No hot water or heat on 2013 T@B

yellowleo

Had to replace the 12 volt battery this week.  Ever since replacing it, I have no heat or hot water.  Is there a reset button somewhere?  Have checked fuses and they seem fine.

DurangoTaB

No heat/HW on shore power either?  When you turn the heat/HW Alde switch on, does the Alde try to fire up at all?  

jkjenn

Assuming Coolcat?

yellowleo

Correct, no heat or hot water when hooked to shore power either.  I have checked all fuses including the two in green plastic that are above the Alde unit.  

yellowleo

I have always been a little confused as to where settings should be on the controller/thermostat that is on the wall close to air conditioner.

Verna

Your thermostat is called the Alde Analog thermostat, which I searched on, and here’s the first 5hread I found:

http://tab-rv.vanillaforums.com/discussion/2186/analog-control-panel-setting-line-from-alde-unit

ScottG

Here's the link to the manual for US/Canada versions of the Alde. See page 17 for operation of the analog (slider) control panel.

http://www.alde.se/media/110714/v-3010-60-rev-1487-us-can.pdf

DurangoTaB

Have you confirmed there’s power to the outlet under the seat that the Alde is plugged into?  Seems if there’s power there it’s gotta be one of those fuses under the cover on the Alde.  If not, then the problem is upstream (re-check fuses, converter, wiring)...

yellowleo

Thanks, Scott.  This is the controller I have in my T@B.  I typically set the dials at C, F, I and L respectively whether I am on 12 volt or shore line power.  I have had no problems up until this week.  When my original battery went dead the red light on the controller stayed on.  I thought once I installed the new battery I would be good to go.  However, while I have power for lights, radio, etc. I have no hot water or heat. Page 17 talks about resetting, but I have no idea where any "reset" button is??????  I don't think I have power to or from the control unit.  There are no clicks when I turn up the thermostat and no light flashing on the controller.  This is frustrating.  

DurangoTaB

If it’s the “red light” I’m thinking of, it’s the “low/no propane” light just above the middle slide switch (went on for me when I installed the 2nd “high altitude” regulator)...I learned that “reset” was just to turn if off (down), wait a few minutes and turn it back on again.  HOWEVER, if you’re just running off electric and no propane this shouldn’t come into play, so I’m a little confused. 

ChanW

Is your glycol reservoir full? Does the circulating pump turn on when you turn up the thermostat?

ScottG

@yellowleo, your settings sound appropriate and you should be getting cabin heat (if the ambient temp is sufficiently low) and hot water.

If your red light is not on then I don't think resetting is the issue. I don't quite understand the manual in this regard, either, but--as DurangoTaB noted above--it sounds like resetting is something you do via the propane supply or the camper's power supply (12V and/or 120V) rather than some switch on the Alde itself.

If you are on shore power and your lights, radio, etc are operating properly, then that problem is not likely with the converter (Your main supply of 12V power).

I assume you have checked the power cord DurangoTaB mentioned. However, even if that was disconnected the Alde would still operate on propane.

So, this still points back to a 12V power supply issue to the unit itself. (A 12V power supply is required to run the Alde electronics regardless of what you are using as a heat source.) There are three fuses to check; the two glass ones on the Alde itself, and the blade fuse in the converter's 12V fuse block.

If those all check out only then I would cast suspicion on the Alde itself. At that point you are getting a little out of my pay grade and will probably need to communicate directly with Alde to find a fix.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

yellowleo

ChanW, I am not sure where the glycol reservoir is.  Nor what fluid it should have in it.  Aa for the circulating pump, no it does not turn on when I turn the thermostat up.  I will fill the propane tank today, but I really think there is plenty in it.  All fuses seem to be intact.  I have flipped breakers on and off in the converter box.  This all started when my original battery went bad.  Ever since installing the new one, I have no heat or hot water.  Is it possible the 12 volt battery I bought is not adequate?  It is putting out 12.5 amps per my meter. 

Sharon_is_SAM

When you say you checked the fuses, did you actually remove them?  Sometimes they look good when they are not.  Try putting new ones in.

yellowleo

Topped off propane tank and replaced fuses one by one with the exception of the 40 amp.  I find no one that carries the small 40 amp fuses.  It looks fine however.

yellowleo

Just checked to see if I have power to the outlet that the Alde is plugged into and "yes" I have power there.  Is there any "reset" button on the Alde itself?

jgram2

@ChanW Didn't you find a "secret" alde fuse when you had to do some real sleuthing? Or am I remembering something that never happened? Almost as bad as nor remembering something that did.

jgram2

@ChanW never mind-it was in your post from January 5 and involved soldering wires on the electronics within the alde, something 99% of us is unlikely to have the skills to tackle. BUT, you mentioned in resetting the alde to turn it off, unplug shore power and turn the battery switch to off, isolating the T@B from all power. That may be helpful.

ChanW

Yeah, I got lucky finding that 'fuse'.

@yellowleo, your Tab/Alde is early like ours is. It might be worth looking into my thread about the thermal cutout fuse that I found had gone bad.

To tackle it, you'd want to be comfortable with a multimeter and messing with circuit boards, or know someone who is. 

http://tab-rv.vanillaforums.com/discussion/4197/found-a-fix-for-no-alde-heat-when-all-fuses-are-good

yellowleo

First of all, thanks to all of you for the helpful tips.  Fingers crossed, right now I have hot water and heat in my T@B.  I did replace one of the fuses that sits at top of the Alde 3010 boiler.  (Fuses are in the green plastic holders). At first it did not seem burned, but my helpful RV accessories store person (after magnifying the view) said it was.  I found the 3.15 amp fuse at a local ACE hardware store.  After replacing the fuse, I still did not have heat or hot water.  I took Twojgrams' advice and unplugged and turned off everything overnight, including the gas supply.  I turned everything back on this morning and right now everything appears to be working.  I have learned a lot about this little trailer over the last two days.  Thanks again.   

Sharon_is_SAM

Yeah heat!  Now, make sure you turn off the Alde before you disconnect/connect shore power and hopefully, no more blown fuses.

ChanW

Good ending. Much better than major surgery.
Keep a spare fuse or three. I've had to replace ours quite a few times (even though I'm careful about completely switching things off, etc!)

jgram2

@yellowleo so glad I could pass on @ChanW's recommendation-and who knows where he picked it up? Yahoo!? And I'm ashamed to have disparaged the circuit board capabilities of many of our members! Perhaps 50% of us would be comfortable dinking around safely with solder irons and tiny connections! But for me, I envision grounding myself as trying to keep one bare foot on the earth outside the T@B while contorting and stretching myself to reach the alde. Cutting a hole in the floor to stick one foot down-you get the picture. Fingers crossed the solution sticks. And perhaps a solid reminder for resetting the Alde. Stay warm and keep camping!

ChanW

Funny image! @Twojgrams, that would probably work too!

(Oh, and thanks for the credit, but I stole the idea from somewhere else... mebbe the Alde docs?)