Dealerships that serviced my Alde perfectly

YanniLazarus

It would be useful if T@Bers shared the good news for those of us approaching service time!  Please share your positive experience. 

YanniLazarus

Well, I just called Crowley RV center in Connecticut and made an appointment to have my Alde glycol flushed and changed.   They are an authorized Alde service provider. So far so good:  just a two week wait... and when I sounded nervous about the service they said "we do this all the time!"  I'll let you all know how it goes.   2020 320 here,  by the way...

YanniLazarus

Crowley's did a great job with my alde. They have Connecticut's only certified alde mechanic.  Nice to have new blue glycol!

Sharon_is_SAM

@YanniLazarus - can you share the cost?

xdr

Can anyone recommend any dealers in the southwest? 

thanks!

JP2558

I use this dealer in Grand Rapids, MI to request parts from NuCamp - they are very responsive. We've never had to use them for service so I can't speak to that aspect.

https://www.veurinksrv.com/

YanniLazarus

Not cheap... but I think they are still learning to speak NuCamp.  I have the 320S (2020) with the pretty difficult to get to reservoir tank.   Was 620 bucks plus 170 bucks for glycol.   At least I got to keep the balance of the 5 gallons. I think the only other T@B they've serviced so far is a 400. They did say that they are interested in servicing T@Bs in the future.
said:

@YanniLazarus - can you share the cost?

Dutch061

$790.00? OUCH, I will be doing mine myself and will not be switching from the Century heat transfer fluid. In my opinion, you were fully taken advantage of. Glad you were happy with the "service", that helps to reduce the sting.

At some point in my life as I get older, I will have to pay people to do the things that I am completely capable of. Until then, I will do everything myself possible, and not only for the cost savings. My experiences with paying people to do things is way less than satisfactory and I end up redoing it to get it to my expectation level. Maybe my expectation level is too high? Can it be too high if you are only expecting things to be done correctly the first time? 

Brad

qhumberd

In defense of @YanniLazarus, I would not feel bad about spending the money you did knowing that the job was done correctly and leaving you with the peace of mind to just go camping. RV camping is by no means a necessity for most of us so there will be times we decide to pay more than seems worth it to just get it done. I have certainly moved in that direction for a lot of services that I would have done myself 20 years ago. My time and enjoyment also have a value.

I did the flush and refill on my 400 reluctantly as I could not find anyone close by to perform the service. I think I did it right (thanks again to @ScottG and this forum) and its working fine the last several trips but my savings came with a good bit of anxiety.

Now if you pay and it is not done right, then I agree with @Dutch061. 

Dutch061

The reason for my comments are that $620 for labor seems like about 4 hours (or more). It can't take that long to service "if you are an authorized dealer" and have all of the essential service tools.

I believe that I can assemble what is needed for less than $50.00 for the tools (pump and adapters) and can probably flush and fill in an hour +/-.  

As far as being "done right", your only indication on this would be if they left an air pocket and you had issues with getting heat everywhere.

But I also understand that not everyone has the time, the skill set, or even the desire to do service work themselves.

There is also the factor of "what is my time worth" and what else could I be doing instead. However, in my case the 2 authorized NuCamp Dealers are over 2 hours away. Figure 4 hours of driving, and waiting for the work to be done will quickly pay me for the time of doing it. And that is if they can even do it while you wait, chances are there will be 2 trips involved.

At the end of the day, if the person paying for the work to be done is comfortable with the price quoted, that is all that matters!

Brad

YanniLazarus

I appreciate all your comments, and do feel a little sheepish about how much I spent BUT the ALDE is just too expensive and complicated a piece of equipment for this very committed DIY guy to take on.  Yes, the Crowley tech is an ALDE mechanic, but there are nucamp oddities which make for a learning curve.   His typical service is on an Airstream, not a T@B.  I'm just glad that there is a competent ALDE service alternative in Connecticut, and hope that the price drops with some more experience.  And my easily accessible non DIY alternative was?  I would do it again...

AirBoss

Thought I'd share some info RE: servicing the Alde system in my rig. Some of this has been discussed on other threads but perhaps this can be another resource.

