[Archived]

I have two 10.5 gal Atwood electric with engine or webasto heating as well. Work very well so far. Not sure it is better or worse than a single 20 would be….

[Archived]

Yes it does mean there are 2 water heaters. These likely include heat exchangers so the water can be heated by the Web as to or the engine.

An AH has the hot water heater built in, so an AH coach would not list hot water heaters.

If you are wondering why 2 10 gallon heaters instead of 1 20 gallon it has to do with load balacing the the AC input. Each is wired to one of the two feeds in a 50A 240V circuit.

[Archived]

So Aqua Hot is an all inclusive in one system, domestic hot water, coach heat, Engine preheat for cold weather start. Also domestic hot water can be heated thru electric shore power.

Webesto, DHW, CH, EPH, but done with independent DHW units tied to Webesto.

Both units tie to the engine for heating from the engine while driving.

Is there a schematic anywhere that could be looked at to define the systems.

[Archived]

Paul,

Systems such as the plumbing and heating systems are converter specific, and may even be coach specific.

What I could share with you regarding any of my coaches may not apply to any you might consider. What you can be fairly certain of however is the system works and why it was done a particular way by the converter was likely because a number of other conditions might have influenced why the systems were designed a particular way.

[David]

when we make the purchase, I am going to be pending a lot of time on here making sure I am looking at the right things. Then when I get to the point of the coach passing my uneducated smell test. I am going have to find someone with experience to look at the coach for me.

Based on the feedback I got when I was looking at that local coach last year, the feedback on here will almost be gospel for me, I get the feeling even though as some said during that experience last year that the feedback can be over stated, I will take it more seriously earlier.

Then have any coach I decide on, get some sort of pre purchase inspection (hands on) supported by feedback on here.

I guess trying to understand electrical and plumbing systems will be a coach specific understanding to develope for the coach/converter that we end up going with.

I have had sellers/dealers tell me that sites like these can make sales more difficult, bottom line I will have to see all systems work before I move forward. But even then I will not have enough understanding so that is where the second set of educated eyes will have to come into play after I get to “The One”

[David]

I don’t think it really matters which hot water system you get. All of the above mentioned heat domestic hot water, pre-heat the engine, and provide hot water for heat exchangers to heat the coach. They just do it in a slightly different fashion from one another.

I don’t mind the two water heaters. Some may not want that. In any event, the Aquahot still relies on a Webasto or some other brand of burner / boiler or an electric element to get it’s heat when not using the engine as it’s source.

I don’t think it really matters if you find a coach you like, just make sure it all works!

[Bill]

Paul, in your quest to find a coach try not to make it more difficult than it needs to be. First, set a budget. Then decide how you want to use the coach. Will you travel a lot or will you spend time in it at destination resorts and RV parks? is storage space critical, or is it more important to have multiple slides? Do you even want slides? Ask yourselves the questions until you define those features most important to you?

My wife and I have two deal breakers: the lack of OTR and the lack of a private toilet are our two NEEDS. We want other things like a dinette, stacked washer and dryer, long range fuel, etc. but the lack of any of them is not a deal breaker. We made our choices based on how we use the coach.

Then go find your coach. If your NEEDS are because you only intend to dry camp for example, OTR is pretty worthless to you, but a lot of battery power and a coach with low phantom loads rises to the top of your list. If you intend to go from power pole to power pole, then a lot of battery power is no longer a NEED, but maybe storage become a prime requirement.

By defining how you will use the coach you are almost defining the converter so at that point you get the systems that converter installs, and not one you think is the most reliable or logical or best engineered.

[Bryan]

The 2 10 Gal WH setup is not a bad one. We are talking lots of HW when you want it. When on electric is can cause issues even on a 50 amp circuit as the WH’s each draw around 15 amps. If you are running A/C units you can trip breakers if you are not careful. If you are on 30 amp service you must turn off one of the elec. elements as they will consume all the power.

The 2 elec. heater elements do allow for faster recovery but when one of mine started leaking I plumbed it out of the system and never noticed any difference with only 1 10 Gal. A few years later the 2nd tank started leaking and I replaced them both with 1 20 Gal. I now only have 1 15 amp circuit heating 20 Gal. but that has never created an issue and it’s working very well for us.

By the way, those tanks are hidden and mostly inaccessible so they were never flushed or drained (at least after I bought the coach) and they lasted about 20 years. When I had 2 working units I simply turned the breaker to the 2nd unit off anyway to avoid over power issues.

[Archived]

Has anyone considered or presently using the instant or point of use electric hot water heater options?

My brother installed one in his pull behind camper some time back and says it works great for him. It got me thinking, but I haven’t seen any posts here that discuss it as an option in our coaches.

His is a 110 model that is mounted beyond the hot water heater, he keeps his regular hot water heater off (Propane) and uses the instant hot which supplies endless hot water for them to do whatever…..

In my coach I only have a single 110 hot water heater which supplies me with 1 or 2 off and on showers before we have to wait a little while for more hot water and I would like to know whether this is a possible option to persue or why its not advised.

Thanks

Richard

[Archived]

It might be entirely possible that your circuit for the present HW heater (why would we heat hot water?) is sufficient for an on-demand water heater, in which case you could remove your HW tank and use the on-demand heater or supplement it, using the existing HW heater only when it is heated via the engine. This presumes the current heater warms the water via an electric element or engine coolant.

[Alvie]

There have been some on demand water heaters installed, however in the coach configuration then the amp draw is significant with all the other electrical loads on a coach. We have 3-4 air conditioners and then washer/dryers running etc….

[John]

Jeff is right, but it becomes an energy management problem that we all deal with.

If we need to load up our electical circuits with AC units, the grille or a microwave we shed loads we don’t need.

You can also plan your schedule, such as do laundry when you don’t need all the AC units. The good news about the conventional HW tank is we can leave it on at night when loads are low, and turn it off during the day when 20 gallons of HW is ample.

[Bryan]

Yes Richard, there are several buses being built by home builders using the on demand HW heaters. Like Jon says, it is a power management issue. I have been following several threads of home builders using on demand HW heaters on http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php. . You will have to register and join the forum but you can converse directly with the builders to see how they are doing. BTW, Jon is a member on that forum and has stated many times he does not stop cooperation between different forums since we all learn from each other.

Rob

91 XL 40 “Olga”

[Archived]

My opinion as to two hot water heaters is to help manage power as some have stated.

You can ballance your loads according to load as you need and still have hot water from either tank.

The Aqua Hot vs Webasto, I think a Webasto system is cheaper in original purchase or repair.

I think if you havve issues with the Aqua Hot tank or the Webasto burner in the system, it is a major exspence to replace it. I think I heard in Tampa that it is not component repairable.

You can fix some of the things in the burner but if the tank fails, it is not replaceable.

Check that out or maybe someone will respond.

[Archived]

A lot of what various converters have done is driven by a wide variety of factors. As a result nobody makes or owns the perfect coach. I am happy with my 20 gallon HW tank, and can appreciate how it may not work in other coaches because it takes up space. One thing none of us has is an abundance of wasted space that will allow us to change from what the converter did.

The bottom line is that as our coaches age and components wear out or fail, in a lot of instances we have no choice but to repair or replace the components with the same thing or a direct replacement.

The AquaHot sales and marketing manager at the Tampa rally made it very clear some AquaHot failures are not repairable and a new unit is required. If I had questions or issues with an Aquahot I would definitely call their techs on the hot line for the best advice. They also answer questions on Webasto so those with Webasto keep that in mind also.