Author Topic: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis  (Read 6918 times)

Casey Humphries

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Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« on: February 09, 2021, 04:06:39 AM »
Good day Forum,

In inherited a 2001 Beaver Marquis from my father.  The Aqua Hot in the coach had been tampered with, neglected and never winterized, it’s a mess and was deemed dead years ago. 

I have contacted Aqua Hot and can send it back to be refurbished for around $8K USD or buy a new one at around $10.5K USD with a core credit at around $600 USD.  I’m in BC Canada so shipping would unlikely make sense to send back the old unit for a core credit.   I was going to opt for a new one.  Does anyone have experience replacing the original heater AHE-100-00S with a new 600D.   There are no Aqua Hot dealers/installers close to me here on Vancouver Island. 

While browsing the internet I came across a company called ITR (International Thermal Research) that makes an RV model called Oasis.  I have read about them and it sounds like a quality product.  It’s also around $8.5K Canadian dollars and sounds like it can be installed without much trouble.  They also have a company in my town that sells them and services them. Oasis NE-S is what I was looking at if it can fit or the Oasis NE  Any thoughts? 

Appreciate any comments. 

Casey

Keith Moffett

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2021, 11:57:41 AM »
Hi Casey
We dealt with ITR.  Their original was the Hurricane hydronic heat.  We took our Patriot in and they were able to find boards and parts and got it running.  Much of their staff has changed since and the company seemed to change some.  I cant say I know them well now and their Comfort Hot came later but has seemed to fall short against the Aqua Hot for operating cost and reliability.  Just my 2 cents.
A salvage yard might be your answer.  Perhaps they could pull one and send it to you.  Because of the wiring and thermostats it might be better to stay close to the same model as yours.
Are you sure yours is beyond repair?  Youtube had some good videos on this .  I have even seen one on how to replace the inner coils after freezing.
Best of luck
2007 Patriot Thunder
45' C-13
2006 Explorer Ltd.
DW is Carol
Safe travels and
May God bless!

Fred Brooks

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2021, 01:01:10 PM »
  Casey,
All the engineering was configured around the Aqua-Hot. Your Marquis has 4 heating zones and continuous hot water. It would be far easier for all involved to upgrade to a newer Aqua-Hot. The plumbing and hot water and all the wiring will stay the same. Sorry about the cost and welcome to the adventure. Your Marquis is a great coach! Fred
Fred & Cindy Brooks
2000 Marquis, Jasper
C-12 Wild Cat (U of A)
2014 Honda CRV
Proverbs 3: 5 & 6

Tim Westman

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2021, 02:00:29 PM »
Casey,

While I can't speak to the difficulty of swapping out your Aqua Hot for an Oasis I can speak to the Oasis brand.  My experience with AH units in my first two Beavers was less than stellar in spite of regular annual maintenance. My current coach, a Newmar, came with the Oasis unit. I have had this coach for almost 8 years and have had little problem with the it with only minimal maintenance. So, if the conversion isn't too complicated, I would vote for the Oasis.  Good luck with your decision.

Tim

Eric Maclean

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2021, 03:03:23 PM »
Casey
Before you give up on your Aquahot I have a few questions
1) does the tank still hold antifreeze and have you pressure tester it for leaks
2) when you say it was frozen was it just the domestic hot water loop that was frozen or was the tank frozen ( is no antifreeze)

I rebuilt my own unit from the ground up and I can't believe you're could be any worse than mine was. I just couldn't justify the kind of money they wanted for a rebuilt tank and thought I could do a lot of welding for 8 or 9 grand.

My unit is a 411-12 which is almost the same configuration as yours
In my unit the bottom of the tank was rusted through (pin holes leaking antifreeze)
The combustion chamber was cracked leaking antifreeze into the chamber and burning it
And the domestic hot water loop had been frozen and destroyed
And if that wasn't enough the burner fuel pump was leaking and burner insert tube was warped.

