Hope we get a glowing report of a fun filled trip when you get back.
Happy trails!!!!!
John
De-winterizing Woes
Moderator: bfadmin
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jobrien
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SteveR
The problem is there are only a few manufacturers of RV refrigerators and from what I have read, neither Norcold nor Dometic seem all that much different with respect to build quality, design or customer service. The lower in the RV refrigerator market you go relative to price and features, the more cost cutting they do which usually results in a lower quality and less reliable unit. But, paying more is no assurance of a significant improvement in longevity or component quality...bigger and more bells and whistles perhaps, but not longer lasting.Sam Ryan wrote:If Norcold is anything like Dometic, I've got my work cut out for me in getting my refrigerator working again.SteveR wrote:Thanks to Kim at the factory and his pounding on Dometic;.....
Norcold's customer no service, has not been helpful so far, in getting my unit fixed, thus far.
I can only conclude that these manufacturers are making flimsy, cheap products, to only last a few hours in your case, or a few months of operation in my case, Steve.
I'm not pleased at all. with my Norcold's breaking down completely.
Good luck.
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Trisha
If you find a better frig for the RV, do post it here. I'd love to know.
Heir makes small ones for dorm rooms and stuff liike that, and they're supposed to be very good.
I've had mine break in one way or another 3 times. It's a norcold. I only got service from them by having Kim Olson call them. That expedited my situation.
I'm going to look into this as well; you are right, they are highly overpriced, but there are rigs using full size units and household units...I'm sure there MUST be other options. I'm almost ready for one.
I'll post here if I find anything. Please, if you do, could you also?
Thanks...
trish
Heir makes small ones for dorm rooms and stuff liike that, and they're supposed to be very good.
I've had mine break in one way or another 3 times. It's a norcold. I only got service from them by having Kim Olson call them. That expedited my situation.
I'm going to look into this as well; you are right, they are highly overpriced, but there are rigs using full size units and household units...I'm sure there MUST be other options. I'm almost ready for one.
I'll post here if I find anything. Please, if you do, could you also?
Thanks...
trish
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Dave&JanPotter
There are also quite a few small units made for the marine trade but I don't know of any that run on propane. Open flames on boats with closed bilges is a no no. I had a Norcold that someone had installed on an older boat and the insurance company balked. I'd bet that the one you cited for dorm rooms runs on 110 only.Trisha wrote:Heir makes small ones for dorm rooms and stuff liike that, and they're supposed to be very good.
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SteveR
The news is all good! We made it up the long steep climb through the mountain passes without a hitch. The BF is a good climber and we were close to the speed limit even on the 5% grades; although the engine was not too happy about it.jobrien wrote:Good luck :D
Hope we get a glowing report of a fun filled trip when you get back.
Happy trails!!!!!
John
We set up and every thing worked. Levelers leveled, water connection did not leak, tanks did not leak, pump worked fine with no leaks, refrigerator even made ice!!! This was a major event for us since we never had an RV refrigerator before and all our experience was with one that had a broken cooling unit. Camera system worked, shower drained straight down, (were were never really level before), microwave worked and even baked some potatoes in the convection cycle. We discovered that we have more stuff yet to carry with us and clothing storage (especially winter clothing...it was in the mid-20s at night) is very limited. On longer trips we will just put a hanger bar in the toad and hang up most of our cloths on it. The toad will also be used to carry extra bottled water, tool boxes, extra food and whatever else we might need for extended trips. We think we can live in the coach for several weeks at a time and will find out in a couple of months.
We were more than pleased at the performance of the coach and all the equipment for camping. We need some practice on backing up :shock: ...but that will come with experience.
We have the bug for sure and can't wait for our Paso Robles trip when we will travel 1000 miles there and then take the long way back by way of Oregon.
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SteveR
Sam,
Thanks for the reply.
