Alde 3020 - heat only from bed vents

Tenacity

 I am currently having the same problem as @lisadbricker and @AmyS, where the Alde 3020 unit gets QUITE HOT, and there is plenty of heat coming up behind the bed/couch, a little bit of heat coming through one of the bench vents, but no heat coming out of the floor vents (3 of them - all cold)  I am in a 2020 T@B 320S Boondock Edge.   Did either of you figure out what the issue was?  

Denny16

First, the vents under the cabinets in the floor are not heat vents, they are cold air return vents, to allow cool air from the floor to be drawn up into the Alde heat convectors as they heat up, and rise up through the convectors (radiator looking silver units) and come up,into the cabin from the back of the TaB, and along the sides.  It is a natural convection heat flow, where warm/hot air risers up, pulling cold air through the heaters and warms it up.  You are not going to get hot air from the floor vents, and the Alde is not a fan/forced air system.

In the photo below of a TaB400 (not mine, but a latter model) cold air is drawn up through the floor vent (blue line/arrow) goes through the convector located in the wood surround under the table, and comes up as hot air through the top vents (red line/arrow) and into the cabin area.  The TaB320 works the same way, except the heat convectors are under the side and rear seat areas, and heat comes up along the wall from behind the seats:

TAOSMAC

After adding additional glycol to the expansion tank i was able to test my hot water system. Before the test I raised the inner valve below the black cap of the mixing valve. I set the inner valve level just above the rim. Creed with tech support at NuCamp provided a link to a “how to” video that provided the steps to adjust the valve. My hot water system is now providing consistent hot water. 

I would like to thank everyone for their input to help solve my Alde Heating and Hot Water issues. All systems are working!

Tenacity

Sharon_is_SAM said:

Someone in the last week wrote about how they were able to get the air out of their glycol lines.  Anybody remember that thread?

Still searching for an answer: Yes hot water, No Hot air (no heater).

The unit isn't making the same sounds as when it was working properly.  Meaning, there is no sound of the boiler igniting, and where you could usually hear the glycol gurgling as is normal, there is no sound from that unit at all. The brass valve next to the boiler is getting hot, which is normal, but the RV is not getting any heat.

I cannot find any information on how to bleed the lines in a TaB 320S (all of the instructions are for the 400). 

Following / reading all these threads
Thanks,
Donna

Bayliss

@Tenacity, your Alde may be configured slightly different than mine (e.g., where the bleeder valve(s) are located), but the attached manual may help.

My bleeder valve is located in the far passenger side rear corner of the trailer, below the rear cabinets.  Unfortunately, it is not easy to access and I have never had to do it, so I do not know what type of gymnastics I would have to go through to access it.

I know it has been discussed on the Forum in the past, so if it is not in the links I sent you (or those below), and you found nothing by doing a Forum search, hopefully someone that has some real world experience with it will share their thoughts.

This video will give you a start....................

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2QbgomhJww

AND, here's a discussion re the bleeder valve in a 2021 T@B 320 S:

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/13245/newer-alde-bleeder-tube-location

SO MUCH READING FOR YOU......................SORRY.  Many of us on this Forum, including you, no doubt, have done a ton of reading on the Alde and other aspects of the T@B models to try to get a handle on these problems that pop up all too often.  I guess it is just part of the ownership experience.  Fortunately, this is a wonderful forum for collaborating and everyone does a great job of helping each other out.  I have learned a great deal from everyone's insight and really appreciate it.  I always learn from situations like you are currently dealing with, so I hope your troubleshooting gets to the bottom of it.

Tenacity

Yes indeed there is a bleeder valve on the 2020 320S. 

It's located behind/under the shelf at the back of the RV. INSIDE the shelf unit, there are two screws on the left, two on the right, and three screws in the front of the box. This will loosen the box, but it's still difficult to remove.  It's necessary to pull it straight up, but due to the curve of the back wall, you also have to tilt it toward you as you lift.  

Remove the triangles so you have room to move. The bleeder valve is on the passenger side, directly under the triangle cubby. Since it is "downhill" from the glycol unit, I opened the bleeder valve with the Alde unit OFF (not circulating).

I also removed the cover under the bench (passenger side).  I found some A/C hoses but no bleeder valves over there. 

Unfortunately, this did not solve my problem.  Perhaps a call to Alde will be necessary on Monday.

How much fluid should I allow to bleed out of that valve?  I nearly soaked a small terry-cloth washrag. Is that enough? 
Donna

Tenacity

Bayliss said:

@Tenacity, your Alde may be configured slightly different than mine (e.g., where the bleeder valve(s) are located), but the attached manual may help.

Found it - seems to be only one - under the passenger side triange-cubby.

Thanks for posting all this information.  This is not the first time I've run out of glycol, so maybe I'll put in on my calendar to check it quarterly (I'm full time) because it's a headache EVERY time. 

Still haven't found the problem, but I did find the bleeder valve. 
Thanks again!

Tenacity

apparently - I also need an education on how to REPLY to a specific person.

