Heater hoses going to water heater??

[meworrynot]

I was underneath my MH today, greasing, diff fluid, and such. I noticed engine heater hoses going into the bottom of my water heater. Is this normal, or am I seeing something else. It has the normal water lines going to it and seems to maybe use engine coolant to heat while running. I've never seen this before, and very curious. I'm not sure of the water heater brand, but I could easily look if someone needs to know.

[KIX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meworrynot seems to maybe use engine coolant to heat while running.

On Winnebago coaches they call it Motor Aid. And you are correct in that it does heat the water in the water heater tank while the engine is running

[meworrynot]

I thought I was seeing things, I'll tell the Mrs. I'm not crazy....

[Retired and Happy]

It's quite effective and you have hot water when you get to your site without having to run your propane or electric Hott Rod. You may also find a heater under the bed or similar location heated by the same radiator source and controllable from a switch on the dash. It's used for heating the rear area of the coach and works so well we have to be sure not to run it too long.

[Clay L]

We have the MotorAid option also. It keeps the water hot while we drive.
Our rear heater is under the refrigerator.
The fan for it is controlled by a dash mounted rocker switch labeled "Aux Fan" and has a High, middle off, and Low position

[Ralphie251]

I spent way too much time troubleshooting why the gas burner would not attempt to light when I turned it on after a 8 hour drive. Turns out the MotorAid gets the water temp so high that it's just not cool enough to call for the burner to light. I finally figured that out when I went to wash my hands after working on the water heater and got scolded - by extremely hot water of course. Checking the water temp first would have made too much sense.

[MickBrennan]

There was one of "those things" on our last coach. The daughter repeatedly attempted to shower while underway. She was very sneaky about it too.

Nice feature! Careful, it does get pretty warm.