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Aqua Hot Symptoms

March 21, 2014, 11:19:22 am

On our trip to Big Bend, my AH started having issues. The symptoms are as follows:
When it runs it runs great.
Sometimes when it starts, for about 5 minutes, it puts out a lot of white smoke and then runs normally.
Sometimes it will not light. When this happens it will "pulsate" for a few minutes and then shutdown. The green LED light in the coach will also go on an off as it pulsates until it, the light, goes out.
Also, I noticed there was a small amount of water dripping from the drain hole under the unit. It made a wet spot about the size of a pie plate on the pavement. As a 3rd owner (that I know of), I do not know if any work has ever been done on the unit. I really dread having to pull the unit if necessary.
Any advice would be appreciated.

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Re: Aqua Hot Symptoms

Reply #1 – March 21, 2014, 11:40:07 am

Take the burner off and check settings for burner, and if you have a small hole in tank/burner. I do not have one, but took out an old one and installed a new one in friends coach last summer. They are akward to get too but fairly straight forward to work on. Of course one of the top experts will chime in soon and tell you what their thoughts are. As you have not done any work on it may be a good reason to clean it all up inside .
John H

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Re: Aqua Hot Symptoms

Reply #2 – March 21, 2014, 02:42:09 pm

Hippie

Fist issue of smoking sounds like you need Annual Service.

Second issue od dripping water sounds like you need to open the cover and look for leaking plastic fittings under the burner.

This does sound serious.

Stop by mile marker 789 on I 10 on your way home and we will sort it out.

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Re: Aqua Hot Symptoms

Reply #3 – March 21, 2014, 10:31:43 pm

Thanks Rudy for the offer however we are home now.
I was just reading through the Aqua Hot service manual on-line and was also thinking I would start with maintenance. Would it be advisable to go ahead and get new parts and just plan on replacing them because of age? new nozzle, new igniter....what would you recommend?
Also, how do you get access under the unit? I removed the covers and did not see any leaks there.
Again, thanks guys.

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Re: Aqua Hot Symptoms

Reply #4 – March 21, 2014, 11:00:03 pm

Hippie,

Annual service is new fuel filter and new nozzle, clean combustion chamber, clean flame sensor, clean ignitor points, reassemble, fire it up and check operation.  No new ignitor needed unless you have a coil or ignitor point failure (rare).

Order annual service parts from Roger Berke via his parts website Two Racor filters and Two Nozzles - Best Value 4

If leaking water (not coolant) from the exhaust hole under the tank of the heater and no leak from the fresh water piping under the burner, I would look at the pex connections going into and out of the heater.  If not there then maybe the fresh water loop is leaking and that would be really bad thing,

To see this area would require the removal of the fixed cover over the tank.  There are some rivets that one can drill out but with the heater in the coach, removal would be tough at best.  There is no Aqua Hot recommended repair for a leaking coil other than a remanufactured or new heater.

You might call me Saturday for more info if you like -- 713 8 one 8 3 two 34.

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Re: Aqua Hot Symptoms (fixed)

Reply #5 – April 24, 2014, 11:13:18 am

The following outlines the repairs on my unit:
I had to sweat on a new elbow on the hot water line from the AH. That was where my water leak was coming from. This reducing elbow is a 1/2 to 3/8 and I had to go to a refrigeration supply co. to find it. With the burner removed this task was not too difficult.
I performed the annual maintenance however, the AH would still not ignite. I started going through the troubleshooting guide but did not find anything that could be causing my problem. Since the AH motor would not shut down unless I unplugged the white connector, I purchased a rebuilt control box. I installed it with high expectations, but the AH would still not lite. I was very bummed.
That is when I contacted Mr.  Roger B. again, to discuss the problem. Fortunately, I was able to hook up with him in Nacogdoches. I drove over and brought him my burner. He bench tested it for me. The main problem was, during my troubleshooting endeavors, I inadvertently switched the ignition coil leads, resulting in the coil not firing.  Also, my fuel pressure was way to high. Roger said as the gears wear, the pressure will creep up, just the opposite of what you would think. He also adjusted the air intake to the mid point. He said this would help with higher altitudes.
The backside mounting J bolt broke off during one of my many burner removals. Replacement was a real pain.
With all of that, I now have a working AH!!!
I also got to meet Rudy as he was there also, so really I had two AH guys working on my unit.
They were both very forthcoming with information and now I feel much more educated on the functionality of the AH.
On to the next project.

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