General Boards > Technical Support
Hydro Hot Use
David Fischer:
I have a 1997 Beaver Marquis witha Aqua Hot and I was told by the Aqua Hot people many years ago, that below 40 degrees the electric will do a very minimal job and the diesel burner should be on. I have found that to be the case after 11 years using it. We are full timers an have property in Norther NM where we use the electric quite a lot during the winter. Even using the electric and the diesel add up to an unexpected figure. We have found it cheaper to go to the NM State Parks and use their electric.
Merry Christmas to all
David and Sharon
Ken Sair:
We have a 2007 Contessa with the Hydro Hot. Have been recently in northern CA where temps were in the low 40's and high 30's overnight. HH on electric was iffy at best. In the evening it would run on electric but the furnace would cycle off and then back on when the water temp recovered. Seemed like a waste of time to me and not very effective. Just my thoughts.
Bruce Benson:
Can't speak for all models, but the way mine works is this. There are two temprature sensors on the Aqua Hot boiler body. One controls the electric and one controls the burner. The electric is obviously set at a higher temperature than the burner. If the use is low, the electric will maintain the temprature above the set point for the burner and the burner will not run. Thus, if I keep both on and do not use any furnace heat and don't run a lot of hot water at once, the electric can keep up and the burner never burns. On the other hand, if I do use a lot of hot water or more than a little furnace heat, the burner will kick in assuming the switch is on. At this point both sources are being used at the same time to provide the heat.
Again, I am just packing BTUs into the boiler, the source is not a factor. The rate that the electric is packing them in would not change with temperature, the rate the burner packs them in might vary slightly with temperature. The electric does have a lower output capacity though and will not keep up with the needs of the furnace by its self, thus the comment from Aqua Hot about the 40 degree threshold.
Now, if I am using much furnace heat with this set up, the electric is almost always being consumed. Who is paying for the electric should have a large bearing on whether to use electric or not. It would probably be wise to just turn the electric off and use the burner when I am paying for the electric. The real world is that I have always just left both on.
When I am not paying for electric and just using the hot water, I keep the burner switch off to avoid having it run should we use a lot of hot water at once. The exception to that is when we do not have any power or we have less than 50 amps, in which case the burner is on and the electric is off. We do often flip the electric on at night with 30 amp power assuming that the battery charger has reduced its consumption and we will not need cooling, Remembering to turn it off in the morning before hair drying and microwaving is sometimes a challenge.
It is also a good idea to turn the burner off (and electric if you are paying for it) just before or right after the morning shower on travel days. The engine heat will catch it back up once on the road. I often leave the engine preheat on when traveling to assist in keeping the Aqua Hot warm.
Bruce
Joel Ashley:
Forgive me if I'm mistaken Bruce, but I was led to believe the engine contributes to the hydronics automatically whenever it runs, and the Preheat switch is only to warm the engine prior to starting it. I think the Engine Preheat function is an essentially seperate system involving its own pump and/or valve(s). Leaving the Preheat switch on when traveling is unnecessary.
Tom Rogers:
--- Quote from: Joel Ashley ---Forgive me if I'm mistaken Bruce, but I was led to believe the engine contributes to the hydronics automatically whenever it runs, and the Preheat switch is only to warm the engine prior to starting it. I think the Engine Preheat function is an essentially seperate system involving its own pump and/or valve(s). Leaving the Preheat switch on when traveling is unnecessary.
--- End quote ---
That's my understanding also. We use the engine/water to heat the coach when on the road. Switches off. Stat on.
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