Community Forums

slabman · 01-30-2014, 08:35 PM

I took delivery of my 2014 Essex and am trying to get familiar with all the bells and whistles. One thing I was told by the dealer is my Oasis heating system will only provide heat through the floor radiators when the diesel burner is operating. My former Aqua Hot system would provide heat with only electric OR with the diesel burner firing. Does anyone know what the deal is with this setup.

They also said I could use the same pink boiler fluid as I had in my Aqua Hot if I flushed the system first. Any thoughts on this?

kamakalama · 01-30-2014, 09:53 PM

I have a 2014 Ventana with Oasis. The hydronic unit puts out pretty decent heat with the diesel burner off and the electric elements on.

racer0624 · 01-31-2014, 03:56 AM

I can run 2 of the 3 zones with both electric elements alone. I've had both brands and used the same boiler fluid in both of them.

nforus · 01-31-2014, 05:06 AM

We run both electric and diesel when showering, clothes washing, or dishwashing. Both when we need a lot of heat and electric only when we need not so much heat but then we're using the heat pumps anyway. Either way, you're heating water and the circulation pumps should run.

joelyn5 · 01-31-2014, 01:13 PM

Slabman - welcome to the Newmar family and congratulations on your coach. I'll assume that your 14 Essex Oasis system works like the one in our 11 Essex. The Oasis has 2 heat sources: a 50,000 BTU diesel burner and 2 electric elements. If my memory is correct the each electric element it 6,000 BTU. You can turn them on in any combination. Burner only, electric element(s) only, or burner and electric. If it's slightly cool outside and you want to take the chill off the coach, then the electric elements will be fine. Actually for awhile we used the electric elements only and we had plenty of hot water for showers, but of course that depends on temp of input water, how long the shower is, etc. The burner is quite efficient and really doesn't use much fuel. Now for the fans: the fans behind the radiators (Newmar calls them convectors) in the kitchen, bath and bedroom are either on or off. There's a convector in the base of he dashboard sorta near the entrance steps that has a multi speed fan. The switch labelled "front fan" has hi, off, low positions. And one last thing: basement heat. I've gotten several answers from Newmar techs about this. Apparently there have been some changes in this over the years. But to cut to the chase, you have a convector and fan in your wet bay which is controlled by a little thermistor (looks like a little button). When that thermistor senses cold temp, it turns on the fan and blows heat into the wet bay, provided one of the Oasis heat sources is on. Now here's what I've gotten two answers on. Does one of the Oasis zones have to be on to enable basement heat? When I picked up my coach they said bath or bedroom zone had to be enabled (I can't remember which one) but on my last trip to the factory they said that the only requirement to get basement heat is to have the an Oasis heat source on: under those conditions when thermistor senses a need for heat it turns on the fan. Operation of the wet bay heat is completely independent of the thermostat settings in the coach. As for boiler fluid, my is Rhogard (sp?), but I was told later coaches had something else. But the boiler fluid is NOT common garden variety automotive antifreeze. One more thing: there's actually one more heat source for the Oasis, name engine heat: while you're driving down the highway hot engine coolant heats the Oasis so you'll have instant heat when you park at the campground. Hope this helps.

slabman · 01-31-2014, 06:58 PM

Thanks for the comments, guys. It's interesting how many different and conflicting answers each of us receives from factory and dealer sources. Racer, are you saying you simply flushed the original Oasis fluid and installed the Aqua Hot pink stuff? How easy is it to flush completely? Also, when you say 2of3 zones are you saying it won't run on all 3 zones simultaneously? Or do you only turn 2 because the unit won't put out enough heat to run all 3 simultaneously?

smlranger · 01-31-2014, 07:22 PM

I'm curious why you would want to 'flush' the coolant in the new Oasis and replace with the coolant used in the Aqua Hot? I contacted Roger Burke (he is an excellent source of expert help and advice on Oasis, Aqua Hot, Hydro Hot, systems) regarding the need to change the coolant in my 7 year old coach. He said as long as the fluid pH is within the acceptable range, there was no need to do so.

slabman · 01-31-2014, 08:25 PM

Sure...50 bucks a gallon is a bit steep, dontchya think? :-). Besides, I have a bunch of the pink stuff left from the old coach.

racer0624 · 02-01-2014, 04:15 AM

All I'm saying is in my experience the fluid in both brands is the same. Boiler fluid can be bought in concentrated or pre-mixed. Using the two electric elements only won't keep up temp needed to run all three zones at the same time. Once again, when I tried to run all 3 zones I could easily feel the discharge temp decreasing.

slabman · 02-01-2014, 06:31 AM

Yeah, in comparing both coaches, the TS with Aquahot would cycle on/off in the entire coach as heat was available. Now, even though this new Oasis has TWO elec. elements, it likely still isn't enough, so would also get cold, depending on ambient temps. In that case, can I assume the fans keep running even though cooler air is coming out? The thing I'm finding is everything is so automated there are sensors on about everything that keep you from doing things.

Skipper 05MA · 02-02-2014, 05:44 AM

Slabman here's one more point of confusion...We have a 2011 King Aire and it uses the blue stuff...RhoGard. I needed some and could only find it in 1 gallon containers from Newmar Parts. I asked about using the pink and they said "no while the newer years use pink mine needed the blue.
Sounds like you must have blue also. I'm not sure about flushing and changing but you may want to call Oasis and inquire.

ps. glad to see you are back as a Newmar owner.

danleininger · 02-02-2014, 06:23 AM

Slabman. I have had several conversations with Jeff in Customer Service regarding the boiler fluid in our Oasis. Here's a few bullet points of our conversation.
1) NEVER mix boiler fluid types. If you have pink use pink, etc.
2) Yes, System can be flushed and any appropriate Boiler fluid used. He was vague on exactly "how" this was done but did suggest it was several hours labor to accomplish and at $100+ per hour it may not be worth it.
3) The reason Newmar uses the expensive Boiler fluids is the additives that "should" extend and improve the life and function of the system.
4) Unfortunately the only convenient source I found to purchase the current Boiler fluids is from Newmar. The good news is they now ship parts for free.
5 Lastly, Jeff indicated there shouldn't be cause to add fluid very often unless there's a leak.

Hope you find this helpful.