Heat didn't work on gas

Dana

My son just took my tab 320 to hunting camp.  The heat worked fine on gas the first night but the second night he froze.  He could hear the heat "clicking" and trying to turn on but to no avail, draining the batteries in the process.  Luckily, he was in a place where he could hook up to electric, and had no problem the next 4 nights.

The only thing I can think of is the solar didn't get enough sunlight, but sunny Colorado makes that seem unlikely.  My other son had previously taken out one battery to put my spare tire on not knowing about the Victron app and disabling it before unhooking batteries.  Is that a factor?  Any thoughts?

bjn2

We have a grand total of one night in our 320 running heat via propane, so I'm mostly guessing. I'd wonder if there was some issue with the propane supply if he was hearing the Alde unit switching, but I assume he checked the valve and propane level. What type of batteries? I've not had problems disconnecting my battery even with the solar charger set to on. And it sounds like the Alde was getting power, but wasn't able to ignite the propane burner. 

I assume your 320 was winterized for cold camping? We winterized our 2023 320s before running our first propane-heated dry camp. It looks like there are different winterization instructions for earlier camper years, so perhaps it's something to do with the winterization? There's a mention in the NuCamp manual about draining any antifreeze that got into the Alde system if you used glycol to winterize.

pthomas745

@Dana, you need to tell us what year and model of trailer you have.  Were there any errors on the Alde screen? Were they experienced enough to know how to get the Alde working on propane?  The Alde does need a 12V power source to operate without shore power (on propane), so was 12V power working at all in the trailer?  It is not clear what you mean about the "remove the battery" comment.

Did they show you any of the Alde menu screens?

gulfarea

Does his stove burner light?  Best way I know to see if propane is there and it can get any air out of the propane line. Art

Dana

Thanks for all the feedback.  My Tab is a 2021clamshell, 320.  He didn't use the stove at all so maybe the propane is low, although I topped it off in June and camped 5 times (not that much).  The batteries are lead acid. Yes, it was winterized for dry camping, with -100 antifreeze. He didn't mention any errors on the Alde screen. And it worked fine the first night. Two 12v batteries.  The "remove the battery" comment.....my other son had to remove one battery earlier when he was putting my spare on the back of the trailer, in front of the storage box, although I don't think that is a factor.

I had everything set for him on the Alde.....heat on gas priority, high altitude on.

I have never had a problem boondocking with the solar and heat.  The trailer was out in the open (no shade from trees or anything) but was north facing.  Still.....clear blue skies.

I don't know.....maybe I need new batteries.  

Dana

Or maybe need to flush the glycol

pthomas745

No, the "glycol flush" is another subject entirely.  If the trailer worked fine on electric, your glycol is not a problem.   If the battery was low, (below 10.5 volts) the Alde would refuse to work...but the gas detector alarm would also start alarming.  So, unless there was no 12V power in the trailer at all, the battery is probably not the issue. Even running out of propane, or the propane not turned on,  would produce an error.

So, until we can see the Alde screen for their setup....we might need to put this into the "operator error" file...but if they managed to get it going the day before, and then on electric,  maybe that is a bit unfair.

Jilong

I'm going guess that they got a Gas Failure since the Alde worked fine on electric. If the LP tanks definitely had propane, then maybe it was something simple like propane lockout.

Marceline

If he wasn’t using the stove is there any chance that he didn’t open the propane valve and the Alde was actually running on electricity until he ran out of battery power? 

Also, can you be more specific about exactly what kind of battery you have? Did you originally have 2 12v batteries and now you have one? What is the capacity of the battery (aH)? 

Dana

Thanks for feedback.  I'm thinking propane lockout.  It got pretty cold out that night.  He should have turned everything off (including gas) and turned back on.

pthomas745

Any type of propane loss to the Alde should/would result in a Gas Failure error at the Alde screen.

Dana

Ok I will ask him about that, thanks

pthomas745

@Dana, these things are "unsolvable" sometimes.  Experience will work out most of these things.

Dana

Thanks everyone.....the only thing I could find wrong when I de-winterized was the batteries needed water (I pull the batteries and put on trickle charger in garage through the winter) Could that be why the heat worked when hooked up to electric and not on gas? Otherwise....agree with pthomas745