2021 T@B 400 De-winterizing

pthomas745

Welcome to the Forums!  This subject is a little fuzzy until you actually can see the different parts of the trailer.

The Alde "glycol" is a "heat transfer fluid".  The Alde heats this fluid and it travels around the trailer in a separate, closed system of pipes and convectors to warm the trailer. This "transfer fluid" does not need any "winterizing".

The Alde hot water tank is connected to the rest of the trailer's water plumbing system.  Water travels into the Alde hot water tank.  The water inside the tank is heated at the same time as the glycol in the heating system.   The hot water and the hot glycol are in completely separate systems of pipes.

During winterizing, that water in the Alde hot water tank must be drained, and you will find many references on the "yellow valve" that does the draining.  This is the only part of the Alde that is involved in winterizing.  To prevent RV antifreeze from reaching the Alde hot water tank, there are "bypass" valves that prevent Rv antifreeze from reaching the tank. 

The rest of the plumbing: water pipes, faucets, pump, drains, waste tanks, any where water can collect and freeze, are the parts involved in winterizing.  This also includes the fresh water tank, which is what you are referring to as the "domestic water tank".  RV antifreeze can be in the trailer's fresh water tank, and as long as the Alde is properly "bypassed", that antifreeze would not get into the Alde's hot water tank.

Binghi

Just make sure that the Nautilis system is set to “Winterize” when you siphon in your RV antifreeze. “Winterize” is one of the modes on the chart that is printed on the back wall of the Nautilus. The chart shows you how each valve is to be positioned. In Winterize mode, the Alde hot water tank is bypassed and you do not run the risk of injecting antifreeze into it. Keep in mind that the “Alde” has two components. One is the glycol system to heat the trailer. The other is the hot water tank to heat your domestic water. They are separate systems.

Sharon_is_SAM

@B11 The Alde glycol tank is separate from the Alde water tank which wraps around the glycol tank. The heated glycol then heats the water tank.  When you winterize, you only add antifreeze to displace water in plumbing lines and fixtures.  Since the Alde water tank can simply be drained, there is no need for antifreeze in the Alde water tank.  The way to avoid getting antifreeze into the Alde water tank is to bypass the Alde as you add antifreeze.  If you don’t bypass the Alde (used the bypass lever on pre 2021 models or proper Nautilus settings) then antifreeze can enter the Alde water tank.  I hope this helps.

(The antifreeze liquid below is the glycol.)

Denny16

The hot water tank in the TaB400 is in the Alde boiler (which uses glycol to heat the cabin) but a second tank surrounds the heater (glycol) tank (see Sharon’s diagram above), and an auxiliary heater is in the Flo unit, which uses the heated glycol from the mail boiler to pre-heat the cold water, to give you more hot water.  

Since cold water lines pass through both the Flo tank and main boiler (water is warm to hot by this time after going through the Flo tank) then to the hot water lines coming out of the Alde boiler.  So domestic water passes through the Alde system to get hot water.  This is separate from the cabin heat closed loop glycol system.

It gets confusing, but just think of the Flow as a hot water pre heater and then the main Alde boiler finishes heating the water.  So if you winterize via the Nautilus system, and the Red Alde bypass valve is set incorrectly, the RV antifreeze can get in the hot water tanks.  

If this happens, no issue, but you should not use the Alde heater to warm the trailer, until you drain the RV antifreeze from the hot water tank.  This is what the precaution was about.  A May delivery TaB will probably arrive in normal condition, not Winterized.
Welcome aboard and happy camping
cheers

RMo

De-winterizing posts!  My favorite indicator of springtime approaching!

bergger

-17 at my house yesterday morning and still snow piled up to our windows!  Unfortunately for me we won't be able to get the trailer out for another 2 months.  Guess we'll just have to keep skiing and truck camping.  

GrandmasKid

  It would be best for me to de-winterize in my driveway and I read somewhere that RV antifreeze can be reused. Therefor I'd like to drain as much antifreeze out as I can and save it without mixing it with water. I'm not sure how to go about this and would appreciate any help. I was careful to follow the Nautilus P3 instructions to winterize without putting fluid in the Alde hot water tank. We have a 2021 T@B 400 BD.

manyman297

GrandmasKid said:

  It would be best for me to de-winterize in my driveway and I read somewhere that RV antifreeze can be reused. Therefor I'd like to drain as much antifreeze out as I can and save it without mixing it with water. I'm not sure how to go about this and would appreciate any help. I was careful to follow the Nautilus P3 instructions to winterize without putting fluid in the Alde hot water tank. We have a 2021 T@B 400 BD.

Your best bet is to winterize by blowing out your lines with air first to get rid of as much water as possible. Anti-freeze is somewhat cheap but if you're wanting to save it for environmental purposes then blowing as much water out as possible beforehand would be the best way to eliminate water from  your lines. With that said, I blew my lines out and still had some water in them when I went to dewinterize. It wasn't a lot but I'm sure reusing it would increase my chances of lines freezing.