Sorry about your refer. issues. You may have already seen this but if not here are a couple of stand-alone propane units that might fit your coach (with a little work).
http://www.rvmobile.com/REFERS/freestand.htm
Where do you keep the RV when you go to large cities like Chicago? Do you just "camp" at a distant RV park and then drive around with a toad? We are going to be in a few places later this summer for several weeks where there are no RV parks so it is going to be tough to find a place to park for longer periods of time.
Thanks for the reply.
Sorry about your refer. issues. You may have already seen this but if not here are a couple of stand-alone propane units that might fit your coach (with a little work).
http://www.rvmobile.com/REFERS/freestand.htm
Where do you keep the RV when you go to large cities like Chicago? Do you just "camp" at a distant RV park and then drive around with a toad? We are going to be in a few places later this summer for several weeks where there are no RV parks so it is going to be tough to find a place to park for longer periods of time.
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SteveR
Sam,
Thanks for the info on parking. We are still so new to this and have a lot to learn.
We will be towing our car most of the time as the 32 footer is a bit much to use sight-seeing or going into major cities. Speaking of major cities..
I used to live just north of Chicgo and spent a fair amount of time there. It is a beautiful city but parking is an issue. The south and west sides (the east side is Lake Michigan) are not the best places to leave a 20 year old rattle trap, much less a $$$ motorhome. North and northwest would be your best bet for parking but you might have to go a ways out to do so. Most downtown hotels have parking garages with limited height so the BF would not fit.
I read somewhere that there is a RV park near downtown...not sure of the name or location. Also, several miles north of the city are some motels and malls where you might be able to park with permission. There is also a museum and a planetarium on the east side of Lakeshore drive that might have a place to park your RV but you would need to call first to be sure...I don't remember ever seeing on there but who knows.
Good luck with finding a place. It is tough to find a place to park a car.
Thanks for the info on parking. We are still so new to this and have a lot to learn.
We will be towing our car most of the time as the 32 footer is a bit much to use sight-seeing or going into major cities. Speaking of major cities..
I used to live just north of Chicgo and spent a fair amount of time there. It is a beautiful city but parking is an issue. The south and west sides (the east side is Lake Michigan) are not the best places to leave a 20 year old rattle trap, much less a $$$ motorhome. North and northwest would be your best bet for parking but you might have to go a ways out to do so. Most downtown hotels have parking garages with limited height so the BF would not fit.
I read somewhere that there is a RV park near downtown...not sure of the name or location. Also, several miles north of the city are some motels and malls where you might be able to park with permission. There is also a museum and a planetarium on the east side of Lakeshore drive that might have a place to park your RV but you would need to call first to be sure...I don't remember ever seeing on there but who knows.
Good luck with finding a place. It is tough to find a place to park a car.
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SteveR
Well I guess it is time for an update on the status of our MH.
After some discussion, BF Customer Service decided to have the MH returned to them for the various items that needed to be fixed. They picked it up on May 4 and we got it back May 31. All the items we noted seem to have been fixed. We have not had a chance to check them all out but will next week on our next major trip.
The refrigerator had a bad cooling unit. No other description was given other than it did not cool as designed. Dometic and BF came to an agreement and the whole refrigerator was replaced in early April. We finally had a refrigerator that cooled. However, the door did not latch without excessive force. BF finally fixed it themselves with very little help from Dometic. The latch pin on the frame had been installed too low and BF cut a new channel for it and moved in down so it was in the "proper" place.
Other items fixed:
Rear shade would not move.
Bathroom door would not stay latched.
Cab roof leaked--we will check this when I wash it tomorrow.
Black tank pipe leaked when nearly full.
Some loose veneer was reglued.
A Link compressor line leak was fixed. (GM)
The transmission was checked along with the engine and drive train. (GM)
Coach house was inspected for other issues-none were found.
Previous items fixed by me:
King Controls KingDome tuner replaced and main dish wiring problem corrected.
Link controller valves leaked.
