Alde is kaput

Intrinsic

Hello

The Alde on my 2019 TAB 400 is not working, and I appreciate your help to get it going again.

I am connected to city water, have a good battery charge, and am connected to 20A shore power.  When I turn on the hot water tap, I get good flow, but only cold water. 

I have reset the Alde 120V breaker.
I have removed, checked and replaced both fuses in the Alde unit.
I have unplugged and reset the connections on the top of the Alde unit.
The boiler is cold to the touch.
When I reset the unit, from the control panel, I hear clicks then the fan runs, then the unit stops making any noises.
I have attached photos of the service and setting screens
The glycol tank is at the low marking


Thanks for your help

BridgerSunset

You have selected propane as the heat source, so your propane needs to be functional I believe.
 Not sure of this, as I'm  kinda new to how the Alde runs, but is your choice on the priority screen conflicting with propane?

Intrinsic

Thanks, this is the way the system resets by default.  I corrected the setting, but still its not working.

Does the 2019 Boondock have Alde Flow installed at the factory?  I see that it is the only accessory that is checked.

Thanks

Denny16

The 2019 TaB400 came with the Alde Flo unit, except for a few early year models, not sure of the exact build date when the Flo was added.  You can look under the rear bunk, drivers side and see of you have a Red tank behind the Alde unit.  

Next check you glycol level, tank is in the closet/wardrobe locker on early models, in the front porthole pax side on later models.  You need to see the glycol in the mid tank range.  Low glycol will effect Alde heating correctly.  

The 1KW setting is going to take at least 30minmto heat the glycol, to get hot water.  To heat water when you have the Alde cabin temp set lower than the ambient temp, you need to set the Hot Water/Shower setting to max to get the Flo unit to work.  I would also turn on the Propane and select Propane priority in the menus to get the glycol hot quicker.  This should rule out any issue with the Alde boiler/Flo unit (if you have one).  

I will set my Alde to 1KW, electric only temp setting lower than ambient and see what my unit does, I will repeat with the steps I listed and report back.  I do not have a Flo unit on my Jan 2018 build, missed it by a few months.
Cheers

N7SHG_Ham

On electric, no fan, that is the propane combustion fan and the clicks are the ignition. Turn your propane on and try it.

Electric not working might be that the Alde is unplugged under the bed.

Intrinsic

Thanks for the guidance on the alde flow.

I have checked the plug and the control panel shows that the unit is connected to AC power by displaying the plug icon.  The service display shows that the unit is consuming 0 amps, and the water never heats up.

Any other diagnostic suggestions?

Thanks for the assistance.

Sharon_is_SAM

Turn off the control panel and any AC appliances, then unplug from shorepower.  Turn on the battery switch.  Make sure you can light and operate your stove on gas.  Then turn the Alde back on and see if it works while only on battery and LPG.  

Also, is your Alde bypass valve turned to normal?

Denny16

Yes, the Alde is not turning on, as the control panel is set for a lower temp the the ambient temp.  Try pushing the Shower zircon to get a solid arrow all the way cross, and wait 5min then check amp consumption and after around 15-30, the water temp setting. 

Cheers 

Sharon_is_SAM

When the thermostat is set lower than ambient, the Alde will still turn on and heat water.  The circulation pump will not operate as cabin heat is not called for.  Boosting the shower should hasten water heating if the boiler is operational.

Denny16

Thanks Sharon, I wasn’t sure if the boiler would come on when the temp setting is slower,  I know with the shower/hot water arrow blank (no shading) the boiler does not come on.  I need to add some water to the boiler and test this.  But on 1KW, with arrow at 1/2 mark it is going to take a while to get the glycol heated up enough to get hot water.
 Cheers 

Sharon_is_SAM

Denny, I think one of the nuances of the 3020 is that you can completely turn off water heating as opposed to the 3010 that defaults to a “half shaded” setting.

Sharon_is_SAM

From the manual…

24. Service menu

The following readings are shown here:
Glycol temperature

Hot water temperature

12V power to the furnace

No 12V power to the Alde, but your control panel works.  Did you check the fuse for the Alde in the power center box?

Denny16

Correct Sharon, the 2019 TaB400 has the 3020 Alde, my Jan 2018 TaB400 was built when nüCamp made the switch, and it also has a 3020 Alde.  

Cheers

Denny16

@Intrinsic I think I have worked this out, the Alde Bypass Valve seems to be often overlooked.  When you are not getting hot water from a working Alde system (it heats the cabin and Glycol temp shows it is heated, but you are only getting cold water from the tap, your Alde Bypass Valve is not in Normal mode (red handle horizontal), but vertical in Bypass mode, you are not getting any water in the hot water tank.  See Photo Below for correct setting.  

The Red valve handle on the left (blue arrow) is the Bypass valve.

Also check to make sure their isn’t water coming out of the bottom overflow drain when the City water is connected. If water is coming out the bottom rear drain tube, the yellow flapper valves ( there two of them, one behind the temp control valve is visible in above photo) inside the driver’s side Alde access compartment, need to be in horizontal position also to allow the tank to fill.

The Alde Bypass Vale in the vertical position, prevent cold water from going into the Alde and Flo hot water tanks, but will allow cold water to the rest of the TaB’s plumbing.  I didn’t see a reference to this valve setting in the above discussion, so thought I would mention it.
 Cheers 

JamesC

I recently had an issue where my Alde was working on shore power but didn’t work when we went dry camping. I had added a aftermarket gauge to my propane tank and the Alde did not receive the correct flow of propane even though my stove top was working fine. Apparently it’s very sensitive to propane flow. As soon as I removed the gauge it lit right up and worked fine the rest of the trip. Hope this helps. 

Sierra

On the subject of hot water. We just had our glycol replaced (No idea if it's related) and I just de-winterized the system. When I tested the system to heat water it has a terrible squealing hum. Only in hot water mode. Goes away when I turn off the water. It does appear to heat the water though. Any thoughts? Wonder if it is sucking hard against a blockage perhaps??