After a month of sitting, I fired up the HydroHot. It ran, made hot water and heat. But, it sort of burped or coughed about once a minute with a puff of white smoke. It has been about 12 months since the last service that was done by John Carrillo.
If John were not a thousand miles away, I would have asked him to fix it. He suggested I do a service routine. Since I buy HH parts from Roger Berke, I asked his advice on his forum and it was the same so I ordered the parts. The service kit includes a nozzle and fuel filter. Roger suggested I use the service manual for the HHE-500-09M as it was re-written, including color pictures. Mine is the -07M, but the book is not as good. (
http://aquahot.com/aquahot.com/media/media/library/HHE-200-09E_HHE-500-09M_Service_Manual.pdf )
Yesterday, Jerry Carr generously offered to supervise and promised to try to stop me from making mistakes.
We started by changing the fuel filter. Even if you clamp both hoses, it is likely that you will spill about a quarter cup of fuel into places where you can't sop it up. The "trick" is to pull a gallon sized zip lock bag up, under and around it before you unscrew the filter. It also helps to have a few rags under it. (Search Amazon for "hose pinch pliers" if you don't have a way to pinch the fuel hoses off.)
While I was working at getting my full sized body close enough to reach the HH fuel filter, Jerry offered to drain the oil in the overdue for service Onan!
The HH fuel filter can be pre-filled or the HH fuel pump can fill it. To make sure that worked, Jerry flipped the diesel switch on for a couple seconds while I watched. It worked. Still inn his supervisory role, Jerry suggested we try to actually run it with the idea of seeing what effect, if any, a new fuel filter would have. It ran perfectly with with no burping, coughing or puffing! I agreed with the supervisor's next suggestion which was to quit while we were ahead.
Having started on the Onan, we finished with new oil, oil filter, fuel filter and air filter. (The easy place to find the parts is Amazon.) The fuel filter is a PITA. One hose can be pinched. Wrapping rags around your wrists and securing them with rubber bands, keeps most of the fuel from running down your arms into your shirt. The fuel filter is unlike any other in that it connects into the system with brass fittings. Brass is soft and you can screw up the threads. The easy way to install the new one is to thumb tighten the bigger fitting to the steel line, then the smaller one from the rubber hose and the mounting screw last.
With good supervision, we had the HydroHot and Onan finished before lunch! I had been planning that it would take until closer to dinner. With time on our hands, I asked Jerry to supervise putting new belts on the Cummins since they've been there for a decade. The only required tool is a 1/2 inch drive wrench to fit the tensioner. Having two sets of hands helped too.
I wanted to make sure Jerry didn't go home hungry. I offered a Sushi lunch, but he had stuff to do. We finished a little too early for a decent shot of Booker's. So, the best I can do is say "Thank you Jerry!". I can't believe we got so much done so quickly. Without a supervisor, I'd still be at it.
