Atwood 8500 LD series furnace

[firestorm128d]

I dropped it off this morning. The conversation started with the Service manager telling me "Since you seam to know everything, how about I just give you all of the parts and you can do the work the way you want?" - Not the best start. But after about one and a half hours of nothing short of negotiations, it was established that they will make it right. About 30 Mins after i left he called me to ask me how i think they should hook up the belly heat? He said "I don't want to just go drilling into the floor because I might hit a tank and that wont work!" OMG - Really?

Somewhere there is an engineer or architect that designed this trailer and made blue prints for it, Track him or her down and get the prints. Its not a space shuttle - its a freaking RV.

I suspect that the reason it does not have the floor duct is because they added a second fresh water tank under the floor and only realized their placement mistake later. Shipped the trailer off without it, gambling that the buyer would never know the difference.

I am calling you out Jayco... you rolled the dice on the wrong side of the table this time!

Oh and one other thing... when the sales brochures shows photos of things like oh I don't know how about "Sink Covers". With a clear bold words that say "Elite Package" under it with a line... Its a really bad idea to tell the customer later that those are not supplied and you have to pay for them separately... There is a term for that its called "Bait and Switch" and it's actually fraud!

[314BHDS]

I know your frustrated at the fact your trailer has so much issues with the heater.I personally try to talk to the dealer nice at first since they don't built these things they just sell and service them.I know you had some issues with the one dealer and you found out the other was owned by same guy some Im sure they talked to each other about you being pissed off. As far as the guy calling you and asking how to run the duct I wouldn't have much faith in the repair they would do.I would assume you have to drop the belly and find a straight as possible run since you don't want to many bends in the duct work.good luck with whatever they do to fix,i hope it does work correcty after they are done.

[firestorm128d]

Originally Posted by 314BHDS

I know your frustrated at the fact your trailer has so much issues with the heater.I personally try to talk to the dealer nice at first since they don't built these things they just sell and service them.I know you had some issues with the one dealer and you found out the other was owned by same guy some Im sure they talked to each other about you being pissed off. As far as the guy calling you and asking how to run the duct I wouldn't have much faith in the repair they would do.I would assume you have to drop the belly and find a straight as possible run since you don't want to many bends in the duct work.good luck with whatever they do to fix,i hope it does work correctly after they are done.

For what it's worth. I have been very polite with the folks at both the dealership and Jayco. I am venting my frustration here, but I have been very calm, collected & professional with them. Our meeting this morning started with me clairifying that very statement - I don't hold them responsible for the build. And ended on jokes and hearty laughter. - Faith however went out the window along time ago... It's all being documented, and when they botch this attempt it's in their hands. They will have nothing negative to say about me. I have been very careful not to name names, so no one can say I have been libelous or slanderous (Well maybe Jayco). I was firm today... but not un-pliable, the ball is in their court to run with. I will give them one more "benefit of the doubt". I don't hold the dealership responsible for the build quality - that is firmly Jayco's inexcusable nonsense. But the dealership is on the hook for customer service that's the contract terms.

I thank you kindly for your sympathy - it has been frustrating to say the least!

[Snake Plissken]

Just a reminder firestorm128d. While this is a Jayco forum, it's not owned by Jayco so calling them out here is useless.

[Paintinfool3]

Yeah I don't even know if jayco looks at the forum at all ... I know I would be frustrated ,when we ordered ours a certain way and the first one came in 3 months later with 4 things different than what we ordered one being a dinette instead of table and chairs ... That was one I wasn't going to let them try to change out and leave holes in the wall and floor so they stocked that one and ordered us another one. Second one came in with 3 things different but the table was right so we said the heck with it and accepted it. I have had problems with the dual fresh water tanks since day one and have tried numerous fixes to no avail yet. I took it back for the warranty issues about a month ago and I hope when I get it back at least they fix those right but now I am gonna do some serious looking at the rest of the mechanicals come spring. I wish you the best of luck

[firestorm128d]

Originally Posted by Snake Plissken

Just a reminder firestorm128d. While this is a Jayco forum, it's not owned by Jayco so calling them out here is useless.

Well now that's interesting. I did not realize that- thank you for letting me know! Lol just venting. I assume eventually this will get resolved and the next guy will get to read all this stuff and learn how to get his problems solved!

