Aqua Hot AHE-100-04S Diesel vs Electric

[05MoWi]

Greetings !
New to Class A Diesel Pusher life and looking for advice / support regarding subject.
Heat and hot water were working fine in "electric" mode when we first aquired our coach 6 weeks ago. Recently, that became "not the case". When I switch the "diesel" toggle in the kitchen on, heat and hot water are restored, and all is good, however, 2 neighbors at the resort have complained of diesel exhaust fumes when in "diesel" mode.
When in "electric" mode Heat exchangers blow air in both zones, but not hot air.
Been trying to trouble shoot via the manual, but no luck yet.
Any links to prior threads / posts on the topic?
Thanks.

[Spdracr39]

RV Hydronic Heater Repair - Home

[K7JV]

How much of your coach are you trying to heat? The electric element in your AquaHot is about the same size as a typical small space heater, set on HIGH. You aren't going to be able to run multiple zones, all night on a chilly night with the AH on electric, only. One zone (which is what we do with the bathroom), yes. Two or more, not if it's very cold out.

We get the same experience with the diesel. The new units burn quite a bit cleaner, although an AHE-100 is pretty good if its "tuned up". Ours definitely needs a tune-up!!

We live in our coach all winter, and our normal configuration is to use the heat pump in the front, the AquaHot on electric only for the bathroom (rear thermostat zone 2), and we don't normally heat the bedroom. We normally only use the diesel mode when we are dry camping or when it is extremely cold outside.

I'm attaching a spreadsheet that I made several years ago that actually works for determining how to configure the HVAC systems in our coach. It's a bit cluttered and complicated, but once you plow thru it, it's not all that convoluted and really isn't too bad of a guide. HOWEVER - Outside humidity is a huge wild card. When it's humid outside, the heat pumps will require far more defrost time and will become less usable at the lower temperatures. So you have to take that into consideration.

FINALLY, please put your coach make, year and model on your signature, which you can set up on your profile page. That way folks will know what you have and whether they can truly help you. Either that, or make it a habit to always include year and model at a minimum in your first or second sentence. Enjoy this form! IRV2 is an awesome resource!!!

[K7JV]

I hadn't looked at my spreadsheet for a very long time, but just did. I would say the top section, "without diesel", should be relabeled to be our "normal". We very rarely turn on the diesel, mainly for the reason you mentioned. If we are on 30 amp service, we do. That's almost dry-camping in rigs like yours and most of the folks on this forum.

Here in the dry, desert southwest if it is going to be below 50 or so, we'll leave a little space heater on LOW (600 watts, or so), by the co-pilot seat for the night with the heat pump mode selected, and all is usually great! If it's going to be below 40 or so, we'll leave the little space heater on HIGH (1200 watts, or so). In both instances, the heat pump will wind up running maybe up to 50% of the time. That really does work nicely for us. Again, humidity can move those numbers up as much as 10 or 15 degrees, depending on how well your heat pumps deal with the defrost requirements.

[hypoxia]

That model has One 1650 watt 120 Volt heating element. As others have said you won't get a lot of heat from it. Different models of AquaHot have different configurations, my AHE-600-D01 has Two 2000 watt elements. On a morning in the 30's or 40's it doesn't keep up with the demand on electric.

[RobRoy]

As eluded to by others it sounds like you aqua-hot is working correctly but your electric portion of the AH cannot keep up with the volume of hot water demanded ....or outside the air is in the 40's deg or less ....both situations will need the diesel burner running also to keep up

Seen below is most likely the answer to you problem and keeping your neighbors happy

https://www.campingworld.com/camco-g...iABEgKkCvD_BwE


Happy Trails

[Solo_RV_Guy]

If your neighbors are complaining about exhaust fumes you have incomplete combustion. It's time to do a full service on the boiler unit - mostly it's cleaning the flame sensor, checking the thermostat, cleaning or replacing the burner orifice, and checking the boiler fluid for quantity and air bubbles. The documents linked earlier will guide you through the process. If you need parts other than a control board (unlikely you'd need one) you'll find they're reasonably priced and Vehicle Systems is quick to ship. They also have very good techs that can help if you get stumped.

[Captjake1]

Originally Posted by Solo_RV_Guy

If your neighbors are complaining about exhaust fumes you have incomplete combustion. It's time to do a full service on the boiler unit - mostly it's cleaning the flame sensor, checking the thermostat, cleaning or replacing the burner orifice, and checking the boiler fluid for quantity and air bubbles. The documents linked earlier will guide you through the process. If you need parts other than a control board (unlikely you'd need one) you'll find they're reasonably priced and Vehicle Systems is quick to ship. They also have very good techs that can help if you get stumped.

... yet.... Diesel has a smell no matter what.
Try installing a Genturi to direct fumes overhead.

[05MoWi]

Thanks for all the input and advice so far.
Very helpful, ...I have a lot to learn....

[vito.a]

The Aqua Hot in our coach smoked badly when we first got it. I watched the You Tube video on servicing and ordered a new filter and nozzle. Also, a friend told me to fill the new filter with Lucas fuel treatment. This cured the smoke and fumes and it works well now. It took about an hour the first time but only about 20 min now.
A good source for nozzles (get 3 or 4):
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Danfoss-030...IAAOSwARZXj8m6

[96 Wideglide]

Originally Posted by K7JV

We live in our coach all winter, and our normal configuration is to use the heat pump in the front, the AquaHot on electric only for the bathroom (rear thermostat zone 2), and we don't normally heat the bedroom. We normally only use the diesel mode when we are dry camping or when it is extremely cold outside.

Jim, not all Monaco models are capable of doing this.

Our Scepter has one thermostat, with 3 zones. I can't run heat pump(s) in one or two zones, and Aqua Hot on another zone.

Your lucky you have separate thermostats that allow you to do that!

Don't know which model the OP has?

[K7JV]

Wow, Ben. I don't know what the designers were thinking when they made it so that only one mode could be used on any thermostat module at one time. Ours operates like you are saying, too, but fortunately only on our rear thermostat. The front one works on its own and independently of the rear one. The rear one controls the bathroom as zone 2 and the bedroom as zone 1. And when it comes to mode selection, zone 2 rules the roost. It doesn't matter what mode is selected on zone 1, it won't function unless it is set on the same mode as zone 2. Like I said, I have no idea what they were thinking when they set them up that way.

That is perhaps my biggest complaint about the 2000's Monaco line designs. Their HVAC systems are awesome, but their air handling design was non-existent. On our coach, the bathroom is on the middle heat pump unit, as well as the AquaHot. But the central duct air handling design is such that very, very, very little air (if any) is actually pushed into the single bathroom register. And they dedicate an entire heat pump unit to controlling that air volume. It works perfectly on the AquaHot, though, where there is a thermostat input in the same "enclosed" area as the single heat exchanger that provides it.

We've got to love engineers, right? (And I am one. Grr.)

Thank you for your input on that. Cheers!

[BigSkyBob]

Photo error, sorry

[Jeff753]

The burner unit has rubber mounts that are probably dry rotted. This can cause black smoke. You defiantly want a tune up (nozzle, fuel filter, clean and inspect burner tube, replace rubber grommets)