ITR Hurricane Furnace

[Jeremy Parrett]

My Hurricane Furnace runs fine when activated by the wall thermostat.   It will not run when asked by the remote switch just for hot water..   However when the wall  thermostat controls the furnace it can be switched off by the remote switch.  The green light on the remote switch is lit when the furnace is controlled by the wall thermostat !!   Help please !!!
   

[Keith Moffett]

A Hurricane in a Marquis? Not an Aquahot?
Sometimes the folks refer to both the same.
On a Hurricane the circut boards are touchy.  They replaced our lower board in the '98.

[Fred Brooks]

          Hi Keith,

   My 2000 Marquis built in May of 2000 has a Hurricane system.  Jeremy, when you just turn on the Hurricane does the indicator light come on and do you have the electric turned on for the water heater? Fred

[Joel Weiss]

My guess is that the water temperature Aquastat isn't functioning.  Do you actually "know" that the Hurricane is being told to operate to make hot water?  Check to make sure that both wires are connected to the stat which is usually mounted on the outlet side of the hot water tank.  You can check the functioning of the stat by touching the two wires together to see if that turns on the furnace.  ITR has replacement Aquastats.

[Jeremy Parrett]

Just switching the Hurricane on by remote does nothing.  No green or red lights on the switch come on,  yet when the thermostat is switched to gas heat it activates the Hurricane and also lights the green light on the remote switch.  If  the electric hot water tank heater is switched on when you ask the Hurricane for hot water by remote switch  will this mean the water is hot enough that the Aquastat will not energise the remote circuit ??
  If so this means there are  no issues with the system.  We are boondocking next week while the generator is R&R'd and I will be able to check the system.
  Thanks for all the replies. 

[Joel Weiss]

Switching on the Hurricane remote switch IS NOT SUPPOSED TO DO ANYTHING unless one of the thermostats or the water heater Aquastat calls for it to turn on.  The green light doesn't come on until the burner turns on and that won't happen until either of these events occurs (thermostat or Aquastat).  If the hot water tank is on electric then it's very possible that the water is hot enough and there is no need for the Hurricane to fire up.

The easiest way to figure this out is to turn off the water heater breaker and then start running hot water out of the kitchen faucet.  Make sure that the Hurricane remote switch is ON.  After a couple of minutes the water temperature Aquastat should make the Hurricane start.  I can tell you from experience that the Hurricane is capable of producing reasonably hot water by itself if you continue to run the water down the drain with the water heater off.

[Jeremy Parrett]

Joel,
  You were absolutely correct.   Today we ran up to  Indian River RV  Sebastian FL to R&R the 10KW generator.  When we got home we turned on the Hurricane to see if it would heat the water and it worked fine !!   Brilliant.   Thanks,

[Mike Groves]

Now that we have a collection of Beaver owners who have the Hurricane system, I have a question about the operation.  As I've said before I opted to go with a total replacement by having ITR install the Oasis Combi (their smaller unit).

When the Oasis was installed I worked with ITR to enable the ENGINE PREHEAT switch which wound up being a switch to ground so that power for a pump was in the cabinet and pressing this switch simply provided the circuit to ground and turned on that pump in the bay where the original Hurricane was.  That pump is pumping the anti-freeze from the engine through a heat exchanger that is heated by the Oasis (and originally the Hurricane).  In order to preheat you must turn on the Hurricane (via diesel or electric) and as it heats up the heat exchanger warms the anti-freeze for the Cat engine.  As far as I know the original Hurricane wasn't turned on by this pre-heat switch and it only actuates the pump.  And this pump will run regardless of whether the Hurricane is on or not.

Now for the question - there is another switch on the driver left hand panel (next to the pre-heat switch) labeled "Coach Heat".  ITR left that one undone (couldn't figure out how to patch it into the oasis system).  On your Hurricane system how do you operate the "coach heat".  What is the affect related to the Hurricane when you turn on this switch?

I know this question is specifically for Hurricane owners which would be owners of the 1999-2000 Marquis.  I thought maybe Fred Brooks might be able to describe what should happen when that switch is pressed. 

Mike

[Joel Weiss]

I'm pretty sure the Coach Heat switch makes it possible to use engine heat to keep the coach warm while traveling.  On my PT it simply turned the pump on/off which circulated the Hurricane liquid while the thermostats turned the fans on and off.  This was the only way to get the liquid to circulate with the Hurricane Remote switch set in the OFF position.

After Jim Rixen installed a Comfort Hot on my Hurricane this switch was unneeded since with the Comfort Hot the pump is controlled by the thermostats regardless of whether the Hurricane is on or off.

[Mike Groves]

Interesting.  I think what you're saying is that this switch turned on the pump that is internal to my Oasis now.  In the hurricane it started the pump which moved the hurricane liquid throughout the coach.   So, with the CAT engine on, the CAT antifreeze is circulating through the heat exchanger and warming up the Oasis, and since the thermostat is what controls my Oasis, then, yes, the COACH HEAT is now unnecessary.  Sounds like question resolved.  So the only thing I need to do is turn on the thermostat which then starts the pump.  I don't need to actually turn on either the diesel or the electric if I am willing to wait for the CAT engine to warm up the Oasis.  I do, however, need to turn on the Oasis unit at the unit itself as otherwise its not powered up to allow the thermostat to start the pump.

Mike

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Mike,
Joel's correct. The Coach Heat switch turns on a pump in the Hurricane that pumps engine antifreeze through the heat exchanger and provides hot water etc. while driving. However, if the Hurricane circuit board has been upgraded from a V11 to a V12 you have a problem. For some reason the V12 board doesn't support these functions. The mods to get them working are relatively simple. Wiring from the Pre Heat and Coach Heat switches are in the Hurricane box. If I remember correctly the Preheat switch wire needs to pick up 12V and the Coach Heat needed to be wired to an existing PC terminal. You also had to remove the bulb in the Coach Heat switch or the path to gnd would blow the circuit. Call Rixen's, they assisted me in these mods on my Marquis. Unfortunately the documentation was in the Hurricane manual that went when I sold the Marquis.
Steve

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Mike,
Also, make sure the heat exchanger is hooked up or the Coach Heat won't work. Mine was disconnected when I got the coach, presumably due to freeze damage. It was the large Cu unit. I replaced it with the newer "block" design, which worked very well.
Steve

[Mike Groves]

Steve,

I hope that helps someone else.  I had the Oasis Combi put in, and everything is hooked up except the "Coach Heat" so that was the genesis of my question.  Bottom line its not doing anything right now, and that's ok, since all I have to do is make sure the Combi is powered up and the thermostat is on.  Once the CAT heats up then that heat will be transferred into the Combi circuit.

Mike