Water leak @ Hydro-Hot

[Basil Shannon]

I have a water leak in the service/tank bays that I think is coming from the back of the Hydro-Hot, probably the cold water connection. The problem is that there is no access to this area on my coach. I thought about cutting a hole in the deck below but the HH is butted up to about an inch or so of the holding tank, ie no way to get your hand and a tools up there if you did cut a hole. Same problem with the aft mounting screws to get the HH out?

This is a picture of the back of the HH I took up at Guarantee on a wrecked coach with the holding tanks removed. You can see how close the HH is to the holding tank bracket. Very poor design for maintainability.


Any ideas?

[Lyle & Cath]

Basil,
We had the same leak last summer. Took it to Cummins Care in Eugene. They enlarged the drain hole that's under the coach just behind the HH. From there they werre able to change the water connector.

Cathy

[Basil Shannon]

Don Harris sent me this picture of the enlarged drain hole that was used to access the back of his "Mammary glands up" soon to be replaced Hydro-Hot. Hole is 5" X 10" but he says it could probably be larger if necessary.

[JLMunsil]

Basil, I also have a 5" x 10" hole behind my Aqua-Hot. I must have been put in to do a repair before I bought the coach. There is just enough room to get a hand in to the connections. I covered it with sheet aluminum. I didn't know there was supposed to be a drain hole in there.

[Basil Shannon]

There is no access to the back of the Hydro-Hot in my coach which I suspect is typical. In order to remove the HH or do any maintenance in this area, it is necessary to cut an approximate 5" X 10" hole starting at the round drain hole underneath. Note that part of this hole is cut in the actual sheet metal of the HH. USE CAUTION NOT TO CUT THE PLUMBING, WIRING, ETC.

In my coach, the HH is supported front and back with a 2" angle iron bolted to structure in back and welded to another angle in front. Rather than drop the whole support assembly, I cut the weld on the back one, rotated it out of the way to cut the hole, fixed my leak, installed a cover plate over the hole and reattached the angle with bolts and a bracket. Now, God forbid, it will be easy to access this area for future repairs.

My leak was at the hot water outlet on the tempering valve. Both the hot and cold connections were finger tight. Held for 4 years without a problem.