Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Hydro Hot Too Noisy? (Read 1088 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Hydro Hot Too Noisy?

Yahoo Message Number: 114531
Has anyone received complaints from close neighbors about your Hydro Hot or Aqua Hot being too noisy? Ours is much quieter than our 8k Onan but still seems a bit noisy in the middle of the night.
We mostly boondock but sometimes we do have close neighbors if we are in an RV park. We do run our roof heat pumps if we have hookups unless it is below about 40deg We only run the Hydro Hot at night or early morning if it is really cold inside.

Norm 2004 Intrigue

Re: Hydro Hot Too Noisy?

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 114532
Never had any complaints . Ours does not sound loud a campsite away at all .

Re: Hydro Hot Too Noisy?

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 114535
I have had many experiences over the years with Hydro hots and aqua hots. Fore travel and I believe Blue bird used to put mufflers on the exhausts. Some manufactirers took the exhausts to the rear of the coach. Personnaly I had thought moving the exhaust to the DS of the coach, but that was more of being friendly to guests on the patio side of the coach. I know one thing, if the air mixture isn't set in the genral area it can emit some rather harsh LF sounds that the walls of a near by coach can't supress. That said how can they get the air mixture right when we travel from sea level to well over 6000 ft. Hydro hot from that period of time were known to have defective chambers. So the next time its serviced make sure the pull, clean and inspect the chamber. I had mine replaced once under a recall in 06 or 07. TWInsall 2004 Intrigue 11731

Re: Hydro Hot Too Noisy?

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 114540
Yes, I have. 2004 Allure with HydroHot.

The funny thing is, the neighbor next to me that had a conversation with me about he noise. Had a water heater that was IMO louder then my HydroHot.

As we were in my patio area, where our coaches HydroHot was on with the exhaust pointing towards his coach - within 5 seconds of him saying the noise could be heard too far away, his water heater fired up. It was on his patio side too, which was on the other side of his coach. It sounded like a loud explosion at startup, and still roared as it was heating up his water.

It was a perfect timing situation. And I deadpanned 'Well that's interesting, I was wondering who's water heater we were hearing kicking starting up off and on during the night. I had planned to see if I could locate them and ask them if they needed their water heater on all night?'.

The gent changed the conversation, and within a minute or two 'Had to go...'.

It was truly funny.

Now, that being said. Our HydroHot is not quiet, and disrupts us at night too. We no longer use it for heating overnight when on shore power. We use a combo of 1500W portable heater, and if needed the floor tile heat and even use the HydroHot heat but only on Electric Element heating. Down to the low 20's, we find the floor tile heat set to 95 and the a 1500W portable heater, keep us warm at night.

When boon docking, we try to be far enough away from others that if we use the HydroHot Diesel for overnight heating, it's only bothering us. And usually get by fine at night with a few blankets and then in the AM fire up the Heat Buddy with the appropriate windows and vents open to be safe.

I've noted that a few coaches of various manufactures we've been in with the Hydro/AquaHot on - are not as noisy as our specific model.

Best to all,
Smitty
04 Allure Sold to a nice new owner! Now enjoying a 07 Magna Rembrandt 45' ISX600 #6775
"We're ONDROAD for THEJRNY!" (Toad and Coach license plates, say Hi if you see us!)

Re: Hydro Hot Too Noisy?

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 114542
This is all very interesting. We have a 2004 Allure with the Hydro-Hot. I had the exhaust moved to the driver's side so as not to impinge on the nasal sensibilities of guests in our patio.  Nonetheless, I have never heard an iota of complaint from a driver's side neighbor. Perhaps that is because we seldom stay in a park so crowded as to have minimal room between our driver's side and the next site over (as represented by most of the Yuma-style parks:-().  We even find that using it overnight (for heating purposes) does not create a nearby concern for our noise quotient. I am led to wonder if there are other considerations in play here. Can ours be so much more quiet? Can they be successfully muffled?
Ken, #31035

Re: Hydro Hot Too Noisy?

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 114544
I don't really worry about it. It is what it is. Now I have refrained from starting it if the neighbors are sitting around in chairs on that side. I worry more about the diesel exhaust smell. Hell, I even try to get the dog upwind of it! And I service my HH annually, it's just the nature of the beast. I am constantly amazed how well it works for as complex as it is. Really remarkable unit.

Greg
06 Magna

2006 Magna Rembrandt C13
2016 Jeep GC toad

Re: Hydro Hot Too Noisy?

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 114549
I noticed that the exhaust on my Hurricane unit with my 2003 Allure had a muffler installed on the exhaust pipe and it was far quieter than my Hydro Hot on my 2004 Allure. So I re-engineered the exhaust pipe on the Hydro Hot including a small foreign car muffler. What a difference. About like a car without a muffler vs one with one. In the 8 years I had the coach it never caused a problem. In terms of complaints I was the worst complainer. I hated that roar that I could here all over the park on a cool quiet night. BTW the Hurricane burner is far more efficient than the Webasto used in the Hydro Hot. Therefore it produces far less diesel fumes. I know because I had both.

Donald Seager
Former CC Owner

Re: Hydro Hot Too Noisy?

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 114552
Later on the Hydro-hot was replaced by a more efficient Smaller Aqua-hot that burned cleaner and was supposed 6 to 9db quieter. But I guess you were supposed to get something for $10,000. I saw a demo at a FMCA rally in Albuquerque. TWI 2004 Intrigue 11731

Re: Hydro Hot Too Noisy?

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 114553
Thanks for all of the replies to my question. I have not had any complaints of a noisy HH but I have been a bit self conscious about the noise. I like the idea of a small muffler to put on the exhaust. I service my HH myself and I have messed with the air mixture a bit and it did not change the noise much. The muffler is my next project.
Norm 2004 Intrigue #11773

Re: Hydro Hot Too Noisy?

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 114555
For a brief time AquaHot used a Beckett burner which is much quieter (and cheaper).

Coriwelsh
12314 Intrigue