2017 Classic Hot Water Mixing Valve Calibration

[RonaldC303]

The mixing valve is behind the panel next to the aisle.

Ron

[paiceman]

Mldun, Ron posted the picture of the mixing valve- the access is on the very end of your dinette seat, the seat which is closest to the door. It pops off and there is the valve.

Bud

[mojoe7009]

The early 17's didn't have the valve installed from the factory. Mine is in for service today and they are installing the valve. As I mentioned before, thanks to this forum I actually had to tell the dealer about it. They had no idea what I was talking about. I gave them copies of the service bulletin that got I from this thread. Their question..."Where did you get this?" Thanks to everyone for all the postings on this issue!

[Mldun]

Thanks Moejoe, that explains why I cant find the mixing valve. I will add to my punch list.

It appears I have some type of drainage below the Alde unit outside, I haven't climbed under yet but wonder if this is normal?

I also need to order some Alde Glycol, anyone know where to get it?

Thanks!

[paiceman]

Is it drainage or is the vent condensation leaking out of the exhaust vent?

Leakage could come from an open low point drain valve on the hot water portion of your boiler.

You might try Alde direct, an Alde dealer OR but some anti freeze such as PEAK Anti-freeze Golbal Lifetime just make sure it is safe for aluminum engines. Look in the Alde owners manual and it will detail what you can use.

Bud

[jallen]

If you are low on glycol contact Airstream Customer Service at (937) 596-6111 ext 7401. If you are wanting some glycol in case it ever gets low, it is for sale in their retail store (937) 596-6111 ext 7423.

This comes from the Alde manual:
The heating system must be filled with a mixture of water
and glycol. Use only high quality ready-mixed glycol (with
inhibitor) intended for use in aluminum heating systems. The glycol must carry the label GRAS (generally recognized as safe). Please contact Alde for a list of approved
glycol suppliers.

[Mldun]

It appears to be a about half or less than a single ac running and draining. I need to get under and look, there are three drains right there, I will find out and check the valves inside the unit. You guys are great!

Jallen, thanks on the Alde Glycol, I ordered some from Airstream!

Thanks

[paiceman]

I have been running the Alde off and on while the trailer is in storage preparing for our trip south. The access to the fluid reservoir got to me today, so I made a change. I was unable to correctly read the two levels on the tank as the lower fixed panel was blocking the "min" level reading. Plus without adequate light it was hard to see where the level actually was.

I cut out the panel altogether and found a shelf at Bed-Bath and Beyond. I cut the legs off as it was just about the exact size I needed 8"x13". Cut the legs and buffed the sides of the rack to make it just a little narrower. Now, I can open the small closet door and simply take a look at fluid level. If fluid needs to be added, I can take the "shelf" off easily add fluid and put it back on.

I will do some trimming and cleaning up on the lower level when it warms up a bit and I have time. But, for now this works for me. I included a before and an after pictures.

[mojoe7009]

Originally Posted by paiceman

dickschaak

Check the workings or not of the inverter. Mine and another member seem to have issues with brand new units.

Also, ask the dealer to do something about the doors which the refrigerator and freezer open toward. The handles on the cabinets that the two doors open toward, if they hit there is a dent in the freezer or the refrigerator. In my opinion it's an awful design flaw.

Ask them to follow the directions given by rivitville in his post with bulletins, ask them to adjust the hot water. Also, make sure the Alde fluid is to the level it should be and request a small supply as it seems to settle out after driving a while.

Other than that, video your walk thru, if you've owned another AS, this one is different.

Totally off topic, but while reviewing this thread in an attempt to get more hot water (in vain at this point), I saw this older post from Paiceman discussing the refrigerator door issue of hitting the pantry handles and getting dented. Our Classic had dents in both doors at time of delivery. Dealer replaced the doors (took 3 months to do it). I had been meaning to post a picture of my solution to keep it from happening again. So here are a couple of pics.
I ordered the push button cabinet pulls Airstream uses in their Interstate models, removed the old handles, used a hole saw to drill the right size hole and now no more dents!
Wonder why Airstream couldn't think of this? I still need to finish up the extra hole from the old handles.

[kendrick.l.j]

Airstream is sending me a new mixing valve. Apparently that seems to be my problem. Should have arrived by now but hasn't, maybe Monday. I will keep you posted.

[kendrick.l.j]

Dang Bud. That is very, very helpful. Thanks for sharing.
I am sure most of you have figured this out but I have been educated a bit more about the Alde system and learned that the higher you go on the inside temp more energy will go towards heating the air and less energy will be going towards hot water. I had been doing it all wrong. So this morning after a good nights sleep and draining all water out of the unit and allowing it to refill and then just simply touching the shower icon and waiting no more than 10 minutes I had a vast improvement in my hot water. Kenny, Bud, (both fellow '17 owners ) and John at AS have been working on this problem for some time now and it appears I have a faulty mixing valve which would probably never happen to anyone else, just how it goes in my life.
I am trying to keep this short but I seem to be taking a long time. I was overthinking the whole system. It is really quite simple.
So far I have added 2.5 gallons on glycol fluid, adjusted the mixing valve too many time to count, purged all water, twice, adjusted the shower head twice and finally have seen a vast improvement as of this morning. When the new mixing valve gets installed I bet I will actually need to add cold water at the faucet and will have more than enough hot water to take a lovely shower. After two months of cool showers so exciting to finally be this close. I will post the good news asap.

