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jzeman17

Hydrohot leaking solution

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Howdy to all my fellow Beaver friends,

Recently noticed a puddle under my hydrohot. Removed front cover, did not notice anything.

Looking for some troubleshooting tips to try and chase the leak.

Any advice or suggestions are more than welcome.

2006 Monterey......hydrohot is a..HHE 200-09E- 12VDC

Thanks for any help...

JZ

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JZ, I had that problem with my AquaHot. Checking to make sure it was not antifreeze, and it was not, trouble shooting led me to the inlet side of the tank.  The connections are just regular plastic hose connections on mine. I was able to snake a hand in there (neighbors hand) and tighten the connections.  Like a hose, they just have to be hand tight.

Anyhow, just a thought for you to look at.

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Herman.  Hot water heater/furnace is a closed system that is heated by either gas/elect or diesel...on certain high end coach's the engine will heat the hot water as you travel.

Wayne is correct, I have had the same leak at water in & out...also!

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I have a similar issue with our Aquahot leaking. My engine loop pump in the Aquahot has failed, if I allow engine coolant flow into the Aquahot it will leak antifreeze out of the pump. 

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Have checked everywhere visible, front and back, no indication of a leak.  The leak seems to be coming from a hole underneath the unit where a larger pipe is coming through. This pipe goes all the way to the resr of the coach, I going to assume has something to do with warming up the engine block in colder weather.

Funny thing we have not been using the hotwater for a few days and the puddle under the coach seems to be drying up. Any thoughts?

Where ever the leak is, at this moment in time I have no idea how to access it.....open to any suggestions....

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Water, as you know, seeks its own level. Dripping water can be coming from anywhere.  Try tipping the coach, and you only need to bump it a half inch or so to make water flow in a different direction.

In the case of the Aquahot you have to run your fingers around the connections feeling for moisture. You man never see it but you will be able to feel it. 

That pipe was where mine was dripping from also. The pipe had nothing to do with the drip. I forgot what the pipe is.

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Again many thanks for the sage advice...….just to clarify this is not a water leak but an antifreeze leak coming from the inside of the unit as described above.

I'm thinking it may be time to call in the pro's, not that many of you are not..lol….but a more experienced hand may be what is required in this instance.

Thanks to all for responding....

JZ

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JZ, guess that part wasn't clear to me. Yep! Time for the Pro's. If you were closer to me There is a great technician in Houston, Rudy Legett.

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On ‎8‎/‎12‎/‎2020 at 11:13 PM, wayne77590 said:

Water, as you know, seeks its own level. Dripping water can be coming from anywhere.  Try tipping the coach, and you only need to bump it a half inch or so to make water flow in a different direction.

In the case of the Aquahot you have to run your fingers around the connections feeling for moisture. You man never see it but you will be able to feel it. 

That pipe was where mine was dripping from also. The pipe had nothing to do with the drip. I forgot what the pipe is.

Facial tissues or toilet paper can be wrapped or stuffed around a suspected slow leak source as a test. 

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I had an issue with my aguahot leaking antifreeze.  It started as a leak and would blow white smoke sometimes from the exhaust when it started. In taking it in they said the heat exchanger had small crack and that it was terminal.  They said it would last through that winter as long as I kept the antifreeze topped up.  Well it lasted about another couple weeks and cracked bad enough that the crack caused all the antifreeze to runout the exhaust on to the ground and that was it.  $9,800 for a factory refurb was the end result, which included installation and a 3 year warranty.  Not saying that is what is happening to yours, but that was my experience.

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Story of my Aqua Hot leak. I had my unit in for repairs. Chris discovered several parts that needed to be ordered from AQ. So I took my coach home. I discovered AQ coolant on the floor of the Garage. Took the coach back to the shop (only 15 miles). Chris's face turned red, he crawled in the bay, came out and said the leak was fixed. He said that in removing the blower unit he had hit the drain valve. All he had to do was move the valve less than a 1/8 of a turn and the leak stopped. He did have to refill the unit with 7 gallons of 50/50 coolant (system holds 16 gallons of coolant).

