Aqua hot question

[William Harrison]

 Can the circulation pump motors be rebuilt?

Chuck Harrison
Akron, Ohio
03 Marquis.

[Dennis Crawford]

Chuck,

They probably can, but I bet it would be just as cheap to buy a new one from a company. That just sells motors.  There was such a place in Beltsville, MD.

Dennis

[Dick Simonis]

Probably a bit cheaper than new.  I replaced the recirc pump in my hurricane and will be rebuilding it myself since the most common problem is just brushes.

Nothing magic about motors.  Windings might be bad but that is the least common failure.

[Orman Claxton]

Are you sure the pump is bad?
Call me

[Keith Moffett]

Hey Orman, while youre on the Aqua Hot subject here's a question for ya.
Since we have mild winters with short periods below freezing, we have drained the plumbing in the coach [Not the Aqua Hot coils).  We are plugged into 50 amps and are letting the Aqua Hot run on electric just to keep temps in basement and coach above 40 deg. or so.
I just looked at the electric bill for the first month and we doubled our consumption over the same time last year.  The Patriot with Hurricane was plugged in the same way last year so this years total is above that.

Do you see any reason the Aqua Hot could account for this?

Thanks
Keith

[Orman Claxton]

Hi Keith
Not sure, there are several reasons, What are thermostat settings for basement, outdoor temps, Electric  price increase, Patriot has better insulation in basement.

[Edward Buker]

The Agua Hot is in a non insulated compartment that is vented and the unit itself has just a thin layer of insulation within it. There is a lot of heat loss taking place while the unit just sits there. If the motorhome is close by you will save most of that money by just turning the breaker in the coaches AC panel to off when you do not need the heat source on warmer days and nights.

Later Ed

[Keith Moffett]

OK and thanks for the input Ed too.
What would the basement thermostat look like and where would it be?

[Edward Buker]

It uses what is known as a button thermostat and if I remember it right, it is clamped to a pipe near the water tank with two wires going to the thermostat. It looks a lot like a power transistor from an older audio amp from the 70s or so if that helps.

Keith if you are comfortable with wiring you could add a line voltage thermostat in series with the control button thermostat that runs the electric element in the aqua hot. You would want to mount it in an unheated area like the electrical bay with a bypass switch. Basically you would set this on 40- 50 degrees or so and when it gets that cold it would allow the 120V to turn on the electric element.

Basically this would be a switch in series with the electric element. You could also possibly do this in the bedroom closet in series with the breaker for the electric element for the Aqua Hot. I would add a switch in parallel that would allow you to bypass the thermostat when it was not needed. The idea is to automate by temperature when the electric element would see power as it gets colder. When you are on the road or living in the coach you would just leave this thermostat option bypassed with a switch.

http://www.pexsupply.com/Honeywell-T498B1553-Brush-Gold-Electric-Heat-Thermostat-for-Electric-Baseboard-Heat-10495000-p

This would be an inexpensive method to lower your electricity cost.

Later Ed

[Gerald Farris]

Keith,
I think that your basement thermostat is a nonadjustable button type thermostat that is preset to 40 degrees.

Gerald

[Orman Claxton]

Think you are right Gerald, mine is.

[Keith Moffett]

39 deg outside so why is the basement temp showing 59 on the CMP?  Does this button thermotat need periodic replacement?

Thanks Ed for the advice.  Perhaps a project for next season.

Keith

[Edward Buker]

The button thermostat is part of the heating control system and is independent of the CMP. They are quite reliable and I would not expect a problem with the button thermostat.

The CMP has its own sensor, but I am not sure of its exact location, but it is probably within one of the metal interface boxes on the wall of the bay. The basement gets some heat from the "upstairs" if that is being heated. The largest heating source in the basement (beyond the Aqua Hot zone which would be off at 59 degrees) is the charger/inverter. You can put a conventional thermometer inside the storage bay to confirm what the temp really is when you first open the bay doors. It is likely that the bay probably is 59 degrees when it is 39 degrees outside.

Later Ed