Hydronic Heating Issues

NewmarDude · 03-23-2010, 12:47 AM

Looking for anyone who has had or is currently having issues with a Hydronic heating system. Namely a Precision Temp propane fired furnace in a 2009 or 2010 coach. All responses are appreciated. Thank you kindly.

**RV Wizard** · 03-23-2010, 02:34 AM

NewmarDude, welcome to iRV2.com. We are glad to have you join us here and we look forward to reading of your adventures and experiences. I am sure you will enjoy the website and forums. Be sure to click on the "user CP" button and include your coach info in a signature. This will help us, if you have a technical question.
What kind of issues are you having with you system?

RV Mech Tech · 03-23-2010, 12:26 PM

NewmarDude- Hello from a new member as well ! - I have been following information about the tankless water heaters for both RV use and residential and two main problems have been repeated on both RV and house/construction forums that are common denominators fo both applications- the first is the incoming water temperature and available water pressure and/or water flow rate - in residential application I have seen problems with rural/remote appications as to the incoming water temperature - apparantly the colder the temp the more sluggish the temp water sensors are to react ( in extreme cases where ground/well water is colder than it would be in a city location ) and flow rate, affected by low water pressure can cause problems with the reaction time of the system when hot water is called for - this can apply to any location where pressure is below the norm - these problems have become common in some areas and are posted on several different forums and I personally know of two installations in rural areas that conractors had to remove and put in a tank system since they could not solve the problems with the units they had installed - (this could be on account of design defects, incorrect installations etc)- how does this affect RV installation? - I have seen several complants regarding PTemps RV -500 including factory installed units - on doing a search of this I came up with one common problem - severe wind and gusts can affect the operation of the heater and there is a 'wind protector' kit # 1703 that is available for this problem and you can view it on the www.vintagetrailersupply.com site -(do a search for TWHeaters or Precision Temp) -also water pressure problems and restrictions in the RV systems may cause problems as well - there are flow restrictors in the shower heads, some taps may not allow enough flow to actuate the flow sensor, a clogged water filter may decrease water pressure, etc. - (this of course would be on the fresh tank with the water pump working and being connected to city water may not be affected) - also there is one other thing - there is now a Federal regulation concerning shower taps to prevent scalding and that is that the manifold assembly on any shower tap no matter where it is installed is no longer a dedicated hot and cold (completely seperate) passage and must be a 'mixing chamber' to prevent scalding - this is why if you have your shower handle turned off (in an RV) but both the hot and cold taps are open even a little you will get a mixing of the hot and cold water and possibly a feed back into the hot water tank and if the tank has air in it the water pump will cycle on and off similar to an external water leak since the pump cannot build up pressure to shut off- ( this is possible if there are no check valves in the hot water line into the hot water heater tank) - I'm sure there are other members that can contribute to this topic and it will be interesting to see how the manufactures including Precision Temp deal with this - I also would like to see what is different in an RV plumbing system between the TWH and the original systems - I will post any other info I come across.

NewmarDude · 03-25-2010, 12:00 PM

Thanks for the reply, but I was looking for information regarding a Twin Temp Jr. or Twin Temp 2 system. Your info on the RV-500 is good to know.

RV Mech Tech · 03-25-2010, 12:55 PM

NewmarDude - here is a website with the specs and installation manuals - www.houseneeds.com - I could not find a direct link so do a search on 'Precision Temp RV-500' and the links will come up incuding the specs and installation manuals I will post any other info I find- maybe some other members can post their experiences with these type of water heaters.

RV Mech Tech · 03-25-2010, 01:27 PM

NewmarDude- the Precision Temp website has all the tech info on the Twin Temp 2 in their installation manual including wiring diagrams, winterizing etc.- (it says the page is under construction but if you click on the Twin Temp 2 inscription the pdf files will come up.

**RV Wizard** · 03-26-2010, 02:22 AM

Here is PrecisionTemp.com: For Recreational Vehicles and Boats where you can download pdf files.
Here is http://www.precisiontemp.com/images/rv_logo.gif also.
I have seen them in some of the new coaches but have not had to work on any yet.

mlkaiser99 · 06-06-2010, 08:54 AM

I have a 2009 Newmar with a twintemp2 water heater. I love the coach except for the twintemp. This piece of junk has been worked on 3 times in various parts of the country and we have been to the factory in Cincinatti twice, the last time in late March. The coach was parked for about 6 weeks and now we are in Taos. When I fired up the water heater last night it worked. This morning, no hot water. The symptoms are different than previously. I will be at Newmar later this month and will discuss replacing it with a system that works. I would recomend against this option to anyone considering it in any RV. It is safe to say that in the 16 months I have owned this rig the water heater has been non-functional more than 1/2 the time.

katoomer · 06-14-2010, 08:49 PM

Lots of problems with ours over the 9 months that we have had the coach.
I love it when it works but this is a component that must be dead reliable

newmar10 · 05-08-2011, 11:14 AM

I have a 2010 dutch star twin temp Junior. I have had nothing but greef with it. It has had 3 blower motors. Boiled the glycol out og it twice. Now it has just been rebuilt ran for about 4 weeks very well till 6 days ago and now the glycol recirc pump will not stop running. If i was to by another coach it would not have a PT unit iwould go with deisel. When the PT runs well they are quite and do not smell. But they seem to spend more time being repaired then when working. Talking to other ownwers it appears to be a common theme.

mlkaiser99 · 05-08-2011, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by newmar10

I have a 2010 dutch star twin temp Junior. I have had nothing but greef with it. It has had 3 blower motors. Boiled the glycol out og it twice. Now it has just been rebuilt ran for about 4 weeks very well till 6 days ago and now the glycol recirc pump will not stop running. If i was to by another coach it would not have a PT unit iwould go with deisel. When the PT runs well they are quite and do not smell. But they seem to spend more time being repaired then when working. Talking to other ownwers it appears to be a common theme.

Since my last post I have had our unit worked on twice. Now the electric backup just quit working.

So is there an alternative? I have talked to Newmar twice and they just refer me to PT. PT does not care. I thought when I paid more for a Newmar I was getting a company that cared. Might as well have bought the cheapest available. Does anyone have any experience converting to Aqua-hot or any other brand? We are headed to Canada and our only backup will be electric space heaters.

katoomer · 05-10-2011, 12:08 AM

We are having more problems with ours as well. I think the control board is toast. It goes in tomorrow.
Gary at PT is always helpful and we have a good local tech to repair it but come on, this unit is garbage.
I think Aqua Hot makes a similar propane fired unit. I wonder if it is more reliable. Curious what the cost would be to refit our coach.

newmar10 · 05-10-2011, 09:25 AM

I have looked quickly at converting to Oasis Diesel unit. It will be aroud 10000.00. I love my motor home and the option od dumping it or changing the unit is on my mind. Pt has always been helpfull but i do not trust them. They will tell you there is no problems but if you look in to it you will find different. You wonder how long till newmar goes away from this product. The dealer where i bought will not bring in any coaches with PT.