Aquahot 400D Question

[kevinantholt]

I would like to hear from AH 400D owners.
When taking a shower does using the electric only keep up with you taking a 10-15 minute shower or doing laundry?
Mine does not, I have to turn on the Diesel burner 5-10 before hand to heat up the boiler. I was wondering if this is normal or not.
Thanks everyone.

[mrfix]

When taking a long hot shower and doing laundry the electric won't keep up, you need to run the burner under those conditions.

[brobox]

It depends on the incoming water temperature. In my home state of FL with warm city water, the electric keeps up fine for a normal shower. If I am up north with cooler city water, then I have to use the burner to have enough hot water for a normal shower.

[Matt D]

Kevin, you are describing an Aquahot that is operating normally.

In fact, we switch to burner just before the first shower and turn it off after the last shower.

As Chuck said, the incoming water temp plays a huge role in the use of electric (and burner too). We’ve camped in places where even with the burner on we had to regulate the flow a little to maintain a hot temp for showers.

Keep in mind we have removed the flow restrictor in the shower head, and if you haven’t done so it may prevent the need to reduce flow in extremely cold weather.

-Matt

[TRebel]

I can't really tell any difference in the temp of the water, when the Aqua Hot is operating on the electric setting. Maybe mine has a problem... electric element not working??

When I turn on the diesel burner, I never have a shortage of hot water. And, I do mean hot... no way you can take a shower without mixing cold water in.

[DeeGee]

IIRC the electric element puts out about 6800 BTU or so. The burner is more like 65K BTU.

[TXTiger]

I was told by the mechanic that last serviced my Aqua Hot to leave both the elect and diesel burner on at all times. Not sure why. And I never do laundry at the same time as when taking a shower. I a,ways wait to put the laundry in until after I shower. Better water pressure that way too.

[brobox]

Originally Posted by TRebel

I can't really tell any difference in the temp of the water, when the Aqua Hot is operating on the electric setting. Maybe mine has a problem... electric element not working??

When I turn on the diesel burner, I never have a shortage of hot water. And, I do mean hot... no way you can take a shower without mixing cold water in.

Here is the owners manual for your 400D. Page 35 shows how to check the electric element to see if it is working.

Page 10 shows the location of the mixing valve to adjust for more comfortable hot water.

[swberry]

Originally Posted by TXTiger

I was told by the mechanic that last serviced my Aqua Hot to leave both the elect and diesel burner on at all times. Not sure why. And I never do laundry at the same time as when taking a shower. I a,ways wait to put the laundry in until after I shower. Better water pressure that way too.

I wasn’t going to say anything, but now I can’t stand it since you brought it up. Aqua hot says to run both switches on at the same time.

I will tell you something else. I used to run the electric side only until I started to see sludge build up in my expansion tank and also a darkening of the fluid. I noticed this started happening about a month after I began to run the electric side only. I suspected this might be the cause so I removed the expansion tank and cleaned it thoroughly and reinstalled. Then I began to run both the burner and electric switches at the same time at all times. It has been two months so far and no more sludge or even darkening of the fluid. The fluid is clear green and the expansion tank clean. FWIW.

[Dieselgem]

I run the electric and turn the burner on for showers. I also took the temp limit device out of the shower faucet. I think Chuck had posted a thread on that.

[voltdoc]

Originally Posted by brobox

It depends on the incoming water temperature. In my home state of FL with warm city water, the electric keeps up fine for a normal shower. If I am up north with cooler city water, then I have to use the burner to have enough hot water for a normal shower.

Our experience is the same. During warm summers in New England, no problem with electric only for showering. When it starts getting cold we need the burner. Slowing the flow rate will also extend shower time before running out of hot water.

[hogdriver]

I run both heaters all the time I’m using the coach. You don’t burn that much fuel and IMHO like Sid said above it keeps the boiler fluid in better shape (less discoloration). I totally flushed my AH last spring and refilled with Camco pink and my fluid is still rosy red....not poo brown as it was with New Century green fluid.

I am parked in Orange a Beach AL and we run the floorheat each night at 74F. The outside temps are 40-50F at night. We do frequent laundry and of course showers. So far the average has been about 1 gal of diesel per day. That’s like $3.00. I think I can afford that.

[Chargerman]

The reason that it is suggested to turn both on is that the electric can supply enough heat for faucets etc. and when the demand is higher the burner will fire to maintain a hot water supply as needed. I follow this because I don’t have to worry about turning on the Diesel side when we think it will be needed. It will only burn fuel when there are higher demands.

[sweetandsour]

One would think that the electric element could maintain temp when there is no demand for hot water, But my diesel burner still fires periodically .