Community Forums

Wrinklemeist · 10-06-2010, 12:45 PM

I am getting plenty of hot water from the diesel fired boiler in my 05 Alpine, but I can't figure out how to get the blower motors to come on. I have a Duo Therm Comfort Control Center thermostat and have set the proper zone to "furnace" and temp set way up. I have searched high and low for hidden fan switches or another thermostat with no luck. I haven't seen any switches in any basement compartment either. Any ideas greatly appreciated. The coach is new to us and this is my first experience with Hydro Hot.
Thanks for any advice!
Mike

Wayne R · 10-06-2010, 06:57 PM

Mike, WRV hooked the fans up to the wrong zones on many coaches. Mine was one of them. Zone one was was wired to zone 2 and zone 2 was wired to zone 1. Try turning on both zones and see if you get heat in the front and back. Switching the zone wiring is quite easy. The connectors are on the black control panel to the left of your HH unit.

Wrinklemeist · 10-06-2010, 07:06 PM

I will give it a try. Only zone 1 has "furnace" as an option as there is just one hydro hot unit. Zone 2 has cool and heat pum, but not furnace. Would your idea work in this instance?
Thanks, Mike

EngineerMike · 10-06-2010, 07:39 PM

Wrink- there is a problem w/the way your unit is wired given your explanation. You should have 3 zones that call for furnace to the HHot. Front of coach has radiators that should be Z1, rear has radiators = Z2, and basement has radiator w/separate tstat for Z3 (I could have the numbering wrong, but there are 3 zones; IIRC the HHot has capacity for 4 zones, but IRarelyRC). On my ceiling are two small round plastic zits w/slots in 'em, maybe 1" diameter. Got one in bedroom and one in living. I've seen one on bedroom wall on occasion. Each is the thermometer for that zone. Basement zone is a different tstat setup behind the water tank or maybe to the side of it. Each one that can read temp should be able to call for furnace.

If you concur w/that hardware setup on your rig, you will want to locate local HHot service that can square away the wiring, or else start a home DIY course on the correct wiring setup. WRV ran whole wiring looms for the HHot so all the wires should be there, just may not be hooked up or may not be hooked up correctly.
So if you are not even showing 'furnace' option for the back, then something isn't wired rightly.

Wayne R · 10-06-2010, 07:41 PM

Mike, a 40 footer should have 2 zones of furnace ( I believe all Alpines with HH have 2 zones). Your thermostat may not be configured properly. Take the black panel cover off of the electronic controller and see if thermostat 1 and 2 on JP1 have wires going to them. If they do then your comfort control unit is not programed properly.

Renipladlo · 10-07-2010, 12:02 AM

All - the wiring plan for the HH is available as I have a copy. Many of the manuals are available on the website.

Zone 1 - is the front of the coach from the rear part of the kitchen forward.
Zone 2 - is everything aft of the kitchen to the rear of the coach.
Zone 3 - is the basement heat, however zone 2 needs to be selected for heat so this zone works, at least that is what we were told in class.

EM is correct and the wiring is color coded and numbered so figuring out which wire goes in which pin (actually 2 groups of connectors numbered-if I remember). If someone needs a wiring diagram, send me a PM, as I have many of them in a manual which we received in class. But that same info is on their website I believe.

I am not sure if all HH equipped Alpines have the same model of unit. And since WRV went out, a couple of new models have been introduced which are much improved over ours. They even have a propane powered one, it's its output is very impressive.

Failure to get good airflow is because WRV used corrugated hose, and every little ripple in that hose is considered a "bend". HH recommends no more than 270 degrees of bends in any one warm air delivery line. Consequently, I have non-existent air flow in the W/C. The bedroom is also very bad. I re-designed the Zone 1 Area under the couch and kitchen area with 1000 percent improvement in delivered warm air. Under the dash is almost impossible to get at and do anything with.

The bedroom is my next project. The bedroom closet need to have a cold air return added in to it, so the air handler breaths easier, this still does not improve the air flow all that much, better and smother lines need to be installed. Tiffin MH's have many of the air handlers direct mounted to the surface and those had the best airflow of any I have seen.

Knowing what type of thermostat you have also helps to diagnose problems, as some of us have different models because the a/c's and Heat Pumps are different.