Recent Posts

1

Technical Support / Re: Hurricane heater main fuse blowing

« Last post by Steve Huber Co-Admin on February 27, 2021, 04:26:45 PM »

Adding components sounds like a lot of work for something that will probably be used very little.
Steve

2

Technical Support / Re: Hurricane heater main fuse blowing

« Last post by Thayden Waltonen on February 27, 2021, 12:39:53 PM »

Thayden,
Check the version # of the Hurricane PC board,. If it is a version 12 it is not set up to support the engine pre-heat function. If so. let me know and I'll tell you what wiring changes have to be made to re-enable the pre-heat function.
Steve

i'll check tomorrow on the version#. If it is set up to heat the engine I assume I would find wires out to a second pump on the hurricane board somewhere. Others have suggested that coachs of this age (1998 patriot) might not have this option. If I wanted to add, would be great to have the wiring plan and the preferred location to add a circulator. Can't really tell if the hoses from engine tee off the run to the defroster, i.e. parallel configuration, or the heat exchanger is in series with the defroster. Just thinking about priorities and whether if I added a pump in the heater compartment to the engine coolant circuit whether that would add head/restriction when not running against the normal operation of the defroster and the heat exhanger to cabin heat. If I was a glutton for punishment I could probably valve it so its out of the loop under normal operation. Just seems like a great option but might be more complication than its worth to completely retrofit vs. a more standard block heater if i really go in for cold weather cruising.Thanks

3

Technical Support / Re: Hurricane heater main fuse blowing

« Last post by Thayden Waltonen on February 27, 2021, 12:26:35 PM »

   Thayden, Comfort Hot was an add on system that International Thermal Research (ITR) 800-993-4402 sold to Beavers as a supplemental 120 volt electric heat with 2 heating elements. I am not sure if it is activated by the existing room thermostat or not. I don't know what kind or year your coach is. Hope this helps, Fred

Got it.

The only thing besides the Hurricane in the loop is an electric DHW heater with a heat exchanger so that it can run on its internal electric elements or with the hurricane. The hurricane runs through it all the time. If you were plugged in, I assume the heat exchanger would work in the opposite direction so this should supply some cabin heat if the hurricane were down but you turned on the engine heat switch which runs the circulator pushing system fluid through the hurricane and DHW to the fan coil heaters.

I'm not sure if this is the comfort hot or aqua hot or neither if those are additional electric heat backups but not the DHW.

I imagine that both the set temp and theoretical BTUs of the DHW are not as high as the hurricane so you wouldn't get as much heat but maybe better than none.

Sorry this is 1998 Patriot. I put that coach info in when I signed up, but maybe it doesn't automatically show up in my public profile.

thanks

4

Technical Support / Re: Hurricane heater main fuse blowing

« Last post by Steve Huber Co-Admin on February 26, 2021, 01:58:05 AM »

Thayden,
Check the version # of the Hurricane PC board,. If it is a version 12 it is not set up to support the engine pre-heat function. If so. let me know and I'll tell you what wiring changes have to be made to re-enable the pre-heat function.
Steve

5

Technical Support / Re: Hurricane heater main fuse blowing

« Last post by Jim Gillespie on February 25, 2021, 11:10:25 PM »

Hi Thayden,
       Re "Preheating Engine", I think I saw in a Patriot schematic a circulation pump located in the front area of the coach that, I presume, would be plumbed into the coolant hoses from the engine to the defroster/heater.  That's the only thing that would make sense to be able to preheat the engine.  I have a '98 Contessa & have not looked for that pump & am not at home to look. 
        It's neat how they designed the tank to heat the Hurricane coolant with hot engine coolant:  a pipe running through the middle of a bit larger tank that keeps each system independent.
        Is Rhode Island your state?  I hope I'm done with the plumbing, with the Sharkbite/Pex being a permanent fix?  As much as Sharkbite fittings cost, they should be permanent.

6

Technical Support / Re: Hurricane heater main fuse blowing

« Last post by Fred Brooks on February 25, 2021, 06:43:57 PM »

    Thayden, Reply #7 on page 1 of this original thread, Fred

7

Technical Support / Re: Hurricane heater main fuse blowing

« Last post by Eric Maclean on February 25, 2021, 05:20:07 PM »

Thayden
Maybe i can help explain the comfort hot
The coach uses a hurricane system which in essence is a diesel boiler which heats a tank of coolant to a temperature of approx 180 degrees from this tank the system uses circulation pumps to pump the hot coolant to heat exchangers in the coach where fans blow the heat into the coach to satisfy the heating demand.
As the hurricane has no means to heat the coolant other than the diesel burner or engine heat source the comfort hot was added on in line with the hurricane to heat the coolant electrically the comfort hot consists of a 5 gallon tank with two electric heating elements of approx 2000 watts each one on L 1 and the other on L2 of the 50 amp incoming power to heat the coolant it allows the choose of heating with electric power instead of diesel fuel and usually has two switches to allow the use of one element ( for on 30 amp shore power or two elements on 50 amp shore power)
It should be mentioned that not all the Beaver coaches had the comfort hot as some of the early Patriots had Hurricane heaters and not Comfort hot .
And like my coach has an Aquahot which has an electric element in it and hence was not built with the Comfort hot add on.
Hope this helps
Eric

8

Technical Support / Re: Hurricane heater main fuse blowing

« Last post by Eric Maclean on February 25, 2021, 04:38:24 PM »

Thayden
Many of the earlier coaches didn't have a circulation pump to pump heat back to the engine for engine heating .
They relied on the engine water pump to circulate hot water from the engine to heat the Aquahot or Hurricane to provide cabin heat while on the road.
Eric

9

Technical Support / Re: Hurricane heater main fuse blowing

« Last post by Thayden Waltonen on February 25, 2021, 04:16:14 PM »

    Thayden,
It is the carpeted panel that is parallel to the coach. The screws may be buried in the nap of the carpet but should be approx 1" off the corners. Tip: If you have a strong magnet move it around the corners and it will latch onto the screw heads.
   If you read my previous post in this topic, it explains a "comfort hot" . Hope this helps, Fred

are you sure it was this topic. i think i've search all your posts and i see mentions of comfort hot, but not with explanation of what it is. maybe i'm looking right at it and not seeing it.

and how does it relate to "Engine heat" which i'm assuming is the different option for which there is a switch on the kitchen cabinets which turns on the circulator pump alone and if the engine is running would take heat from the heat exchanger from the engine coolant circuit . . . which brings me back to the other question I had in my earlier novel about how to heat the engine with the hurricane as I don't find an electric pump in that circuit that can circulate the hurricane heat to the engine but rather strictly the mechanically operated water pump on the engine.

thanks

10

Technical Support / Re: Hurricane heater main fuse blowing

« Last post by Eric Maclean on February 25, 2021, 03:33:24 PM »

Thayden
I think the panel they are referring to is on the opposite side of the coach from the wet bay the rear most cargo bay on passenger side ahead of the rear axle.
That panel should have six philips head screws with trim rings holding it in place but once in there what you should find is the back end of the gray and black water tanks  a d on my coach the toilet drop is accessed from there as well as the black tank saniflush on my coach the actual bay heat unit and thermostat is located behind the wet bay plumbing wall which means removal of the wet wall ( with all the valves and e!ectrical hookup) to access it ( not a small job but doable.
the water pump and transfer relay are mounted on the forward facing wall in the cargo bay baked up to the wet bay .
Hope this helps
Eric