Heating/water

tabranger

Since I live in Wyoming and am about to go into winter, I’m leaving my 400 winterized (I just picked it up from dealer yesterday). My plan is to just use the glycol heater. The actual heater (heat pump) requires water, correct?

bergger

Your T@b 400 should have two heat sources, the Alde Hydronic (glycol) heater and the Cool Cat AC/Heat pump.  The Cool Cat requires shore power, or the upgraded Lithium setup, to run.  Once it gets below say 40 degrees is does not heat as well.  The Alde can be run in heat mode even when the trailer is winterized.  Just make sure the hot water is turned off on the control panel.  We do that often here where we live, running it on the propane.  I actually turn the Alde heat on usually once a month for a few hours over the winter just to warm things up and give the Alde something to do over our very, very long winters! 

tabranger

Thanks, I appreciate it! I’ve got two BattleBorn lithium batteries, but I think you probably need the “Black Canyon” package to do what you’re describing, because it uses 4.

Seems like some people might use a Mr. Heater/Heater Buddy or other small propane heater to get the inside to a tolerable level and then use the glycol heater?

I don’t plan on putting any water into it until maybe when I go down to southeastern Utah in April. Does that seem pretty extreme? Most of the stuff I’m going to do the next few months will be Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, etc and boondocking at that.

A lot to learn—hopefully I’ll have some answers after the first night out (tonight).

Sharon_is_SAM

Yes, you can use another heater to take the chill off while you wait for the Alde to heat the cabin.  Be aware, depending on the ambient temperature, it can take awhile to heat up. 

I know you plan to Boondock, but, if you have access to shorepower using a 30 amp connection, run it on the “2” setting on electric and turn on the propane as well.  It will preferentially heat with propane (5 kw) then default to maintenance via electric.  The propane will kick back on when the interior temp drops.  You need to set the Alde up to make electric your “priority”.  If you don’t hook up to electric, it just defaults to propane.  

Once you are out of freezing temps, you can add water to the plumbing.  We traveled out west to Utah mid- February through mid-March and once we got to Utah, we used the plumbing.  Temps were elevation dependent.  A couple hours of dropping temps overnight were tolerated while the Alde heat was on.  Kept the fresh water tank full as it takes a long time for a large quantity of water to freeze.  The sewer valves and the uptake from the fresh tank were outside of the heated area, so they are most at risk.  Keep the bathroom door and sink cabinets open to let hot air circulate.  Be careful if you have a city water hook up - the hose can freeze much easier than a large, filled fresh tank.