Community Forums

bamaboy473 · 04-21-2018, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dav L

Looks pretty clean for the system to have been that messed up.
Love the project.

Wish I had the same to help you, but mine is a HydroHot. Just did similar rebuild on that one.

Never say die!

haha, you should have seen it before. bare wires from where a fan had been cut off, a melted non-OEM fan laying on the floor, nothing working, original filters, etc.
Got everything back to OEM, replaced the 30A in-line fuse that was badly burned, am sending the Fan Controller board back to ITR for repair, and should have a working heating system in a month.

Wish more people had (or knew enough about) Hurricane Heaters so I could fill in the missing pieces. Thanks for the comments

docj · 04-21-2018, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamaboy473

QUESTION....would turning them to Heat cause the ComfortHot heating elements to work even if the thermostat was Off or on Cool?

We have a ComfortHot installed by Rixen and I can tell you unequivocally that the heater elements turn on regardless of thermostat setting once those switches are in the "heat" position.

We inadvertently learned this when we found ourselves repeatedly tripping a 30A breaker at a site we were trying to connect to. We had needed heat the night before so the switches were still in the heat position and were trying to power 4kW of heater off of a 30A outlet!

As for the previous posts that claim Jim Rixen was the "designer" of the Hurricane, I don't think that is the case. In the ~2000 timeframe Jim was the major distributor of the product in the NW. He subsequently decided to go his own way and now sells a hydronic heating system of his own design that I believe is made in Germany. He also installs ConfortHot for those who want it.

For those unfamiliar with ComfortHot, what makes it unique is that it utilizes the two 20A air conditioner circuits to power a 4kW heating element that is significantly larger than the electric heaters usually installed in Oasis and Aquahot systems. Most RVs simply don't have enough "extra" circuits to supply that much power. Since you rarely have heat and A/C on at the same time, there's little downside to using the A/C circuits for heating. I calculated that our ComfortHot can supply ~2/3 the power of the Hurricane's diesel-fired boiler which is enough to keep us warm on all but the coldest of nights.

bamaboy473 · 04-21-2018, 05:01 PM

Great write-up. To be clear, you turn the HEAT switches to ON, then turn the A/C to FAN, without turning the thermostat to Heat.

Is that correct if you want heat without using the diesel furnace?

EDIT: No, that can't be right. We can't turn the roof-mount A/C units to FAN and expect heat to circulate.

How do we turn the floor heat fans ON without turning on the diesel heat?

Jake21 · 04-21-2018, 05:35 PM

I do not believe there is an electric heat option with the hurricane. No mention of it here.

http://www.lifeinthecoach.com/wp-con..._Manual_R4.pdf

J

docj · 04-21-2018, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake21

I do not believe there is an electric heat option with the hurricane. No mention of it here.

http://www.lifeinthecoach.com/wp-con..._Manual_R4.pdf

J

There is NO electric heat option for the Hurricane. That's why I had a ComfortHot installed.

docj · 04-21-2018, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamaboy473

Great write-up. To be clear, you turn the HEAT switches to ON, then turn the A/C to FAN, without turning the thermostat to Heat.

Is that correct if you want heat without using the diesel furnace?

EDIT: No, that can't be right. We can't turn the roof-mount A/C units to FAN and expect heat to circulate.

How do we turn the floor heat fans ON without turning on the diesel heat?

Turn the ComfortHot switches to heat. Set the thermostat to heat. But leave the inside Hurricane switch OFF. Presumably you have a switch inside the MH on a cabinet that is the Bypass switch. With it OFF the diesel won't come on.

Jake21 · 04-21-2018, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docj

There is NO electric heat option for the Hurricane. That's why I had a ComfortHot installed.

Ah. Got it.

bamaboy473 · 04-21-2018, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docj

Turn the ComfortHot switches to heat. Set the thermostat to heat. But leave the inside Hurricane switch OFF. Presumably you have a switch inside the MH on a cabinet that is the Bypass switch. With it OFF the diesel won't come on.

OK, front and rear switches to Heat.
Thermostat to Heat
Remote Hurricane control switch remains Off

A Bypass switch/button is inside the main control board (Hurricane). Would that be what you're referring to?

docj · 04-21-2018, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamaboy473

OK, front and rear switches to Heat.
Thermostat to Heat
Remote Hurricane control switch remains Off

A Bypass switch/button is inside the main control board (Hurricane). Would that be what you're referring to?

I used the word Bypass when I should have said Remote. Don't fool with the bypass switch; just leave the Remote in the OFF position and everything will be fine.

bamaboy473 · 04-22-2018, 06:35 AM

Thanks, Doc. We should be able to use the ComfortHot most nights and then turn them OFF when time for coffee and breakfast, so power use doesn't overload things.

docj · 04-22-2018, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamaboy473

Thanks, Doc. We should be able to use the ComfortHot most nights and then turn them OFF when time for coffee and breakfast, so power use doesn't overload things.

When you're at a 50A site, using the ComfortHot is no worse than running the A/C's so you don't have to worry about turning things off. On a 30A site, just use one of the ComfortHot switches in the heat position, rather than both. Your heat will be bit less, but you won't trip the breaker.

bamaboy473 · 04-22-2018, 08:52 AM

A related question about ComfortHot systems.

Our Hurricane Heat system is powered by one 8ga line that runs directly from battery bank to the system.....no circuit breakers...just one in-line fuse that is NOT in the heating bay; it is at the battery connection.

Since the ComfortHot system relies on a lot of electricity to heat coolant, is there a way to shut the power OFF, besides the switches inside the MH? If anything overheats, it would be wise to know where to scramble to get it stopped.

docj · 04-22-2018, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamaboy473

A related question about ComfortHot systems.

Our Hurricane Heat system is powered by one 8ga line that runs directly from battery bank to the system.....no circuit breakers...just one in-line fuse that is NOT in the heating bay; it is at the battery connection.

Since the ComfortHot system relies on a lot of electricity to heat coolant, is there a way to shut the power OFF, besides the switches inside the MH? If anything overheats, it would be wise to know where to scramble to get it stopped.

There are several fuses on the Hurricane circuit card; I'm not sure what you feel is lacking.

As for the ComfortHot, it runs on 120V so it has no connection to the Hurricane circuit. As for turning it off if you needed to just trip the A/C breakers since that's what the CH is wired through. I'm pretty sure it has a high temperature protective switch built in, also.

bamaboy473 · 04-22-2018, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docj

There are several fuses on the Hurricane circuit card; I'm not sure what you feel is lacking.

As for the ComfortHot, it runs on 120V so it has no connection to the Hurricane circuit. As for turning it off if you needed to just trip the A/C breakers since that's what the CH is wired through. I'm pretty sure it has a high temperature protective switch built in, also.

Re: Hurricane, I would like to see a service disconnect inside the heating compartment that shuts off power to the boards. It would also be easier for those not familiar with the system to be able to find the fuse.

OK, thank you for pointing out the AC breakers; I'm going to label them as both AC and Heat breakers.

As an aside, this system was a mess when I bought the coach, and included in the mess were the wires inside the ComfortHot that do the heating. Every one of them was heat-scorched, so maybe the wall switches had been left ON at one time or another.

It would be good for those who have these systems to inspect inside the panel to verify condition of wires and tight screws on the tabs....after turning the AC/Heat breakers OFF