Aqua hot not shutting down

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Aqua hot not shutting down

December 16, 2020, 01:22:25 pm

Fired up the unit on diesel yesterday for its monthly exercise and all went well until the cool down cycle. After the period of cool down, when it should shut off, it would spool back up, then back down and repeat till I shut it off.
We have a granddaughter staying in the coach until her COVID-19 test results come back so as long as we don't dip into the low 40s we can use the electric for heating. Hoping it's not the dreaded "box"

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #1 – December 16, 2020, 01:25:44 pm

It was the box on mine when that happened.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #2 – December 16, 2020, 01:33:18 pm

I was having the same symptoms (in addition to others) New Box was the remedy.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #3 – December 16, 2020, 01:50:27 pm

Is your box silver or black?if it's black better get your wallet out.... time to call Rudy

Keith

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #4 – December 16, 2020, 02:09:17 pm

Quote from: hdff – December 16, 2020, 01:50:27 pm

Is your box silver or black?if it's black better get your wallet out.... time to call Rudy
Keith

I made the switch from the old silver box to the newest black box. $965(ish) to my door from our favorite AH guru Rudy if I recall.

My rebuilt silver box only went for 18 months till it failed.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #5 – December 16, 2020, 04:47:14 pm

I have the silver box that has lasted as long as we've owned the coach.8 plus years. Guess I've got to bite the bullet😩
Thanks for the replies .

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #6 – December 16, 2020, 07:23:00 pm

Update! A call to Rudy confirmed the control box is bad.new one on the way tomorrow.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #7 – December 16, 2020, 07:45:39 pm

Thanks for the kind remarks about my service. And the business too. Merry Christmas all

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #8 – December 16, 2020, 08:14:25 pm

Quote from: rbark – December 16, 2020, 04:47:14 pm

I have the silver box that has lasted as long as we've owned the coach.8 plus years. Guess I've got to bite the bullet😩
Thanks for the replies .

And bullet's aren't very tasty either.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #9 – December 16, 2020, 09:25:36 pm

Quote from: bigdog – December 16, 2020, 08:14:25 pm

And bullet's aren't very tasty either.

But they last longer.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #10 – December 17, 2020, 08:23:34 am

While in Yellowstone, Rudy diagnosed our issue with AH and we ordered the new digital black box! Worked like a dream and our AH is purring once again! Pricey yes, but drama reduced to zero, awesome!

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #11 – December 18, 2020, 06:08:43 pm

I had the same problem AH. I have the silver box controller and removed the aluminum cover and replaced the 3 or 4 electrolytic capacitors. That fixed the problem. It now shuts down after cool down.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #12 – December 18, 2020, 10:11:02 pm

Quote from: juicesqueezer – December 17, 2020, 08:23:34 am

While in Yellowstone, Rudy diagnosed our issue with AH and we ordered the new digital black box! Worked like a dream and our AH is purring once again! Pricey yes, but drama reduced to zero, awesome!

If I recall right the new digital box from AH is silver like the old ones, just the plugs are on wires not mounted in the box...

Keith

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #13 – December 18, 2020, 10:27:46 pm

Quote from: 2002u32042 – December 18, 2020, 06:08:43 pm

I had the same problem AH. I have the silver box controller and removed the aluminum cover and replaced the 3 or 4 electrolytic capacitors. That fixed the problem. It now shuts down after cool down.

Great information. Electrolytic capacitors do have a service life
Scott
Quote
Design lifetime at rated temperature
Manufacturers of electrolytic capacitors specify the design lifetime at the maximum rated ambient temperature, usually 105°C. This design lifetime can vary from as little as 1,000 hours to 10,000 hours or more. The longer the design lifetime, the longer the component will last in a given application and ambient temperature.

