garages' using auto-gas.

Cost for equivalent to a 13kg cylinder is about £9

 

Safefill | Safe and easy to refill LPG Gas Cylinders

 

Refilling & Retailers | Safefill

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3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

You can now legally fill gas cylinders (using an approved refill adapter) at 'garages' using auto-gas.

Cost for equivalent to a 13kg cylinder is about £9

 

Safefill | Safe and easy to refill LPG Gas Cylinders

 

Refilling & Retailers | Safefill

 

Have you tried buying a new Safefill cylinder recently?

 

I wanted to go that route last year but gave up when they were continually out of stock, in fact probably even before that. Even when I rang the local authorised distributors.

 

And they still are, certainly on line.

 

They come up on eBay sometimes though.

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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50 minutes ago, Empress said:

I'm a full time liveaboard and cc-er. I have a newish (2013) Aldi.  I use it as back up for the solid fuel heater.  But mostly it heats water because of the inconvenience of lugging gas bottles about. I think it's uses about a 500 g per hour lit.   That lasts me about 4 weeks per 13kg bottle just for hot water.    I was told the main point about Aldi us that they don't need servicing and never go wrong.  ( My hasn't in years )

Also calor gas is 35 quid.  You might have cheaper gas, but calor is the main gas bottles that marinas sell.

If you're paying £35 for a 13kg bottle, you're being had.

 

You must get through a lot more hot water than me.  Out of interest, what do you set the control to when just heating water?

7 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

You can now legally fill gas cylinders (using an approved refill adapter) at 'garages' using auto-gas.

Cost for equivalent to a 13kg cylinder is about £9

 

Safefill | Safe and easy to refill LPG Gas Cylinders

 

Refilling & Retailers | Safefill

In which case, for me, it would be by far the cheapest heating option.  I still wouldn't rely on it though because of the aforementioned storage limitations and general hassle of getting the gas.

 

I imagine a motorhome with a refillable gaslow system would work great with an Alde.

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10 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

Have you tried buying a new Safefill cylinder recently?

 

I wanted to go that route last year but gave up when they were continually out of stock, in fact probably even before that. Even when I rang the local authorised distributors.

 

And they still are, certainly on line.

 

They come up on eBay sometimes though.

 

It appears that they are still avaiable :

 

Gas | KAMPA Dometic, Dorema, Isabella & Vango Retailer Accessories | Cannock Caravans Accessories (cannockcaravanaccessories.co.uk)

 

 

Cannock Caravan Accesories
Nigel Bailey
Unit 4 Watling Street Business Park
Cannock
Cannock
Staffordshire
WS119XG
United Kingdom
 
Phone:01543372400
Email:info@cannockcaravanaccessories.co.uk
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10 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

If you're paying £35 for a 13kg bottle, you're being had.

 

You must get through a lot more hot water than me.  Out of interest, what do you set the control to when just heating water?

In which case, for me, it would be by far the cheapest heating option.  I still wouldn't rely on it though because of the aforementioned storage limitations and general hassle of getting the gas.

 

I imagine a motorhome with a refillable gaslow system would work great with an Alde.

Calor price at present for 13kg propane is £35.50. We sell it here at £ 34 which is the going rate round here. 

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5 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Calor price at present for 13kg propane is £35.50. We sell it here at £ 34 which is the going rate round here. 

refill at an lpg filling station, putting in 26 litres (which is recommended amount) -

price varies from 45p up to about 80p - in MK the only station we have (and they will fill motorhome cooking tanks) is 70p, so cost is between £11.70 up to around £20. So it is worthwhile doing a bit of checking to find a service station that will let you fill your orange tanks. Even better if your local lpg station will help you do it - the tanks are quite heavy to lift in and out of a boot. (No idea where A de E gets his £9 fill from - probably knows a tanker driver who goes round filling the domestic lpg tanks).

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I don't like it hot. My Boatman stove I have bricked out the grate with a couple of house bricks to reduce it's grate area. I cook inside the furnace on a trivet bridging across the bricks, on a low fire it cooks lovely. A 25 kg bag lasts me a fortnight easily.

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38 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

It appears that they are still avaiable :

 

Gas | KAMPA Dometic, Dorema, Isabella & Vango Retailer Accessories | Cannock Caravans Accessories (cannockcaravanaccessories.co.uk)

 

 

Cannock Caravan Accesories
Nigel Bailey
Unit 4 Watling Street Business Park
Cannock
Cannock
Staffordshire
WS119XG
United Kingdom
 
Phone:01543372400
Email:info@cannockcaravanaccessories.co.uk

 

Sadly too far away from me, but I may check them out next time I'm in that neck of the woods. Oh hang on it looks like they deliver.

