Much Ado About ALDE

[paiceman]

Ha, Ha, good one. Now I don't feel as happy. I was hoping you did have one so I could make a note and "play" with the techs when I go in for the pre expiration warranty touch up next year.

[Kyet]

A little closer every time I spent all day with the AS tech yesterday (which was a great experience) and I had radiant heat for the first time last night. Yeah yeah yeah. I also even had a nice warm shower tonight.

Step forward step back. Tonight I went to dinner and when I came back the radiant heat was working but it was 88 degrees in here. Just from the ALDE. Now the temperature is coming back down but I haven't done anything. The temperature was set at 70 so I am not sure why it would even get up to 88. Mystery.

[paiceman]

If it was set at the Firefly, I am no help. If it was set at the Alde controller like we have in the 2017's it could be the calibration is off, which is easily adjusted thru the menu options.

Bud

[uncle_bob]

Hi

With the shades up and the sun in the right direction, an AS has a *lot* of thermal gain.....It's no different than your car in the parking lot in that respect.

The other thing that will give you a "heat surge" is the fact that the Alde is a slow system. Get a draft on the thermometer and the system cranks up. Boiler fires up. Water gets warm. Water gets moving. Radiators heat up. Walls heat up. Air heats up. Eventually the thermometer heats up. System shuts down. It's the downside of pretty much all water heat systems, RV's are no different than houses in that respect.

Bob

[Kyet]

I'm going to need to call the shop again. Curtains were closed plus it was very cool outside (we are finally in Fall temps). I had not set the heater to on, no system was on and the ALDE was literally calibrated on Friday. Worked perfectly last night. Came home frome dinner and it was chilly (the day had been the perfect temp outside to work with windows open and the fantastic fan on low for a little air flow) so I turned on the ALDE and it warmed up the place just slightly to the temp I wanted and all was perfect. I think the fact that there is no continuity in the hiccups I see is more frustrating than anything else. Everyday the system responds (or doesn't) in new or different ways. The fact that it got up to 88 degrees in the evening after being very comfortable all day without the system turned on (yet it was the radiators that were blazing) is very disconcerting. I have dogs.

[paiceman]

Kyet:

If a dealer worked on the system and then you ran it and turned it off or it went to idle you might check the fluid level as this at least on ours fluctuated for a month after I got things set. Then after that it has stayed for nine months at the exact level I set it at and the system has worked fine. But did not until I got the level of the fluid up and did so by filling, turning on, getting warm, turning off, bleeding air out and adding fluid.

[ajwbarnard]

Originally Posted by Kyet

A little closer every time I spent all day with the AS tech yesterday (which was a great experience) and I had radiant heat for the first time last night. Yeah yeah yeah. I also even had a nice warm shower tonight.



Step forward step back. Tonight I went to dinner and when I came back the radiant heat was working but it was 88 degrees in here. Just from the ALDE. Now the temperature is coming back down but I haven't done anything. The temperature was set at 70 so I am not sure why it would even get up to 88. Mystery.

I couldn't locate the info. Do you have a 2018 or 2017? We are still working on heating issues. I haven't had the time to bleed the system and go through the setting under the sink on the Alde panel yet. The week I had time, it was in the high 80's and I didn't have any extra Alde fluid, if I needed it. I do know that if I want to reliable heat that I have to go to the Alde panel under the sink and shut off the electric even though I had done that on the Firefly. and it seems to make a difference if I call for a lot of heat and not just a slight temperature boost. But I am also noticing that the Firefly resets itself, turning off and then back on seemingly randomly throughout the course of the day. And I do know if I change anything on the Firefly, like the desires temperature, the electric comes back on. Having supposedly gas and electric on will keep it warm enough, if I give it that boost with gas only at the beginning, but it does not heat up in a timely manner (less than an hr would be good) without a period of gas only. Wondering why the Firefly resets and if it is impacting heating.

We did an experiment this week while we were gone and the temperatures are going down in the high 30's. We left the thermostat set at 55 on electric only with gas off and going to see what the temperature is when we get there Friday night.

[Kyet]

ajwbarnard, I have a 2018 Classic.

I have to use both the ALDE panel under the sink and the Firefly to get the shower boost happening. That is with the shower temp run all the way up on the ALDE panel and the Firefly panel set to Gas ON and Electric @ 2, the I hit shower boost.

For what seems to be the regular heat I just hit Heater on the ALDE side of the Firefly and it brings me close to the temp I have set on the overall Firefly panel. That crazy 88 degrees the other day is still a mystery.

The strange thing is I have to have the gas on for this to work but my gas levels never go down. I hpe those sensors aren't useless too. The ones on the tank and on the Firefly show them as 97% and have since I bought the thing 3 monhts ago.

I will agree that the Firefly does have a mind of it's own with turning heat on and off randomly. It does this with my exterior lights too. I just can't seem to show that to the repair shop when i'm there It acts perfectly. Harumph.

[ajwbarnard]

Originally Posted by Kyet

ajwbarnard, I have a 2018 Classic.



I have to use both the ALDE panel under the sink and the Firefly to get the shower boost happening. That is with the shower temp run all the way up on the ALDE panel and the Firefly panel set to Gas ON and Electric @ 2, the I hit shower boost.



For what seems to be the regular heat I just hit Heater on the ALDE side of the Firefly and it brings me close to the temp I have set on the overall Firefly panel. That crazy 88 degrees the other day is still a mystery.



The strange thing is I have to have the gas on for this to work but my gas levels never go down. I hpe those sensors aren't useless too. The ones on the tank and on the Firefly show them as 97% and have since I bought the thing 3 monhts ago.



I will agree that the Firefly does have a mind of it's own with turning heat on and off randomly. It does this with my exterior lights too. I just can't seem to show that to the repair shop when i'm there It acts perfectly. Harumph.