In my case I removed the invite unit
Removed the cover
Took the burner out
Installed the refunded domestic water loop from the out side
Used a plasma cutter to cut the bottom out of the tank and cut the old combustion chamber out of the front plate.
I picked up a used wabasto DWB 2010 coolant heater and cut the outer cooling jacket of the combustion chamber.
Welded the new to me combustion chamber back into the end plate
And fabricated a new price of 14 ga steel to weld a new bottom into the tank
All welds where done with a mig welder and where water tight
For good measure I mixed up a quart of heavy epoxy paint and poured it into the tank to seal it from the inside to retire rust
The domestic hot water loop is just 160 feet of 1/2 OD collective wrapped around the outside of the tank and then imbedded in heat transfer cement made by centric they will even tell you how much they sold to Aquahot to do the job the first time.
In my cased seeing as I had to buy two one hundred foot rolls of copper I used as much as I could get in there and this improves the heat transfer ability of the unit

I'll say it's not an easy job but it's very straight forward and doable and I think all told it cost me in the neighborhood of $600 in parts.
Like you said the shipping makes the old unit not worth the core price so what do you have to loose.

Hope this helps
Eric
1997 Patriot Yorktown
3126-B
2009 Chevy HHR
Roadmaster falcon tow bar
Demco Air Force one tow brake.

Casey Humphries

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2021, 06:19:08 PM »
Thanks for the feedback. :)  I'll post a few pictures to show how bad it looks.   I have no idea what happened inside and it looks like the fluid was left to drain inside and on top of the unit. 
I have zero welding experience, I have asked locally if there is someone in the area that can look at it. 

From what I have been told an Oasis is compatible with the thermostats, plumbing and multiple zones.  The exhaust location may need to be adjusted. 
Cheers

Keith Moffett

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2021, 06:29:26 AM »
Casey
I sent you an email on this subject but it was returned to me.  I used the email in your directory listing.  Is there a better one?
2007 Patriot Thunder
45' C-13
2006 Explorer Ltd.
DW is Carol
Safe travels and
May God bless!

Ed Beckett

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2021, 09:54:38 PM »
I want Eric around when I have any problems...

Casey Humphries

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2021, 08:56:30 PM »
Good day  :)
Just wanted to give the forum an update.  I didn't post pictures of the old Aquahot as it was such a mess.   I did however remove it from the coach and purchase an Oasis NE from ITR for under $10K Canadian. (not installed)

Right now I'm figuring out all the wiring and tiding up the old pex pipe and since it's too rigid to bend I'm going to connect flexible hoses and shut off valves so it's all tidy.  At this point I've done this all alone. 

So far, this unit requires one additional connection to the batteries and one additional (optional) 110V power connected as it has dual electric heaters, just like a newer Aquahot.

If anyone is interested in this process I'm happy to share everything that I encounter and how it performs after. 
Cheers

Casey

Eric Maclean

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2021, 10:20:09 PM »
Casey
That's good news glad your getting a handle on the install .
Up dates would be great thanks Eric
1997 Patriot Yorktown
3126-B
2009 Chevy HHR
Roadmaster falcon tow bar
Demco Air Force one tow brake.

Casey Humphries

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2021, 10:21:51 PM »
Good day BAC,

I have successfully completed installing a new Oasis Hydronic heater in my 2001 Beaver Marquis.  Just curious if it would be of interest to anyone if I posted what I did.  I did the installation with very little assistance and the new system works great.  I do not remember how the old Aquahot sounded and how well it worked so I can’t do a running comparison.  Maybe at an BAC event we could see.


Cheers.  Casey

Eric Maclean

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2021, 11:07:49 PM »
Casey
I'm sure there are many people here that would be love to see your installation .
By posting it here on the forum it will be kept for future searches and may help even more people as our older Aquahot units time out.

Eric
1997 Patriot Yorktown
3126-B
2009 Chevy HHR
Roadmaster falcon tow bar
Demco Air Force one tow brake.

Carl Boger

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Re: Hydronic Heating Replacement Aquahot / Oasis
« Reply #12 on: June 29, 2021, 11:08:49 PM »
Casey,

I would love to see how you updated and switched out the system. Knock on wood mine is still working, but seeing how others trouble shot the process helps me when problem do arise.
Carl

98 Beaver Patriot Savannah
330 hp Cat 3126