Getting There

[Dark Angel]

Welp, decided I love this floor plan to much, and heck this is a great RV trading from a 2014 to a 2014 didn't seem logical. That and decided to buy a farmstead so I have a place to come home to from the pipeline. So the dealer I bought this from have been working pretty well with me on these issues. But an issue that is really driving me and the people working on the camper crazy is...

No darn hot water! they switched out the gate valve on the water heater and the outside shower faucet is closed tight. But we still only get about a 3 minutes shower TOPS. So wondering, what is causing this to happen? The water pump holds pressure, doesn't turn on at all. Water heater works both on propane and electric so much when I pull the lever on the water heater I can't hold my hand under it that its so hot. But that water is not getting to the shower, and after working in sub-zero temps all day a 3 minute shower doesn't cut it for us very well.

So my friends, any idea how to go about fixing this issue because the dealer techs are going nuts .

[sinder]

Hum - it could possibly be a bad thermostat on the water heater.

[atom ant]

Brass check valve on the hot outlet is damaged from the freeze.

That would be my guess, but should have been the techs guess too. Those fail all the time even without freezing.

[Railcat]

Could it be possible that the water lines are crossed or hooked up incorrectly. I was sitting here trying to think what could be possibly wrong other than that just a bad thermostat or heating element intermittently not working.

[Dave&Ginny]

Does the water pump work properly? Will it pump a steady and long stream of water? Could there be an air leak in the water line and therefore not getting the water from the water heater?

That's a 12 gallon hot water tank and if the water is getting hot as you say, then there's another issue.

I had a air leak in my trailer last year and it was having problems like this too.

[CV67Cheng]

Do you still have water pressure but it gets cold? Or does the pressure drop off? If the pressure is dropping off one of the crimps on supply could be over tight and restricting flow. Once shower is secured the line repressurizes over time and you get another short shower.
Second question, how long does the hot water last from sink faucets, greater than 5 minutes or less than 3
If hot water is short cycling, have them look at the dip tube on the cold water supply to the HW heater, if it is broken the cold water will not go to the bottom of the heater and consequently the heater will only produce a limited amount of hot water.
Good Luck.

[spindrift]

What is a dip tube and how does it work?

[Dark Angel]

Problem solved via dealer techs coming out to my camper for the 3rd time to deal with recent issues. I completely forgot what the issue was and could not hear the explanation was due to being at work while they were out here, but I will be finding out what it was tomorrow when I call them again and will let everyone know.

Here is a list of everything they have had to fix/replace. So nobody else has to deal with this and hopefully learn a lesson without having to learn it the hard way.

Replaced the kitchen, bathroom and shower faucet.
Replace the water filter.
Replace the water pump.
Replace the water pump on the washing machine and another part I cant remember.
Replace the board on the furnace.
Replace a part on the toilet.
Replace multiple line fittings.

Now the things that they will be doing when I take it in for the yearly inspection.

They will be replacing the winterizing valve.
Replace every single one of those stupid plastic fittings in the water hose with brass fitting like it should have been.
I am having them basically make a tree where it branches off to water lines with shut off valves to every place water goes to, in case a problem arises I can isolate that area instead of shutting off the water to the whole camper.
Residential fridge so I wont have to deal with the fridge freezing up in the winter.

If anyone else has any suggestions please let me know. My dealer with be taking very good care of me on this deal.

Now I believe I listed everything they had to replace, might have missed one or two but for the most part that was the low down.

[mhs4771]

In reference to the Residential Fridge, I found this interesting note in the installation instruction for the Samsung Fridge (this is a direct cut-n-paste):

• Allow clearance to the right, left, back and top when installing. This will help reduce power
consumption and keep your energy bills lower.
• If you install the Refrigerator where is below 10ºC, it may not function optimally.
• Do not locate the refrigerator where the wet condition.

Interesting since 10 degrees C is 50 degrees F, wonder what they mean that it "May not function optimally"?

