Furnace Ducts to bedroom Crushed by Blowout

Hi 1pammylou,

You are so lucky if all you did was damage the inner fender wells and the ductwork. Last summer, we just crossed into Colorado out of Kansas when we had a minor explosion. Scared the heck out us. My right inner dual let go and actually exploded. It took out all 4 batteries, my inverter, my propane line, both storage boxes and all of the electronics and damaged the 2 exterior compartment doors. The rig has been in the shop since September 9, 2013 and about 1 hour ago I was called by the repair facility that it is ready to go and I can come and get her.

10 hours on the side of the road waiting for tow service due to it happening on a sunday afternoon and we were in no mans land

another 10 hours at the repair facility

a set of new tires and emergency repairs, $5500.00
Bill here at home for the damage repair, $16,182.00!

One little blow out cost me about 20 hours time total for the stop to get us back on the road and a total of $22,300.00 in repair expense. Thank GOD for Progressive Insurance Company.

The moral of my story and the point I am trying to make is to have your insurance take a look in case of any hidden damage like we had.

I had a blowout on the inner right dual. wiped out propane lines, wheel wells and running lights, $2200.00 in damages. Mine were 3 year old Michelins. I wont own anymore of them Good luck and hopefully you will find the problems quickly

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Holding tanks are fine. I have not checked the propane lines. I will do that and I will post photos of what it looks like from the tire area.

The tires were only 2 years old, I use the camper about once a month, and I have all brand new tires at this time. The inside of the tire wells are a thin metal guard thing. I have a working Carbon Monoxide detector as well. I have used the camper several times during the summer since it happened, but just needed the furnace for the first time recently. The bedroom did not get warm so I gave an extra look up there and saw that they the ducting was not connected anymore. (I didn't notice at first because at the time of the blowouts, my husband handled the blowout situation) It was not brought to my attention that there was a problem with the ducting at that time.

We learned about dangers of old but new looking RV tires when a flailing steel belt ona rear dual wiped out wiring and cracked the holding tanks. Spent a weekend in a seedy Puyallup, WA RV park waiting for the RV Doctor to open and plastic weld the tanks. We learned later about front flexible brake lines blocking up inside and causing sudden hard pulling to on side on appliaction of brakes. Old rigs may have special dangers for unwary newbies.

1pammylou,

I'm curious .... what were your motorhome's wheel-wells made out of?

Have wiring, propane lines, holding tanks, etc checked for damage. Your tires must have been old, thank God that a front tire didn't blow and cause loss of control. Tires can become unsafe just sitting parked for 4+years, need to be replaced every six years regardless of newish appearance or tread depth.Don't be a danger to yourself and others on the road.

It also sounds like you should check your tires for age and pressure. Two tires just don't blow out for no reason. Find the reason before something bad happens.