ALDE HEATING SYSTEM FAILURE- Alde glycol discoloration and vent discharge

[paiceman]

Thanks for update, one of the more perplexing issues I’ve heard of in something basically simple. I still lean to the dealer with two in the same situation and have not heard of any others

[uncle_bob]

Hi

One very simple answer to this:

Somebody topped off the system with the "wrong stuff". All you need is chemistry in the top off fluid that degrades the buffer in the Alde glycol. Once the buffer is nuked ... bad things happen.

There has been a *lot* of conversation here on the forum about using this or that in an Alde system. I doubt that confusion / discussion is limited just to this group. One thing I was *very* careful about at delivery was to watch what they did the top off with ....

Bob

[james.mileur]

Agreed, need all new system. Once fried inside and contaminated, leaching, precipitate, pinholes,. . .

[kendrick.l.j]

Wouldn’t it be easier and faster to “total” this unit and get another one. One doesn’t have weird stuff in the system. Heck of a lot of work and money to have to rip out everything, replace the entire Alde system, put everything back in.
With all the Classics from 2017 to current that have been sold all over the country and only two have this same strange failure and both came from the same dealer at about the same time....seems logical that it is easy to isolate the origin.

[BAB]

Originally Posted by JimskyD

JoyUs has been at Covington AS for the last two+ months. Alde has a solution to our issue consisting of upgrading the boiler/flow unit from 3010 to 3020, flushing the system with DI water, and refilling with new glycol. They are also modifying the warranty on the system to mitigate the condition of the pipes.



I was somewhat surprised to learn that Alde has converted over from KOST glycol to Century glycol. The color is the same so you can't tell them apart. The reason cited is that the Century glycol is easier to obtain.



No one has been able to identify/resolve the root cause of the problem although Alde says it will not close the case until they have done so.



Covington AS completed the conversion earlier this week and has been running my system during the day, taking pH readings at the expansion tank several times a day. They use a General DPH7011 pH meter for the measurements. Alde has the same pH meter so they can correlate their measurements. I have the same pH meter on order ($130) so I can continue pH monitoring if/when I get the trailer back.



The DPH7011 is accurate to +/- .01 pH and is recommended by KOST. KOST also says that common pool testing methods do not give the needed accuracy and are not stable reading methods for investigating this type of problem.



Our system has been running four days now. The pH is creeping up. See the attached pdf I made from the measurements Covington took. I think that Alde/AS will have to understand and resolve the underlying issue before they can close our repair order.



Stay tuned!

I really admire all the patience of Alde owners. We went through “learning pains” with the Relax awning, but nothing like many of you have gone through. If you are required to monitor the Ph level of the circulating liquid, that testing device should be included when you buy your trailer. I have a pool, so I get the necessity for the Ph being in a certain range for sanitized pool water. But for glycol?

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by kendrick.l.j

Wouldn’t it be easier and faster to “total” this unit and get another one. One doesn’t have weird stuff in the system. Heck of a lot of work and money to have to rip out everything, replace the entire Alde system, put everything back in.
With all the Classics from 2017 to current that have been sold all over the country and only two have this same strange failure and both came from the same dealer at about the same time....seems logical that it is easy to isolate the origin.

Hi

Flip the "total" question around : Would you pay anything for this trailer with the junked Alde? I'm sure there are a number of people who would indeed be quite happy to buy it ( for a price ). The trailer is designed to be pulled apart. It's held together with screws ( and not glue ) for that reason.

Yes, it *seems* like a monster expense to do all this. That's at the "billing rate" for the labor. One would guess that JC does not pay the people on the floor quite as much as they bill you per hour for the work.

All that said, I certainly would have questions about the dealer doing the work. There is a very big question in my mind about them having done the damage in the first place...... no it's glycol and not Drain-O that goes in the Alde system .... That's the Alde reserve tank, not the auto-drain flush feature ....

Bob

[paiceman]

Agree with Uncle Bob> If mine I'd have it taken to JC, have JC do the re-do and return it to me as a re-build. Not all that hard, in fact not hard at all just time consuming. Bet one could run it thru the factory in reverse, put the Alde in and then turn around and run it thru the right way for a new finished AS. Ha, HA.

[kendrick.l.j]

lol...that would be fun to watch. UB, very valid point. This is obviously a “covered by warranty “ issue so repair and replace costs would be covered by AS and not the OP thank goodness.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

The problem is the 9 weeks and waiting part of this process. The cost is one thing. The fact that we're two+ months in and the repairs are not underway is something else. There is a point that escalating the issue with the factory makes sense. There's transport to and from JC to be arranged. There's also factory time to get it all done.

No fun at all.

Bob

[JimskyD]

All repairs are currently on hold pending determination of the cause of the problem. There is a third trailer in Covington with similar symptoms. Electrolysis has been thrown into the mix as a potential cause. Alde and Airstream corp. are working the problem.

Stay tuned.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by JimskyD

All repairs are currently on hold pending determination of the cause of the problem. There is a third trailer in Covington with similar symptoms. Electrolysis has been thrown into the mix as a potential cause. Alde and Airstream corp. are working the problem.

Stay tuned.

Hi

I do agree that getting to a root cause is a good idea. Do you *want* your trailer to sit until that happens? I've seen similar issues in industry drag out to years before a root cause was agreed upon ..... In those cases ongoing production of a product was impacted so there *was* an economic incentive to get it worked out. It still took a long time.

Bob