How To Replace a summer loop pump in a ITR OASIS Hydronic heater

[Neal]

Come and get it...now that my 14 pumps are on order, they are back in stock! US Solar - go!

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

Come and get it...now that my 14 pumps are on order, they are back in stock! US Solar - go!

Since I know you got a huge discount, how much of the discount are you going to pass along to your best friends...buddy? Or, did you buy them on Amazon?

 

[Neal]

Since I know you got a huge discount, how much of the discount are you going to pass along to your best friends...buddy? Or, did you buy them on Amazon?

I bought from the link below. I'll throw in a free pump if you help me install toppers

C1EC Zone 1 & 2 Replacement Pump | US Solar Pumps

The Zone 1 & 2 Replacement Pump is an excellent option for boat owners. It has a seal-less design to prevent leaking.

www.ussolarpumps.com

 

[Rich W.]

I bought from the link below. I'll throw in a free pump if you help me install toppers

C1EC Zone 1 & 2 Replacement Pump | US Solar Pumps

The Zone 1 & 2 Replacement Pump is an excellent option for boat owners. It has a seal-less design to prevent leaking.

www.ussolarpumps.com

off topic a bit, but what’s going on with your toppers?

 

[Neal]

off topic a bit, but what’s going on with your toppers?

Question - Best slide toppers for 2017 Newmar Ventana?

Along the lines of tires, batteries, windows, oh my...it's coming time for new slide toppers, dare I say awning. Toppers have threads coming out or are out, tears, etc. so it's time for replacing in the next year or two and hopefully with something better. What are the suggested replacements...

rvforums.com

 

[Jim]

In another thread, I'm having problems with my Oasis. Unlike the problem in this thread, the problem is not just a lack of hot water, but a lack of the Oasis to produce cabin heat as well. When turning on the manual "Summer Loop" bypass (toggle switch on top of silver zone board external) I get hot water, but I haven't tried the coach heat to confirm that it too is working.

From a conversation with the owner of an Oasis repair shop in Ft. Myers, the cause of my "no cabin heat & no hot water" problem is a bad pump(s). I think I agree with him, but I'm not sure. Although it's not a constant, much of the time there is a blown fuse to indicate which of the pumps is not working. And none of my fuses have blown. Also, from what I've read, the coach heat is provided from pumps 1 & 2, so if I am correct, the "summer loop" has nothing to do with coach heat as it only heats water.

I'm wondering if maybe ALL the pumps are working just fine, and it's a module/sensor/etc. somewhere else that has failed, and it's this module's job to tell the pumps to turn on, and now it's not sending the message. I believe this theory is supported by the pumps coming on when I hit the "summer loop bypass" switch.

Is there a way, other than to test each individual pump to make sure it's working, to test this theory? What is there in the Oasis system that could fail and therefor not send the "start pumping" message to the appropriate pump?

 

[Jim]

From J&JD's previous post:

From page 11 of the ITR troubleshooting manual:

Domestic Hot Water
The call for domestic Hot water is automatic. There is a temperature sensor mounted on the domestic water inlet pipe to the heat exchanger. Once the hot water tap is opened, the domestic water will begin circulating through this heat exchanger. Once the inlet pipe cools below a pre determined temperature range, the distribution module zone board will respond to a call for domestic hot water, as long as it detects that heat is available inside of the Oasis Heating Module. In this situation, the distribution module zone board will turn on the summer pump and will circulate hot coolant through a small loop (summer loop) that goes through the heat exchanger and back to the Oasis. This will allow a constant supply of hot water, whenever the domestic hot water is used.

if I read this correctly, the zone board turns on the summer loop pump only when the domestic water supply temp drops a certain amount thus giving a constant supply of hot water when called for. It does NOT run continuously.

This is what I believe is the problem.

When the water starts moving through the inlet pipe and then the "Distribution Module Zone Board" (that thingy under the silver cover) will make a call for the Summer Loop pump to start running, which sends the water through the heat exchanger to the coach to where we can use it.

In my case, the Summer Loop pump must be working, because I can manually turn it on and sent the water through to the heat exchanger, creating hot water. The pump is working fine, or I wouldn't be getting any hot water when I press the manual switch.

I believe the problem is in the Distribution Module Zone Board, and I should be able to test it by turning on the coach heat. Which I will do shortly.

 

[Neal]

The best one to answer that is going to be ITR but I've become all too familiar with this contraption due to issues. If I were you I would replace all three pumps and just new them all up. Get a 5 year service kit and new all that up. Then go from there. You don't know the history of the care of your OASIS I don't believe so this may just save you grief later. If you're attending a rally that ITR is participating in then they may be able to do all of this for you but it's not that hard. The link for the US solar pump vendor is probably in this thread and definitely on this site, order 4-5 pumps if you're going to replace 3.

In two hours you can be done with the above, maybe three. Then we can start looking at other items such as electricity, relays, etc. which I hope are not an issue but not hard to replace either, I had one that was bad, simple bad connector. Cheap and easy but highly doubt you have that problem.

Zone 1 and 2 are furnace/heat providers
Summer loop is hot water (pump with a stupid name)

 

[NWIP]

@Jim not sure I am in agreement with your diagnosis that summer loop pump is working. When you place in bypass you are now using one of the other pumps (not sure which one) to circulate the fluid therefore getting hot water.

Also I have had summer loop pump be intermittent ( no hot water) and not trigger a blown fuse.

You can take off the panel to expose distribution and verify pump operation fairly easily.

 

[Jim]

@Jim not sure I am in agreement with your diagnosis that summer loop pump is working. When you place in bypass you are now using one of the other pumps (not sure which one) to circulate the fluid therefore getting hot water.

Also I have had summer loop pump be intermittent ( no hot water) and not trigger a blown fuse.

You can take off the panel to expose distribution and verify pump operation fairly easily.

Perhaps you are right, I don't know. Confusing at best!

I just turned the Oasis on with the bypass switch and the coach heat is operating as it would normally. There is both domestic hot water and heat blowing through the vents. Given that the summer loop's only purpose is to provide hot water, I don't see how it would provide heat for the rest of the couch. That could only be possible if pumps 1 & 2 are operating.

So is it not reasonable to believe that at least pumps 1 & 2 are operating? And if pumps 1 & 2 are operational, why would they not come on automatically when the Silverleaf calls for coach heat? Unless they were not getting the call, which originates from the Distribution Module. ???