Much Ado About ALDE

[paiceman]

Keep in mind the Alde is set to accept 50psi while the coach pressure is set to 60#. Checked into a campground last night with 70# psi even trailer could not control and no having been out in a while forgot or exterior pressure regulator. Turned water on and water flowed out the Alde fresh water outlet. Connected pressure regulator all good

[Taj MaHaul]

I'm pretty sure that we were told that our 2018 30' came with a pressure regulator that was built in. Not so Paiceman?

[james.mileur]

All true, built in supposedly is set at 60 and safety valve on alde is 50.

[rmkrum]

Standard Airstream built-in "water pressure regulator" is nominally set to regulate to 60 pounds max. IMHO, it's a cheap regulator on the back of the water connection, and, at least on my rig, is darn near impossible to reach and work on, since the shower enclosure blocks access to the rear. So I basically don't even pretend to trust it...

I'm not surprised that the Alde system is rated to 50 pounds, and after that it dumps. I shan't comment on the blatant engineering/specification failure on Thor's part this is prime evidence of.

However, there is a very practical reason to use an external, quality water pressure regulator on ANY trailer hookup. A water hose, in the hot sun, gets warm, if not hot. Plastic gets soft when it is hot. Campgrounds often have unregulated water pressure to the point that some warn of very high water pressure. So a regulator screwed right to the campground spigot, then to your water hose, is a darn good idea, and that regulator should have a gauge on it so you can see what the pressure is in the hose and your trailer water system...

So get a good regulator, set it to 50 pounds or LESS, and use a filter on the other end of the hose to get the 'big chunks' out of the water and keep your faucet and shower strainers clear of sediment. You will spend a few bucks, but avoid a boatload of problems...

This is the regulator I prefer to use. No, it's not real cheap, but neither is my "troubleshoot and fix plumbing time" when I'm on the road:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-40058-A...sure+regulator

And the water filter with a short flex hose (2-pack):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0722QJQMW...=2262876100701

And, just because I love to keep the filter from bending the side of the Airstream, an elbow to make it tidy:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Degree-...082NJFKBRY6EDN

This stuff, In MY opinion, is nice to have to make hookups easier and safer. We're talking under $100 for the lot if you use Amazon Prime...

Still, when you leave the AS unattended, its a darn fine idea to shut off the water spigot and release the pressure in the hose. You can't detect a leak in your water system if you are not hanging around and paying attention...

[paiceman]

Originally Posted by Taj MaHaul

I'm pretty sure that we were told that our 2018 30' came with a pressure regulator that was built in. Not so Paiceman?

Per James, spot on.

I use a good quality external and forgot to put it on as stated. And yes Alde dumped

[rmkrum]

---I rest my case, your honor.

[lukeysh714]

Okay folks. Need your input. Noticed Alde pump was running and that led to seeing that the Alde thought the room temp was 43 F. That’s right, F not C. So took controller off wall and opened back and found that the remote sensor wire connector was loose and not fitting tight on pens of circuit board. Tried spreading pens apart a little to get more friction fit but to no avail. Can’t see anything broken off that snaps into connector. Thoughts ?

[Pete B55]

Originally Posted by lukeysh714

Okay folks. Need your input. Noticed Alde pump was running and that led to seeing that the Alde thought the room temp was 43 F. That’s right, F not C. So took controller off wall and opened back and found that the remote sensor wire connector was loose and not fitting tight on pens of circuit board. Tried spreading pens apart a little to get more friction fit but to no avail. Can’t see anything broken off that snaps into connector. Thoughts ?

I had nearly the identical experience this past week. I pulled out the controller and found the remote sense wire loose - but I just snapped it back in and everything worked normal. Sorry to hear yours is still not working. I suggest calling Alde US - they can diagnose better than the airstream folks

[lukeysh714]

Originally Posted by Pete B55

I had nearly the identical experience this past week. I pulled out the controller and found the remote sense wire loose - but I just snapped it back in and everything worked normal. Sorry to hear yours is still not working. I suggest calling Alde US - they can diagnose better than the airstream folks

Well we were only 3 hrs from the mothership so we we came back. they sent a tech to our rig at the Terraport and he put a drop of superglue on the plastic connector. Said they have to do that from time to time. Oh well. At least it’s fixed for now.

[ajwbarnard]

Originally Posted by lukeysh714

Okay folks. Need your input. Noticed Alde pump was running and that led to seeing that the Alde thought the room temp was 43 F. That’s right, F not C. So took controller off wall and opened back and found that the remote sensor wire connector was loose and not fitting tight on pens of circuit board. Tried spreading pens apart a little to get more friction fit but to no avail. Can’t see anything broken off that snaps into connector. Thoughts ?

So fun to run into you at the Terraport! Hope you got everything up and running well today!

[ajwbarnard]

Originally Posted by ajwbarnard

I was thinking as I was taking a shower this morning in beautiful, hot water, how much I like my Alde and its ability to give me more than hot water than I have needed. The struggle to get there was real and this thread helped us finally get it working. But I now can enjoy it!! Now to get a few other things working as well as the Alde.

I just wrote this a week and a half ago. And then I went to JC for warranty work. They upgraded the Firefly panel and moved my Alde panel to a more visible spot above the silverware drawers under the sink. Still way back in there but not behind the water/drain pipes.