[AIRHEDS]

Bud, how far below the bottom of the cabinet does the tank extend? Can you see the bottom of the overflow tank with the cabinet's side removed? Regarding a clean way to trim your mod (which I like very much) I'm thinking a neat/clean way to finish would be to mount ferrous right-angle brackets to the left side of the cabinet ... then cut a "side" of plywood that pushes into place, held by the brackets, while using recessed magnet cups to hold the side securely in place ... it won't move at all. Be sure to drill a finger-hole into the side before magnet'ing in place or you might not get it out. Then stain to match...

[mojoe7009]

Apparently I do not understand this mixing valve issue. Thought I had it all dialed in and suddenly I cannot get more than 2 1/2 minutes of hot water. I followed the instructions posted here but to no avail. Almost seems worse with the shower boost setting on. Help please!

[kendrick.l.j]

What changed? Have you ever had more than a few minutes of hot water? I have been having issues with my hot water since day one so I am learning more everyday. Happy to offer some advice or options if you haven't figured it out yet.

[mojoe7009]

I thought I had it done. But just this morning I only had 1 minute 30 seconds of hot water. Boost is on, pump set to thermal. Adjusted the mixing valve further open last night and still ran out in a minute and a half. When I say out it went full cold.

[RonaldC303]

I am sorry to hear you are having problems. You might try this.

1. Turn on shower boost mode and wait 20 minutes for the temperature to rise.

2. Enable the propane heat source during showering. It has significantly more Btus than the electric.

If you have hot water for 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 minutes, it doesn't sound like a mixing valve issue. To me, it sounds like the water was not hot enough to begin with. Just my opinion.

Ron

[mojoe7009]

Ron,
According to the Alde manual if you are hooked up to electric the system will choose electric automatically. It will not use both. So far I believe that go be true as I have had the propane on to the Alde system and it has used no propane while hooked up to shore power at the campsite.

[RonaldC303]

You can turn the electric off. At the Alde lightning bolt icon, just tap the minus sign until both probes are tuned off. My thinking is that the inlet cold water is very cold and the electric probes can't keep up. The propane mode heats much faster.

Also, when the shower mode is on, it temporarily stops the circulating pump that heats the coach.

Hope this helps.

Ron

[kendrick.l.j]

I am hoping that you were able to fix the problem by now but if not you may want to try this. Dump all the water out of the tank. First, turn off the Alde system at the panel then turn off the water at the outside hook up. Under the dinette you will see two water lines one is blue for cold and the other one is red for hot. Open the pressure release valve on the blue line and right behind that valve you will find the valve for the hot water drain that goes from the tank to outside under the coach.

Allow all the water to drain out fully. It is only a 2 gallon tank but it took a long time
for all my water to drain. After the tank has completely drained, close all valves and slowly allow water back into the coach and turn the Alde system back on.
I make sure that the temperature is set at least 10 degrees below than needed. If the coach temp is currently 70 then I make sure the the temperature setting is 60 degrees so that the system will not divert any resources to heating the coach while taking a shower. After showering I will reset the house temperature back to normal.
Once the tank is full and the system is back on then press the shower icon and wait until the Sanitary temperature, not the Heater temp but the SANITARY temp is back up to at least 120 or higher to shower.
I didn't learn this on my own. Iceman taught me this and it has helped. The reason for dumping the water is to ensure that there is an air cushion in the hot water tank. This cushion can disappear with time, moving and multiple uses. I read in the manual that the tank should be emptied about once a month to ensure the proper amount of air is in the tank.
I am still having problems with my system and waiting for a new mixing valve to arrive but dumping the water helped. I hope it will help you as well. I have noticed that after pressing the shower icon and pressing 2 on the heating element that my water temperature starts dropping pretty quickly after about 15 minutes even if I am not using any water. I not sure why but I will keep monitoring while I wait for the new mixing valve to show up.
IMO, this whole hot water thing has been a PITA.

Lauri

[kendrick.l.j]

I got the new mixing valve from Airstream today. It was super easy to replace. Whole job took 10 minutes at most and a Phillips head screw driver. Now I have wonderful, glorious hot water. Learned a lot about the Alde system over the past two months but really could have done without the inconvenience.
Many thanks to Bud R., Kenny and Callie Z, DickSchank, and the other '17 Classic owners that offered advice and help along the way.