Odd partial heating "failure" this weekend.

ChrisKChrisK Member Posts: 270
We are camping down in Tucson this weekend and it got pretty cold (for us) last night. Got down to freezing. We noticed last night before bed that the Alde was having a hard time keeping up (69 with it set to 72). No problem, we grabbed an extra quilt out just in case. We woke up this morning to 59 in the camper. We've never had it dip that low even when it got to 30 and snow in Bisbee. The heat was coming out of the vents but was very weak. No errors on the panel but I noticed I didn't really hear the circulation pump running even though the panel showed it to be. I pulled up the cushion and found it wasn't running. The output lines on the Alde were hot but the input lines were just warm. I turned the speed control knob on the pump up a bit and it kicked on. Soon  after this, all the lines were hot and the camper warmed up to 72 as usual.
Wonder if the speed control knob had just "adjusted" itself over time through all the vibrations of the miles and highway bumps or if this is a sign of future failure. Might order a pump to have just in case. That will guarantee the original won't fail. 
2014 T@b S Max AKA T@dpole

Comments

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 834
    edited January 2022
    Sounds like you had air in your lines. This happened to me when I changed the glycol last year but I think it can happen for other reasons. Turn your Alde pump on continuous circulate (at the control box) instead of the pump being controlled by the thermostat. Then increase the glycol pump speed (near Alde under the bed) to 4 or 5. If there is air in the lines this will clear it at the holding tank. You will hear and see bubbles of air coming up in the container. This exact thing happened to me and this is what the forum folks said to do and it worked!  Sounds like this is what you already did though to fix it. 
  • Sharon_is_SAMSharon_is_SAM Administrator Posts: 9,461
    @ChrisK - were you on electric, LPG or electric and LPG?  In very cold weather, it is good to run both.  When the cabin temp drops below the thermostats by a couple degrees, the LPG will kick on and bring up the cabin temp.  The input lines will be less hot than the Alde output lines as they have given up some of their heat.  
    Make sure the vents under the benches are unobstructed and crack a window and ceiling vent to help circulate air.  The heat works via convection.  Most 320s need a pump setting under 2.  
    Sharon / 2017 T@B CSS / 2015 Toyota Sienna Minivan / Westlake, Ohio
  • ChrisKChrisK Member Posts: 270
    edited January 2022
    thanks for all the suggestions. As I said, all worked as soon as I turned up the pump a bit. Just throwing this out there for those that might experience this
    2014 T@b S Max AKA T@dpole
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