[Dave&Ginny]

Originally Posted by mhs4771

In reference to the Residential Fridge, I found this interesting note in the installation instruction for the Samsung Fridge (this is a direct cut-n-paste):

• Allow clearance to the right, left, back and top when installing. This will help reduce power
consumption and keep your energy bills lower.
• If you install the Refrigerator where is below 10ºC, it may not function optimally.
• Do not locate the refrigerator where the wet condition.

Interesting since 10 degrees C is 50 degrees F, wonder what they mean that it "May not function optimally"?

Don't worry about the first item because this is probably due to ventilation and unlike in houses, there's a vent behind the fridg in an RV.

[Dave&Ginny]

I had to have a special valve put on an a/c unit in our commercial building, that would allow the a/c unit to operate during the winter and not freeze up. I wonder if that is something they could do on the refrigerators on RVs

[0nTheRoad]

Just curious... for those retrofitting their original refers with residential units...

Are you having issues with clearance of the island when you close the slide? The new RW's with residential refers have a shortened island, they eliminate the entire left hand set of drawers, including the plate drawer.

If you retrofit, where are you putting the inverters and extra batteries?

[Oriana]

When they installed our solar system them put the inverter in the basement on the fwd bulkhead.

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by Dark Angel

Replace every single one of those stupid plastic fittings in the water hose with brass fitting like it should have been.
I am having them basically make a tree where it branches off to water lines with shut off valves to every place water goes to, in case a problem arises I can isolate that area instead of shutting off the water to the whole camper.
Residential fridge so I wont have to deal with the fridge freezing up in the winter.

Just my opinion, but all of the above is not necessarily a fix to a freeze and probably a little overkill. Pex and plastic fittings are an upgrade to any copper as far as I'm concerned, and that residential fridge is harder to winterize than the RV type, unless you just want a residential fridge.

Design of the water system wasn't the issue here. The issue was it froze.

[Oriana]

Brad - I also would not want to go back to copper pipe or copper fittings

[homeguy]

Originally Posted by 0nTheRoad

Just curious... for those retrofitting their original refers with residential units...

Are you having issues with clearance of the island when you close the slide? The new RW's with residential refers have a shortened island, they eliminate the entire left hand set of drawers, including the plate drawer.

If you retrofit, where are you putting the inverters and extra batteries?

We just changed ours out from the Dometic to the Samsung. We are currently in NC and have the RV skirted so I can't close the slides yet. But, I measured the distance from the island to the fridge and on the outside from the rv to the slide out. I should have about 3/4" clearance. Hopefully! We didn't do anything about extra batteries. If we keep the fridge closed while we travel, it shouldn't be a problem.

[mhs4771]

Dave, I was more interested in the section I put in Red about operation below 50 degrees.

[Railcat]

Originally Posted by Dave&Ginny

Don't worry about the first item because this is probably due to ventilation and unlike in houses, there's a vent behind the fridg in an RV.

No vent behind the fridge on these that come with the residential package from the factory, also no vent on the roof. So they may get a tad warm I guess time will tell.

[Railcat]

Originally Posted by mhs4771

Dave, I was more interested in the section I put in Red about operation below 50 degrees.

I don't think this is an issue it will only be below 50 degrees inside while pulling it when its below 50 outside and then it won't be running that much or at all. Its a house fridge they keep stuff cold a long time without running. When its hot out and you need it running while towing down the road should work fine.

[Dark Angel]

Originally Posted by atom ant

Just my opinion, but all of the above is not necessarily a fix to a freeze and probably a little overkill. Pex and plastic fittings are an upgrade to any copper as far as I'm concerned, and that residential fridge is harder to winterize than the RV type, unless you just want a residential fridge.

Design of the water system wasn't the issue here. The issue was it froze.

Oh I am not saying all these things broke on their own, I am saying these are all the things that needed to be replaced due to the freeze.

Out of curiosity, how are plastic fittings in the soft water lines (not pex lines) better than copper fittings? Also, how is a residential fridge harder to winterize than the ones that come with the campers?

None of this would have happened if the furnace hadn't quit working while I was gone. Guess to be on the safe side I will be draining my water lines from now on