Alde questions

[kb0zke]

I looked at the Alde site today, and it looks like the Alde only provides heat, not not water too. Correct?


Any guesses as to whether it uses more, about the same, or less propane than a standard furnace?

[InvertdEagle]

Originally Posted by kb0zke

I looked at the Alde site today, and it looks like the Alde only provides heat, not not water too. Correct?


Any guesses as to whether it uses more, about the same, or less propane than a standard furnace?

Not correct. The Aldi system provides both heat and hot water. I’ve found it to use less propane than a conventional furnace. It also has the advantage of using both electricity and propane as heating fuels. And the Aldi heat is quiet…almost no noise whatsoever. It’s a good system.

[BGClassic]

Agree. We are in Alaska, have been on the road for over two months, and have used about 7 lbs. Don’t know how that compares to a furnace, butwe love the Alde. It is silent.

[kb0zke]

Thanks. That's exactly the information I need at this time.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Alde will run off shore power or off of propane. In both modes, you get hot water and heat. In some installs, the hot water is an external "boost" setup. In others it's an "all in one box" gizmo.

If you *have* shore power, you likely are good into the high 40's. If it's getting down to the low 40's running both propane and electric at the same time is a good idea.

Full time on propane, usage depends a bit on just what you are doing. Some folks use very little hot water. Some don't run heat very much. Regardless of that, it does use less fuel than a furnace / furnace plus hot water heater.

Bob

[sfranklin]

I think the Alde is far superior in many aspects compared to the Girard on-demand and the atwood forced air furnaces as one unit replaces two separate appliances.

If you are handy, the glycol replacement that is needed every few years (read around 5) can cost about $175ish +/- in today's dollars, but if you have it done may not be as inexpensive.

Now one can argue that most folks pull the factory supplied Girard on demand water heater and put in a $1500 Truma. One can buy a lot of glycol for that kind of money and still have the LP thirsty Atwood force air furnace.

The single thing that concerns me though is not the Alde itself, it's the control systems Airstream puts in place to drive these systems.

Used to be your thermostat dies, you still have your water pump and access to your lighting. Today, if that control panel fails, my understanding is that you may loose a great deal of the functionality of your rig. Worse yet, most of us that have been around Airstreams for the past 25 or more years have seen a number of things come and go and in the Classic line a number of changes since the 2015 model year. My big question is, what happens when the the control system is discontinued or the company that made it goes out of business? Anyone that has owned an Airstream over the past 25 years can attest to having done sometime MacGvyer things, which with a dumb trailer, isn't too difficult to do, but in these new fully automated units, how will you drive your Alde if the control panel that manages so many aspects of the trailer outright fails or worse yet, 10 years down the line, company is gone and there are no parts? Pray a replacement can play nice with your existing factory setup?

Sorry, was just chatting with and Airstream buddy of mine last night and we kicked this one around for about a hour as we looked for factory replacement lights that no longer exist as the company that made them is out of business and no one has the replacement parts.

[BGClassic]

I am happy that our Alde 3020 has its own control panel, not associated with CZone. I understand the CZone is used on yachts, so perhaps there will be parts around. I will cross that bridge when I need to.

[kb0zke]

Thanks for the additional information. We're looking at trailers from 2015 to maybe 2019 or so. Overall, I think I prefer the Classic, but not opposed to others. Big thing is floorplan. We are set on a rear queen bed model, no slide, and dual air conditioners. I would prefer a manual awning to a powered one, but if that's the only "problem" with a particular trailer I can live with it.


As for the controller, would it make sense to buy a replacement and carry it with? Would that make the original controller last forever? <grin> Seems like I never need the spare parts I bring along, but frequently need something that I don't have.

[sfranklin]

If it were me, yes, I would buy additional parts because you just never know what will be around in terms of a controller.

Unlike cars, where a major brand will have the same basic design for 4-5 years and sell hundreds of thousands of units, if not a million in various configurations, RVs combined don't sell nearly as many, and while parts for Chevy Blazers, Tahoe and Suburbans from 1990 are still readily available, and a fairly large aftermarket, that just isn't the case with RVs. My lights on my prior Airstream vanished after around 8 years of ownership, and though replacement of a single light or standardizing on a new light wasn't difficult, a single controller that manages a great deal of the functions on a rig, in my opinion would be foolish not to keep one on standby because when you finally need it, odds are if you keep your rig 23+ years, you will inevitably run into things and my take is you don't want to be on the wrong end of not having the ability to control the various features on your rig without spending a near fortune to retrofit.

Keep in mind I can be a bit OCD, I bring a wide variety of hard to get parts like hubs, bearing, door latches, water pump, etc. I even brought spare weight bars last trip, and wound up needing them as one failed. Latches, screws, etc, all brought with and used several times, so for me, with OCD, yea, I'd buy and sit on a controller, but I admit I may take it a bit too far.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Keep in mind that these control systems have a couple dozen "modules" scattered all over the place. If you want to have a set of spares, you need to buy a whole lot of parts.

