I've had a lot of problems with my Aqua Hot since I bought my coach.
Initially the nozzle plugged up which melted the aluminum combustion chamber. I replaced the combustion chamber & did a complete yearly service on the unit which included a new Napa in-line cartridge type filter, as I did not like the existing in-line plastic filter. When I did the service I found that the air intake adjustment was only a quarter of the way open. All instructions indicate it should be 50% open up to 8000 feet. I was having a lot of smoking problems which I could not seem to rectify no matter where I set the intake.
I made an appointment with Roger Berke to have my unit looked at & he pretty well rebuilt the complete unit in Quartsite. Seemed to work alright, but I was on a tight schedule so had to leave within hours of the repairs being completed. The unit kept blowing black smoke to the point I would not park it on concrete as it left such a big black mark. I did alot of research on the Aqua Hot trying to understand how they work, read every post I could find as well as a lot of conversations with Roger. I found nothing on the exhaust. Combustion problems are almost always associated with air flow or poor atomization of the fuel, I knew the internal parts of the Aqua Hot including the nozzle were all new so I felt it had to be an air problem.
My Aqua Hot exhaust pipe has a muffler looking contraption on it. In talking with Roger I indicated I felt I had a restriction in the exhaust & I felt this muffler looking peace could be the culprit. The problem I had was that I am storing the coach outside & in Canada it has been freezing every night up until last week. On the weekend I was able to get the coach into a shop so I cold work on the exhaust system. I completely removed the exhaust system & installed a new 1 3/4" ID exhaust pipe from Aqua Hot to the outside of the coach. My problems have been solved! Instantly on fire up I could tell the unit was running differently. No smoke of any kind & I had a much larger volume of air exiting the pipe as well the exhaust felt much hotter. I have found it takes about half the time to heat up the Aqua Hot than it did before.
I took the muffler & cut it in half to see what it was like on the inside. I found that there is a perforated pipe running through the center of the muffler that was semi collapsed. No matter where you set the intake you will not get good combustion if the air cannot freely flow out through the exhaust system. I will try & include pictures.
I do want to say that Roger is the best & helped me all the way through this process. Anyone that is having combustion problems should check to see if they have one of these mufflers as it may be the culprit.
More pictures I hope.
This picture is of the exhaust black mark after one night prior to the Fix.
Great work!
I was with Gary Omel last week and he showed me his neat 1X2 rectangular exhaust he built on his 2000 42 footer... Very strong with guards to prevent damage from road gators...
Gary also has a lifting tag axel on his 2000.
mcmojo, That is great information for me, my unit works great, but will keep a good eye on the exhaust, thank you for the info.
Dave M
Thanks! As others have said - good stuff to be aware of :)
Hi mcmojo,
Did you notice much difference in the outside coach noise with your conversion?
Good luck
LynnD '01 GV
You forgot to mention that Gary designed and built this lifting tax axle by himself. Gary is nothing short of a mechanical genius and one of the most helpful guys you will ever meet. One of the things I really respect about Gary is that if he doesn't know something, he will tell you so. But that won't happen very often.
Very little difference in the outside noise level. Maybe a bit louder because a lot more air is being exhausted. I think the larger pipe diameter helped keep the sound level down.
Thanks for sharing, I just noticed a black mark under my exhaust pipe on our last trip. I will start checking it out.
I recently had a similar problem-black spot, melted swirler, low air flow. Roger Berke tried blowing the exhaust out without much effect. I suggested trying water. I started out with low flow, but ended out blasting the exhaust out at full flow. We filled the campground pad with black soot particles. The air flow markedly improved.
Amos, if you have a muffler it may be collapsed & in my opinion your best bet is to get rid of it. You may flush out some soot but it is only a bandaid measure. The other thing that I have found is that my Aqua Hot would shut down, indicator light would go out at least every second day for no reason. It has now been running steadily since I did the repair on Saturday with out any shut downs. Increasing the size of the exhaust pipe & getting rid of the restrictive muffler are key to the unit breathing the way it should IMHO.
I didn't even know I had an A-H muffler, but there is was just after the last bend in the exhaust pipe. I'll replace my exhaust pipe when I get back to Livingston.
We replaced the exhaust pipe last April. Ours rusted off at the output end of the muffler. Per Roger Berke's instructions, I upgraded to 1 3/4" ID & didn't reinstalled the insulation. Much cleaner installation.
- Roger Berke.... Most Aqua-Hot installations do not use muffler. The only noise you hear is air moving and you have to stand right next to the exhaust pipe to hear it.
Any automotive muffler shop can build a replacement exhaust pipe. You should upgrade the exhaust to 1 ¾" ID (2"OD) pipe. That will not only make your Aqua-Hot run better, but will quiet it down quite a bit.
dick
Is this kinda like putting a set of headers on my old 1970 Pinto? Just get rid of the muffler completely?