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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14 minutes ago, bizzard said:

I don't like it hot. My Boatman stove I have bricked out the grate with a couple of house bricks to reduce it's grate area. I cook inside the furnace on a trivet bridging across the bricks, on a low fire it cooks lovely. A 25 kg bag lasts me a fortnight easily.

But also, you're not actually real are you?

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32 minutes ago, Mike Tee said:

refill at an lpg filling station, putting in 26 litres (which is recommended amount) -

price varies from 45p up to about 80p - in MK the only station we have (and they will fill motorhome cooking tanks) is 70p, so cost is between £11.70 up to around £20. So it is worthwhile doing a bit of checking to find a service station that will let you fill your orange tanks. Even better if your local lpg station will help you do it - the tanks are quite heavy to lift in and out of a boot. (No idea where A de E gets his £9 fill from - probably knows a tanker driver who goes round filling the domestic lpg tanks).

To be honest life is way too short to even ask about gas prices ont boat. Humping a cylinder into some town aint happening :D I use whoever is bang alongside canal or coal boat and always have.

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51 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Calor price at present for 13kg propane is £35.50. We sell it here at £ 34 which is the going rate round here. 

The most I've ever paid is £29.50 and I balked at that.  Independant builders merchants and hardware stores typically sell it for less than that.

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37 minutes ago, Mike Tee said:

refill at an lpg filling station, putting in 26 litres (which is recommended amount) -

price varies from 45p up to about 80p - in MK the only station we have (and they will fill motorhome cooking tanks) is 70p, so cost is between £11.70 up to around £20. So it is worthwhile doing a bit of checking to find a service station that will let you fill your orange tanks. Even better if your local lpg station will help you do it - the tanks are quite heavy to lift in and out of a boot. (No idea where A de E gets his £9 fill from - probably knows a tanker driver who goes round filling the domestic lpg tanks).

I have a 7.5 kg safefill bottle holds 14.5 litres of gas. Fill it up at Morrison’s supermarket petrol station when need to. Had it 6 years. Needs to be tested in 2025. Best £100 spent. Boat even passed it’s BSS this month. ?

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Just now, doratheexplorer said:

The most I've ever paid is £29.50 and I balked at that.  Independant builders merchants and hardware stores typically sell it for less than that.

Fair enough but for me humping a gas bottle into a car to save a few bob isnt going to happen. Canal side boatyards make way more sense. If I lived in a house I would go to a builders yard or something but even as a hobby boater bottle humping wouldnt be happening and the boatyard would be getting my trade.

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Just now, mrsmelly said:

Fair enough but for me humping a gas bottle into a car to save a few bob isnt going to happen. Canal side boatyards make way more sense. If I lived in a house I would go to a builders yard or something but even as a hobby boater bottle humping wouldnt be happening and the boatyard would be getting my trade.

 

I get mine from our local small business DIY store and pay roughly what Dora does, or rather I did last time I bought one, not having had much use for LPG last year or any use what so ever so far this.

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I simply don't understand how your getting cheap gas.  I live on a boat on the canals and I get my gas from where ever the nearest marina is. Around 35 is the going rate.   Although last year up north at Stoke on Trent I got gas at 26 from the Black prince hire place.

Someone asked about settings on the Aldi.  They are default factory settings of 50c but can boost to 65c when needed.  There are no other adjustments.   If you don't want central heating you set the temp very low. 

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1 minute ago, Empress said:

I simply don't understand how your getting cheap gas.  I live on a boat on the canals and I get my gas from where ever the nearest marina is. Around 35 is the going rate.   Although last year up north at Stoke on Trent I got gas at 26 from the Black prince hire place.

Someone asked about settings on the Aldi.  They are default factory settings of 50c but can boost to 65c when needed.  There are no other adjustments.   If you don't want central heating you set the temp very low. 

Your Alde is different to mine.  Mine has a control dial going from 1 to 7.  I've found that setting it to 5 heats the radiators much the same as 7 but uses less than half the gas.  Lots of experimenting has led me to this.

 

I haven't bought any gas from a marina for a couple of years because they're too expensive.  If you're near Stoke, there's the previously mentioned hole in the fence builders merchant.  I suspect Black Prince try to keep their prices low to compete. 

 

Sometimes there's a hardware shop really near the canal.  Sometimes it's right on the canal, like Turners Garage.  Other times there are little boatyards which sell gas cheap.  Prices vary just like diesel prices do.  You just get to know where the cheap places are on your route and time your purchases accordingly, same as with diesel.

This isn't always up to date but may be helpful.  Only shows canalside sellers though.

 

http://diesel.fibrefactory.co.uk/

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Thanks.  Next time in need, I shall try looking beyond the tow path.  But it not always easy.

By the way.  The cheapest setting on the Aldi is.,...

 

The off button.   And use a large kettle on top of stove ??

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