Alde water heating problems

emerbrains

I am having issues with my 3010 Alde system in my 2016 T@b Model S.  I have heat, and have power both electric and propane.  I get very hot water for about a minute, then cold.  I have checked mixing valve and think I have it set correctly and have attached pic.  I have checked shut off valves and think I have them set correctly and have attached pics.  Plenty of glycol in tank and again have heat, also have attached control panel pics where I have electrical (110) power in and again I get heat.  Not ready to give in and go to expensive dealer yet, but am at a loss to what to do at this point.  Maybe the mixer valve or shut off valves incorrectly set???  

ChanW

Many people have mentioned that the mixing valve needs to be 'recalibrated', by adjusting the knob stopping point.

Do a search for "mixing valve" here, or paste the following into your browser search bar:

site:tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com "mixing valve" adjusting

emerbrains

I looked at those comments, and it seems they have a different type of mixing valve, with + and - settings.  There was one comment from someone with the same valve showing what position NOT to put it in.  

Bayliss

@emerbrains, do you by chance have a photo of your entire Alde compartment connections?  That would help in seeing how everything is hooked up.  I am unclear as to where the blue (cold) water line in the upper right hand corner of your third photo goes.  I do not have the Alde 3010 model, but rather the Alde 3020.  If I recall correctly, that particular water line on mine goes to the cold inlet side of the Alde hot water tank, and also to the mixing valve.  Therefore, I am assuming that the cold water line I am asking about feeds the cold water into the bottom of the Alde tank.

I have never seen the mixing valve knob like you have.  So, just a guess here (and hopefully someone who has that particular knob on their 3010 will chime in), but it seems like the part labeled "COLD" should be aligned with the blue PEX line (in the right upper corner of your first photo) and the "HOT" aligned opposite of that, which would place the "OPEN" part of the knob lined up with the red PEX line in your first photo.

If I am understanding the labeling on that knob correctly, in my suggested configuration it would seem that you would then be pulling hot water from the Alde (using the line that enters from the left of your first photo) and cold from the blue pipe to the right.  They mix together and exit (to the shower/sink) where I am suggesting that the "OPEN" label should be aligned (i.e., the red PEX line in the first photo.)

Also, I am not sure how to set it on your version of the 3010 model, but I believe that the pump should be on "Therm" rather than "Continuous," so maybe give that a try as well.  Other than that, maybe one of the small fuses at the Alde itself has blown.

Sorry for the guesswork, but I hope it helps.  Good luck!

ScottG

I can confirm your control panel and valve settings all look okay. You should be getting plenty of hot water. I have the same configuration--except for the mixing valve--and I get plenty of hot water. Makes me suspect the mixing valve is the culprit, but I have no solutions to offer beyond what others have suggested.

Sharon_is_SAM

Here is something from the Yahoo Group.  Maybe it will help.  Different valve, but same style.  It appears your other valves are positioned correctly. 

 Have you used the Alde water heater before without problems?

Sharon_is_SAM

This from Rollinglagrima back in 2016:  Check out her mixing valve position.  It looks like your “off” position should be where there is no water line, then it looks like everything will line up.

This was exactly my scenario as well, sort of.

Alde heater worked fine in the cabin, water was coming out of both hot and cold shower valves, but it was not hot water. At Joshua Tree, at 3am during a bout of insomnia and in a "I am going to figure this out by day break" mood, I pulled up all the bedding and located a mixing valve down in the guts of the Alde under the driver's side rear cushions and cranked it in the opposite direction of where it was. After that, I had hot water. Awesome!  

I will add that my mixing valve/knob/dial does not look like the black one pictured above.  I don't know at what point they switched to the black one. My T@B is 2016 Sofitel S Maxx shipped from factory to dealer in July 2015.  Below are pics of mine in case others have this one instead.  In this position (how I received it from dealer) I had no hot water. 

DurangoTaB

I see you have the gas off and elec on...you’ll get 2 gals do hot water then it’ll take a while to heat up more.  Turn on the gas and you’ll see a big difference.