Getting ready to install theater seating in our coach as soon as the flooring is laid and ran into an issue with the livingroom AH heater. Looking at the photo, is the rubber line on the left the return line and if so, if I remove it to shorten the hose, will any liquid come out with unit off? I thought originally this would fit under the one chair, but since it is a powered recliner, there is no room. So, will have to mount the heater sideways and build a box around it and face it toward the front.
If anyone else had come up with a better plan, please let me know. I thought about mounting it on the wall since I need at least 4 inches of clearance for the chairs to recline properly. I searched on the forum and did not find anything related to moving this unit.
Thanks in advance!
You can clamp the hoses with vice grips or some wood pieces and C clamps. There is coolant in the hoses. With hoses and couplings you could move the heat exchanger anywhere you want.
You might be breaking new ground with this mod. Take lots of photos and tell us what you end up doing!
Thanks Chuck! Great idea! Those hose look to be 3/4 inch, so will see what I can find in the plumbing isle!
I agree with the new ground scenario! May try moving it right behind DW's seat and see how that works. The theater seating is 67 inches wide and will give me plenty of room to set it up without compromising the heater core. Will be laying out the flooring in the morning and will start under the slide room first and move from left to right toward the front. I will post photos of this under the Remodeling section!
What does your theater seats look like? If you have a center compartment on your seat you can run through there coming out the front like on your sofa. If you need to disconnect the heater just clamp off the hoses. You will still have some antifreeze in the register core.
John M.
The AH heat exchangers are in a series loop. The loop goes from the AH pump through the heat exchanger in the dash and then to the next and the next (maybe more) and then back to the AH. There is coolant in the hoses and in the heat exchangers.
John, we purchased the RecPro line with two recliners and a center console. Will not be able to use the center console as mentioned and there is no room under the chairs since they are powered. Will see if there is enough room to mount either beside or just behind the passenger captain chair and build a box.
Would it be possible to mount it in the basement with the vents coming through the floor?
I have relocated mine to behind the captains chair in the process of an interior remodel. It required re-routing the coolant lines and drilling holes in the floor underneath the new location. I relocated a cabinet/desk to the same area that will conceal the heater. It was probably a lot of work for not much gain, but at the time, I wanted to fully remove/reroute all wiring and hoses that were routed down the curb site wall. The only reason I could fit that cabinet in that space was because I have moved my steering column/dash forward ~2" and the captains chair forward about 6" from factory location. I found the factory cockpit to feel very uncomfortable, and I'm 6'0 tall. It seems the Foretravel folks made the ceiling height for vert short folks and the cockpit for a giant!
A word of caution. Do not put any stress on the old hoses while the system is operating and hot, they will likely break/crack/leak at the edge of the copper tube that they are attached to on the radiator. I woke up to my living room covered in antifreeze after temporarily relocating the radiator overnight and putting stress on the old factory hoses.
When you disconnect:
-Make sure Aquahot system has been off for over 24 hours. If it is hot, it will be pressurized as it is a sealed system similar to your car's cooling system. If it is hot, it will also not feel good when you spill the antifreeze on your hands. Another lesson learned the hard (stupid?) way.
-As recommended, you can use some clamps and wood to protect the hose to seal off before you disconnect.
-Put a bucket under the radiator before disconnecting because you will still spill some antifreeze.
I never thought about moving the heater to the opposite side. Thanks for the photos as well. Most likely will keep it on the passenger side, but you did give me some great ideas for sure!
After installing the new powered recliners, we have enough room to mount the heater vertically on the side wall. Will post photos tomorrow. Now will have to figure out how to fill in the side that is open. Have some shelving material left over, so that may work with some engineering!
Update; got the heater mounted to the side of the coach behind the recliner. Still need to trim it out some, but glad I had the room to mount it there with no adjustments in line length, etc.
Looks good. I suspect it will function quite well.
Will know when the first cold snap happens for sure! lol