Only 5 seconds of hot water with Alde: Ideas?

JenniferW

Hi All, I'm the owner of a new T@B 320 CS-S named Clementine. I went out for my first camping trip last weekend. My Alde provided great heat in the T@B when I had it on propane, but didn't seem to work well on electric shore power. The bigger issue is that I never got more than 5 seconds of hot water to come out of the faucets (using city water). Any suggestions on what I did wrong or how to troubleshoot this? Thank you!

ericnliz

@JenniferW, 
Make sure all your water valves are pointing in the correct position: IE: camping mode. Your by- pass valve may be turned the wrong way. 
The other scenario (which was the case with mine), was that the hot water mixing valve needed adjusting. After trying to adjust, it was found to be a bad mixing valve & was replaced under warranty.

Sharon_is_SAM

JenniferW, a very cold TaB can take a while to heat up using the radiator heat of the Alde.  To heat it up faster while on ac make sure you increase it to the “2” setting to use both heating elements and open your propane and select propane “ON” on the Alde control panel.  Set your thermostat.  Once you reach your selected temperature, the propane cuts off.  I agree with Eric re adjusting the mixing valve.  Another thing we have noticed is that if the Alde has not had time to heat the water, we have low pressure when we open the hot water tap because all we are getting at that point is the cold water part of the mix.  Hope this helps.

JenniferW

Thank you for these great suggestions!  Super helpful. 

ericnliz

@JenniferW, Please let us know what works for the fix. Others may be having the same issue & it's helpful to "pay it forward"!

Sharon_is_SAM

Another thing I thought off, go under the driver side bench and make sure the Alde is plugged into the 110 outlet.  It gets loose from time to time.  Best to secure it to prevent that in the future.

ericnliz

@SAM, Good call, forgot about THAT one!

Sharon_is_SAM

Yes, finally got that experience before we departed for Utah.

ericnliz

One of those things to check off the "getting ready for camping" list!

ScottG

SAM said:

Another thing I thought off, go under the driver side bench and make sure the Alde is plugged into the 110 outlet.  It gets loose from time to time.  Best to secure it to prevent that in the future.

And along the same line, make sure the 120V AC breaker serving the Alde's electrical outlet is not tripped.

Lack of 120V power would explain the poor performance when using the electric heaters. The Alde itself would probably still operate, as it runs on 12V from the converter. However, the heating elements--powered by the plug SAM mentioned--would not work.

@JenniferW, did the lack of hot water at the faucets occur when using propane as well as electric?

gooddogs74

I had this problem, my heart pump was set on continuous not thermal.  Don't ask me what that means, but you can change it in the settings.  Also, I found where you can see the water temp, it's called sanitary temp, was helpful to me.  Also on the advanced settings (I have the touch screen model)