wet bay freeze heater

[jonemw]

Can someone point to or provide an explanation for operation of the wet bay emergency or freeze protect heater operations. I see the temp sensing bulb, and a dial without markings, currently set to about 3 oclock. Where is the heating element and how does one turn on it off, or set temp. Would really like to test operation, does any info exist on this? Seems really simple, but details are lacking

[d23haynes57]

Make, model, year? What is it?

[Smitty77]

Originally Posted by d23haynes57

Make, model, year? What is it?

His profile shows an 08 37' Allure.

This will be tied to one of your zones, most likely zone 2, as I suspect a 37' Allure will have Two, vs Three, zones.

Assuming it's either Hydro or Aqua Hot.

Have either the Electric Element of Diesel for the Hydro/Aqua Hot on. Turn on zone 2 to heat. That will send heat down into the wet bay and tank area.

When we first got our 04 Allure, I put a remote temp sensor down inside the access door to the tank area from the wet bay. And I played with the wet bay thermostat knob, until I got the wet bay heat to kick on. (I believe the coaches 1st owner had played with it, and the heat triggered on into the wet bay at between 65-70F. I got it to kick on the wet bay Heat Register at between 40-45.

I note that in both our Allure, and then our Magna - that with the Floor Heat turned on, it would also help keep the all of the bays a tad warmer too.

Good luck, and enjoy your coach!
Smitty

[birdhunter]

Don't know what you've got exactly but the way it's set up on my O2 Magna which has a Hurricane, is that as long as the switch for the hurricane upstairs is turned on that thermostat in the wet bed is completely independent of your upstairs zones. Your Dometic thermostat for your upstairs zones can be completely off. When the thermostat in the water Bay gets below the set temperature the hurricane or probably whatever you have like an aqua hot will come on to heat the water Bay. If you don't have hydronic heat I do not know how it works.

[jonemw]

oʻBirdhunter, this makes some sense. I have an aquahot. Have never been able to find any electric or other independent heating element anywhere in the wet bay. So, if it is 25 degrees at night I should be able to adjust the rhehostat next to the water pump and get the aquahot to come on, no matter where the main rv thermostat mode switch is set, whether of, gas or electric. There are also no visible ducts,ports, or any way to get air down to the bay. Radiant floor heating is of course in very near proximity just above this area. So, this past am it was 26,I went out and quickly opened the bay door and stuck my hand into the area of the water pump, behind the stainless door and in the immediate vicinity of the copper temp sensor. It felt warm, we had not spent the night in the coach, aquahot was off at the time, but the inside coach temp was well above ambient.

[jonemw]

SMITTY,I am not sure what u mean by the statement, got the wet bay Heater to kick on. I can find no such independent method of heating this area, and cannot find a way that warm air would get down to this area. I was expecting to find an electrical heating element mounted somewhere, but no joy. Since my potentiometer is set to about 3 oclock, Will need to move it and see what happens.

[birdhunter]

Originally Posted by jonemw

oʻBirdhunter, this makes some sense. I have an aquahot. Have never been able to find any electric or other independent heating element anywhere in the wet bay. So, if it is 25 degrees at night I should be able to adjust the rhehostat next to the water pump and get the aquahot to come on, no matter where the main rv thermostat mode switch is set, whether of, gas or electric. There are also no visible ducts,ports, or any way to get air down to the bay. Radiant floor heating is of course in very near proximity just above this area. So, this past am it was 26,I went out and quickly opened the bay door and stuck my hand into the area of the water pump, behind the stainless door and in the immediate vicinity of the copper temp sensor. It felt warm, we had not spent the night in the coach, aquahot was off at the time, but the inside coach temp was well above ambient.

In my setup, there are a couple of passive-finned radiators in line on the hurricane coolant hoses. Look carefully in there with a flashlight they're not visible just by looking through the access port. They are not particularly efficient but they do work, unless it gets down well below freezing. Play with the thermostat in the wet Bay. Rotate it all the way in each direction in one direction your AH should turn on if the system is working.

