Espar

Snowdrift

New member
We are on the road and yesterday with our 2013 great western rv and our espar system stopped giving hot water. When we checked fault codes we had 41. Any ideas? Thx
 

avanti

2022 Ford Transit 3500
We are on the road and yesterday with our 2013 great western rv and our espar system stopped giving hot water. When we checked fault codes we had 41. Any ideas? Thx
Error code 41 is an open circuit to the water pump:

Check supply lead to water pump for continuity, remedy break, replace water pump if necessary.
OK, so the following is a little complex and I am writing from memory, so I hope I get it right, but:

--In an normal Espar D5 installation, the external circulation pump is controlled and powered directly from the ECU inside the D5 itself. So, there is a 2-wire harness that goes from the D5 to the water pump.

--The ECU monitors this line and throws a code if it is either open or short. #41 means "open".

--BUT, the Rixen's setup controls the pump via the Rixen proprietary control board (so that it can keep the water circulating when the Espar is not firing).

--This creates a problem, since the D5 is unhappy if it doesn't see the pump.

--To solve this, Rixen's installs a resistor at the 2-wire harness in order to spoof the D5 into thinking the pump is there. On mine, it was simply hanging down in a piece of black heat-shrink. The position is kind of vulnerable and the resistor's leads are solid wire and thus fragile.

So, very likely, a stone or vibration caused one of the resistor leads to break. Most likely, it broke right at the resistor and so can't be repaired. This happened to me once (while I was working on the unit, not on the road). This is conceptually a quick and cheap fix. Maybe less so if you are on the road without access to your resistor assortment pack and a soldering iron. When you replace the resistor, I suggest you protect it a bit better than Rixen's did. Suggest you pot the resistor inside stiff tubing and make pigtails out of stranded wire.


Again, this is from memory, so I can't be 100% sure I am remembering properly, but I THINK I am.
 
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