Using Alde heating at storage yard

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You do not need to have water in your water system to use the Alde heating.

Just turn it on manually using gas, or you can set it to start automatically at a set time via the control panel.

We also have a Swift Group van, but older, 2008, so no fancy Command system.

Our handbook does tell us how to set the  control panel on the Alde to turn on heating at a specific time and day, up to 7 days ahead.

However, if you cannot work out the instructions, I would put on a small fan heater on 2 kw on arrival on site, plus the Alde on gas only.  The van will soon warm up, the fan heater will provide instant heat.  Once warm, turn off fan heater and put Alde on electric only.

We always carry a small fan heater, good for back up, and in case of Alde failure.

 

I would check the T&C’s of your storage yard. Ours certainly stipulates that gas must be turned off. Running a gas appliance, particularly if not present, when vans are parked within feet of each other is unwise in my opinion. Unless it’s very cold the van soon warms up if the 3Kw setting is used initially, once on site.

I don't heat the van before we leave home for a site...although we have the advantage of being able to use the cab heater (or the hab heating) en route.

re Steve's point....agree perhaps not with an unoccupied van, but quite a few aires have vans 'fairly adjacent' and on a winter stopover to Spain, folk will certainly have their heating (and probably fridges) on using gas. We certainly do.

As has been mentioned you do not need electricity or water to work the Alde, just use gas.  We have no facilities at our storage yard either.  We have turned on the Alde (on gas) heating occasionally whilst we did things in the caravan in the storage yard.  As long as you don’t leave the van unattended it should be ok for an hour, although that may not do much!  We now tend to move the van to a local CL, or local site, for the night before we leave for a break so we can pack up more easily and leave the heating on for some hours.  Adds an extra days cost but we have found it easier for us. 

To be effective warming up a caravan from storage one needs to leave open all cupboard and locker doors, oven and grill doors, and prop the bed(s) up. It is not just the air that is trapped that needs heated up, but the inside surfaces. A fan heater moving the air about is a fairly good way of getting heat into all the nooks and crannies.

That’s brilliant….thanks for all your replies…some great advice…..👍😃

The first trip of the year for our van is to our dealer for service in early March, we usually turn on some heating for a few days beforehand as the van feels very cold and "damp" inside otherwise, even though it is not actually damp (hopefully anyway!).

Then our first trip away will be late March, when we do ramp up the temperature for a couple of days while packing  the van.  Being a 2008  model, our insulation is not as good as newer vans, and our Alde is only 2kw on electricity, so heating it up does take a while.

We never bother to preheat the caravan even in winter and just turn the heat up high on arrival at the first pitch. Alde heating on electric even on the 3 kw setting can take a couple of hours or more but you can boost it by using gas. We do however bring the mattress indoors at home a couple of days before a winter trip and if you have room you could add the seat base cushions. 

We are all different, but the idea of putting my heating on before a trip has never even crossed my mind. I cannot see much is to be gained by it (except to check it is working). 

On cold days, I do tend to put my cab heater on full blast, whilst in transit, to take the chill off the living quarters. I admit it does not have a big impact, especially in the case of Sevel bases in which the cab heaters remain notoriously inefficient, but it helps a bit. Then on goes the Alde heating once I am hooked up and it soon warms up. I rarely use gas at all on my Alde heating, just occasionally when very cold and I want to get it up to heat as quickly as possible; I am not even sure it makes any difference to the time it takes. I am not technically savvy!! I realise you would have to use gas when in storage. 

My storage site conditions include this:

In order to comply with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 all gas bottles [are] to be switched off when the caravan is on site.  

Presumably such regulations would apply to all storage sites.