Below freezing Aquahot operation

[Viper04]

I have a 2000 Dynasty Ralph Lauren Edition. Currently for the past 3 days temps in west Tennessee have been from 15 degrees F To last nights low of 0 zero F and wind chill of 15 below F.  I am duck hunting and so far my coach has maintained 77 to 78 interior temps. The OEM 2000 year model Aquahot has preformed outstanding!  I have 1 portable 

2000 watt electric heater in the bay next to the Aquahot. It is plugged into a power source outlet in the bay of the coach. 
 

Fuel burn is not much more than the normal temperatures when I use the Aquahot. 

I keep the Aqua hot in tip top shape and just replaced the burner assy and board last year, about 3GS. Has anyone else had severe cold weather Aquahot experiences. I also use 2 quarts of HOWES diesel antigel fluid. In Tennessee it is difficult to find number 1 diesel so we must treat all diesel for these severe cold weather operations. Does my coach just have more insulation than newer coaches or maybe I've just got a Coach built on a Wed

lol. All comments welcomed 

 

VIPER04 

TIM VICKERS 

DUCK HUNTING IN

CAMDEN TN

[jacwjames]

Braver then me, but I don't have an Aquahot, wish I did.  I have a propane furnace but IMHO it's only good for taking the chill off and is a propane hog.  In moderately cold temps I'd rather leave it off and put on extra cloths/blankets.  In cold weather it cycles often and the noise is not pleasant.

My coach is parked in my garage and I finally decided to winterize it Sunday, outside temps here this AM were below 0, temps in the garage are below freezing.  We received ~8" of snow on Monday.  Only the main roads were plowed yesterday, secondary roads are treacherous.  

Good luck hunting

 

 

[WayneC]

I have stayed in my coach at -10 for with no issues,tile floor heat on as well,shore power and or generator running,heat turned on high in the basement,aqua hot circulating to the big motor ,nice and warm,if I am traveling the next morning I alway leave the front curtain open so the windshield is not all iced up.

Wayne

1999 Signature ceaser 

[cbr046]

1 hour ago, jacwjames said:

propane furnace  . . . . propane hog.  In cold weather it cycles often and the noise is not pleasant.

Yah, a definite propane hog! 

I built a simple baffle under my fridge, just channeling the air back & forth with some scrap rubber backed carpeting (I'm sure there are better sound dampening materials, but this was free).  Not much room to for a big enough return air channel, but it knocks the edge off the noise. 

Then all the hot air goes to the ceiling, ugh.  I get cold by the window, and I DO like my windows!

- bob

[zmotorsports]

I'll add to the comments about LP furnaces being a "propane hog".  During our first 20+ years of marriage we used our motorhomes for snowmobiling in the winter.  Our first two coaches had LP furnaces and they would go through the propane, but they did a relatively good job of keeping us warm.

Our first coach was a 30' Travelcraft gasser and we didn't use the water in the coach for the first couple months of each snowmobiling season.  Although it was a fairly well-built coach, we didn't trust using the domestic water system fully until around March~ish when daytime temps were in the mid to upper 30's and overnight temps only dipped into the mid-20's, that's when we started filling with water and using the coach normally.  That routine continued for the 6-years we owned that coach.  Our second coach was a 38' Beaver Contessa and a much higher quality coach, so we utilized the full domestic water system the entire season.  In the 7-years we had that coach we only froze up one time when the temps got into the single digits.  The line running along the outer wall froze up and I was able to thaw it with a hair dryer the next morning and continue on with our trip.

When we bought our 2003 Monaco Dynasty in February 2007 we started immediately using it that season and couldn't believe the difference the Aqua-Hot made.  Aqua-Hot was on our "must-have" list for the coach when we were looking and I was immediately impressed.  Although I had a good feel for it because my aunt & uncle had Aqua-Hot in their 1996 Beaver Marquis that we would sled with so we were familiar with the pros and why it was on our "must-have" list when looking at coaches.

We used our Dynasty for nearly 5 years before selling our sleds and getting out of snowmobiling.  In those 5 years we never did freeze up or have any issues with winter use.  We generally did not deploy the slides when winter RV'ing though and I feel that reduced area also helped.  We would power our enclosed trailer via the Onan 10kw generator on the coach and that sure spoiled us on the mountain.  I also was very impressed with the dual pane windows for winter use as we didn't have any of the issues we had with our first two coaches.

 

  

[WayneC]

2 hours ago, zmotorsports said:

I'll add to the comments about LP furnaces being a "propane hog".  During our first 20+ years of marriage we used our motorhomes for snowmobiling in the winter.  Our first two coaches had LP furnaces and they would go through the propane, but they did a relatively good job of keeping us warm.

Our first coach was a 30' Travelcraft gasser and we didn't use the water in the coach for the first couple months of each snowmobiling season.  Although it was a fairly well-built coach, we didn't trust using the domestic water system fully until around March~ish when daytime temps were in the mid to upper 30's and overnight temps only dipped into the mid-20's, that's when we started filling with water and using the coach normally.  That routine continued for the 6-years we owned that coach.  Our second coach was a 38' Beaver Contessa and a much higher quality coach, so we utilized the full domestic water system the entire season.  In the 7-years we had that coach we only froze up one time when the temps got into the single digits.  The line running along the outer wall froze up and I was able to thaw it with a hair dryer the next morning and continue on with our trip.

When we bought our 2003 Monaco Dynasty in February 2007 we started immediately using it that season and couldn't believe the difference the Aqua-Hot made.  Aqua-Hot was on our "must-have" list for the coach when we were looking and I was immediately impressed.  Although I had a good feel for it because my aunt & uncle had Aqua-Hot in their 1996 Beaver Marquis that we would sled with so we were familiar with the pros and why it was on our "must-have" list when looking at coaches.

We used our Dynasty for nearly 5 years before selling our sleds and getting out of snowmobiling.  In those 5 years we never did freeze up or have any issues with winter use.  We generally did not deploy the slides when winter RV'ing though and I feel that reduced area also helped.  We would power our enclosed trailer via the Onan 10kw generator on the coach and that sure spoiled us on the mountain.  I also was very impressed with the dual pane windows for winter use as we didn't have any of the issues we had with our first two coaches.

 

  

That's what I forgot to mention, I always kept the bedroom and galley slides in. Great point 

Wayne

1999 Signature ceaser 

[DBRV.0]

On 1/17/2024 at 6:50 AM, Viper04 said:

it is difficult to find number 1 diesel

If you look it up, you will find that #1 diesel is often exchanged with kerosene.  There is a technical difference, but they are normally interchangeable, so whatever you can find can be used.

As far as severe cold, we discovered a couple of weeks ago with strong northern winds and temp in the teens, that we encountered frozen water lines.  Windshield was facing the wind, thus Aqua Hot was at the other end in my Monaco.  For me, the bay adjacent (next to) the AH was empty.  My infrared thermometer told me that some pex lines were 29 degrees as well as the fresh water tank was 29 degrees.  That tank sits on the floor, and the floor was exposed to the wind.

I don't know if it was a standard configuration since the P.Owner said the AH was replaced a couple of years ago, but we have an auxiliary AH-supplied heat exchanger in the water bay.  However the exchanger is not central in the bay - it sits next to a bay door on one end.  What I did to defrost everything was I placed and plugged in an AC window fan in the empty bay.  The bay divider was open between the empty and the water bay, and the fan circulated air.  I added a hand-held heat gun to provide extra heat into the air and everything was operational in half an hour.