[Joyce M]

I know that my 1988 Superchief is out of you folks league ..
I just place a 200 watt cube heater in the dump tank areas when I'm in chilly campsites..
I had the dump valves freeze up in Mina Nevada .on a trip to Death Valley.. A hair dryer warmed things up.
It was in the 100's the next day at Scotty's Palace.
Ride Safe!

[Skypalace]

If it’s like the one I just replaced in my 2003 Lexa, it’s a White-Rodge’s 2B61-186

You can see markings closely for temp, see 2nd page of the following spec sheet.

Mine I traced to an input terminal in my Hurricane Heater, so it basically just turns on the Hurricane heater, perhaps also the primary loop pump, so will crate ambient heat in the water bay. I calibrated mine in a glass of cold water w ice to about 38 degrees (using a multimeter to see when the normally open contacts closed).

https://www.rogerssupply.com/Attachm...tion_Sheet.pdf

[jonemw]

so the document that skypalace sent was a bit helpful. I also have the same thermostatic switch. Traced the two output wires from the switch to two screw terminals on the aquahot terminal control board. Found another explanation that stress that for example if there are 2 zones now, the freeze heater circuit acts like a third zone. My aquahot runs fine with a full bank of green lights on the indicator board. With a exempted 30 degree morning, I took a glass of ice water outside and dunked the sensing bulb in. I could hear the switch click, so something should have then happened. No luck, I never got any heat nor any response from the aquahot, waited about 5 minutes. Aqua hot was completely off at this time. So it would seem other conditions must be met for heating to commence. since the circuit is so simple, jumpering terminal 13/14 should make something happen directly. Aqua hot is very hard to reach on tech support, so I have a request in, no reply so far. You could assume that if one were occupying the coach on a cold night the 450d would already be on, then the thermostat would do nothing. Confusion remains.

[letsride4]

I have what is probably the same temperature switch you are describing. I turned in all the way clockwise, not sure if that is set as cold as possible or as warm as possible as I have not played with. My coach has a Hurricane heater that is in the same bay as the water tanks. There is a lot of heat in passenger side of that bay above the Hurricane heater but my water pump is in the drivers side of the bay. I purchased a piece of 2.5" defroster hose about 8 ft long, put it through the bay, one end above the Hurricane heater the other end near the water pump. There is a small muffin fan on each end of that hose, with both fans blowing toward the water pump area. The fans come on any time the Hurricane furnace is running. I have remote temperature sensors on the passenger side and drivers side of that bay. I use my motorhome for snowmobiling, so I do see cold weather. On a 0 degree F night, the temperature sensors are reading in the 90's on the passenger side and in the 50's on the drivers side. So far have not had any issue with water lines freezing. I don't know how much of that heat is coming from the finned tube CC installed or how much is coming through the defroster hose I added, but I do know it works for me.

[birdhunter]

That thermostat should turn your AH on. I don't know what's wrong, but something is.

[caryt]

Has the elect switch been turned on? I have the passive-finned radiators and thermostat and without the elect switch on the bedroom panel turned on it will not heat one it is no issue heating the bays. Interior is keep warm by the elect floor tile set to 70*, I never have winterized the coack and no issues.

[jonemw]

Well, aqua hot tech support was of no assistance. They did not understand or know about any freeze temp separate setting. It is 63 today so testing is limited. Last night I did not have the electric element on,so saw no activity. Smithy provided some seemingly accurate details. The white- Roger’s thermostat indicates roughly 38 or 40 when the dial is at 3 o clock. I found an older magazine article that refers to this as a sort of zone 3, but the ah 450 service manual makes no such reference. I have not found any finned assemblies on any hose, so am still mystified as to the transfer mechanism. Will turn on the electrical heat element tonight. The assistance provided here has been excellent and the journey interesting.