Community Forums

Wayne R · 04-02-2005, 06:43 AM

After living with Hydro Hot for 6 months, I have to say I prefer it to the blast furnace we had in our 2000 Alpine. Even when on diesel it is quieter then my propane unit ever was, the sound is just different. In my coach the unit is virtually under my head while sleeping and I find it much quieter than propane units. We now have learned to leave the diesel side off at night. We also now just turn on the diesel side when washing dishes and showering. I just use the electric in zone 2 at night and we stay warm in the bedroom.

The diesel smell is the biggest issue and I'm looking at a Gen-Turi type device when parked in tight quarters. In those situations electric is almost always available. When boon docking I just need to park with my neighbors in mind.

The bottom line is those of us with Hydro Hot type systems need to add a few more lines to our camping etiquette.

I am sure I have offend some fellow campers during my learning process. To any I have offended I apologize.

Audrey & John · 04-02-2005, 11:09 AM

Well, it's been real educational reading this thread and we're glad to now be aware of the issues for camping with neighborly etiquette.

Interesting - on our factory visit we saw several 34ft and 36ft Alpine Coaches being built, and I think most of them had the hydro hot installed!

We have a 36ft on order, so access to the back half (a little less than half) of the driver's side basement storage is indeed blocked with the unit plus with the power cord reel. We decided that was OK since there is still plenty of storage accessible from the passenger side. And since these basement doors are under the slide we would only store things on that side that we don't need frequent access to. We may install a joey bed so that we can more easily access stuff towards the back.

I know we hated the noise of the Suburban Furnace in our previous trailer, and heating uses up propane so quickly that we're glad that we won't have to fill propane. The initial propane fill may last the whole time we own the unit! We also expect to spend some time in cold weather and temperature control of the basement.

It made a whole lot of sense to us "on paper". I hope we decide the considerable expense was worth this option.

We'll let you know in about a year.....

Audrey

EngineerMike · 04-05-2005, 11:56 AM

I asked my buddy Tony, who is the most motorhome-buying son of a gun I've ever met (he's owned 6 in less than 12 years), about the HHot (his Monaco Dynasty 3-slide has AquaHot). He says "its real quiet, and you never run out of hot water. Buy it. And get the heat pump option too; sometimes you just want to run that to take the chill off in the morning."
FWIW

Audrey & John · 04-05-2005, 12:44 PM

Thanks for posting that EngineerMike. We did indeed get the heat pump option too.

Audrey

Wil Rathke · 04-08-2005, 08:56 AM

We just bought a new 2005 with Hydro Hot and the unit does not have a propane fired furnace. There would not be much point in it. The 2 heat pumps are a good backup. After about 3 weeks of on the road the Hydro Hot has been wonderful.

goldie2200 · 04-13-2005, 05:34 PM

We don't have an Alpine Coach, but a Alfa See Ya Gold with the Hydro Hot and it was well worth the upgrade from the regular See Ya. We do have both electric and propane furnace which we have used at times. But if we can, the Hydro Hot has preference