Community Forums

brobox · 02-28-2015, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hawgguy

I know this is strange. When I take a shower, after a couple of minutes the hot water peters out. If I shut the water off for 30-45 seconds and then turn it back on again I have endless hot water. Strange.

I was told by Entegra that this was normal, especially in cold weather. They told me to brush my teeth or wash a coffee cup out with hot water before taking a shower. Use just enough hot water for the burner to fire off and the water to start stirring before taking a shower and the HW would be endless. I still turn the water off when soaping up, so it hasn't bothered me except the first time I tried to check the "endless HW". I tried it their way and it did solve the problem.

gizmo123316 · 02-28-2015, 04:04 PM

After a year and a half, we finally got the zone 1 and 2 heat working, the antifreeze piping was plugged. Have changed several pumps and the mixing valve. The mixing valve is turned as warm as the tech says he dares, but the water in the kitchen sink, if we run all hot, is only on the high side of warm. If taking a shower, only get about three minutes of hot water, then have to turn it off for a minute, then hot water for a couple of minutes, then turn off again, etc. Entegra spent a lot to get our heat working, so we are living with the lack of hot water, but (especially my wife) is getting sick of the lack of hot water. Sure glad that we have alternate showers most of the year, at our s&b in summer and casita in the winter.
So running hot water before the shower will just make me go thru the on-of process earlier. Seems like the thermostat isn't working, (if there is one)?????

brobox · 02-28-2015, 04:10 PM

Bob, thank you for your post and encouragement not to change my recall pumps myself. I have very few hours of use on my system and already pump(?) have failed. Decided after posts like yours to have the AH people, change the pumps and make sure that is all it is. I have a warranty and I think I need to use it and let them find out if it is just the pumps.

Cruzer · 02-28-2015, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gizmo123316

...........So running hot water before the shower will just make me go thru the on-of process earlier. Seems like the thermostat isn't working, (if there is one)?????

There is a thermostat that controls the boiler temperature. Totally independent from the wall thermostat for climate control. This thermostat tells the burner to heat up when the temp drops below the low set point. Once it reaches the high set point it tells the burner to shut off. The circulating pumps for heat will still operate unless it gets too cold and then they'll stop, as well as heat exchanger fans, to prevent blowing cold air.

That works for heating but for domestic hot water heating it gets a bit more complex. The domestic hot water passes through a coil of tubing inside the boiler. The water picks up heat from the hot boiler anti-freeze that surrounds the coil as it passes through the coil. There is a flow switch on the hot water side that tells the controller that someone wants hot water. When the demand for hot water is seen the controller will temporarily halt the heat exchangers and circulating pumps and then kick in the burner, regardless of how hot it is. The reasoning behind this is that you need all the heat you can get to keep from sucking all the heat out of the boiler anti-freeze as the cold water enters and passes through the coil. As soon as the hot water demand is over, the controller goes back to the regular heat mode and turns the heat exchangers and circulating pumps back on.

Note that this happens when I diesel burner mode. If in electric-only mode, it will switch off the heating system but won't start the burner. That's why you can't get a full flow constant hot shower unless running the diesel burner.

So, for domestic hot water heating, the thermostat really is no longer in the picture (although the stir pump is). The controller has bypassed it and started the diesel burner anyway and also shut down the circulating pumps. If this isn't happening I would suspect an issue with either the controller or the flow switch. If it is shutting down the heating system and still no hot water, I would suspect bad stir pump.

hawgguy · 02-28-2015, 05:20 PM

Since I'm in the middle of nowhere, I will probably be stuck changing the pumps myself. If I have no major malfunctions I suppose I can delay until early November when I'll be in Middlebury. I'm assuming Entegra has an authorized AH tech.

I know this thread has been down on AH. I just thought I'd add that for the past few days our temps have been in the teens and low 20's. I have been toasty with the coach in the mid 70's (I like it warm). The heater isn't even working hard which is a testament to the superior insulation of the coach as much as the effectiveness of the AH heating system.

Dr4Film · 02-28-2015, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cruzer

There is a flow switch on the hot water side that tells the controller that someone wants hot water. When the demand for hot water is seen the controller will temporarily halt the heat ex-changers and circulating pumps and then kick in the burner, regardless of how hot it is. The reasoning behind this is that you need all the heat you can get to keep from sucking all the heat out of the boiler anti-freeze as the cold water enters and passes through the coil. As soon as the hot water demand is over, the controller goes back to the regular heat mode and turns the heat ex-changers and circulating pumps back on.

Note that this happens when I diesel burner mode. If in electric-only mode, it will switch off the heating system but won't start the burner. That's why you can't get a full flow constant hot shower unless running the diesel burner.

So, for domestic hot water heating, the thermostat really is no longer in the picture (although the stir pump is). The controller has bypassed it and started the diesel burner anyway and also shut down the circulating pumps. If this isn't happening I would suspect an issue with either the controller or the flow switch. If it is shutting down the heating system and still no hot water, I would suspect bad stir pump.

That is true for the smaller Aqua-Hot units like the AH-450D and possibly a few others.

My older AH-431/12 and the 100 series plus the newer 600 models do not shut off the room heating zones as they have a larger Boiler Coolant Tank capacity.

When people post problems or solutions they need to be very specific as to what model Aqua-Hot they are referring to as there are BIG differences between models and some owners can get easily confused.

All Aqua-Hot units are not the same.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

Cruzer · 02-28-2015, 08:42 PM

But none of the Entegras use the 600. Seeing as how this is the Entegra forum and the topic refers to issues that Entegra coaches are currently having I didn't feel it necessary to go into what Monaco and everyone else uses.

Gregory0495 · 03-01-2015, 03:53 AM

As an added note their is a heat adjustment for the domestic water on the back side of the Aqua-Hot unit. You have to crawl in the coach to get to it.

brobox · 03-01-2015, 05:18 AM

Thank you Mark. There is enough confusion about "our" model of Aqua Hot's. I know others are trying to be helpful, but when it confuses the issue at hand it makes it hard for us with a 450 D to figure out what, or where, to look for regarding a problem.

Dr4Film · 03-01-2015, 07:31 AM

Do ALL Entegra coach models use the AH-450D unit?

Dr4Film ----- Richard

brobox · 03-01-2015, 08:01 AM

All except the LP units in the Aspire's.

gizmo123316 · 03-01-2015, 12:20 PM

I would hope that the authorized Aquahot tech would know all these things, but he hasn't been able to solve our problem with lack of hot water. He has given up on this unit and says that it won't produce hot water like a regular house system would. This is the only aquahot guy for many miles around, so don't know where to go on this. Have to use a kettle of hot water to heat up the water to wash dishes, and it's 65 to 85 degrees outside, so water temperature is not the problem. Getting more and more frustrated with this.

Dr4Film · 03-01-2015, 01:05 PM

Bob,

Turn the problem over to the Entegra people as it should be still under warranty, right?

If they can't solve the problem with Aqua-Hots expertise then I would insist on the removal of the unit and replaced with one that does work correctly.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

brobox · 03-03-2015, 06:16 AM

All 4 replacement pumps that are part of the recall arrived yesterday. The 4 pumps are the same as hawgguy posted the photos of. They do come with all of the change over hardware including new plastic rivets.

I tried to call AH this morning to schedule service to change the pumps and check the unit out, but their phones are dead. I will post when I found out what AH replacement schedule will be like in the SW FL area.