Did I Ruin My Alde/Hot Water Heater? T@B 400

[Deleted User]

Hi Guys, I decided today to plug in the 400 to charge up the batteries. I didn't realize I had left the Alde in the on position the last camping trip. So when I went back to unplug it much to my surprise the camper was toasty warm!!!!  Uh Oh! I left the Alde on AND the shower symbol was in the first level position meaning the hot water heater was on WITHOUT ANY WATER IN THERE!!! Did I ruin it do you think? I know you can run the Alde without water, but what about the hot water heater! Does it have a dummy switch where it cuts itself off if there is no water in there?? Gosh I hope sooo because I'm a dummy!!!!!!!

ScottG

There is no "hot water heater" per se.

The heaters (electric or propane) warm glycol fluid contained within the Alde. The fluid is contained in a jacket that surrounds the hot water tank and heats the water contained therein, if there is water contained therein.

To warm the cabin the same glycol is circulated through the fin-tube convector heaters.

In short, The Alde doesn't care if there is water in the tank and you didn't damage anything. RDWHAHB and camp on!  :-)

[Deleted User]

Oh awsome! Thanks so much for the quick reply.  I was picturing a heater element somewhere getting super over heated!  Soooo what is the purpose for turning on the little shower icon then?  Perhaps that directs the glycol to go in additional areas to maximize the contact with the water tank?

I will do as directed and RDWHAHB (thanks to google I know what that means now!)

atlasb

I think I read somewhere, in the Alde manual, if you are heating the cabin with the alde then switch the shower boost on, it diverts that energy to heating water and reduces the cabin heat.  Some one might know if this is the case or not.

db_cooper

Warning thread hijack coming.

@ScottG homebrewer by chance?

webers3

You are correct @atlasb, specifically the hot water boost stops the circulation pump from circulating the glycol through the convection heaters in the cabin and thus concentrating the hot glycol in the water heater. It resets the boost after, I think, 10 minutes.

N7SHG_Ham

The only thing you shouldn't do is run the Alde at ALL if it has RV antifreeze in it. Some dealers I have heard do that instead of bypassing and draining. It won't probably hurt to have the antifreeze in there as long as you don't heat it. Otherwise if it is empty, no damage as mentioned and that is in the manual.

ScottG

db_cooper said:

Warning thread hijack coming.

@ScottG homebrewer by chance?

Yep. Not religiously, but I do a few batches a year of my favorites.

And, to keep the discussion on topic, sometimes I even take some camping!  :-)

lkc001

If you were to leave your hot water heater "on" in any kind of RV that has the typical hot water heater, it would have been ruined for sure, but the Alde is different, as explained above.

[Deleted User]

I love the Alde...now I have another reason to love it more!