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mikeinca · 02-26-2018, 03:35 PM

So we’re boondocking at Joshua Tree in our ‘18 30’ Classic. Temps in the 30’s at night but Alde has been keeping us comfortable. Set system for 66 degrees last night and went to bed. Woke up at 3am and trailer was at 50 degrees and Alde radiators were stone cold. Checked Firefly and system was on with gas heat. Then checked Alde control panel under the sink. Alde panel light was pulsing with warning triangles at the bottom and a message which read “fan failure”.

Scoped out the menus but didn’t see anything relevant. Tried turning the system on and off several times but each time the message came back. Then noticed a circular arrow symbol in the upper left corner of the screen. A reset button? Pressed it and message and triangles cleared. Heard fan come on and it seemed louder than normal although it WAS 3am and I probably wasn’t in full control of my facilities. Went back to bed. By morning Alde seemed to be working fine and trailer was toasty. Wondering what tonight has in store.....

Anyone experienced anything similar? Other thoughts appreciated.

BigSxyWhtGuy · 02-26-2018, 03:42 PM

Negative. I did have to take my 18’ in because alde wasn’t working but for a separate issue. Keep an eye on it and take it in for service if you’re close to a dealer. LA airstream helped me without a problem even though I purchased classic from a different dealer.

mikeinca · 02-26-2018, 07:02 PM

Having same issue again tonight. Turns out icon I thought was a “reset button” at 3am....isn’t. Fan won’t come on; going to be a cold night. Damn.

BigSxyWhtGuy · 02-26-2018, 09:00 PM

Check out LA airstream. They were great.

mikeinca · 02-26-2018, 09:33 PM

Thanks for the feedback. We’re only going to be down here a couple more days so not worth heading for LA. Will have to drop by our own dealer when we get back to the Bay Area.

AirstreamInc · 02-27-2018, 09:58 AM

Hi Mikeinca,

We're sorry to learn about the Alde fan issue you described in your 2018 30' Classic. Please call our customer service and technical support team at*1 (877) 596-6111, option 2 so we can learn more and help.

Thanks.

BigSxyWhtGuy · 02-27-2018, 10:41 AM

Ps airstream does an incredible job reaching out on the forum here!

mikeinca · 03-02-2018, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AirstreamInc

Hi Mikeinca,

We're sorry to learn about the Alde fan issue you described in your 2018 30' Classic. Please call our customer service and technical support team at*1 (877) 596-6111, option 2 so we can learn more and help.

Thanks.

Thanks for your interest in my problem. I dropped the trailer off at my dealer in Fairfield CA this afternoon on the way home from our trip. Interestingly, the Alde system didn't work on LP gas for the whole time we were boondocking due to the "fan failure". But today at a rest stop I tried it one more time and it began to heat up with no error message on the Alde panel. So it's the "worst" kind of problem...an intermittent one.

Fortunately, I'd previously taken a picture of the error message to show my dealer. Anyway, they've been great about it and will hopefully get to the bottom of this issue.

kendrick.l.j · 03-04-2018, 10:04 AM

I have not hear too much about the Adle fan failing so please keep us posted on what you find out just in case someone else has the same problem. Thanks.

Airhead2018 · 03-08-2018, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeinca

So we’re boondocking at Joshua Tree in our ‘18 30’ Classic. Temps in the 30’s at night but Alde has been keeping us comfortable. Set system for 66 degrees last night and went to bed. Woke up at 3am and trailer was at 50 degrees and Alde radiators were stone cold. Checked Firefly and system was on with gas heat. Then checked Alde control panel under the sink. Alde panel light was pulsing with warning triangles at the bottom and a message which read “fan failure”.

Scoped out the menus but didn’t see anything relevant. Tried turning the system on and off several times but each time the message came back. Then noticed a circular arrow symbol in the upper left corner of the screen. A reset button? Pressed it and message and triangles cleared. Heard fan come on and it seemed louder than normal although it WAS 3am and I probably wasn’t in full control of my facilities. Went back to bed. By morning Alde seemed to be working fine and trailer was toasty. Wondering what tonight has in store.....

Anyone experienced anything similar? Other thoughts appreciated.

What is meant by "fan failure"? Do you think they mean "Pump Failure"? Not familiar with any fan in the ALDE system.

mikeinca · 03-08-2018, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Airhead2018

What is meant by "fan failure"? Do you think they mean "Pump Failure"? Not familiar with any fan in the ALDE system.

I'm not sure of the exact function of a fan in the Alde system but I think it has something to do with the exhaust from the boiler when it is operating in LP gas mode. There is no "fan failure" message on the Alde panel when operating in electric only mode and the system will produce heat on electricity alone. The problem while boondocking was that no electricity was available except from a generator, and I couldn't run my generators at night due to campground restrictions.

