Recently acquired a 2000 Winn Journey 36G on a Freightliner chassis. On trip to Florida last week I noticed when I got there the hot water was piping hot - I did not have the propane on and the electric hot water switch was off. I had read in the manual that some rigs had a way of using the diesel radiator to heat the water in the house hot water tank while moving down the road...but then it said this was not an option in the freightliner chassis??? Anyone else have this setup? And IF i have that option, can the tank be damaged if you drive down the road with the hot water tank empty? Thanks
Frieghtiner chas water heater question
- Thread starter bchristo
- Start date
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John Canfield
Site Team
Yes - called "Motor Aid" or something like that. Engine coolant is circulated through a heat exchanger in the water heater. Pretty handy - hot water when you arrive at the campground.
Not sure if the heater would be damaged with no water in it and the engine is running - might be a good question for Attwood.
Not sure if the heater would be damaged with no water in it and the engine is running - might be a good question for Attwood.
There should be no harm in driving with an empty water heater as the motor aid is just a piped heat exchanger. If it were a potential problem, they wouldn't install it. Although it may seem like a desirable feature, when we replaced our water heater the new unit didn't have the motor aid and we never missed it. Once the water is hot, it will stay hot for hours without any heat input, and if you do use it while on the road, you can reheat in less than an hour once you're parked.
afchap
Well-known member
The "heat exchanger" on an Atwood WH is just a piece of tubing that is welded in a semi-circle loop to the rear of the water heater tank ...from one side to the other curved down and back up. I imagine the answer from Atwood would be that there will be no damage from running the engine with no water in the WH tank. The only possible negative result I can imagine would be a possibility of increasing mineral deposits from the small amount of water left in the bottom of the tank ...not a terribly serious concern I would think.
D
DeanLinAZ
Guest
Our 2004 Journey has the MotorAid water heating feature-don't remember if it was an option or not. It works great and as you stated, the system really heats up the water. We have never run with a dry hot water heater tank, so don't know the answer to your question, but I would also guess it is no problem or the coution flags would be showing somewhere.
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