Community Forums

distaff · 11-02-2013, 06:02 PM

I have an Monaco (Beaver) coach with an Aquahot AHE-100-04S and it mostly works just fine. Problem is the living room doesn't work like the other two zones. In the living room I have 3 heat exchangers and the fans run all the time when the thermostat is set to "Furnace", but the heat comes and goes seemingly randomly.

The shop manual from Aquahot describes the zones as:

Loop 1 - Heating Zone 1 (Bedroom)
Loop 2 - Heating Zone 2 (Bathroom), Heating Zone 3 (Water Tank)
Loop 3 - Heating Zone 5 (2 Living Room & 1 Kitchen heat exchangers)

It associates Pump 1 with Zone 1, Pump 2 with Zones 2 and 3, and Pump 3 with Zone 5.

On my Aquahot control panel the zone indicator lights are :

Zone 1 - Bedroom
Zone 2 - Bathroom
Zone 3 - Kitchen and Living Room

On the Aquahot board zones 4 and 5 are NOT used - the heating loops are the the same as the zones.

With the Aquahot on and up to temp, what I have observed is that pumps 1 and 2 are always on when the zone light on the board is lit, and the pump lights are always lit when the zone lights are lit, sometimes pump 2 is on and the light for it is lit but Zone 2 is NOT lit (it is controlled by an additional thermostat in the water bay), and if the fans in the coach are on, the pumps are on and there is heat at the exchanger.

Zone 3, the living room is different. The thermostat can be on, the room will clearly be colder than the setting, the fans will be going (the are on as long as the thermostat is set to "Furnace"), the Zone 3 light will be on at the Aquahot panel, but the Pump 3 light can be off and the pump is stopped (cool air will be coming from the heat exchanger). Other times Pump 3 will be on and the Pump 3 Light will be on. I could not predict why the pump would work sometimes.

I may have had another clue just now, while I was observing the pump the burner started up and at the same time Pump 3 started - it had been off even though the Zone 3 light was on). I'm thinking that Pump 3 may only come on when the zone on the board is calling for it AND the burner is lit. I don't know if this makes any sense.

I have noticed that overnight the living room is not overly cold, but I can also say that the burner fires pretty often, so it may be that the pump is moving when the burner is lit, and that may be just enough to keep us from freezing overnight.

I don't know if anyone understands the logic of what controls different parts of the system - the fans, the zone light, the pump light, and the actual pump, but this is as far as I can get it.

It is getting frosty so help would be welcome.

Barlow46 · 11-02-2013, 06:12 PM

Paul,
Not fully understanding your post.

Do you not have 2 thermostats inside the coach. One in the bedroom that controls Zone 1 and 2 and one in the hallway/kitchen that controls only zone 1?

If you have only one thermostat inside the unit (do not include the one in the bay) then I am not familiar with that setup and can't help out.

Jeff753 · 11-02-2013, 06:19 PM

Sounds like we need to relabel zone 5 as 3. If you have a laser thermometer you can measure the output or....if its blowing cool air take a hammer and tap on the valve for 3. It's probably a sticky check valve.

sparkydog · 11-02-2013, 06:20 PM

On my other Holiday Rambler with the same Aquahot, I had to replace the circuit board which had a short in it, causing things to not work properly. Once replaced, everything worked perfectly! Good luck

distaff · 11-02-2013, 08:02 PM

Barlow - I think we have pretty much the same coach. It actually has 4 temperature sensors and two controllers in the coach. The Controller in the bedroom controls two zones - bath and bedroom. When you look at the system as Aquahot thinks of it, the bath and wet bay are on one loop, so the pump for that loop can be activated by either temp sensor - the one in the wet bay comes with some kind of factory setting, the one in the bath is user controlled by the control unit.

Sparkydog - this is my second board. Hope I don't need another one.

Jeff753 - I have been able to confirm that the zone 3/loop3 pump comes on each time the burner lights.

I've been paying attention as we sit in the coach and read (and the snow falls softly outside).

Barlow46 · 11-02-2013, 08:13 PM

Ok. Makes sense now. So, the bedroom thermostat that controls zone 1 (bedroom) and zone 2 (bath/wet bay).

