Where are the Bleed Valves?

pthomas745

With people on the road turning the Alde on, the "Overheat Red Fail" errors suddenly start popping up.  The good people over at FB head for the NuCamp site, where a friendly tech video has them tear the trailer apart looking for the "bleed valves" because...well, because. And they rock the trailer back and forth, etc.  And, in the newer 400's, the valves are very difficult to find.  After all that, they finally reset the system, and the error disappears and heat comes on.  In the overwhelming majority of cases, simply turning off the Alde and turning off the battery switch clears the "Overheat Red Fail".  Why does NuCamp want owners to tear their trailers apart in the middle of the night to sort this out?

And then: there does not seem to be a guide to where to actually find the bleeder valves, especially in the later model 400's.  The one in the vent in the bath is well known, but there are (two? three?) more buried in odd spaces.  There are a couple of threads, but the info is vague, at least to me.

Here is one thread for a 2021 or so 400.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/14294/alde-diagram-for-2021-400-bleed-locations

I found this about the 320, which makes sense since it is next to the expansion tank.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/13245/newer-alde-bleeder-tube-location

So, it would be nice at least to have a reference to where these items are...if they are truly necessary to "bleed" just because there is a 1 inch gap between the glycol and the valve?

And...in my 2017, the bleed valve is not possible to see and adjust without taking the entire back of the trailer off! I've only seen it once in six years!

qhumberd

I must agree that a lot of folks suffer from "Alde anxiety disorder". I am one since when you think about the work it will take to replace a component in the heating loop, you are ready to just buy another trailer. Taking apart cabinets to the walls and floors is not what I signed up to do. So I flush and refill and put little ground wires on the Alde cabinet and hope each time I look at the hoses I can see, there are no dreaded "bulges".

Having said all that, my system has performed without a single error for the past 3 years. I have done one full flush and refill (with Century) and I am about to do that again. We are driveway camping for the past 8 weeks waiting for our home to be completed and the Alde has been a lifesaver for the several weeks we had no power and would have had cold showers in our shop/barn. I love our Alde but feel bad that I worry about it just about every day. And this with no evidence there is anything wrong.