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Newell Gurus
Aqua - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Aqua (/showthread.php?tid=3131)

Pages: 1 2

Aqua - mnhoff - 10-09-2016

Hey guys. I am some what in trouble. This morning I had my electric side of the aqua on as my generator was running anyways. When I turned off the electric the light stayed on above electric switch. Checked my amps and it shows 10amps as if the electric is not disengaging? any thoughts?  I then turned breaker off for the day and turned diesel side on for the day as I was leaving. Got home tonight and diesel blower motor packed it in. Temps in Canada now are in the 25 to 27 degrees overnight. Going to be a cool long evening. Going to have to cuddle tonight Idea

RE: Aqua - bikestuff - 10-09-2016

Can you clarify? What switches do you have? In my coach, I have a switch that controls the diesel side (not the electric) and another that says Heat / AC. More than one of us has thought that our AH was not working because that switch was in the AC position. (The AH will not heat using the electric elements with that switch in the AC position).

On my coach, I get a light when the Diesel switch is active.

Also, In my coach, I have a breaker in the breaker panel that controls the AH. If I turn that breaker off, I suspect that there will not be voltage to the diesel control unit....thus it will probably not work.

If you turn your breaker ON, can you tell us what you are seeing?

RE: Aqua - Richard - 10-10-2016

Assuming you have the switch the controls whether you can run either AC or 220V Aquahot, I would suspect the relay that the switch operates as a possible failure point.

RE: Aqua - mnhoff - 10-10-2016

I will try to simplify as best as possible. I have two switchs above microwave in the galley area. When working properly when I turn on the electric side the red light turns on when it is calling for heat and red light will go out when water temp reachs its high limit. It is controlled by a double breaker in the electrical control panel in the rear of the coach. I am assuming it has one std element and one added on 4800watt element as again when working properly it runs at about 40 amps combined on L-1 And L-2. At this point it seems to be heating properly when switch is turned on but when I turn switch off the red light continues to appear and still draws about 10 amps? Something is not disconnecting. As far as the diesel side when turned on there is a extreme noise coming from the blower motor that continues as long as the switch stays on. not sure why fuses aren't blowing. When switch is turned off the noise continues for about 45 seconds or the end of its cycle the shuts down.

RE: Aqua - bikestuff - 10-10-2016

Our resident aquahot guru @"Trainer" (Rudy Leggett) may want to weigh in here, but it sounds like a thermostat / relay problem to me. You can contact Roger Berke at http://www.rvhydronicheaterrepair.com . He can rebuilt the burner.

RE: Aqua - Richard - 10-10-2016

Mike,

Great clarification. Check the relay mentioned. Is it still getting power to trigger the relay? Is the relay still sending power to the AH? If it is not getting power to trigger and it is still allowing power to pass I would look for welded contacts in the relay.

On the blower noise, is this a new noise or the first time you have used the AH on diesel? They all scream pretty loud. The bearings are not hard to replace if needed. Will it fire on diesel? Cause even 220 electric will not heat my coach in below freezing conditions, it takes the diesel to do that.

RE: Aqua - mnhoff - 10-10-2016

Richard I am totally not familiar with a relay and makes them tick. I can still get AH to heat by turning breaker on at rear of coach. Reason I am in a area where I don't have 50 amp service, so my diesel AH was the only thing keeping me going as now I need run generator to run 240 volt for electrical AH. Posting a pic. Both contacts are open and will not close?????  As for the Diesel AH it will come on and fire but seriously it is so loud you cant here the radio playing and viabrates bad.

RE: Aqua - Richard - 10-10-2016

Get thee some bearings on order with Roger Berke or Rudy.

Ok, so let me state what I think you are saying about the electrical situation. You are plugged into 30 amp. You have the switch in the panel above the microwave turned to electric for the AH. The light does not go out, and the AH circuit is pulling about 10 amps.

First, with only 30 amp service, you will not get the 220 to the heater as you have already stated.
Second, my red light does not go out when the AH reaches temperature. Yours is apparently wired differently.
Third, if the relay contacts are visibly not making contact, then the relay is not the reason the AH is still pulling amps.
Fourth, it appears the AH is pulling power to use the 110 V element. Is that true? Or was this just happening while you were running the gennie and had 220?

I am at a loss because this is different electrical behavior than I have experienced. Newell could have wired it differently, previous owners could have wired it differently.

In the simplest of terms a relay uses one electrical circuit to power a magnet which in turn closes a set of contacts to complete a second circuit. The advantage being the first circuit or the trigger circuit consumes very little current, can utilize very small wiring and switches, and the switch can be very far away from the piece of equipment. The contacts in the second circuit can be very robust and the wiring to those contacts very robust so that the second circuit can handle a great deal of current.

As a Newell owner, you might want to do some internet research on contacts and how they work. Newell uses a bunch of them.

RE: Aqua - folivier - 10-10-2016

Rudy told me that there is a way to wire the aqua hot to use only the 110v element with a switch so you can have either both 220/110 or just 110v element. Perhaps this is what the previous owner did?
Where y'at Rudy?

RE: Aqua - Trainer - 10-10-2016

On the A/C electric side of the heater, the inside switch sends a signal to the control thermostat for the burner. If control thermostat is closed, that signal goes on to the relay in the above pic. The relay closes sending A/C power to the two electric elements. If 240 vac is available, both elements heat the coolant. If only 120 vac available, only the 120 vac element heats the coolant.

If relay is OPEN, no electric heat available. So the comment the relay will not close but having electric heating is a real puzzle to me. If I could use my VOM meter, I could diagnose this in a handful of minutes and determine if there is a heater issue or a switch panel issue. If you have a volt meter and can use it, call me and we can diagnose quickly on the phone. 7 one 3 8 one 8 3234

Most burner noise is caused by the plastic clutches. Screaming bearings is certainly possible. One needs to know the normal sound to judge the source of the noise, But most failing bearing slow the rpm down producing poor combustion due to lack of combustion air. The usual result of more fuel than combustion air is black smoke in a diesel burner or engine.

Simple burner service fixes a multitude of burner issues, but not vibrations. So, perhaps the bearings are in need of replacement. It takes about 2 hours to replace the bearings. Snap ring pliers, metric socket head wrenches and high temp grease are needed for bearing replacement.