Interesting. We did have the LP gas tanks at the same level for a long time, until we needed some serious heat and switched to all gas under the sink and then it started to go down. It is going down evenly on both tanks according to the Firefly panel, which we thought we must be drawing it from both, but when looking at the tanks only one was measuring at the level indicated on the tank while the other was at 100%.

We have the same problem with shower boost. If you push it on the Firefly, it does not change the Alde panel under the sink.

We are also experiencing problems with our exterior lights. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. We thought it was a short in the lights themselves, but maybe it is a Firefly problem.

[paiceman]

Kyet and ajwbarnard - if the 2018 is set up the same as the 2017, at least my unit as others claim otherwise; if plugged into shore power the electric is the default source of power for the Alde system. I can have the propane turned on but again if plugged into shore our unit does not draw from the propane, only the electric. I can turn the electric off, even if plugged in and go to only propane in which case the sensors do draw down.

Bud

[ajwbarnard]

Originally Posted by paiceman

Kyet and ajwbarnard - if the 2018 is set up the same as the 2017, at least my unit as others claim otherwise; if plugged into shore power the electric is the default source of power for the Alde system. I can have the propane turned on but again if plugged into shore our unit does not draw from the propane, only the electric. I can turn the electric off, even if plugged in and go to only propane in which case the sensors do draw down.

Bud

It seems like that is the case. It's just that on the Firefly is says that you are shutting off the electric and leaving only the gas on, but on the Alde panel under the sink that truly controls the system and is the one that is next to the Firefly on the 2017, even if the gas in on and the electric off, if you hurt on the heat or water heater, it does go to gas on and electric "2" on the Alde panel.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

When the Alde controller shows both gas and electric engaged, the electric overrides the gas. The only time the gas would come on with both showing "on" would be if shore power went away.

Given that it's all done in firmware, there is no way to say "always" on something like this. An update could come out that profoundly changed the way that works.

Bob

[ajwbarnard]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

When the Alde controller shows both gas and electric engaged, the electric overrides the gas. The only time the gas would come on with both showing "on" would be if shore power went away.

Given that it's all done in firmware, there is no way to say "always" on something like this. An update could come out that profoundly changed the way that works.

Bob

I am convinced Firefly is not quite communicating correctly with the Alde panel. But right now, I can get warm if I want to. That's crucial. Hopefully, between now and April, they will update the programming.

[ward143]

Originally Posted by ajwbarnard

I am convinced Firefly is not quite communicating correctly with the Alde panel. But right now, I can get warm if I want to. That's crucial. Hopefully, between now and April, they will update the programming.

AMEN! Our outside lights to have a mind of their own. Also our awning Will Not tilt in the rear only the front. We have also had (once) the spike in temp with the radiators on only.
Chris & Sabrina

[Kyet]

The technician has told me that in fact the Firefly does not communicate properly with the ALDE. I do hope they are able to fix the software or move the ALDE panel to a useful location (major undertaking I know). Tonight I tried the heatpump (which I have not used except for testing awhile back) and Peeeaaeeew. Smells super musty. I know I saw a thread somewhere on this.
Continuing on with the trials... I am finishing some work up in DC and then going to try a little Walmart lot surfing. I might as well try the heat while not hooked up when I can still bail to the folks house if I need to.
Glad to know I am not crazy about the outside lights etc controls.

[Padawan]

Thank you paiceman and kendrick.l.j for all of your helpful tips regarding improving hot water with the Alde system.
Just a quick question When you mention adjusting the mixing valve to Max are you turning to the max stop or are you removing the screw; pulling the knob out and turning the valve to full open? Thereby bypassing the mixing valve altogether. Thanks for your help.

[kendrick.l.j]

Palawan, yes. I had to repeat this step several times before I finally had sufficient hot water to shower with. Happy to report that many, many of us 2017 Classic folks have lovely hot showers in spite of what Airstream says.
Turn the knob, the one under the dinette to full + , (if I remember correctly it was to the left) when it hits the stop you will need to loosen the screw ( only enough to pull the knob away from the teeth ) then while loose turn back to the right , tighten the screw back on and turn to left again until full stop. I waited a day to see if I had enough hot day in between adjustments. I think it took 3 tries until I got hot water. I also removed the set screw on the shower handle completely but WARNING: do not do this if you have small children or disabled person traveling in the AS, the water may be too hot.
One another note. During this process last winter I found out the my mixing valve was shot so until that was replaced I would have never gotten hot water. I couple of phone calls to Jon at AS and they sent me a new mixing valve to the campsite. There was at least one other ‘17 Classic that also had a faulty valve so it is not a common occurrence but wanted to mention it just in case.

[paiceman]

Padawan:

I did what you mentioned in your last part of the post. Turn it all the way, unscrew, pull the knob off a bit, turn the knob, push back on and move again to get more hot water. CAREFUL, some people who have tried this, who shall remain nameless to protect their over zealous desire to secure hot water, (not me) broke the valve inside and water went everyplace. So, when adjusting use caution and treat it like a hurt butterfly.

I see Laurie beat me to it.

Good luck

Bud

[kendrick.l.j]

Oh PADAWAN, I forgot to say welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new Airstream. Once you get the Alde up and running, I promise you will love it. It is extremely quite and produces wonder heat and 12 minuets of HOT water.
In addition to PAICEMAN, I would recommend asking James M. and Uncle Bob the technical stuff, they all have the same year and model and we all kinda had to figure this out on our own last winter, I’m the newbie, solo, little sister in the group but learned quickly to keep up.

[kendrick.l.j]

Oh yeah, that.....yup, blew out the valve, had scalding hot water all over the place, not a fun day. Do be very careful.