AquaHot fumes in cabin and basement

[Dogcliff]

New to me 2003 Monaco Sig, I occasionally get 'fumes' inside my coach, and often in my basement. 'Fumes' seem more like raw diesel than exhaust. I have read over many AH fume posts, and the solution is usually to seal any unsealed holes in the floor (under sink, under fridge, for example), or find and fix a fuel leak. Have not been able to find any wet spots or other evidence of a fuel leak in the AH enclosure. I have already found one area under the sink where plumbing passes to the lower bay that had been unsealed; one below the fridge as well. I user regular Great Stuff expanding foam to fill the first one. Eliminated fumes in the kitchen. About to fix the one under the fridge, and the following questions occurred to me:

AH users, does your AH or other basement areas 'smell' like anything, or no odor? Should I keep chasing a leak, or is this normal?

Is there a better product than Great Stuff to use? Monaco used a black product... Might be easier to remove in case I need to work those access areas in the future. The Great Stuff can be a challenge to remove...

Thanks...

dc

[Steve Ownby]

Originally Posted by Dogcliff

New to me 2003 Monaco Sig, I occasionally get 'fumes' inside my coach, and often in my basement. 'Fumes' seem more like raw diesel than exhaust. I have read over many AH fume posts, and the solution is usually to seal any unsealed holes in the floor (under sink, under fridge, for example), or find and fix a fuel leak. Have not been able to find any wet spots or other evidence of a fuel leak in the AH enclosure. I have already found one area under the sink where plumbing passes to the lower bay that had been unsealed; one below the fridge as well. I user regular Great Stuff expanding foam to fill the first one. Eliminated fumes in the kitchen. About to fix the one under the fridge, and the following questions occurred to me:

AH users, does your AH or other basement areas 'smell' like anything, or no odor?

Is there a better product than Great Stuff to use? Monaco used a black product... Might be easier to remove in case I need to work those access areas in the future. The Great Stuff can be a challenge to remove...

Thanks...

dc

I have lived full time in an '03 Sig and I don't have any diesel fume odor in the coach or in any compartment. Both the diesel and electric on my unit are on 24/7. You have something going on for sure. If you stand next to the AquaHot exhaust when It fires up, you might get a light puff of smoke and a slight diesel odor but it should quickly dissipate. You should look it over closely while the burner is running it sure sounds like you might have an exhaust leak somewhere up under the coach if the burner seems to be running clean. When you say no evidence of a fuel leak in the AquaHot enclosure, do you mean inside the silver AquaHot box. Open up the silver box from the side access and climb in there with a good light while the burner is running and look for any evidence of a raw diesel leak. I certainly appears,something is going on and you need to try to run it down.

[Dogcliff]

Hey Steve,

I became intimate with 'inside' the AH box troubleshooting a domestic hot water issue. Inspected the area cover off, but not running. I'll try that... as soon as it quits snowing.

Should have remembered, after 25 years of sniffing C-130 dry bays, don't fly with fumes ...

dc

[Steve Ownby]

QUITS SNOWING!!! Man you're killing me. I'm in South Florida & we've been in the 90s most every day for 2-3 weeks now. If the coach is new to you, the AquaHot may have been neglected or just not used regularly in its previous life. AquaHot is wonderful when you get it sorted out.

You should go here and join this forum:

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

This is run by Roger Burke who is the premier AquaHot tech in the world. He diagnoses problems and gives advise and sells parts at a discount. If all else fails ask Roger.