Motoraid Coach Heat

rigrunner · 03-22-2006, 02:19 PM

After I de-winterized my 35U, I do not get any heat out of the floor vents when I throw the dash switch. Just cold air. Could I have it by- passed somewhere when I turned the drain switches. The motoraid heats the water ok. Any thoughts as to what ia wrong. It worked ok last year before I winterized. Puzzled.

rigrunner · 03-22-2006, 02:19 PM

After I de-winterized my 35U, I do not get any heat out of the floor vents when I throw the dash switch. Just cold air. Could I have it by- passed somewhere when I turned the drain switches. The motoraid heats the water ok. Any thoughts as to what ia wrong. It worked ok last year before I winterized. Puzzled.

smlranger · 03-22-2006, 02:37 PM

Heat from your floor vents would come from your gas furnace. Heat from your dash vents comes from the heater core so would be hot only after you run your engine and get it up to operating temp. The motoraid is a heat exchanger that uses engine coolant to heat the water in your water heater while you drive down the road.

If you have an auxiliary heater in the rear of the coach (we had one under the bed in our Adventurer) that also gets its heat from engine coolant.

Winterizing your water system should have no effect on your ability to heat your rig, either with the heat from the engine (including your auxiliary heater if you have one), or by turning on your gas furnace.

Edit...I re-read your post. If there are valves that would bypass the auxiliary heater and you closed them, it would prevent hot engine coolant from circulating through the core of the auxiliary heater. I am sure you will get responses from others with a rig similar to yours.

Petro · 03-22-2006, 02:45 PM

rigrunner;
My motoraid heats the water and sends hot coolant to the auxillary heater through the same line. If your engine is making hot water I would assume hot coolant is also running through the heater core as well unless the core was bypassed somehow.

Don

Cruzer · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

On my rig the aux coach heat switch only controls the fan speed. The heater coil is "hot" whenever the engine is. When you adjust the dash heat setting you are controling the damper within the heater, not pinching off the water flow. That's why you can run the dash AC and coach heat at the same time. I found that out by accident.

BBBEEBOP · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

My experience in my 2002 35U is that the Motor Aid does a great job heating your coach water. I'm sure it would be enough to take a shower. The better half usually enjoys the instant hot water when we stop for the day. (Dishes you know LOL)

grundy7 · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

Vet Man,

The water gets hot! I use it to take refreshing showers on long runs when I get to feeling tired or just need to freshen up.... Sure is nice.

Vet Man · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

Thanks all for the help.I got it now. Now just one more follow up question. How hot does the water in the heater get with the Motor Aid heater? Can you shower? Could you run the engine to take a shower? Vet Man

troth · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

Vet man, your dashboard temp control knob will notalso control the motoraid floor heat.

On edit 3/23/06, the blue/red temp control knob on the dash will not affect the motoraid temp or the coach floor heat.

Beabop · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

No edit on this forum, the water in the water heater is heated by coils around the tank with coolent from your engine. Helps to keep your engine cool.

Horsepowerfan · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

Vet Man,
If you have an Adventurer like mine (for some reason I think you do) the Motoraid system simply circulates hot engine coolant to the hot water heater to "aid" in heating the water within the heater. There's no way to control the temp. If you're referring to the "Coach Heater" I'm not sure if the temp. can be controlled. My unit just has a high and low setting which forces heated air from the engine's heater core out the furnace floor registers. The dash system does utilize a temp. control system, but I don't know if this also regulates the Coach Heater air temp.

Hope this helps.

rigrunner · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Horsepowerfan:
OK, here we go...

"Motoraid" is the system that circulates hot engine coolant to the hot water heater to "aid" in heating the fresh water inside the hot water heater. So while you're driving, if you have your hot water heater turned off (both LP and electric) you'll still be heating the water inside it so when you get where you're going the water's already been heated by the engine's coolant. This is a passive system that is always functioning when the engine is running. You can't regulate it or turn it off.

The "Coach Heater" is controlled by the 3 position rocker switch on the dash. You have either OFF, HIGH, or LOW settings. It was my understanding that there is a separate blower fan (located near the hot water heater under the floor) that forces air past an engine coolant heat exchanger (heater core type unit) and into the floor ducts used by the furnace. This allows the heat generated by the engine's cooling system to be used as an auxiliary heater while you're driving to warm the entire coach. I don't think you can regulate the temperature, but I could be wrong.

