Filter in Alde glycol system

ToonJay

Hello,  owner of 2021 320S Boondock here, purchased used in summer of 2022.. First of all, I'd like to say how much this forum is appreciated by this relatively new user, I didn't quite realize the level of complexity of all the various systems on this machine, all the questions & answers posted here have been a great help.

So, background.. in February I decided to fire up the Alde as I was thinking of doing a winter camp (Ontario, Canada). Got it going and did some stuff, checked back in couple of hours to see a stream of fluid coming from corner of trailer. 

Yup, it was glycol & expansion tank was empty, floor around Alde unit was wet but I couldn't see an obvious source of leak. Decided best way to check was to wait for warmer weather & run some distilled water through system for trouble shooting. Well that was last week & there were a couple of pinholes in the aluminum shroud surrounding the check valve, now fixed.

Next problem is getting new Rhomar fluid & flushing system, so I checked this forums many threads & came across a comment on the water system filter.. Well, I don't have one of those, checked the attached pictures & recognized the filter that I have on my glycol plumbing on the other users water plumbing. I do not see this in other users posted pics of the Alde system (admittedly I haven't spent hours going through them all).

So my question: Design change? manufacturing error? previous owner mod ? (there is history here as I have found evidence of other 'tinkering', plus there is a non factory standard hose clamp next to the filter).

Couple pics of system attached.. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Sharon_is_SAM

Definitely an owner mod.  I wonder why they added that piece!

YanniLazarus

It is perhaps to both easily monitor the little aluminum shavings in the system and to remove them. Interesting. Just a guess... otherwise you don't really see the shavings (if they are occurring) until you actually drain the glycol. The original post made me laugh about the "owner mods" some poor future buyer is likely to find in my T@B!

pthomas745

Every day..something new!

I don't think Alde even has a part like this, at least I don't remember seeing one in my long scrolls through the various parts pages, even on the European sites. 

ScottG

Agreed. That looks like a teeeny version of the sediment filter I installed in my home water supply.

ToonJay

Ok, thanks for the feedback I guess I'll add this dubious mod to the one where I found 5 batts of fiberglass house insulation stuffed around the tanks under the belly pan when I was fixing a greywater leak (I also found an 18 watt heating pad stuck to both the fresh and grey water tanks hooked via household wiring to the positive terminal of the victron solar).

I took the very gnarly looking filter element out & just left the clear housing in place so I can check for the white chunks floating through the system. I wondered why the radiators took so long to heat up when I first ran the heater, I thought that was normal.

Owning A T@B is definitly not boring...