Hurricane Behavior
Yahoo Message Number: 98806
I posted this to Roger Berke's Hydronic Heating board too. My sense is that there are more Hurricane owners among Country Coach owners than other coach brands, however.
Prior to getting the coach fully winterized we had a cold snap. I enabled the Hurricane (model C045DRF s/n 0401-2621) and set the thermostat to "furnace" and 40 degrees for both Hurricane zones in the coach. I put remote thermometers in the coach and in the wet bay to monitor temperatures.
Everything worked as advertised. The coach living area stayed close to 41-42 degrees. The wet bay fluctuated more at 65 degrees, plus or minus 5 degrees even though the wet bay thermostat was set to about 50. That adjustment is very coarse and I did not want to risk setting it at a point that would allow the temperature in the wet bay to go below freezing.
Having just returned from a trip, I had not yet topped off the diesel tank and the dashboard gauge said it was a little over half full. I checked the fuel gauge periodically over the course of 2 days and according to the gauge, the level of diesel went down to slightly less than half full. Based on that observed rate of consumption and all else being equal, I figured the Hurricane would keep the coach at the selected temperatures for many days.
After another day or so I saw the coach and wet bay temperatures start to fall. Fortunately the weather was warming so they did not get near freezing.
The Hurricane had stopped working. The fuel gauge still showed what should have been ample fuel at about 7/16 full. The Hurricane fuel filter looked to be about 2/3 full of diesel. When the thermostat called for heat the blower would spool up but I did not feel any pulsing of the bleed valve which is supposed to indicate an operating fuel pump. The "Power On" and "Water Pump On" LED's were lit but the remote LED in the bedroom panel was not lit.
At the time I attributed all of the above to the possibility that the fuel gauge was stuck, what with the coach sitting still and the Hurricane sipping small amounts of fuel. The probability that the level of diesel had gone below the 1/4 tank level that the Hurricane fuel pickup tube was theoretically set at seemed to be the best guess.
I soon finished the winterizing and took the coach out for an exercise spin and a fuel top-off before putting it in storage. Moving the coach did not cause the fuel gauge to move and filling up confirmed that the gauge was close to the mark since it only took slightly more than half of the stated capacity to top it off.
As soon as I got the coach parked I tried the Hurricane and it instantly lit off and started heating/circulating coolant. I could feel the fuel pump pulsing on the bleed valve.
I know the first thing that will be suggested is a routine scheduled service and it is in the queue, but is there anything else I should be looking for?
Is it possible that the fuel pickup tube is only 9/16 into the tank? Or is it possible that the fuel pump/fuel filter are weakening the lifting abilities to the extent that it needs nearly 1/2 tank of diesel to be able to deliver fuel to the unit?
Thanks for any ideas.
Dave M. 2002 Affinity #6103
Topic: Hurricane Behavior (Read 1295 times)
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