Well our Disney trip was going fantastic until I woke up early to the heater cycling like it was out of gas. Went out around 6am to a completely flooded campsite, water everywhere. I immediately saw the inlet hose had a hole in it and cut off the spigot, thinking it was spraying against the side and just dripping. No, it had to spray in the only open hole on any camper, the exhaust port. Water shot in there all night, soaking that compartment and flooding the underbelly. One section I cut had at least 10 gallons in it and I cut two more places. I guess a kid caught the hose with his foot maybe, pulling it over in front of the vent, causing it to melt. Crappy design by Jayco but it's never been an issue, never even thought about it. One inch left or right and the water wouldn't have gone in. Guys, with 32 BHDS's learn from this and pay attention to the hose at the vent when using the heater. I've filed a claim and dropped it off at the dealer. I guess we'll see what happens. Bout to go buy and tent and be done !

Apparently whoever did the design at Jayco never heard of Murphy's Law. :S

I'll have to say, that is one of the most bizarre mishaps I have ever heard of! :S It does seem like a bad bit of engineering.

Sorry to hear of your bad luck!! That sure looks like a poor design, a bad place to have heater outlet. I'm sure others, with that design, had a similar experience. That water hookup could have been installed in a better spot, if the furnace outlet needed to be there.Hope the rest of your vacation goes well!!Jerry

Too bad it's out of warranty. Ide take it back to the dealer and explain to them that exhaust from anything gets hot and will melt anything near it! That is too bad! It could have been a lot worse, and I couldn't think of a better place to have a problem! LOL

CampingN.C. wrote:Crappy design by Jayco but it's never been an issue, never even thought about it.Poor design to be sure but so poor I would have thought it obvious and therefore something you'd be particularly careful to avoid by ensuring the hose is always dressed well away from the furnace exhaust. I'd also question why your water pressure regulator is connected at the camper when it should be connected at the tap so it can also protect the potable water hose from excessive pressure. :hAlthough this is clearly a poor design, warranty normally covers defects in assembly so I doubt you'll see any willingness from Jayco to cover the cost of damage and will most likely label this as "operator error". :(

Can't win for losing.....Update | Good Sam Community

westend
Explorer
Dec 07, 2016
If it was me, I'd remove some covers and get some fans going. I'd never trust anyone repairing my trailer to be cautious and prudent.
CampingN_C_
Explorer
Dec 07, 2016
Update:
Insurance approved the claim estimate from the dealer of $2200. They're saying they will re-insulate where I removed it and replace the entire Darco underbelly material.

I asked him if they had to remove the bottom layer of aluminum and he said no. Personally, I don't see how they can replace it without doing that. It goes up the wall, you don't see the end of it.

Obviously, I need to get more info on him as too how they will do the work. I'm still concerned about water that may still be hiding but he seems to think it's fine.

Not sure where to go from here, but at least it's been approved.
pasusan
Explorer
Nov 24, 2016
I'm thinking that cardboard packaging boxes are engineered better than most RVs. :R

Good luck OP!
Scottiemom
Nomad
Nov 23, 2016
CampingN.C. wrote:
I didn't quite understand that comment either. I can go out back and cut a tree down on the house and they'll pay for my "operator error".

I marvel at how perfect people are, don't you, CampingN.C.? Just this spring we had to have a serpentine belt put on after getting our Tiffin Phaeton towed when the old one broke. The access panel to do this is the back closet floor. Some moron at the factory laid the floor of the W/D all the way across which means to lift that access panel, you must remove the W/D and the frame of the closet. Fortunately, DH said, "Give me 15 minutes" and pulled out his saws all and "got 'er done." Who 'da thunk? That isn't the only thing we've scratched our heads about. In the 11 years since we bought the rig new, there have been many.

Sounds like you still had a great trip to Disney with the kids. Glad you were able to enjoy that part.

Dale
Lantley
Nomad
Nov 23, 2016
I agree you should have no problem filing a claim simply because the trailer has a major design flaw. However insurance does have a limit.
They can deny a claim based on negligence.
Cut a tree limb directly over trailer with no precaution taken can be denied.
Set a hose on top of the stove until it melts, breakes and floods trailer can be denied.
Insurances do have a stupidity/negligence clauses.
CampingN_C_
Explorer
Nov 23, 2016
I didn't quite understand that comment either. I can go out back and cut a tree down on the house and they'll pay for my "operator error".
Huntindog
Explorer
Nov 23, 2016
SoundGuy wrote:
Bionic Man wrote:
And, an observation. It sure would be nice to not have the "you should have known better" posts. Accidents can happen to anyone. :R

CampingN.C. wrote:
Thanks, it would be nice indeed to not have those posts.

Actually what I said was - "Poor design to be sure but so poor I would have thought it obvious and therefore something you'd be particularly careful to avoid by ensuring the hose is always dressed well away from the furnace exhaust."

Sorry but your disapproval doesn't change my opinion ... yes, accidents "happen" but judging from your pics this one was an obvious accident waiting to happen. If this was your first use of a new camper I could see it but apparently you've owned this trailer for 3 years so by now you surely would have recognized the weakness of this layout and therefore taken steps to avoid such a possibility. You didn't and have now suffered for this oversight. Nevertheless, good luck with your insurance claim ... it would be interesting to hear how this turns out, whether your insurance company agrees with the basis of your claim. ;)
Oh they will pay.
Just about anything they pay for is because of a mistake someone made... Get in a accident, they pay. You can even be drunk and on drugs, they pay. Your car can be stolen and crashed. They pay.
Huntindog
Explorer
Nov 23, 2016
SoundGuy wrote:
CampingN.C. wrote:
Where did you read I was trying to run this as a warranty issue. I've turned it in on my insurance.

Sorry, but because you said - "I've filed a claim and dropped it off at the dealer" and because you obviously feel this is a really poor design error on Jayco's part I read that to mean you were attempting through your dealer to have Jayco step up to the plate even though you're beyond the trailer's factory warranty. Considering typical insurance deductibles I'd question whether that's going to do anything for you either considering this could easily be interpreted as "operator error", despite the admittedly poor design.
"operator error" is exactly what insurance pays for.
Lantley
Nomad
Nov 23, 2016
Very poor design. That set up was an accident waiting to happen from day one. Shame on Jayco.
While maybe too late to save the OP. Hopefully the photos will save someone else some grief. Sometimes we learn our best lessons from mistakes.
path1
Explorer
Nov 23, 2016
Over the years had a toilet valve break and a water pipe behind shower wall leak. Both cost lots of money to fix.

Our city water connection gets used very little anymore. Even have a little LED light on the outside to remind us and make sure the water pump is off before we leave our site.

When something breaks...the city water has unlimited supply of water...and just using the water pump from the fresh water tank, only 40 gallon supply.

RV OEM's really think things out don't they? Our stove vent is right in the middle of my ladder. Replaced twice so far, I need to order smaller feet:)

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