Bigdog Aqua-hot mutiny

Topic: Bigdog Aqua-hot mutiny (Read 2828 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Aqua-Hot torched itself

Reply #25 – March 02, 2024, 10:46:00 pm

Quote from: bigdog – February 27, 2024, 06:06:40 pm

Talked to Rudy on the phone. Looks like a trip to Huston might be in order to have a new unit from John Carrillo installed.

Not too keen on big cities, But you have to do what needs doing.

If your coming from the east you get to Rudy before Houston

Keith

Quote from: turbojack – February 28, 2024, 08:26:06 am

Look at this as a positive.

On the way to Houston you can stop at Buc-ee's between San Antonio and Houston.

There is a bucees about 2 miles from Rudy also in Baytown .....

Keith

Re: Aqua-Hot torched itself

Reply #26 – March 02, 2024, 11:52:16 pm

Almost every coach maker does this routing of the AH exhaust since that's where AH put the exhaust nipple. Unless the AH is mounted to the side, that exhaust routing is not avoidable IMHO. Just watch what you're driving over and avoid the boulders.

However, my PO had the AH rebuilt and either freight company or the tech who did the R&R cracked a boiler/exhaust pass through weld some how.

RV'ing sure is fun.

Quote from: bigdog – February 28, 2024, 06:07:34 pm

This failure was not the fault of the Aqua-Hot unit. This issue lay at the feet of Foretravel itself. How? one might ask. Well, in the goal to maximize bay storage. Foretravel hung a water pipe exhaust that sits about 2"-3" below the belly skin smack in the middle under an already low riding coach with very soft suspension. It then runs feet towards the front then crosses over to the drivers side. All it took was a bump that bottomed the suspension or a steep transition between roads and parking lots to shove that pipe back and tear the weld where that pipe enters the boiler tank.

Re: Aqua-Hot torched itself

Reply #27 – March 03, 2024, 02:36:51 pm

Quote from: Woody & Sitka – March 02, 2024, 11:52:16 pm

Almost every coach maker does this routing of the AH exhaust since that's where AH put the exhaust nipple. Unless the AH is mounted to the side, that exhaust routing is not avoidable IMHO. Just watch what you're driving over and avoid the boulders.

However, my PO had the AH rebuilt and either freight company or the tech who did the R&R cracked a boiler/exhaust pass through weld some how.

RV'ing sure is fun.

RV'ing is fun. Despite some of the issues we RV'rs face.

I just object to a rubbish design and I'm not afraid to say so. Guess I'm odd that way.

Re: Aqua-Hot torched itself

Reply #28 – March 14, 2024, 12:00:32 pm

Quote from: bigdog – March 03, 2024, 02:36:51 pm

I just object to a rubbish design and I'm not afraid to say so. Guess I'm odd that way.

Jerry I dont see why we couldnt have a flexible section that would screw into the bottom of the aqua hot and transition to the cross tube. Also getting away from plumbing pipe for exhaust to light exhaust tubing would also crush easily. Would be noisier. If you reinstall the old exhaust you will be back were you started. Downside is it wont take any abuse. Rudy had advised me to go to two inch tubing and delete muffler when I repaired mine. It is a little noisier but not an issue were be boondock. Looks like 18 gauge steel or stainless is available. .0478 Thick. Also some 20 gauge stainless 2" x 20 Ga Straight Tubing 321

Re: Aqua-Hot torched itself

Reply #29 – March 14, 2024, 03:38:50 pm

Quote from: dsd – March 14, 2024, 12:00:32 pm

Jerry I dont see why we couldnt have a flexible section that would screw into the bottom of the aqua hot and transition to the cross tube. Also getting away from plumbing pipe for exhaust to light exhaust tubing would also crush easily. Would be noisier. If you reinstall the old exhaust you will be back were you started. Downside is it wont take any abuse. Rudy had advised me to go to two inch tubing and delete muffler when I repaired mine. It is a little noisier but not an issue were be boondock. Looks like 18 gauge steel or stainless is available. .0478 Thick. Also some 20 gauge stainless 2" x 20 Ga Straight Tubing 321

As Rudy is ramrodding my installation at his place just over a week from now. That might be a thing to do. The area that hit was at the muffler U-clamp and that very thick plumbing 90 degree (see picture) I have done an insurance claim at Progressive. But I have to have Mr. Carrillo at heat my RV do a post mortom cause of death report.

New Aqua-Hot

Reply #30 – April 17, 2024, 11:07:51 pm

Finally got our new Aqua-Hot installed.

Boy did John Carillo make some well thought out updates to this old AHE-100 model. Such as a zero pressure boiler tank. hot water lines that are immersed in the boiler fluid instead of wrapped on the outside. Elbows in the copper lines are now supported. The tempering valve is in the open instead of under the burner-motor.

Working around Rudy was a pleasure and Rudy's wife Caroline is fun to be around. She has a great sense of humor. Over the last 4 days Rudy & Caroline have taken us to some local eateries that served up some great food.

Keith (HDFF on the forum) rode his hog over from his place to say hi. That was cool of him to do that.

And our cat Kimmie provided some entertainment with her antics chasing bugs and running around the turf field.

Now for the delayed by a month 2100 mile slog home.

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #31 – April 18, 2024, 12:59:27 am

I assume it uses the different boiler fluid like the newer units.

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #32 – April 18, 2024, 08:30:32 am

Quote from: craneman – April 18, 2024, 12:59:27 am

I assume it uses the different boiler fluid like the newer units.

You would be correct.