Granted I was forturnate that a nuCamp and Alde authorized service shop was located within :45min from the house. They performed the service in my driveway. What follows is the information that was shared with me yesterday during the servicing. FYI...took just over two hours and cost $360. 

The new Rhomar fluid and the old Century fluid do NOT play well together. It is very important that if you're planning to change out the fluid in your Alde, you must ensure you get ALL the Century fluid out of the system. Otherwise the fluid will react with on another and could result in some serioud issues down the road.

Rig was level side to side. Drain was open, reservoir was open, radiator in shower was lowered to the floor. Trailer was lowered and raised continually using the tongue jack. They pumped somewhere between 8-10 gals. of DI water through the entire system and tested the flow for residual Century fluid over and over until it was entirely clear. They then presurrized the system with air to push out any residual fluid. System was then reflilled with Rhomar fluid, tested for over an hour, air bled, and retested. Fluid level is above mid-level in the reservior. 

Be sure you check the pH levels in the old Century fluid as it's an indicator of the health of the system before it's serviced. Sorry, I didn't make a note of the nominal pH levels but sure you can get that from Alde.

Watching the entire process I'm relatively happy I wrote the check instead of tackling it myself. While I know my way around a toolbox fairly well, this was one system I'd rather entrust to SME's. 

Cheers All, 

xdr

Where was this done? When we had ours changed this summer the techs did not spend near as much time checking that all the old fluid was out. We have had problems since then and will need to take it to a certified Alde tech. 

mary 

manyman297

I’m a pretty avid DIY’er and agree with many of the points @Dutch061 made about choosing to do things yourself (mainly because nobody else can seem to do anything correctly). But the Alde seems intimidating and I also wonder how much of the process I’d retain doing the procedure every two years? 

The main issue I have is there are zero authorized service techs in Utah and the closest one is 4 hours away in Grand Junction, CO. Looks like I’ll need to read up on how to do this myself 

AirBoss

Carlsbad, CA area, north of San Diego.

Enhanced Performance Systems. 

N7SHG_Ham

@AirBoss I have heard good things about that service center and while Central Oregon is a long ways from SD, I have considered making the pilgrimage. Count yourself fortunate to be near that shop.

AirBoss

@N7SHG_Ham,
I've had them here twice for service work of significant scope, both warranty and elective. Always professional, on time, conscientious, and clean. 

I have zero issues recommending them to T@B owners. And hey, make a road trip out of it! It's 80 and sunny all week! ;-)

qhumberd

Thanks @AirBoss for your report. It pretty much convinces me that trying to flush all the Century fluid out of my 2019 on my own would be risky. I noted it took over 15 gal of water just to flush clear on my DIY job, and I then flushed with 5 gal distilled water and refilled with fresh Century. Hoping in next two years the network of techs to make the change to Rhomar will be more robust as I would be happy to have someone with more skill and knowledge do that service. Your cost seemed quite reasonable too.

mickietucs

I second @AirBoss' recommendation of the place in San Diego. I had my Alde serviced by them - great job, reasonable price.

YanniLazarus

Thanks all. This is becoming the useful thread I hoped it would be. 

Denny16

For NorCal, Vogel RV Ukiah (a nüCamp dealer) has a qualified Alde tech, and the need equipment to do the glycol change in a TaB. 

Cheers

N7SHG_Ham

@AirBoss I just came off two weeks PTO, this will need to be spring 2022. Seriously considering it, take a week to ten days driving down to SD could be a vacation the $360 price is better than most guesses I have heard from folks that didn't actually seem too confident in how to do the service. Did that include the new fluid? That alone is something like $150+ if you can even find it. I assume the post with photos over in the NuCamp FB group is your unit? Post by John late yesterday.

AirBoss

Yes, that was all parts (e.g. fluid) and labor including travel. 

Not been on FB for years and no plans to return so can't say what was posted there. 

Might be worth the trip! 

N7SHG_Ham

@AirBoss thanks, that is a good price! Someone just had the century exchanged for century at NuCamp and it was $380.