Aqua-Hot 450D Info

[roger8070]

FWIW, I thought this information might be helpful to diesel aquahot owners with coaches having Vega Touch. Most threads seem to apply to the LP version. We had a heating problem where the diesel side would only operate when manually turning it on from the Vega Touch - and then it would run for an hour at most regardless of the thermostat setting. It would not fire automatically when the Vega Touch thermostat callled for heat. Due to the cold temperatures the electric side would not keep up but the whole system seemed to be erratic, so I thought Vega Touch might also be part of the problem.

I provided Aqua-Hot with a chart showing the lights on the Electronic Controller under various conditions. Due to the zones and pumps that the controller showed were active Aqua-Hot kept saying that it should not be doing what it showed. Meantime it was 50 degrees in the coach each morning. After getting to NIRVC to get eyes on it and going through the diagnostics it finally turned out to be a bad burner controller. That seemed to have corrected all the problems we were having with the heat (hope this doesn't jinx that).

The point of this post (and according to the NIRVC tech) is that Entegra apparently wires the Aqua-Hot controller differently then what is considered the norm. The technician at NIRVC verified that the lights on my controller were the same as other newer coaches with Vega Touch. So if you have an Aqua-Hot problem and are looking at the controller to see what is operating it may not be what the folks at Aqua-Hot expect to see. It would seem to be a problem if you are trying to diagnose a malfunction with the folks at Aqua-Hot. Sorry aboout the length and hope this makes sense to someone.

[Gary.Jones]

Roger

That information is disturbing, particularly since it is not clear what the different wiring does. Can you explain what the techs at NiRVC told you was the issue and the difference from what is standard wiring?

Entegras, sometimes, have had several of their systems mis-wired and the issue to me is, is this simply a mistake that some person on the line made in connectding the wires, or is this an intentional difference in wiring that Entegra has adopted? If it is intentional, then I would think that they need to be communicating with AH techs so that those notations are in their service books. If it is a mistake, then Entegra customer service needs to know about the error since your coach is probably not the only one with the problem.

Gary

[Cruzer]

I know my way around Aqua-Hot pretty well and haven't seen any difference in the way the burner controller is wired. Actually, the burner controller is directly connected to the electronic controller panel via the Aqua-Hot harness so it really can't be wired any other way.

The biggest difference I've seen is the Aqua-Hot heating zones. They do not always match up with the interior thermostat zones. But I can see why this would be. Entegra is unique in that they have a hydronic heated floor rather than an electric grid. Circulation pump #1 handles heating zones 1 and 5 while circulation pump #2 handles zones 2, 3 and 4. The bedroom and in-floor heat are on pump #1 while the bedroom and basement are on pump #2. So that requires swapping the heating zones around to differ from the thermostat zones for best effectiveness.

But none of that would affect burner operation - only fluid circulation.

[roger8070]

Gary,

I wish I could provide more definitive information. The technician is not here today being Saturday but I will try to get more on Monday. All he told me was that the Aqua-Hot provides a 2 wire connection and Entegra uses only 1. What that means who knows. He tried to get a schematic that shows how the Vega Touch is interfaced with the Aqua-Hot but no luck. He was referred to Firefly. I believe he was thinking it was miswired also but his check of another similar coach found the controller was operating the same. Since the heating seems to be working correctly now one might assume that Entegra has adopted a different wiring scheme.

[Franko Foto]

I have had an similar ongoing problem with Aqua-Hot that appears to be getting worse.

I first asked about this issue January of this year - http://www.irv2.com/forums/f278/aqua...ch-325006.html - and just figured things were back to normal. About a month ago I noticed the Aquahot had just done the same thing - all the pumps are running, everything seems normal, the lights on the controller are all green - but the green light on "Diesel Heat" on the Vega Touch had turned off.

I touched the icon on Vega Touch of and then on, and the Aquahot immediately came back on and operated normally until about a week ago. Since then it has repeatedly shut off on the Vega Touch and will start again if I touch the icon.

I opened the unit yesterday and cleaned the burner, replaced the nozzle and the fuel filter because Aquahot Tech help refused to discuss anything unless the unit was serviced.

This morning when I checked, the Vega Touch icon was again off - everything was running - I touched the icon to turn it off, touched it again and Aquahot fired right up.

I don't know if this is related to the controller or what the issue might be, but on at least three of the occasions this happened, there was a lingering odor of - as I described earlier - a burning candle that had been snuffed out.

I'll call Aquahot again tomorrow, now that the "service the unit" issue is resolved and see if they have any insight based on this thread.

Frank

[DoggieDaddy]

Make sure you jumpers under the light panel are set correctly. Ours came from the factory with the jumpers all wrong. They forgot to set them to the Entegra configuration which shows that they never tested the heating system. We also had to change the burner controller which solved our hot water issue.

[Franko Foto]

I just had a discussion with Aquahot about this problem, and the tech advised me to remove the controller attached to the side of the burner motor, and put it in the freezer for three hours, re-attach and see if the Aquahot ignites. My problems only seem to appear when it's cold so at least this will eliminate, or point to, the controller.

I'll report back as to the results.

Frank

[roger8070]

Originally Posted by Cruzer

I know my way around Aqua-Hot pretty well and haven't seen any difference in the way the burner controller is wired. Actually, the burner controller is directly connected to the electronic controller panel via the Aqua-Hot harness so it really can't be wired any other way.

I was actually referring to the Aqua-Hot Electronic Controller wiring, but I have tested the system after the burner controller was replaced and all seems to be working correctly now. I can only assume at this point that all the erratic lights being displayed on the main aqua-hot controller were caused by problems with the burner controller. Possible that the technician's comments about the controller wiring were not correct as all the zones and pumps are working as Cruzer has discussed. The only difference I can find is that zone 3 seems to be related to the stir pump (pump 3) as it is not active when anything is running. This is what I observed on the VegaTouch and main controller:

Zone 1 - Front (punp 1)
Zone 2 - Rear (pump 2)
Zone 3 - Stir Pump (pump 3) ?
Zone 4 - Basement (pump 2)
Zone 5 - Floor (pump 1)

[Franko Foto]

Put the controller in the freezer for three hours, reconnected and AQ fired right up. Not the cold, apparently.

Frank