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smlranger · 03-03-2014, 07:56 PM

I've decided to do a flush and refill of my AH since the coolant is now 7 years old. I know my 450DE01 has the 5 gallon boiler capacity but I am not sure how much to allow to fill the entire system. At this point I am planning to get enough Camco concentrate to make up a total of 10 gallons of 50/50% coolant. I have 5 heat exchangers.

I am curious if others with a coach similar to mine has done this and can confirm if 10 gallons will do the job.

IASM · 03-03-2014, 08:44 PM

Hi
On my 60d I did last weekend I pulled out around 14 gallons. I used 22 32oz concentrate and filled with distilled water. One regret is I didn't flush the system. The product that was in the aquahot was gold in color. I thought I drained it all and after the fill I didn't have a nice pink color but more darker. If I do it again i will flush until i get clean water and will look elsewhere for coolant. A local plumbing supply had boiler coolant at $50.00 for 5 gallons . I paid 9 something a quart for the camco. I made a mistake on the ratio and ordered 10 then had to place a second order once i realized i made a mistake.
Rod

Medico · 03-04-2014, 06:42 AM

My system (Hydro Hot) used 4 gallons of Campco Concentrate and 3 gallons of distilled water, after a thorough fresh water flush (actually 2 flushes) prior to adding the new fluid. This included flushing the radiator and the heating hoses / heat exchangers throughout the system (I have posted my many problems elsewhere) which was necessary to clean out all the old really junky fluid that was actually rust colored. It was a real mess. Now my Hrdro Hot system works great. I also had the diesel burner serviced prior to the above flush, accomplished at Alliance Coach in Wildwood, Florida. The on site tech who did the service, RV Doctor, would not try the flush on site. I'm glad he did not as this was a real messy job.

smlranger · 03-04-2014, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Medico

My system (Hydro Hot) used 4 gallons of Campco Concentrate and 3 gallons of distilled water, after a thorough fresh water flush (actually 2 flushes) prior to adding the new fluid. This included flushing the radiator and the heating hoses / heat exchangers throughout the system (I have posted my many problems elsewhere) which was necessary to clean out all the old really junky fluid that was actually rust colored. It was a real mess. Now my Hrdro Hot system works great. I also had the diesel burner serviced prior to the above flush, accomplished at Alliance Coach in Wildwood, Florida. The on site tech who did the service, RV Doctor, would not try the flush on site. I'm glad he did not as this was a real messy job.

I did some maintenance on my heat exchangers (replaced fans) and had two of them disconnected. The little bit of coolant I lost looked Ok with the exception of a small amount of some slimy black looking contamination.

Did you use anything other than plain water to flush the system? I plan to drain the coolant, fill with water, run the burner and pumps, drain, repeat, until what drains out is clear. Since the AH unit is lower in the coach than all the exchangers, I am hoping the system will drain well.

Medico · 03-04-2014, 07:13 AM

The flush was accomplished at Alliance Coach. They put plain fresh water in the radiator (after draining what was in there through the bottom drain plug), then ran the system to allow the circulation pumps to run thus putting fresh water through the system, then drained the system again. They ran through this procedure 2 or 3 times until the fluid being drained from the radiator bottom plug was clear.

They then drained the radiator and began filling with a mixture of Campco Boiler Anti-freeze (the environmentally safe stuff, it's more expensive than regular anti-freeze, but safe if it gets into the fresh water system) in the radiator and continued running the system until the fluid in the entire system was replaced with the anti-freeze. They filled the radiator to the top, then added enough of the mixture into the overflow to bring it to the proper level, and ran the system some more. Rechecked the fluid level and buttoned everything up.

It was a very messy operation since I had plugs in the heat exchangers as well as an air plug in the system. They opened the heat exchanger hoses under the dash to clean the heat exchanger plug there, and dumped a bunch of the bad fluid on the floor, what a mess. They also had to dispose of the old fluid (several gallons worth) somewhere. This is definitely an operation I would not have wanted to do myself. Fortunately the selling dealer had already agreed to pay the bill because the labor involved in diagnosing the system and cleaning these plugs was high.

I had also done some DIY on the system with the heat exchangers, but was so frustrated after almost 8 months without heat in the front that I was relieved when the selling dealer agreed to let me take it to Alliance. I would not recommend this at a camp site at all.

IASM · 03-04-2014, 09:39 PM

Medico. What aqua hot do you have? You used half what I used. I drained out three plastic 5 gallon buckets a couple inches from the top.
Rod

Medico · 03-05-2014, 07:21 AM

I have the Hydro Hot HHE-200-9E according to the list. I suppose it's probable there was water still in the system after the fill that mixed with the anti-freeze fluid. My Hydro Hot only has 2 heating zones. Does your Aqua Hot have 2 zones or 3 as other Aqua Hot's I have seen? An extra zone would account for some of the extra fluid quantity.

The Operator's Manual I found online for my Hydro Hot states the Hydro Hot holds approx. 5 gallons of boiler anti-freeze. It does not really specify whether this includes all the hoses and heat exchangers, but I suspect not because they did remove more fluid than that when they flushed the system.