2023 400 Drains, etc

pthomas745

A FB member took some photos of the drains under the trailer. Seems to be a couple of changes, but I am no expert.

1.  The low point drains, and tank overflow.  Is this a new spot for the fresh water tank drain valve?  And the overflow?

2.  Alde Yellow Flapper drains.  Dual Glycol drains?

3.  Trying to sort out exactly where/what this is.

4 Air conditioner drain?

4.  Don't know what this is.

Denny16

The clear hoses on no 2 look like the yellow pressure relief valve drains, based on their locstion.  I would like to see the top view inside the Alde compartment to confirm this. The black tubes with the red plugs are the two Alde Glycol service/drain tubes, that are connected to the Alde glycol service pump, which pumps,out the old,fluid and pumps in the new replacement fluid, to reduce labor costs for this every two year service.
 Cheers 

DaveC

I have a 2023 400 BD with the drain valves shown above by pthomas745. If I drain them after a trip, will it drain the Alde hot water tank, or do I need to tear my bed apart to get to the mythical Yellow Valves?  One the reasons I traded up to a 400 was so I didn't have to mess with the bed!

MuttonChops

DaveC said:
. . . If I drain them after a trip, will it drain the Alde hot water tank, or do I need to tear my bed apart to get to the mythical Yellow Valves?

While I cannot answer your question, you could do an easy test to decide . . . .

After your next trip
  ---  Use the Hot/Cold Low Point Drains
  ---  Then activate the two (if equipped) Alde Yellow Valves (one for furnace tank, one for extended HW)

What happened?
Did you hear or see on the ground extra water discharge?

Side Note:  The Alde Furnace Tank Yellow Valve should be dumped every 10-days
                   to 're-fresh' the tank's air cushion.

bergger

Some have said that just emptying the hot and cold drains will drain the Alde, from my experience it requires opening the yellow flapper valves under the bed to fully drain it.  That is what I do after each camping trip.  With the way we have our bed set up, factory mattress and our Exped topper mattress it is very easy to fold in over and open the drains.  If it is difficult for you to access the valves and you camp often you can probably just do it every other trip or so and be fine.  

Binghi

I agree, and would add that not only do you need to use the yellow flapper valves under the bed to fully drain the Alde tank, you also need to use them periodically to bleed the tank (manual says after every 10 days of use but that is overly demanding considering the hassle) in order to maintain an air cushion in the system to insure the flow of hot water and eliminate air hammer when you open and close the faucet valves. You don’t need to drain the entire tank to create the air cushion - opening the valves for 10-15 seconds should do the trick. Opening the low water valves in the Nautilus compartment won’t get these jobs done. That’s my experience anyway.