Alternate answer in X years:

You pull out the existing system and replace it with something much newer that works a whole lot better and is massively easier to install.

Bob

[sfranklin]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Keep in mind that these control systems have a couple dozen "modules" scattered all over the place. If you want to have a set of spares, you need to buy a whole lot of parts.

Alternate answer in X years:

You pull out the existing system and replace it with something much newer that works a whole lot better and is massively easier to install.

Bob

That's one heck of an expensive proposition.......but then again, I guess if you can afford a $175k travel trailer, whats a few more grand, right?

[Jonesuh]

We love our alde (after a lot of troubles at the beginning) we have a 2018 classic and had Alde replace the 3010 original with a 3020.
My question. Do you leave the hot water on all the time or turn off when not in use/at night

[BGClassic]

Jonesuh,

There is at least one other member here that upgraded to the 3020. We have been on 50A shore power quite a bit on this trip, and leave the AC heater elements on, running the heat. Even with the setpoint above room temp, the water stays warm, but not enough for showers. We turn off the gas function when leaving the trailer. We turn on gas functin for showers and heat at night.

Bill

[kb0zke]

Hmmm, sounds like I need a bit of a tutorial on the Alde system. We need hot water daily, but need the furnace when it is cold outside. Bill, are you saying that the Alde can't do that automatically?

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by sfranklin

That's one heck of an expensive proposition.......but then again, I guess if you can afford a $175k travel trailer, whats a few more grand, right?

Hi

If the new / cheaper / better / easier /fancier control system is $500 for the parts and labor is $1500, that's not insane compared to a number of things you are likely to swap out over the next 20 years on one of these trailers.

Bob

[sfranklin]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

If the new / cheaper / better / easier /fancier control system is $500 for the parts and labor is $1500, that's not insane compared to a number of things you are likely to swap out over the next 20 years on one of these trailers.

Bob

Keep in mind there are a lot of assumptions in that statement. For example, you are hypothesizing that the gear that is currently in the Classic in year 15-20+ will even be able to communicate with any new / cheaper / better / easier /fancier control system. My 25+ year old last trailer was just about to get it's first axle replacement, but that trailer compared to the Classic line was and remained a dumb trailer, sort of like me!

[BGClassic]

Originally Posted by kb0zke

Hmmm, sounds like I need a bit of a tutorial on the Alde system. We need hot water daily, but need the furnace when it is cold outside. Bill, are you saying that the Alde can't do that automatically?

David,
There is a function for shower boost for hot water. It is not needed for the heat. Even after running electric heat only during the day, the water stays warm, but not warm enough for showers. I run the LP along with the electric heaters, as LP has more energy density. When we camped in March in Utah, we left both LP and electric on, along with tank pad heaters. We had shore power, obviously.

Recently, while boondocking at provincial parks in the Yukon, we just used LP. Those electric heaters suck down a lithium bank quickly.

Download the Alde 3020 if you have not already, and there is a lot of info on the Tab trailer forum. Hope this helps.

Bill

[kb0zke]

Thanks, Bill. I downloaded the manual and read through it quickly. It will probably make more sense if/when we actually have an Alde in front of us.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by sfranklin

Keep in mind there are a lot of assumptions in that statement. For example, you are hypothesizing that the gear that is currently in the Classic in year 15-20+ will even be able to communicate with any new / cheaper / better / easier /fancier control system. My 25+ year old last trailer was just about to get it's first axle replacement, but that trailer compared to the Classic line was and remained a dumb trailer, sort of like me!

Hi

Not really as many as you might think. This stuff all is software based. The cost of "computer anything" comes down at a rapid rate. What you will be able to get in a decade or two will have a *lot* more horsepower and cost a *lot* less than what you have today.

So what do you have to talk to:

Lights, those switch modules get flipped out with the new system. Will those cost more than a buck each? Maybe not.

Panels, same thing. (good bet they will look a lot better than what you have). Use a phone app to set up the names on them.

Heat or A/C, you have a pretty standard interface there. If there's a bit of a driver to be written, that could be done.

Cabling: they all are wireless. No control wires to run anywhere.

When the guts of you A/C or whatever die, then yes, you have a problem. Best guess, it'll be some sort of sealed chunk of hardware that goes. That part of it you do replace.

Could you do all that today? Maybe. You certainly will be able to do it in a decade or three.

Bob

[Saullman]

The Alde in our 2023 Classic 33 not only provides heat but hot water as well. We have the choice to have it operate on Propane or Electric and electric has the option to pull 1K watts or 2K watts while running.. Being that we have 1K solo on the roof, I prefer to always utilize the SUN 'natural resource' that costs nothing. Ill save my propane for BBQ'ing