Bayliss

@Tenacity, it may be best to contact Alde/Truma for any advice they have, plus see if you can find a dealer to help diagnose what is causing the problem.  I do not know where you are located, but contact Alde/Truma to see if they can refer you to a local dealer.  Another good option, if they will help you out (sometimes they will, sometimes not), is an Airstream dealer.  Maybe a complete draining and refill will resolve the issue and let you get back to enjoying camping.

As I previously mentioned, I have never had to bleed my glycol line, so about all I can share is what I have read on the Forum, Alde manual, etc.  Regardless, from everything I have read, you probably have bled it sufficiently, but it is hard to say.  If there was air in the line, you would likely have seen it bubbling out.  If not, then there is probably no need to keep doing that.

One thing that is very important to be aware of is that you do not want to run the circulation pump while bleeding the line, because that could actually introduce air into the system.  Hopefully, you also tried running the pump on the "continuous" setting, with the circulation pump manually set at 4 or 5 as I previously described.  If there is air in the line, it will likely be visible bubbling out of the line and into the glycol reservoir tank.  From what I have read, that often solves the problem of a persistent air lock.

I know there are other owners on the Forum who have some experience with bleeding the glycol line, so it would be helpful if they could add to (or even correct?) the information I have provided.  I had hoped that you would find some helpful tips if you read through all the discussion links I provided, or the Alde manual, but apparently they haven't been sufficient as far as resolving the specific issue you have encountered.

One last thing...........when filling your glycol reservoir/tank, the glycol level should be about 1/2" above the Minimum ("Min") level when the tank is cool/cold.

P.S.  Earlier, I have responded to your specific situation in the following discussion: https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/17137/alde-not-heating-camper#latest , so things might be a bit confusion for others reading this, which is why I have added that discussion link.

qhumberd

Tenacity said:

Sharon_is_SAM said:

Someone in the last week wrote about how they were able to get the air out of their glycol lines.  Anybody remember that thread?

Still searching for an answer: Yes hot water, No Hot air (no heater).

The unit isn't making the same sounds as when it was working properly.  Meaning, there is no sound of the boiler igniting, and where you could usually hear the glycol gurgling as is normal, there is no sound from that unit at all. The brass valve next to the boiler is getting hot, which is normal, but the RV is not getting any heat.

I cannot find any information on how to bleed the lines in a TaB 320S (all of the instructions are for the 400). 

Following / reading all these threads
Thanks,
Donna

@Tenacity, After I read this again I am concerned that you hear no glycol gurgling. If you have the Alde 3020 with the Flow for extra hot water, there are 2 circulation pumps on the unit. One is for the hot water (which seems to be working) and one is for the convectors which usually starts behind the unit at the bed and goes around the cabin, ending at the reservoir.

One test could be to find the pump to the convectors on your unit and turn the pump up to 5. In my unit when you do that that you can hear the pump and the glycol will really churn in the reservoir.
The circular black thing in the diagram is the primary circulation pump and has a small red arrow or something like that to adjust the speed from 1 to 5. It is usually set on about 2. If you turn it up to 5 it should be quite obvious. If it does nothing then something is wrong with the pump or the power to the pump. If you have air in the convector lines that the auto bleed (the gold thing above) does not remove, often turning the circulator pump up will clear the air at the reservoir (this is what works when doing a glycol flush).

So if you have not tried adjusting the pump I would try that and see if you can hear or feel it operating.

Good luck

Tenacity

qhumberd Yes - I have tried turning up the dial to 5 for a while.

Thank you for noticing in my post that there is NO SOUND.  

Usually, I can hear the boiler ignite, just before the glycol gurgles, but neither sound is happening. 

Personally, I think the pump has burned out.

qhumberd

@Tenacity If you cannot feel vibration in the pump on 5 and no glycol sounds then the pump is not working. Burned out versus just not getting power. I don't know about the wiring enough to guide you there but as the photo shows it is visible and connected in line so should not be a challenge to remove and replace. Would call the support folks at Alde to confirm and see if someone can test and swap that pump.

As you have hot water, do you have a second pump going to Alde Flow tank, or not? If so you could turn the hot water to max on the control board (30 min of max hot water) and then see if you can feel that pump working for comparison. It also has a control 1 to 5 and is usually set at 2. Mine is a bit further back under the bed on my 400 but it is accessible so hoping yours will be as well.

The NO SOUND as you mentioned is pretty diagnostic that the pump is not operating.

But with having hot water it implies something is circulating glycol to keep your water hot, and I suspect that is the Flow pump, but only you would know if you have that pump.

QH

Tenacity

Hello All,

Following up on my situation involving the Alde 3020 (which had glycol, but was not turning ON)... The problem turned out to be a FAULTY MOTHERBOARD. 

This was determined by an Alde Mobile-RV technician who was referred by the Alde hotline. The tech said the warranty would cover it, (even tho I'm the second owner) so that was cool.  He also said that I didn't do anything to cause it.  So THAT's good.

Then he changed the glycol fluid (from the yellow-green stuff) to a light blue one. 

Everything is back to normal and working fine!

Thanks for your help!
Donna