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Topic: Aquahot...dodged another really 'spensive bullet!!! (Read 600 times) previous topic - next topic

Aquahot...dodged another really 'spensive bullet!!!

Yo Aquahot peeps...please check your radiator cap on the top of the "boiler" tank if you have one.  Not a usual inspection item.  (as with any pressurized coolant system...make sure it's stone cold before opening the cap!!!)

The saga:  Heard a gurgling sound in the living room area last week.  Checked for source in the basement and found overflow tank full and bubbling.  Rushed inside, turned off the diesel and electric, and opened the hot water faucet in the kitchen...STEAM blasted out for 3-4 minutes!!!

After breaking out the 120V box heaters for heat upstairs and in the wet bay, and letting AH cool overnight, trouble shot further and found overflow tank still full and diesel (DC blue dot) control thermostat failed open.  Radiator cap full of cracks, was leaking coolant out past the cap and onto boiler tank, and wasn't allowing coolant to pull back into tank from the overflow for some time....cause.  AC side kept heating, theoretically, because the tank transfer fluid level had dropped below the level of the thermostats, and unpressurized steam is 212deg at sea level....around only 205deg at my elevation.  Perfect storm.

Solution was to replace all 4 thermostats and the radiator cap...just in time for the blizzard we're currently in the midst of.  You'll never really appreciate the Aquahot fully until you spend 4 nights in the 20's with just some noisy box heaters to keep the inside and plumbing from freezing.

Can't stress enough the need for everyone checking and replacing the radiator cap frequently.  Attached are pictures of the old radiator cap and the NAPA unit ($6 and change).  Fits and seals perfectly.  And if you have an AH anti-freeze leak, make sure it's fixed ASAP!!!  Safe foretraveling.  Woody.
2001 4010 U320 build #5865 "Bluto-d-Bus" since 09/18
2006 Honda Element ESP Toad
Full timing since 2016 in Western MT
Copilot: Sitka
1975 GMC 260 Avion: sold

Re: Aquahot...dodged another really 'spensive bullet!!!

Reply #1 –
I replaced my AH radiator cap in 2020, used Duralast # 7013, 14 pounds
Dan - Full timing since 2009
2003 U320 40' Tag 2 slide

Re: Aquahot...dodged another really 'spensive bullet!!!

Reply #2 –
We changed ours in 2020 per Rudy!  Have been in below zero weather with our AH and yes, it is a wonderful thing!
Joe & Dottie Allen
Sold!  December 2023.      2000 U320; build # 5645
Our coach " Maxine"
Motorcade #  15922;  Escapee 150950; FMCA F330833; Boondockers Welcome;  Harvest Hosts;  Thousand Trails
'98 U320 from 2000-'06
USAF '62-'66

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." ―Epicurus

Re: Aquahot...dodged another really 'spensive bullet!!!

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Pyolet –
Yo Aquahot peeps...please check your radiator cap on the top of the "boiler" tank if you have one.  Not a usual inspection item.  (as with any pressurized coolant system...make sure it's stone cold before opening the cap!!!)

The saga:  Heard a gurgling sound in the living room area last week.  Checked for source in the basement and found overflow tank full and bubbling.  Rushed inside, turned off the diesel and electric, and opened the hot water faucet in the kitchen...STEAM blasted out for 3-4 minutes!!!

Solution was to replace all 4 thermostats and the radiator cap...just in time for the blizzard we're currently in the midst of.  You'll never really appreciate the Aquahot fully until you spend 4 nights in the 20's with just some noisy box heaters to keep the inside and plumbing from freezing.

Were two of those thermostats the 140F operating temperature thermostat and the 180F over-temperature limit thermostat on the boiler?

Art
1992 Foretravel Grand Villa
U225 SBID Build No. 4134
1986 Rockwood Driftwood
1968 S.I.A.T.A. Spring
1962 Studebaker Lark
1986 Honda VF700C
1983 Honda VF750C
Charlie, the Dog was broken out of jail 24 Oct 2023
N1RPN
AA1OH (H)e who must be obeyed.

Re: Aquahot...dodged another really 'spensive bullet!!!

Reply #4 –
Thanks Woody. Going to replace mine when I'm in there playing with the air intake flap this weekend.
1987 Grand Villa ORED
2001 U320 4010

Not all that wander are lost... but I often am.

Re: Aquahot...dodged another really 'spensive bullet!!!

Reply #5 –
Thanks, not something I would have thought of.  Replaced it for $8.66 yesterday, keeping the old one for a spare.
Keith
2003 U320 38' #6197

Re: Aquahot...dodged another really 'spensive bullet!!!

Reply #6 –
Sounds like an inexpensive piece of mind item... will check k mine and replace ASAP.... Thanks Woody
Keith and Dawn Hudson #18766
Current- 1999 U295 DFGE 40ft. - Build #5405
Coach Name: 4BUS4US
Previous- 2008 Nimbus CE338: 40th Anniversary Edition- Build #6486. 
Toad: 2021 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk

 "I know something about a lot of things..a lot about something's..and everything about nothing "
 

Re: Aquahot...dodged another really 'spensive bullet!!!

Reply #7 –
Thank you for the post, Woody. Does anyone know if the PT10kw generator radiator is the same 13lbs?  My coach is not handy for me to check.  Might as well pick up 2 caps while I'm thinking about it.
Mark, Monique & Steven Hachigian
2004 36U295 Build No. 6239
2011 Honda CRV 4WD
2024 Dynamax Isata 5 30fw Xplorer