This morning I hit the shower boost in the bathroom only to come back from walking the dog to find out the new front panel had both gas and electric off. I guess the back panel does not communicate with the front panel that it needs to control the heat source anymore.

And on top of that, the water was lukewarm at best. Now it is back to troubleshooting. For those of you who regularly look at your Alde panel, what should the settings be for the hottest water? I had stopped looking because the old Firefly was taking care of the Alde pretty well. I haven’t done anything to the mixing valve so this is a Firefly/Alde thing. I am sure in moving the panel, the Alde was reset to factory defaults. I just don’t remember changing anything except to recalibrate the air temperature.

Any thoughts?

[uncle_bob]

Hi

We just did showers this morning. Punch the Alde panel to "boost" and turn on both the electric and propane. Hit the service menu and watch the "sanitary temperature" head up. We wait for > 135F. You also could just wait for about ten minutes.

With "cold" water around 55 F and the mix valve set as we have it, a hot shower = shower valve about 30 degrees off of the bottom end.

Bob

[ajwbarnard]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

We just did showers this morning. Punch the Alde panel to "boost" and turn on both the electric and propane. Hit the service menu and watch the "sanitary temperature" head up. We wait for > 135F. You also could just wait for about ten minutes.

With "cold" water around 55 F and the mix valve set as we have it, a hot shower = shower valve about 30 degrees off of the bottom end.

Bob

I can watch the temp go up much easier now, but it didn’t get that high. I will have to play with it. We were used to it working with the push of the button. I will have to see if I put the controls for electric and gas on, if the bedroom Firefly will operate as it once did.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by ajwbarnard

I can watch the temp go up much easier now, but it didn’t get that high. I will have to play with it. We were used to it working with the push of the button. I will have to see if I put the controls for electric and gas on, if the bedroom Firefly will operate as it once did.

Hi

Simple answer is to punch the button and come back in about 20 minutes. Take a look at what it reads then. Once you know what yours gets to at the tail end, you will know about what to wait for.

Normal idle on ours ( no button punched) is 120F on both temperatures. When boost gets hit the heater temperature rises past 150F. Again, it's not clear how accurate the sensors are so I'd take all those numbers as relative rather than absolute.

Bob

[kendrick.l.j]

Ditto what UB said. I hit the boost then wait until I see the sanitary water temp hit 145 or higher. (about 15 minuets) depending on outside the AS temperature.
I would think that when that panel was moved the tech did reset the system which should not be an issue. I have reset my Alde a couple of times without any problems.
As long as the sanitary water temperature is going up then adjustments if any or pretty straight forward. I would be very surprised if your mixing valve suddenly failed but the tech may have adjusted the mixing valve setting to the manufacture specs which IMO is way too low.

[paiceman]

I have minimal confidence in the temp readings on the Alde panel as with our shower boost on in warm weather we often hit 165f in the sanitary readings

[mojoe7009]

We just had our trailer at JC for warranty work. Like many here, when we took delivery of our Classic it took months to finally get the Alde dialed in with the help of this thread. We have enjoyed plenty of hot water since. Well, the tech at JC decided he new better and reset our mixing valve to factory specs...even though I did not have anything on my list of repairs regarding the Alde or a hot water issue. I got a blank stare when I asked him why he reset it. The reset caused our hot showers to drop to about 4 minutes. I have been working to get it back where I had it but have been unsuccessful so far. I did get it back to about 6 to 7 minutes, but not back to 10.

[AirstreamInc]

Originally Posted by mojoe7009

We just had our trailer at JC for warranty work. Like many here, when we took delivery of our Classic it took months to finally get the Alde dialed in with the help of this thread. We have enjoyed plenty of hot water since. Well, the tech at JC decided he new better and reset our mixing valve to factory specs...even though I did not have anything on my list of repairs regarding the Alde or a hot water issue. I got a blank stare when I asked him why he reset it. The reset caused our hot showers to drop to about 4 minutes. I have been working to get it back where I had it but have been unsuccessful so far. I did get it back to about 6 to 7 minutes, but not back to 10.

Hi mojoe7009,

Please send us a direct message with your contact information and the last 6 digits of your VIN so we can share it with our Customer Service and Technical Support team. We look forward to helping you get this resolved.

You can also reach Airstream Customer Service and Technical Support at customer_support@airstream.com

Thank you.

[paiceman]

Originally Posted by mojoe7009

We just had our trailer at JC for warranty work. Like many here, when we took delivery of our Classic it took months to finally get the Alde dialed in with the help of this thread. We have enjoyed plenty of hot water since. Well, the tech at JC decided he new better and reset our mixing valve to factory specs...even though I did not have anything on my list of repairs regarding the Alde or a hot water issue. I got a blank stare when I asked him why he reset it. The reset caused our hot showers to drop to about 4 minutes. I have been working to get it back where I had it but have been unsuccessful so far. I did get it back to about 6 to 7 minutes, but not back to 10.

That sucks, I watched and did not allow the "dial" to be touched nor the shower handle - but then I have no anti-scald set screw in our shower handle any more. So, ours still runs about 10 minutes per shower, then wait a couple of minutes and second shower same 10 minutes and it can be scalding hot if not careful. Good luck.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

We both did showers back to back this morning. There still was *plenty* of hot water left after the second one. Gray water tank went up from about 35% to about 50%. For us that's a *lot* of water to use on showers ....

Bob