Checking the overflow tank is critical in knowing the coolant level. There is a level sensor and when low the unit will shut down till the level is corrected.

Herman

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I had a leak on the engine loop in the Aquahot bay. My engine pre-heat pump was leaking, the pump (which I never use) needed replaced, the part costs around $700.00. After doing some research I was told you simply cannot bypass it due to its offset design. LOL... Went to the hardware store, bought a piece of hard pipe and fittings, went home, heated and bent it to match the foot print of the pump, installed the pipe. Now we have interior heat from the engine loop again for less than $20.00. 

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Only leak I have had was the expansion tank had some cracks in it from age. Replaced the tank cured that.

How often are  you supposed to change the boiler fluid?

Bill

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3 hours ago, wildebill308 said:

How often are  you supposed to change the boiler fluid?

I test it annually, I replaced it when we bought it 6 years ago. 

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I changed my about 4 years ago. Thought I had a leak drained the system. System holds 16 Gallons I drained out 15 Gallons, NO LEAK. That was when i replaced all the fluid. Coach was in for service and the tech told me that the tank fill line was a bit loose and was causing a small leak, so he tightened it no more leak. Just one more head slap moment  id owning a RV.:wub:

Herman

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Bill he is testing the coolant. The same way your test the coolant in the coach. It is  a strip you dip into the coolant and check colors.

A testing kit cost about $40.00 from NAPA and will do about 25 test.

Herman

Edited by hermanmullins

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17 hours ago, wildebill308 said:

How and what are you testing for

Freeze protection and PH. 

 

14 hours ago, hermanmullins said:

Bill he is testing the coolant. The same way your test the coolant in the coach. It is  a strip you dip into the coolant and check colors

Exactly. 

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6 hours ago, jleamont said:

Freeze protection and PH. 

Good that is what I was thinking but still new to this new system. The website spends lots of time talking about freeze protection/winterising of the water heater but not so much on the boiler fluid.

Bill

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Bill, I haven't winterized our coach in 10 years. I keep it in our Garage/Barn. It is fully insulated and the lowest I have ever seen it is down to about 45 degrees. I have the electric side of the Aqua Hot on and the bay have heat that will come on at 36 degrees. So I don't worry about that unit. When we are camping in the cold , between to A/H & heat pumps we stay comfortable.

Saying that if our coach was stored in the open or just a covered shed then I would do the full winterized treatment.

Since you now have the Aqua Hot, Hydro Hot or Oasis unit the best advise is to run the unit for at least 30 to 45 minutes once a month (a must).

Good luck and you and Gale have a Merry Christmas. See you at Coffee Creek in February.

Herman

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Herman it is parked down at my place in Joshua plugged into 50 amp service and the Oasis is set to 45 with both electric heaters on. I haven't done a full winterization yet probably won't. I use to winterize the last coach with a couple ceramic heaters. I don't see it getting cold enough long  enough to be a problem in Texas.

Merry Christmas!!!

Bill

Edited by wildebill308

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Bill, with your high end coach I'll wager that your basement is like mine and is heated.

The Aqua Hot Guru, Rudy Legett, said to run the Aqua Hot every 4 to 6 weeks and you only have to run it for one cycle.  Turn it on, let it build and when it shuts off you can turn it off.  That is the DIESEL side of it. It is to keep the nozzle from coagulating.  

The best way to check the coolant is with a refractometer (about $20 on Amazon), not strips. It is the recommended method in the Aqua Hot Manual

Only use propylene glycol as the antifreez. Best to buy it directly from Aqua-Hot.

Blah blah blah - manual is good read.

p.s, since you are running the Aqua Hot to satisfy the requirements, turn the thermostat to a temperature that will activate the heat exchangers.  This exercises those, at the register, and it exercises the pumps in the Aqua Hot. Only need to do it for a 1 minute or so.

Edited by wayne77590

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