My dealer has the trailer now and told me that they ordered both a fan and a pump for the system in advance in anticipation of either being the cause of the problem. Today I also got Airstream directly involved to see if they could expedite shipment of the parts as I need to have the trailer back in about 10 days.

mikeinca · 03-08-2018, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kendrick.l.j

I have not hear too much about the Adle fan failing so please keep us posted on what you find out just in case someone else has the same problem. Thanks.

Will do.

james.mileur · 03-09-2018, 04:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Airhead2018

What is meant by "fan failure"? Do you think they mean "Pump Failure"? Not familiar with any fan in the ALDE system.

There is a fan for air flow to the burner. In the last service screen on the 17 Alde panel you can see the fan speed change as it cycles on, off, and up to the higher speed. I thought I had a bad bearing due to vibration at the transition to the higher speed, but was just the "altitude" issue that others have had and corrected with a second in line LP regulator. Happened in North Texas & Heber Valley UT but not in Salt Lake City at the service shop, and they said no authorized repair anyway to install second regulator.

paiceman · 03-09-2018, 06:23 AM

What James said, however, in addition if battery level falls to lower levels, below 12.8, I've found several things in the Classic will not function. Plugging into the tow vehicle and driving a while may have brought batteries up enough to run.

mikeinca · 03-09-2018, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by james.mileur

There is a fan for air flow to the burner. In the last service screen on the 17 Alde panel you can see the fan speed change as it cycles on, off, and up to the higher speed. I thought I had a bad bearing due to vibration at the transition to the higher speed, but was just the "altitude" issue that others have had and corrected with a second in line LP regulator. Happened in North Texas & Heber Valley UT but not in Salt Lake City at the service shop, and they said no authorized repair anyway to install second regulator.

I'd not read about an issue with Alde and altitude. Is it covered in the Much Ado About Alde thread? We were at Indian Cove campground which is at about 3200'. Would that be high enough to encounter the problem?

What's interesting is that I also heard a sound that I thought might be a bad fan bearing, so although the system was still working on LP gas when we first reached the campground, I had decided to take the trailer in to have it checked when we got home. Then it stopped working altogether....

Quote:

Originally Posted by paiceman

What James said, however, in addition if battery level falls to lower levels, below 12.8, I've found several things in the Classic will not function. Plugging into the tow vehicle and driving a while may have brought batteries up enough to run.

I don't think battery charge was the issue. I recently had a lithium battery upgrade done and the Firefly never showed a voltage below 13.2 volts. In fact, between running the generators when allowed and using my 200W portable solar panel, the controller on my Zamp unit would indicate that the batteries were at full charge by the end of each afternoon.

mikeinca · 03-09-2018, 11:33 AM

Edit: I found the discussion of this issue in the Alde thread. It sounds as though the fan problem can manifest itself as low as 1000 meters, which is 3280 feet or right in the ballpark of the campground where we were. What was described was a noise and vibration from the fan but not necessarily a complete failure of the system. Still, it seems suspicious.

Airhead2018 · 03-09-2018, 05:17 PM

Just found the fan in then schematic, looks like it's regulated to 9 volts. Thanks for posting this now when she makes noise at 3 in the morning I'll know.

mikeinca · 03-30-2018, 01:27 PM

Thought I'd follow up on the issue with fan failure in the Alde system. My dealer has replaced the fan and also rerouted the exhaust tubing. Apparently it's possible for water to accumulate at a low spot and partially block the tubing which causes the fan to "struggle" and become noisy. Everything is working properly now although the unit hasn't been tested on LP gas at altitude so we'll have to see how that plays out.

james.mileur · 03-31-2018, 05:18 AM

The water accumulation sounds reasonable. I had quite the frozen stalagmite / stalagtite? under my exhaust in north Texas with the vibration. SLC dealer couldn't reproduce the noise, in July, 20% humidity, but still at altitude. I had the vibration in Heber in April, a bit colder, and higher up.

ASwifey · 01-20-2020, 11:00 AM

We've been camping in our 2018 Classic for more then 5 weeks now and we've been getting Fan Failure and Gas Failure on and off, but if we turn the Alde off then back on again it clears.
Except for today 😳 it wouldn't clear no matter how many times we tried. Our batteries did get low last night, but not dead. We tried the Alde with the generator on, and even after it had ran for a while and our batteries had some charge, but Alde was still a no go.
So I called and talked to Mike at Airstream Customer Service and he recommended I call Alde. They told me we needed to remove the dinette to disconnect the Alde completely to let it "rest" for a few minutes 🥺 So after looking at just how much work that was gonna be, my husband just shut off the battery disconnect for a few minutes, and voila! Well at least for now the Alde is back to life!