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #33 – April 18, 2024, 09:04:58 am

Quote from: bigdog – April 18, 2024, 08:30:32 am

You would be correct.

In case anyone's wondering why, with the hot water lines in direct contact with the boiler fluid, the fluid has to be the potable (non-toxic) type.

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #34 – April 18, 2024, 10:42:48 am

Can you share the cost of this huge improvement/upgrade?

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #35 – April 18, 2024, 05:19:23 pm

Quote from: Peter – April 18, 2024, 10:42:48 am

Can you share the cost of this huge improvement/upgrade?

TOO DANG MUCH. Our old AH (which was running superbly) did a Chernobyl on us from hitting the exhaust pipe on a road transition coming out of an RV park and causing a tank weld to break and the fluid to leak out. Which In the end massively overheated everything.

The new unit, fluid and R&R was around $10K. Plus the drive from Tucson to Rudy's.

But Rudy is the man, is 100% trustworthy and brimming with AH knowledge. It was worth every cent to have him in charge of my AH replacement.

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #36 – April 18, 2024, 07:49:51 pm

Quote from: bigdog – April 17, 2024, 11:07:51 pm

Boy did John Carillo make some well thought out updates to this old AHE-100 model. Such as a zero pressure boiler tank. hot water lines that are immersed in the boiler fluid instead of wrapped on the outside. Elbows in the copper lines are now supported. The tempering valve is in the open instead of under the burner-motor.

I'm a little confused. Did you get a whole new Aquahot unit or did they completely re-engineer the one you had within the old AHE-100 cabinet? Any pictures?

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #37 – April 18, 2024, 08:10:20 pm

George, he got a reman Aqua Hot that is plug and play replacement. Some parts are secured better than the original part. His old heater was shipped back as a core. So total replacement. One year warranty on everything in the heater, too.

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #38 – April 18, 2024, 09:28:13 pm

Quote from: Geodmann – April 18, 2024, 07:49:51 pm

I'm a little confused. Did you get a whole new Aquahot unit or did they completely re-engineer the one you had within the old AHE-100 cabinet? Any pictures?

And just to be clear and fair to Aqua-Hot. The issue with my old AH going up in smoke WAS NOT the fault of the AH. A lip entering a highway in Nevada hit the exhaust. We have a comprehensive claim with our insurer.

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #39 – April 19, 2024, 08:59:40 am

I have seen ah units that say on the outside 100RM. Are these the new remanufactured units or another type?

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #40 – April 19, 2024, 09:01:51 am

Pic

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #41 – April 19, 2024, 09:33:48 am

RM100 is a reman heater

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #42 – April 19, 2024, 10:19:43 am

and Rudy, That is the type that was installed in Bigdogs unit? or was this someting different.

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #43 – April 19, 2024, 10:38:40 am

I use reman from a Aqua Hot guru. RM100 from AH is same heater but takes a month to month and a half turnaround. Mine is done in one day and I like the mounting of items better.

Brand new 600D in your coach requires extensive modifications to install

Re: New Aqua-Hot

Reply #44 – April 19, 2024, 01:18:20 pm

Rudy
Thanks for the explanation

In loveland to see Carrillo UPDATE

Reply #45 – April 23, 2024, 07:12:09 pm

We seem to have air in zone one and getting steam bubbles backing out from the boiler into the overflow tank. Mr. Carrillo said it's a common issue when installing the new style zero pressure Aqua-Hots as they are super sensitive to air in the system. So Carrillo will redo the air purge process.

UPDATE: It was indeed air in the line that created a vapor lock and backed up the fluid into the expansion tank. Lost about 1.5 gallons.

Mr. Carrillo gave me a full tour of his operations and even told me about a new modification he will be using soon. Also got a detailed comparison of the old style Aqua-Hots to the reman mods he uses. Super nice guy. As was the entire crew.

My Aqua-Hot experience

Reply #46 – May 06, 2024, 08:07:16 pm

As you all know. We went through an Aqua-Hot failure this season.

But what I found out after John Carrillo tore down the old unit was that it doesn't look like it failed from bumping the exhaust entering that highway in Nevada. It seems to have failed from the tank leaking on the side. Which means it looks as if it rusted through. Which seems odd as it was rebuilt by Aqua-Hot in 2017. Which cost us $8K. 6 years of use for a $8K (rebuild) plus the yearly service is some very expensive hot water. Yep! $1,600 per year for hot water and heat is pretty steep.

So I guess that when Aqua-Hot says it "REBUILDS" one of their units. It actually means only repairing what failed and nothing further. Which of course IS NOT A REBUILD. That is called a repair. So apparently the tank had rust in it or was damaged removing the mastic/water coils and they threw it back together and called it good.

Thankfully Aqua-Hot does not rebuild these old units anymore. So at least they can't bilk anyone anymore for their shoddy business practices.

We are very fortunate to have someone (John Carrillo heatmyrv) that does what Aqua-Hot should have done. Do an actual rebuild and even more importantly, think of ways to improve the unit.

Re: Aqua-Hot torched itself

Reply #47 – May 06, 2024, 08:14:55 pm

bigdog,

I merged your AquaHot replacement threads into the original topic. It's best to keep all information in one topic for future searches.

Re: Bigdog Aqua-hot mutiny

Reply #48 – May 06, 2024, 08:26:35 pm

Quote from: Michelle – May 06, 2024, 08:14:55 pm

bigdog,

I merged your AquaHot replacement threads into the original topic. It's best to keep all information in one topic for future searches.

Thanks Michelle, I was (am) pretty pissed at Aqua-Hot and wasn't thinking.

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