The thermostat in the hallway near the kitchen control the living area/kitchen and has only zone 1 available on the thermostat. This thermostat is turned to furnace and is set so that it is calling for heat.

You are hearing the fans run but the heat is intermittent or coming and going so to speak.

Not sure that I know enough to help you but have you have you gone to Roger Berke's website posed the question to him? He is the guru as you probably know but it sounds like a signal problem to the board or through the board and/or possibly the pump sticking at times. Try to get an answer from this link.

http://forum.rvhydronicheaterrepair.com/forum.php

Dr4Film · 11-02-2013, 08:16 PM

I also recommend joining Roger Berke's Hydronic heating forum.

If you own an Aqua-Hot you will find the best answers there or he will get them for you.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

Mike Canter · 11-02-2013, 08:53 PM

Paul, normally Zone 2 pump for the bathroom is designed to run all the time when the Aqua Hot is turned on. This is designed that way to keep things flowing. I had the same problem in my living room and found the one way inline flapper valve for that loop was stuck closed. I took the top front panel off the furnace unit and tapped it with a plastic mallet and it started working again. This is a very common problem with this model and changing the one way valve will not fix it. The new valve will also stick occasionally. The problem is thes valves are vertical and gravity helps them stick. They will really stick if you use anything stronger than a 50/50 mix of boiler coolant. With all the zones turned on and the Aqua Hot making heat go to the furnace and with your hand check the temperature of all the hoses coming up out of the unit and see if they are all hot. If not the open up that front section and look at all the pumps and make sure they are all spinning and tap the brass inline one way valve storm the hose that is cool. See if that works.

distaff · 11-03-2013, 07:38 AM

Mike,

Did your pump start every time the burner fired? What I have now observed (had to spend some time in the coach in cold weather to see it. I'll try and send you a picture later - you will appreciated it being up in Maine now.

The pump will be still, and the pump light on the board will be out, until the burner fires and then the light comes on and the pump starts. That does not sound like a sticky valve to me. When the pump starts moving we get heat.

I did try tapping the valve the last time I was having this problem with no success.

Sadly, these things have MANY ways to not work as intended.

Mike Canter · 11-03-2013, 07:47 AM

Paul are you talking about the pump for Zone 2 in the bathroom or the pumps for the other zones. To tell you the truth I can't remember but I thought the pump for zone 2 ran all the time. I will go out to the Sig and fire it up and see what happens. Yea, starting to get cold up here. A few snow flakes today.

thrushl · 11-03-2013, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr4Film

I also recommend joining Roger Berke's Hydronic heating forum.

If you own an Aqua-Hot you will find the best answers there or he will get them for you.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

x2 Roger that!! (pun intended) Dr4Film is SPOT on.... Roger seems to know everything worth knowing about these systems. He also knows who is worth seeing for service in the business.....

I drove nearly nearly a thousand miles a two years ago to get Roger to "fix" my system after the authorized repair shop worked on it. He went through the entire system and it purrs like a kitten and makes me feel all warm....inside and out....

Great man, superior knowledge.......

distaff · 11-03-2013, 08:20 AM

Mike - pump 2 seems to be on all the time, you are right. It is the lowest pump, pump 3 according to the documentation, that only turns when the burner is lit. That is the pump for the living room/kitchen.

BTW - this is why I need the heat. The forecast was for a few light flurries!

Barlow46 · 11-03-2013, 09:04 AM

Still sounds like a bad signal. Did you try resetting you front/kitchen thermostat. Also, if you post your last comment on Roger Berke's site, you will have the right answer in short order.

Mike Canter · 11-03-2013, 10:14 AM

Guys there is no doubt that Roger Berke is good but can't Paul discuss his issue without four people saying the same thing about going to Rogers website. How many posts does it take?

Paul, wow that is a lot of flurries. I hope that is not a sign of things to come. Two years ago up here in Freeport on the 29th of October they had six inches of flurries.

So because Pump 3 turning on sometimes indicates the pump is good. Since it is intermittent could be an indication of a loose connection or a faulty thermostat. Also the fact that the pump does sometimes come on also indicates that the circuit board is probably good.