Alde / Webasto / heat & hot water

[gerrym51]

Originally Posted by markopolo

Gerry posted:

That would be good info made more widely available if that is affecting some users. We could focus on finding solutions and that would be really beneficial for others having the same issues.

Needs to be in a new topic though.

Marko-when roadtrek first went to using the Alde- iresearched it versus the Webasto.

of course most of the experience with these is in europe.

the consensus among most blogs/posts/etc from these camperswas this

that.

the webasto blower heating/like say the suburban propane/comes on practically right away(dependending on thermostat setting).and warms you up pretty quick. however getting hot water(again this is from cold water not already heated) is pretty slow. however this may be watched pot syndrome.

the consensus on the Alde-since it is a propane hot water heater(which can use electric supplement) is that hot water is quick-but because it heats by using radiant heat it warms up a cold cabin very slowly but once it's at full woking capacity is it is very good. best use i've read is to set a time start(it has that ability) say 4 am so when you get up the place is warm. starting cold when you get up it can be a long cold wait.

i'm editing this because of something Davydd said in a later post-the Alde also has an heat exchanger funcrion like the espar and uses engine heat to also heat things

[markopolo]

Would those who have had both the traditional Suburban forced air furnace and and newer Alde or Webasto please give us your opinion on the difference or similarities between the heating characteristics of the units. (specify Alde or Webasto please)

Also, would those who have had both the traditional Suburban or Atwood water heater and and newer Alde or Webasto please give us your opinion on the difference or similarities between the heating characteristics of those units. (specify Alde or Webasto please)

I don't have any experience with an Alde or Webasto but would like to know how they compare to traditional units.

[Davydd]

There are Aldi, Webasto and Suburban systems in Class Bs. There is a fourth that we are getting and that is the Espar diesel heating and hot water on demand heat exchanger system in the Advanced RV. I'll soon know how it works and hope it doesn't have a drawback of working for heating and not hot water or hot water and not heating. This is Mike Neundorfer explaining how it all works.

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The bonus is the explanation for how your fresh water tank and water lines are protected in cold weather.

[mlts22]

Truma entered the market as well here in the US. They are a staple in Europe, and pretty much the standard for "B"s over there, since their unit does water heating and a furnace, and works on both electric and propane.

Truma has some pretty nice features on their offerings. Their water heater is designed to passively dump at 35 degrees so it won't freeze with water in it. You can also get an option for a secondary, smaller heating system which is designed to just keep the tank above freezing.

I was quite pleasantly surprised when Winnebago started speccing this, because it does a great job at getting rid of needing both room for a furnace, and room for a water heater which either has to be attached to a wall or electric only. It just needs position for one pipe to the outside, and works with both LP gas and electric.

[Davydd]

Times have changed. If I remember from 10 years ago when we bought our first Class B every Class B converter was pretty much using the 6 gallon propane Suburban water heater. There wasn't a lot of variety in anything then in appliances and equipment and most all were similarly set up. It pretty much came down to type of van, plan layout and quality of cabinetry when I first started looking. There was much less of a price spread as well.

[mlts22]

Even just 3-4 years ago, before Dometic/SMEV sinks and stoves became the norm, you pretty much knew what you were going to get, be it the above six gallon water heater, the furnace, the usual propane system, and the couch bed in the back.

Maybe it is good there is a renaissance in "B"s, especially with the fact that there are a lot of new and cool technologies, be it RT's engine generator technology, the European companies coming to the US with innovative appliances, multiple van chassis options to choose from (it was just a year ago when the Sprinter was it. Now, we have three viable options, all with diesel options.)

I'm hoping for more all in one appliances. I am going to be quite happy when someone makes a fridge that uses a propane fuel cell (like Truma's VeGa) and a compressor fridge... perhaps even a small lithium ion battery as well. This would completely make absorption fridges obsolete, and may even be another useful charging source, especially at night.

[bobojay]

Was reading one of my regular RV blogs the other day. The writer is one of Truma's North American guinea pig prototype users.
In the blog he has nothing but praise about the Truma hwh they got installed for the test, which is the middle model they are selling here, the one with the small tank in the hwh that keeps the temp at 103 degrees constant. This way you have no wait for the heater to get up to temp while wasting water flow.
By the way, the first six months of their install, Truma sent a tech out to their locations monthly to hook up a computer to the hwh to download any trouble codes etc, if any. No reported problems during that time.
Their original deal with Truma was we'll put one in for you for 6 month, if during that 6 months you don't want it any more or have issues, we'll come out and change back to your old one or fix our Truma wherever you are, no cost. They've decided to keep the Truma