Persistent Overheat Red Fail 2018 T@B 400

dvgibson

I have been plagued with a pesky Overheat Red Fail after a glycol refresh. It has plenty of glycol, the circulator is running, do not hear any bubbles, but it was splashing a lot for a while, and I have had to add more to bring the level back up. I checked the bleeder in the bath under the shower, nothing but liquid comes out, ran it for awhile with tongue up, tongue down. No leaks, am on pavement so would be easy to see. And boosted the circulator to 5 for a while, now back down to 1.5.  But it gets to 160 F and the propane heat shuts off and Red Fail. And note: all the radiators are hot, fluid seems to be moving around fine.  Circulator is still running. Camper is winterized, domestic water drained now, but it was behaving the same for this past season. Yes, though 4000 miles of travel, you would think that would move air bubbles around. Is it the hot water tank going to 176 F causing the Red Fail? 

What else can I look for? 

This photo was taken seconds after it failed:

Sharon_is_SAM

@dvgibson - please follow the nuCamp directions provided below.  In addition to all your maneuvers, you need to “reset” the Alde. 

https://nucamprv.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/44001816806-red-overheat-fail

dvgibson

Thank you, Sharon. I have reset it many times, which is a pain, but I am pretty good at it now.  My maneuvers are from following all suggestions in that link.  Many times. 

pthomas745

I love my Alde...but the error messages and the manual might as well be written in an alien language by people who have never lived with an Alde.  This is the page from the Service manual (it is a little "old", and has different names for the error messages.)  Note how the "blue fail" and the "red fail" are essentially...the same error.  Once the glycol is cleared of "air" (how much air can it have, really?) then it is a part failure, not an "air in the glycol" failure.

Sharon_is_SAM

@dvgibson - I am not sure of the temperature limits of the Red Overheat Fail.  I wonder if it needs a new thermostat?  Have you contacted Tech@nucamprv.com?

dvgibson

I will do that. I do not think it is really overheating, liquid is circulating fine and it says only 160 F when it fails. But I fear that is something inside the box, not so easy to repair. Not any dealers near to me. :(  Thanks. 

dvgibson

Well, this baffles me, I am an engineer and i have built a number of hydronic heating systems and know they can be tricky to bleed but this one I could not figure out. I also do electronic hardware, software and so when I found an option in the Alde controls to do a factory reset of the computer I decided to try it. Presto! It has been running fine through some very cold, well below freezing weather for 3 days now! The rather vigorous gurgling in the expansion tank is now quite calm and the inside temps are a nice 62 F.

Sharon_is_SAM

@dvgibson Can you be more specific with what you did to reset?

dvgibson

Will do, Sharon. It was you suggestion about maybe the thermostat needed replacing that got me to thinking that maybe the software was not responding to it correctly and I found the Reset on the Alde Settings menu. Here is a photo:



Just press Reset, it asks if you really want to and does it. Then set you preferences for gas/elec, temp, etc again. Pretty simple. 

Sharon_is_SAM

@dvgibson - I can't see your photo using Chrome or Safari.  Is the reset within the Alde Control Panel?

dvgibson

Yes, under Settings (the gear),  The same screen as the Service. Do you see the photo I posted with my original post? I have refreshed and both show up. 

Bayliss

@Sharon_is_SAM, I do not see the photo either, but it appears that @dvgibson is referring to the Alde panel factory settings reset.

DaveAnna

we had the same issue. Now when we arrive at campsite, go to settings on alde panel and turn the pump on cont. keep temp setting low so propane or electric won’t kick in. There is auto bleeder in the system that will remove air if the bleeder is vertical. Run the pump for 5-10 minutes, reset to therm and set heat as needed. Never had failure after this

Denny16

Good advice Dave, thanks.
 Cheers