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Topic: Why my Aqua-hot smoked (Read 653 times) previous topic - next topic

Why my Aqua-hot smoked

While on vacation the Aqua- hot was leaving black residue on the ground. Now at home fixing problems discovered on vacation. I pulled the Wabasto unit out and removed the heat exchanger. The crud is what made it smoke but I will hope Rudy sees this and can give me an idea of what caused the crud. Not smart enough to post pics on pm. The last pic is a view of the high low limiters which I wish I had when I worked on my Monaco. The color code would have saved me hours at that time.
Just added two pictures of the Wabasto swirler.
1999 40 ft. U-320 wtfe build 5563 Chuck & Lynda's "Rollin' Inn"  2030 watts solar
prev. mh's 71 GMC 5 yrs. 73 Pace Setter 1 yr. 78 Vogue 5 yrs 81 FTX 40ft all electric 18 yrs. 1996 Monaco Signature 3 yrs.
2014 Grand Cherokee Overland
Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you will die today.  James Dean

Re: Why my Aqua-hot smoked

Reply #1 –
My oh My!  I have never seen a swirler sooted up like that ever.  I believe we are looking at the back of the swirler into which the burner mounts once the Combustion Chamber (swirler and stainless steel tube) is inserted into the burn chamber.  The nozzle would be right in the center of the hole.

Perhaps the ignitor points are adjusted to close to the fan spray of fuel coming from the nozzle and that may have caused the sooting.  I did not see anything that looked melted, just really sooted very badly.

Another thing is, I did not see the stainless steel tube that mounts onto the back of the swirler and goes into the burn chamber where the U-channels are located.  Did you remove the tube for the photos or is it not there?  Lack of this tube is cause to not run the burner -- period.  You must have a complete Combustion Chamber installed.

The ignitor point adjustment tool is normally mounted on the outside of the burner case under one of four phillips bolts that hold the black case to the burner.  The bolt in the 10 O'clock position with the nozzle facing away from you is where it is normally located.

The ignitor points should be right in the two "Vs".  They should not be below the Vs nor above the Vs.

Hope this helps you.  If you want more info, shoot me a PM with your phone number.
Rudy Legett
2003 U320 4010 ISM 450 hp
2001 U320 4220 ISM 450 hp
1995 U320 M11 400 hp
1990 Granvilla 300 hp 3208T
Aqua Hot Service Houston and Southeast Texas

Re: Why my Aqua-hot smoked

Reply #2 –
Looks like a rag left in chamber from cleaning.
JC
1999 U320

Re: Why my Aqua-hot smoked

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Rudy –
My oh My!  I have never seen a swirler sooted up like that ever.  I believe we are looking at the back of the swirler into which the burner mounts once the Combustion Chamber (swirler and stainless steel tube) is inserted into the burn chamber.  The nozzle would be right in the center of the hole.

Perhaps the ignitor points are adjusted to close to the fan spray of fuel coming from the nozzle and that may have caused the sooting.  I did not see anything that looked melted, just really sooted very badly.

Another thing is, I did not see the stainless steel tube that mounts onto the back of the swirler and goes into the burn chamber where the U-channels are located.  Did you remove the tube for the photos or is it not there?  Lack of this tube is cause to not run the burner -- period.  You must have a complete Combustion Chamber installed.

The ignitor point adjustment tool is normally mounted on the outside of the burner case under one of four phillips bolts that hold the black case to the burner.  The bolt in the 10 O'clock position with the nozzle facing away from you is where it is normally located.

The ignitor points should be right in the two "Vs".  They should not be below the Vs nor above the Vs.

Hope this helps you.  If you want more info, shoot me a PM with your phone number.
Thanks,
Yes I took the tube off for pictures. I checked the igniters and they are good. The rubber grommets are hard but I don't see much air escaping there. Could this be from just not being serviced? The "crud" appears to just be carbon, it crushes to a powder.
1999 40 ft. U-320 wtfe build 5563 Chuck & Lynda's "Rollin' Inn"  2030 watts solar
prev. mh's 71 GMC 5 yrs. 73 Pace Setter 1 yr. 78 Vogue 5 yrs 81 FTX 40ft all electric 18 yrs. 1996 Monaco Signature 3 yrs.
2014 Grand Cherokee Overland
Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you will die today.  James Dean

Re: Why my Aqua-hot smoked

Reply #4 –
A big thanks to Rudy for helping me with this. He is the goto for Aqua-hot issues.
1999 40 ft. U-320 wtfe build 5563 Chuck & Lynda's "Rollin' Inn"  2030 watts solar
prev. mh's 71 GMC 5 yrs. 73 Pace Setter 1 yr. 78 Vogue 5 yrs 81 FTX 40ft all electric 18 yrs. 1996 Monaco Signature 3 yrs.
2014 Grand Cherokee Overland
Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you will die today.  James Dean

Re: Why my Aqua-hot smoked

Reply #5 –
Were you dry camping? Low voltage will cause an aqua-hot to smoke because it does not turn fast enough.
previous 1984 35 ft ORED 250 HP 3208 Cat       
previous 1998 40 ft U295 CAI 325 hp Cummins
previous 2003 40 Ft u320 build #6140 450 Cummins M11.                                                         
1999 Mazda Miata
Ron, Nancy, Tipper the cat, Max The dog
1997 U 270 36 ft build number 5174 8.3 Cummins

Re: Why my Aqua-hot smoked

Reply #6 –
Voltage was not an issue never went below 12.3 after inverting all night. It had the air adjustment too rich for too long. I had opened up the air before leaving as we would be at 7,000 ft.+ The crud in the image on my first post was the cause of the smoking, almost all air passages were blocked.
1999 40 ft. U-320 wtfe build 5563 Chuck & Lynda's "Rollin' Inn"  2030 watts solar
prev. mh's 71 GMC 5 yrs. 73 Pace Setter 1 yr. 78 Vogue 5 yrs 81 FTX 40ft all electric 18 yrs. 1996 Monaco Signature 3 yrs.
2014 Grand Cherokee Overland
Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you will die today.  James Dean

Re: Why my Aqua-hot smoked

Reply #7 –
Craneman,

How much had you opened the intake shutter?

If I remember correctly they come from the factory at 25% open, and it's said to be okay to run them at 50% open if you will be traveling to various altitudes.

Chris

Re: Why my Aqua-hot smoked

Reply #8 –
I had opened it to 50% open, after talking to Rudy he said at that altitude I could have opened it to 100% The build up was not from my use of the coach it had been there for some time. 100% is 50% of the actual outlet 50% is permanently blocked.
1999 40 ft. U-320 wtfe build 5563 Chuck & Lynda's "Rollin' Inn"  2030 watts solar
prev. mh's 71 GMC 5 yrs. 73 Pace Setter 1 yr. 78 Vogue 5 yrs 81 FTX 40ft all electric 18 yrs. 1996 Monaco Signature 3 yrs.
2014 Grand Cherokee Overland
Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you will die today.  James Dean

Re: Why my Aqua-hot smoked

Reply #9 –
Quote from: craneman –
I had opened it to 50% open, after talking to Rudy he said at that altitude I could have opened it to 100% The build up was not from my use of the coach it had been there for some time. 100% is 50% of the actual outlet 50% is permanently blocked.


Oh great... new math.  :)

Thanks for sharing.

Chris