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Aqua Hot Problems
I am hoping the coolant leak in my Aqua Hot is not catastrophic. I have been in bitter cold temps for most of January and February. The last week of January it started leaking coolant quite a bit. For those unfamiliar with the Aqua Hot, the coolant system is separate from the engine coolant which also runs through the Aqua Hot. It is the Aqua Hot coolant that is leaking.
Now that I am in warmer temps and not using it for inside heat, I am only firing it once a day for showers and dish washing. It is leaking much less but still considerable. I am adding between a quart and 3 quarts every 36-48 hours to kep it completely full.
I have been receiving advice on Roger Berke’s forum and from Rudy Legett. I have checked everything I can and I have went as far as I can go. The radiator cap seems to be working, the expansion tank and hose are in good shape and everything in the “open” is leak free. The only exception to that seems to be the valve between the boiler and the three circulation pumps. It has a small leak and does not seem to leak much at all when it is closed as it is now.
I have an appointmet with a certified Aqua Hot guy on March 21st. He will try to determine where the leak is and if it is repairable.
If it is not repairable then the fun really begins. The two options as I understand them are replacement with a new model or remanufacture the one I have. The replacement can be done in a day or two once the new unit is on site. The remanufacturing process takes weeks and requires time on both ends of the repair. The advantage to the remanufactured unit is some cost savings but neither option is cheap.
Besides cost, the biggest thing for me is scheduling time. I have no time built into my work schedule for stuff like this so it will be a challenge to be in the right place at the right time for the right person to work on this.
Anybody replaced or remanufactured your Aqua Hot? Any advice, ideas or recommendations, things to watch for?
Davy
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6 Replies
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Davy,
This is what they look like inside and I sure hope the coils aren’t your problem.
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Tom, a friend, had a leak
in the fresh water coil and it was repaired in the park by another BB owner.What Davy was saying, the anti freeze was leaking from the inner tank between
the coil and the Webasto burner. Davy will need to pressurize the tank to
find the leak. The best way to find the is install the pressure tester in place of the pressure cap and
pressurize the tank to 14 PSI. If the leak is external, it will be easy to fix,
if the leak is internal, the whole system must be disassembled, that is a major
job that requires a factury rebuild. -
I understand. The purpose of the picture is just to show what it looks like inside the case. I never saw the inside of one until one of the BB guys posted this photo and told me to use it on the site as we wish.
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Tom Thanks sorry it is my miss understanding of your point. That is a great picture thanks for sharing it with the group.
It would be very interesting to uncoil the cooper and see how they build the coolant tank. I know one of the people at WOG did some work on his Aqua Hot. I will call Kurt Horvath who took apart his Aqua Hot to get more information. Will post again and maybe with some pics.
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Lloyd De Gerald (A factory authorized repair guy and more importantly and experienced highly recommended Aqua Hot guy.) was in Georgia for the FMCA Rally and stayed over an extra day to meet me as I was going to my next revival. After looking things over he confirmed the boiler is leaking. After quite a bit of discussion with Mr. De Gerald I think my Aqua Hot has had a small leak since I purchased the coach 6 years ago. I have been adding much more water each year than even my old unit should lose with “normal” loss. As he said, “Once it starts leaking it is never going to get better.” That is true and now it is leaking pretty badly.
A replacement is now in my future. We are working the logistics out now. I will post again when we figure it all out and get the ball rolling. What have others done when facing replacement? New? Remanufactured? It looks like I will be going the remanufactured route but I am interested in all options.
Mr. and Mrs De Gerald are nice folks and I sure appreciate their kindness. It was great to get to know them. Mr. Berke and Mr. Legett have also been very helpful in this process.
Davy -
Davy
Don’t know if you’re still trying to figure out what to do but I was at Colaw RV Salvage about 3 weeks ago and they had a used webasto from one of their salvage units. I have bought lots of things from them and have always been treated well. In fact, I bought a used aquahot from them that I ahve installed in my home builder. HTH Number is 417-548-2125.Rob
91 XL 40 “Olga”
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