[firestorm128d]

Originally Posted by Paintinfool3

Yeah I don't even know if jayco looks at the forum at all ... I know I would be frustrated ,when we ordered ours a certain way and the first one came in 3 months later with 4 things different than what we ordered one being a dinette instead of table and chairs ... That was one I wasn't going to let them try to change out and leave holes in the wall and floor so they stocked that one and ordered us another one. Second one came in with 3 things different but the table was right so we said the heck with it and accepted it. I have had problems with the dual fresh water tanks since day one and have tried numerous fixes to no avail yet. I took it back for the warranty issues about a month ago and I hope when I get it back at least they fix those right but now I am gonna do some serious looking at the rest of the mechanicals come spring. I wish you the best of luck

I have heard a lot of complaints about the dual tanks and what is being described as "equalization issue". I also have this fancy setup. I have not filled the tanks yet, but hopefully I don't have problems! I purchased my last Jayco new also in November so we did not use it right away. In the spring I dewinterized and discovered just about every single water fitting was leaking. I fixed them all my self as they were all above the floor and easy to get to. It was a 154bh so its about as small as it gets. Larger than out 13' scamp though - It was anoying and I chocked it up to benig a bad day in the plant. Since a bunch of it is now out of reach I hope that the plumbing guys had a better day then the hvac folks while asembling this unit

Hope it works out for you and you're water issues! Can you discribe them a little more and show some pics of how it's all laid out?

[ALJO]

From a business point of view I would recommend Jayco to monitor this forum. At least they will know what frustration lives under their family (customers). Unless they don't care of the hardship some of their family goes through.

[314BHDS]

Originally Posted by ALJO

From a business point of view I would recommend Jayco to monitor this forum. At least they will know what frustration lives under their family (customers). Unless they don't care of the hardship some of their family goes through.

I agree with you on that one, people have to spend countless hours calling multiple people to fix something that should have been checked from the factory to begin with,all that while it's under warranty to!

[firestorm128d]

Originally Posted by ALJO

From a business point of view I would recommend Jayco to monitor this forum. At least they will know what frustration lives under their family (customers). Unless they don't care of the hardship some of their family goes through.

To be honest, after how I was treated by Jayco directly on this I can tell you frankly They don't care! Because you don't tell someone calling with the types of problems I have like completely missing features and dangerous operating conditions. "We'll what do you expect us to do? You need to take it to a service center! And "we don't own the dealerships - we have no responsibility for how they operate or what they do!"

There is a rule to marketing - any company or person that sells on negatives has something to hide. And that is all you hear or see from them is "how this is better then the competition" "we offer bla ba bla and the competitions is weaker" and "here is our roof structure vs the competition" and my personal favorite "built with by the Amish so it's somehow better quality than anyone else'"
Sorry guys what you have is bargain basement- it's like hearing from Walmart how they have superior quality off brand low bid Chinese clothes or food items. I knew that from the get go, but lets put it this way.

I have seen some very well made strait dead accurate beautiful cabinets made from nothing but sawdust board. I have also seen expensive white oak and teak cabinets that were so out of square and cheaply made that they fell apart when the delivery guys were unloading them.

The point is that enconomy is not an excuse for sheer laziness and pore workmanship. Period! If you are going to build enconomy and use cheap materials, spend 5 extra seconds to make it the best quality of efforts. The reason the Volkswagen Beatle was successfully was how it was made. Certainly not what it was made from- it was cool to be fruggle. I purchased a Jayco trailer to be fruggle, there is no excuse for shoddy workmanship! Especially when Jayco goes on and on and on about their 2 year warranty!

And as for dealerships? They represent the brands they sell, if you were to call Ford and complain about something like this you bet that they would investigate with the dealership! You cannot afford having bad publicity! The local Jayco dealer have a full on monopoly here in town. They are the only players for 80 miles! Save for the Lance dealer, and good lord fruggle or not I could never afford that quality! I want something with local warranty service, so I have but one real option. Had they some real competition it would be a whole nother ball game!

[firestorm128d]

Well.... It's over! The guys in the other town fixed it, and fixed it right. They followed the instructions in the furnace manual. Made the required modifications. And carefully opened up the underbelly and made a good connection. They closed it back up better then it came from the factory. And they had it back to me in less than 24 hours. He admitted that Jayco couldn't and wouldn't address the underbelly heat issue. So they took apart another trailer and figured out how it should go. It's 10 degrees outside it ran for 2 hours strait before the t-stat tripped at 80 degrees inside. I went underneith and the underbelly cover was just warm to the touch all arround.

A++ guys - they saved a customer. I will post some pics when I have time.
I called them back right away and thanked them again.