Link air fittings leaked.
Transmission failed while on our first RVing trip which required towing the MH 300 miles to a repair shop.
Water pump screen housing was cracked and required replacement.
Front end aligment was improperly done (incorrectly shimed axle) and required correction. I also added an anti sway bar to the front.
We have our fingers crossed that all the "evil spirits" have been removed from the coach and we will actually drive the MH to destinations other than repair shops.
After some discussion, BF Customer Service decided to have the MH returned to them for the various items that needed to be fixed. They picked it up on May 4 and we got it back May 31. All the items we noted seem to have been fixed. We have not had a chance to check them all out but will next week on our next major trip.
The refrigerator had a bad cooling unit. No other description was given other than it did not cool as designed. Dometic and BF came to an agreement and the whole refrigerator was replaced in early April. We finally had a refrigerator that cooled. However, the door did not latch without excessive force. BF finally fixed it themselves with very little help from Dometic. The latch pin on the frame had been installed too low and BF cut a new channel for it and moved in down so it was in the "proper" place.
Other items fixed:
Rear shade would not move.
Bathroom door would not stay latched.
Cab roof leaked--we will check this when I wash it tomorrow.
Black tank pipe leaked when nearly full.
Some loose veneer was reglued.
A Link compressor line leak was fixed. (GM)
The transmission was checked along with the engine and drive train. (GM)
Coach house was inspected for other issues-none were found.
Previous items fixed by me:
King Controls KingDome tuner replaced and main dish wiring problem corrected.
Link controller valves leaked.
Link air fittings leaked.
Transmission failed while on our first RVing trip which required towing the MH 300 miles to a repair shop.
Water pump screen housing was cracked and required replacement.
Front end aligment was improperly done (incorrectly shimed axle) and required correction. I also added an anti sway bar to the front.
We have our fingers crossed that all the "evil spirits" have been removed from the coach and we will actually drive the MH to destinations other than repair shops.
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SteveR
From what I can tell from other owners; our situation is unique. I attribute most of the problems to a few system problems at BF.Brent wrote:Steve, I'm sorry to hear of all the issues - it shouldn't happen. Kind of makes one wonder about QC?
I've been fortunate regarding problems, pretty much general maintenace since 1999 (knock on wood).
1-The unit was used as a Demo for several months and then was used by at least two different RV journalist (FMC Mag. and MH Mag.) who took the rig for extended trips but left no record of maintenance. Who knows how they actually handled the unit?
2-When the rig was made in mid 2006, BF did in fact have some QC problems (admitted to me by more than one BF official). It is likely that some coach-related items got missed before it was sent off on its various journies before we bought it in October 2006.
3-When the unti was received by the Factory for resale and we bought it, they should have done a more thorough check of all the systems before they sent it out. I believe they just assumed everything was working but failed to verifiy if they did or not.
4- Dumb luck. Some of the items we have experienced have been related to the GM chassis and not BF. I can't really blame BF for a mechanical component failure in the GM chassis. But I do believe that the alignment on the front and rear of the coach should have been checked before they sold the unit. The problems with the alignment were not from loading; they were from assembly errors or adjustment errors.
Over all, we have been happy with BF Service Operations. Kim has been good to work with and despite a failure in communication between management and Service on what was expected to be done on our coach upon return to the factory, Kim and Bret worked very hard to fit our coach into the service schedule despite several new deliveries at the same time. We do appreciate they arranging for a driver to pick up and return the coach to IA but we also see it as what they should have done due to the excessive problems we have experienced with this coach. That is what a Quality company does. BF has a reputation of high quality and customer service. We have challenged the company on these concepts. We will have to see what happens next. Since the factory did all the repairs and went through the coach and had GM go through the chassis any thing that now happens should be the result of wear and tear and not initial craftsmanship or assembly.
We love the coach...just not the problems we have had. BF has stated they have "made it right with us". Time will tell.