Manufacturers provide calculations to determine lifetime in application. These are based on the Arrhenius equation for temperature dependence of reaction rates. This determines that the reaction rate doubles for every 10°C rise in temperature. That means that the lifetime doubles for each 10°C reduction in temperature, so a capacitor rated at 5,000 hours at 105°C would have a service life of 10,000 hours at 95°C and 20,000 hours at 85°C.
Source; Electrolytic capacitors determine the lifetime of a power supply | XP Power

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #14 – December 18, 2020, 10:54:19 pm

Quote from: hdff – December 18, 2020, 10:11:02 pm

If I recall right the new digital box from AH is silver like the old ones, just the plugs are on wires not mounted in the box...

Keith

Keith, It's a black black box with the plugs on the wires. There was a spring steel clip for mounting. Of course I can't recall if my older AH unit (1998) needed this or not to mount the new box.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #15 – December 26, 2020, 01:24:48 pm

Update,
Received the new box before Christmas😁. Went to install new box and see that it's not "plug n play".
The new box has 3 pig tails coming out the bottom that don't matchup with the plugs from the old unit😡.
I will call Rudy and see what's up.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #16 – December 26, 2020, 01:36:53 pm

The plugs match the plugs in the bottom of silver and black control units perfectly. The male A, B and C plugs are on pigtails instead of in bottom of box. Much less stress on bottom of board.

Plug your male B and C plugs into new control unit. Do so with interior burner switch turned OFF. Once installed, turn interior burner switch ON. You are back in operation.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #17 – December 26, 2020, 02:16:34 pm

My bad Rudy, too much Christmas Joy yesterday I guess🤣🤣

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #18 – December 26, 2020, 02:29:06 pm

Quote from: rbark – December 26, 2020, 02:16:34 pm

My bad Rudy, too much Christmas Joy yesterday I guess🤣🤣

Don't feel like the lone ranger Richard. When I climbed in the bay to hook up the new box. I sat there scratching my head for a bit looking at those connectors until a couple of the few remaining neurons left in my brain finally made the connection. Then it was time to mount the thing. More head scratching.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #19 – December 26, 2020, 06:57:16 pm

Haha! I hear ya.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #20 – December 27, 2020, 02:08:43 pm

I feel your pain, as I went through the same issues with ours. Also, you might notice that when you flip the switch on the cabinet in the kitchen, the light has a delay. Also when you shut it off, takes a second or so for light to go out. Apparently, this is normal, at least how mine works.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #21 – December 27, 2020, 02:30:37 pm

Quote from: juicesqueezer – December 27, 2020, 02:08:43 pm

I feel your pain, as I went through the same issues with ours. Also, you might notice that when you flip the switch on the cabinet in the kitchen, the light has a delay. Also when you shut it off, takes a second or so for light to go out. Apparently, this is normal, at least how mine works.

Same thing with our new brain box Joe. That delay threw me off as well.

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #22 – December 28, 2020, 07:02:20 pm

Had a tech come out for mine... black box was bad... The new 901 box will not do anything once plugged in.. Nothing at all..

So black box replaced the black box (sperio?)(sp).. would like to have the newest box if possible.. any ideas?

Re: Aqua hot not shutting down

Reply #23 – December 28, 2020, 07:23:12 pm

David, The new 901 solid state Control Unit has some fancy software not in earlier control units.

The interior burner switch MUST be turned OFF before plugging in the 901. Once the 901 is turned ON with the burner switch, it checks things out. Having power on at plug-in yeilds a bad report and no operation as a result.

The next change is when the burner switch is turned ON, the 901 goes into its check out and does NOT turn on the interior light until that check is finished. The delay is about 5 or so seconds. The prior control units turned the light instantaly.

The last change is once the 901 is turned on, it will always go through a 3 minute cool down at the end of cycle. Old control units could be truned on, then off and then back on. They would fire in 30 seconds. In such a situation, the 901 will see it is turned off and will always complete the 3 minute cool down. Now with the burner switch still on during the cool down period, the 901 will finish the cool down, shut the burner off and 5 seconds later restart and fire the burner.

So, unplug the 901, make sure the burner switch is OFF and plug it back in. Turn on burner and enjoy the result.

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