Thank you everyone for letting me vent a little here!

[FPM III]

I know it was a time-consuming, frustrating experience for you, but I'm glad your persistence finally got the right individual's attention, got the problem addressed and made you a happy camper.

I enjoy happy endings.

[ALJO]

Glad you have it all under control. Hopeful its now happy camping from now on. You probably have to wait till spring unless you go south.
Which town did you have it fixed, isn't Yakima in Tri-Cities, WA?

[John LLRV]

Glad to hear you were taken care of.

[firestorm128d]

Originally Posted by ALJO

Glad you have it all under control. Hopeful its now happy camping from now on. You probably have to wait till spring unless you go south.
Which town did you have it fixed, isn't Yakima in Tri-Cities, WA?

Lol - Yakima is 80+ miles northwestish of "Tri-Cities". I got it fixed up in Ellensburg. Wich is about 30 miles northeast of Yakima. Up some pretty narly highway.

My camper is my mobile office and I have a tendency to use it year round. Especially during the Holliday weeks in my back yard. So I am close to the family and work is a little slower. But we also go camping as late as November and as early as march. No water till spring thaw though !

[norty1]

Great day! A good dealer is a valuable asset.

[Paintinfool3]

well I am glad they fixed it and did it right ...when we visited the factory I didn't see shoddy work while I was there but I tell you they were moving at the speed of light and I am sure sometimes they get somebody who will cut corners to get it on down the line.Sad but true. I do believe though that a lot of it goes back to the engineering and design department, on the assembly line the people were just told where to stuff what in and probably weren't given the opportunity to say wait a minute here. I wonder if when a new design comes out if they take the time to do a slow line run with stops at each station to get input from the line people on issues like placement or if they just hire people who just do what they say no matter whether it works or not? the dual fresh water tank deal has been going on since 2011 from what I have heard and in 2015 there are still problems tells me someone isn't listening. When I finally get mine figured out you can bet I will let you all know how I fixed it I promise

[TCNashville]

Originally Posted by Paintinfool3

the dual fresh water tank deal has been going on since 2011 from what I have heard and in 2015 there are still problems tells me someone isn't listening. When I finally get mine figured out you can bet I will let you all know how I fixed it I promise

I hope you get your problem corrected as well. I have twin 40's on my Eagle and haven't had a problem....yet

[firestorm128d]

I do not know how they hook them up, but if the vent pipes have any difference in static preasure or the tube linking the two is narrow enough that gravity alone cannot move the fluid between the two at the same rate that filling and pumping from is flowing. It will never work properly, i would not be surprised if the link is only half inch. Gravity is not going to pump the volume of water a 3/4" garden hose at 40psi is going to. Not will it move the volume a 50psi water pump is going to pull at. Since the tanks are individually vented the pump is not going to create vaccum in the one tank and pull from the other. It's only going to be gravity. The difference in vent air flow could cause one tank to be full and the other not quite. You think you're all full but if you wait an hour and after they balance your only 3/4. And yes the link between the two theoreticly would need to only move half the volume being put in or taken out. That's probably where the issue is coming from. 1/2 hose under no pressure is not going to move half of the volume of 1/2 under -40 -50 psi. If the tanks are on the same level and the water levels are nearly equal the gravity presure between the two bodies of water would be static. So the gravity caused presure is not 40 gallons weight it would be the equilivant of the weight of only ways being extracted or induced.

I am sure someone with a higher degree in physics can explainify that much better. But hope that makes sense.

I have seen this in large fluid transport tanks with antislosh compartments.

Though I don't know the exact issues folks are having. I can visualize this as a potential problem.

[Paintinfool3]

Well the rear tank has 2 vent lines coming off the left side about an inch from the top that draped down through the corrugated underbelly. both tanks have about a foot long 1/2 hose coming out the bottom to a t fitting ,those t fittings connect to the two tank drains via a hose and connect the tanks together via 1/2 inch pex then out of the front tank t is where the line comes up to the pump . The front vent is clear 1/2 inch tubing coming out top of tank to vent screen in fill neck, which to date I have gotten no overflow out of. The filler hose which is 1 1/2 in goes into front tank and fills both tanks via the crossover tube. the gauge wiring is to the back tank. My problem is the front tank drains and the back tank is still full so my guage still says full and I am sucking air. I did the vent tube fix on the rear tank that others have and that has allowed me to fill them both completely but they still don't equalize. this is a pic of the rear tank vent tube fix I did which has worked the way it needs to.