Lastly, you have your automotive "Dash Heating and A/C" system. This allows operation of heating and cooling just like on a car or truck. There's a heater core, an A/C evaporator core, an A/C compressor on the engine and a network of ducts and damper doors within the dash. The temperature knob on the dash controls a door that allows air to flow through the automotive heater core OR the evaporator core OR through both if you you have the temp. knob somewhere in between full hot or full cold. The mode settings allow you to direct the airflow out the dash vents, the defroster vents or the vents in the dash near your feet.

So, 3 separate systems that all work together to heat and cool things and places in your coach.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Beabop · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

If you have been running the engine on the road, you will have hot water, very hot water. Yes you can shower with it but when that 10 gal is gone, you will either have to drive a while longer or turn the hot water heater on either gas or electric. Having water heated off the engine is very convenient while you are traveling. I used to love having coach heat also but the fan is jammed and since it is behind the hot water heater in the 32 and is impossible to reach, we are doing w/o it.

ruppr · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

'nother setup, my rig has a seperate coach heater included with the motoraid, but your only control of heat from it, is the high/low fan switch on the dash.

Best,

DriVer · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

I appreciate the hot water feature while on the road to wash hands and dishes. At the end of the day when you turn on the gas burner or electric element, it just doesn't take as long to get hot water since it's already there. Almost FREE energy. This is a great example of resource recovery.

Vet Man · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

I have a 2004 35u. This is my 3rd MH thought I knew somethings finding out not as much as I thought. I thought the motor aid, heated the coach living area by using the High-Low switch on the dash. The RED-Blue temp control on dash controled the front area only, heat and A/c not [Motor Aid] coach temp. Help I am real confused now. Vet Man

Rich Bock · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

In my Itasca Suncruiser the engine coolant circulates in series through the heater core and water heater heat exchanger. There is no way to control the flow. Your fan speed is the only way to modulate the coach heater. The dash heater appears to be a completely independent system.

Horsepowerfan · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Vet Man:
Could you run the engine to take a shower? Vet Man <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hmmmmm. I guess you could, but you'd be using an awful lot of gas in comparison to just running your genset and turning on the electricity portion of your hot water heater. You can also run the hot water heater on LP AND if you really want the hot water heter to crank you can turn on BOTH the LP and electric. You'll either need shore power or have the genset running to do this. As a third option I imagine if you had the LP, electric and Motoraid systems all going at the same time, you'd NEVER run out of hot water!

Horsepowerfan · 03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

OK, here we go...

"Motoraid" is the system that circulates hot engine coolant to the hot water heater to "aid" in heating the fresh water inside the hot water heater. So while you're driving, if you have your hot water heater turned off (both LP and electric) you'll still be heating the water inside it so when you get where you're going the water's already been heated by the engine's coolant. This is a passive system that is always functioning when the engine is running. You can't regulate it or turn it off.

The "Coach Heater" is controlled by the 3 position rocker switch on the dash. You have either OFF, HIGH, or LOW settings. It was my understanding that there is a separate blower fan (located near the hot water heater under the floor) that forces air past an engine coolant heat exchanger (heater core type unit) and into the floor ducts used by the furnace. This allows the heat generated by the engine's cooling system to be used as an auxiliary heater while you're driving to warm the entire coach. I don't think you can regulate the temperature, but I could be wrong.

Lastly, you have your automotive "Dash Heating and A/C" system. This allows operation of heating and cooling just like on a car or truck. There's a heater core, an A/C evaporator core, an A/C compressor on the engine and a network of ducts and damper doors within the dash. The temperature knob on the dash controls a door that allows air to flow through the automotive heater core OR the evaporator core OR through both if you you have the temp. knob somewhere in between full hot or full cold. The mode settings allow you to direct the airflow out the dash vents, the defroster vents or the vents in the dash near your feet.

So, 3 separate systems that all work together to heat and cool things and places in your coach.

03-22-2006, 02:58 PM

What coach are you referring to. Some coaches have and others don't. Not knowing what coach you have or if you know that you may not have it. I thought we had the same motor aide system in our new 2003 Journey DL when we ordered it, as we did in our 2001 Adventurer. Not so, the only motor aide in the Journey DL, is the in the water heater... We have no motor aide heat for the cabin or the storage compartments, it's either from the dash or the furnace. "Bummer"

Tomcat F15

"Sometimes, things aren't what you thing they should be."