Frustrated to no end...Basement and Hydronic Floor Heat

[John Grant]

Hey group, I’m in need of some accurate information on what’s going on or what I’m not doing correctly. I think my biggest frustration is that I’m not educated enough on how these systems are supposed to work. Our Aspire is new to us and there’s so so much to learn.

I have two issues, both in regards to heat underneath the coach. We have a 2013 Aspire 42DEQ with a 375 LP AquaHot. I’ve been working on this for weeks to no avail.
First issue, no in floor hydronic heat. I’ve tried everything I can think of. I’ve called Entegra multiple times and they are very helpful but I seem to get different advice each time I call. The HVAC controls in the bathroom [emoji372] can be set many ways. I have tried multiple setups, Zone 2 is currently set to gas and the temp for Zone 2 is set to 78 degrees, and each time I try something different, I wait 24 hours to see if it works. Anyhow, I can not get the floor to warm up and our feet are absolutely freezing. I’ve tried all three zones on gas, burner only switch on, burner and electric switches on etc etc. I’ve set it up so Zone 1 and 3
are on electric and Zone 2 on gas as well. I’ve also had a certified aquahot tech check my system but he wasn’t much help, and expensive I might add. My hot water works great, both zones 1 & 3 also work great on gas and electric. Who can I talk to to get accurate information on how this should be setup and how can I test it without waiting 24 hours each time I make a single change?

Second issue is my basement hot air heat stopped working, maybe I’m missing a setup somewhere? It worked fine when I purchased the coach two months ago. I’ve replaced the hard to use/read basement thermostat thinking that might be the issue but no change. ( I put a simple digital thermostat in its place). Anyhow it no longer blows hot air. Is it actually electric or gas? What tells the basement heat to use the basement thermostat? I have all three zones in the bathroom cabinet active and set to heat. I can hear the basement thermostat click when I turn it up and call for heat, but no hot air blows out the vents.I’ve checked every fuse I can find in the entire coach. I don’t know what else to check or set differently.
This is an amazing coach but I’m really frustrated and fixated on getting everything to work properly. Who can I talk to that’s well educated in these two specific areas? I’m open to any and all suggestions at this point.
Apologies for the long winded post but I’ve exhausted all my avenues and it drives me crazy when I can’t figure something out or fully understand how it’s supposed to operate.

[brobox]

This is a re post from MRUSA14 that he took the time to explain everything a few years ago. It has helped me tremendously to learn the correct setting of my Aqua Hot.
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f278/corr...se-370549.html

[John Grant]

Originally Posted by brobox

This is a re post from MRUSA14 that he took the time to explain everything a few years ago. It has helped me tremendously to learn the correct setting of my Aqua Hot.
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f278/corr...se-370549.html

Thanks Brobox, I’ve studied that post, but still no joy.

[pasdad1]

I remember reading that sometimes the hoses that flow the hot water to one or more zones is kinked..... maybe someone else will chime in here...I’m thinking you might be able to see from the basement ?

Should also be a procedure where you can verify by sound or feel if the pumps are running.....there could be a pump malfunction which is preventing the hot water from circulating

Another good resource
http://forum.rvhydronicheaterrepair.com/forum.php?

[brobox]

I am not familiar with the 375LP but have seen a lot of post on "buck board" problems with them. Might check those post. The person I would call is Aqua Hot Customer Service. They are very good at troubleshooting over the phone. You will need your units series number. Be ready to be on hold for awhile, first real cold spell and there will be a lot of calls.

[Armye7]

I had issues with my floor heat (zone 2) after taking it back up to entegra they found I had several kinks in our system they corrected and now we have no problems. I put a remote weather station in my basement so I could monitor my temp in the basement. I am in Dayton Ohio where it was 15 degrees this morning my temp in the basement was at 55 degrees no problems. I really can't feel any hot air blowing in basement but it seems to circulate down there. I have my fresh water disconnected and just filling my fresh water tank.

[Armye7]

I have the exact coach, send me a PM and I can send you my #. I would crank your floor all the way up. Remember our body temp is 98.6 so if your floor is set on 78 still going to feel pretty cold on your feet.

[MRUSA14]

I agree, set zone 2 heat to the maximum it will go. If after 24 hours you still have a cold floor, at least you will know it was not because the thermostat was set too low.

There is a dedicated pump for floor heat circulation. In my coach I can hear that running when I turn on floor heat. If you don’t hear it, ask Entegra where it is located in your coach so that you can get up close to it and see if it runs.

[hogdriver]

Ditto what Marc said. It would be quite easy for a couple of kinks to disable your floorheat. Zone 2 must be on GAS heat. I usually set mine between 75-80F. I can feel it in different floor tiles in a few hours. If you hear the burner running and no floor heat you have kinks! There are several old postings about where to look for kinks. You may not have any luck finding the kinks with the slides in. Problem areas have been in the kitchen cabinet slide and behind the driver. As Marc also said as soon as that Zone2 is turned up you should hear a buzzing like sound of the circulation pump on the passenger side rear wheel well. It is in that aft water equip compartment. On my old Aspire that compartment was secured with a couple screws vs a door latch (still has a hinge).

The more I read your post it sounds like you have some kinks.

[Fattman-Litlboy]

Try bringing your right front slide in, and see if the floor heat is restored. Mine had a kink, and this action confirmed it to us.

[737 Driver]

Probably a pretty obvious suggestion but have you gone to The Aqua Hot website and downloaded the manual? They have a lot of trouble shooting advice for pumps and everything else. I have also heard of lots of issues with the kitchen slide and linking of the pex lines. If the pumps work and electricity is there for the blowers I would think there is a high likelihood for something to be linked.

[737 Driver]

Kinked

[Rollin101]

On your coach the dedicated pump for floor heat is on the front wall of the compartment just forward of the passenger side dual wheels. There are two screws under the panel to remove then you can open the panel by pulling up.
Check the control panel by the aqua hot unit and make sure there are no red pump lights on. Red light on equals bad zone pump. Just changed two pumps on a friends 42deq, not much fun.
If all else fails there are two check valves, inside the cover, one from each pump. With the unit running rap each one of those check valves with a wrenc or hammer. There is a safety switch that you have to manually depress to get the unit to operate when you take the access panel off.

[Matt D]

Tor, is your coach warm?

-Matt