'06 Aspect Fire!

[Hemlig25]

I pulled into Home Depot parking lot. Park my '06 Aspect and go into the store. Walking to the back of the store I get a call from a buddy of mine saying my RV was on fire.

When I came out of the store (in a full sprint) I see smoke, I see that they have my rear storage access open that sits next to my water heater, I see that they have my closet door open on the inside of the RV. We don't see fire exactly but we see smoke. I proceed to remove the panels inside of the closet and all the wires were melted due to the heat that was produced.

There are visible signs of fire on the inner side of the panels. My galley light switch, porch light switch and electronic step on/off switch...all melted and fused together, bathroom light switch too. Collateral damage would consist of no water pump, no running water, intermittent electrical anomalies like when plugged into shore power house batteries do not charge, house lights are dimm even when plugged in. House batteries do not hold a charge AT ALL! Generator will start & run like a champ...next day, nothing!

I have full coverage but I'm a little up in the air as to who to bring it to. Dealership has not helped me one bit in spite of me purchasing a warranty to the tune of $4,000.00. (That dealership would be "Giant R.V. in Montclair" if anyone was wondering). They charge $168.00/hr and cant seem to even get to your rig inside of 2-weeks! Horrible!

I live in my R.V. so I would want as little 'idle time' sitting and waiting to be looked at even. I'm sure I have a question in there somewhere. If you find it please let me know ok. On a more serious note though I want to know how & why it happened.

[Morich]

We would need lots more facts on what was going on before we could really get a good idea as there are lots of things that "might" lead to a fire.
One is the water heater. Was it running so the flame could be the cause? Anything flammable in the compartment? Things like labels that peel and fall off can get be set on fire.
What electrical was be used? Was the generator used? Both can get defects and make them run hot enough to burn things if not well maintained. some folks store the rag they check oil on or near the benerator! Bad idea as oil burns really easy.
Defects in simple wiring can let them get hot and start a fire and they usually do it while being used, so what was running at the time?
Defective brake lines can shoot fluid on hot parts!
A lit cigarette dropped down in the closet can set for hours before getting enough air to blaze!
Just too many things to say which it was without doing a really good look at things.

A smart move would be to NOT sleep in the thing until fully checked and repaired. Those dim lights mean things are damaged and that means they are prone to catching fire!!!!
I would go to my insurance and let them lead the way on where to take it to repair. Depends on your insurance policy as they may have specific places for repairs if covered.

[al1florida]

You are going to need someone well experienced in RV diagnosis and repair to assist you.

I suggest you look for a Mobile RV repair person in your area to come assist you.

With the amount of damage you have, that person may not be the best person to do the repairs, but they will be able to advise you on how to proceed. You may need a covered place to do extensive repairs.

I did an internet search for "mobile RV repair chino California" and got a few hits. One of which is from "Yelp" : https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=rvr...oc=chino%2C+ca

I suggest you do more research for mobile RV repair than I just did. You can contact some of the RV Parks in your area and see if they can recommend a Mobile RV Repair person they recommend to their guests.

[creativepart]

So, sorry for your problem.

But, I would guess that the two weeks the dealer is quoting is optimistic.

Your Extended Warranty will either not help at all or will be so limited as to not be of any help. First, they'll have to decide what caused the fire, then they'll have to decide if that's covered under your warranty and finally depending on your coverage that most likely won't pay for all the other damage - just that one covered item. If you have ancillary coverage.... maybe they cover some.

All of that will simply slow you down.

Presumably you have RV vehicle insurance on the RV. If you do, that could be the most helpful, but I'd bet they'll simply total the RV and give you the adjusted NADA value. In most cases like this vehicle insurance will total an RV as it's far too expensive to fix.

Either way, it's going to be a very long process. Perhaps you need to find another RV to buy and move into. Either that or find an apartment to rent.

Unlike other posters... I doubt an RV with fire damage and melted wiring and electronics is ever going to be repairable and if it were me I'd abandon that idea immediately. Of course, it's up to you. Just be realistic.

Hard luck no doubt. Hopefully, you're prepared to deal with it.

[al1florida]

It is awfully hard to make a diagnosis of the amount of damage that has been done and what it would take to fix it without actually viewing the damage.

That is where a mobile RV Tech would really help.

As others have written, the value of a 14 year old RV is so low, does mean insurance companies will calculate that the cost to repair exceeds the book value of the RV and then total the RV.

However the insurance company still has to pay you the value of the RV. If you can find someone to fix the RV for that amount of money or just a little more you can keep the RV. You don't have to give up the RV just because it is totaled. Although I am not sure you could insure the RV again once it has been totaled.

For this to work you need to find a way to determine the costs and values involved.

[Morich]

It is awfully hard to make a diagnosis of the amount of damage that has been done and what it would take to fix it without actually viewing the damage.

This is for sure true but then it gets into lots of small details and what we each consider DIY. Many things that insurance will consider totalled are very much in the DIY realm if we are ready. The wiring to replace switches is easy enough for me to tackle. Plumbing if involved gets a bit harder but if it gets into framing and replacing outside panels, I don't often go there as it never seems to match well enough for me to want to redo.
Pumps batteries and genset problems are to be expected when there is a wiring meltdown, so they may not be any big deal at all once the obvious problems are cleared or melted wiring disconnected. Melted wires often run down batteries, run down batteries often keep the gennie from starting, they for sure keep the water pump from running, so it requires a closer look.

[Goodspike]

You almost need a fire expert to determine the initial source of combustion. I'm not sure an RV mechanic would be up to that task.

I'd assume some if not all of your electrical wiring melting is due to fire as opposed to current. If there is a wire that has damaged insulation outside the area of the fire, that circuit would be a likely source of the fire if it was an electrical fire.

A question for others. What happens to a gas water heater if you operate it without being full of water?

[youracman]

Doing a quick Google search I found this:
https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/f...d/26277605.cfm

The info in that 8-yr-old post would only apply, I believe, if the OP had the heater on in the electric mode (with the Genny running for power) when he parked and went into HD. Bound to be lots of other potential failure modes, but the link provides interesting reading in any event.

The OP's coach and mine are in the same ballpark as far as current value goes; I believe State Farm would almost certainly total mine with extensive wire damage and smoke damage. Tough.

Sorry for your troubles and I hope this gets resolved to your satisfaction soon, Hemlig25

[al1florida]

I know what happens with an electric residential water heater if you turn it on w/o water in it. It burns up the electric heating element since there is no water to keep it cool. No real harm done other than needing to replace the heating element. I did this years ago at a hunting camp 20 miles from town. I did not enjoy my drive to get parts.

I assume a RV water heater operated on electric w/o water would do the same as a residential one would.

As to a gas water heater in an RV without water in it? I would think that after a few minutes the place on the tank where the thermostat is located would heat up enough and cut off the flame. The part of the tank where the flame hits would be overheated though. Enough to cause a fire???? Don't know for sure. It is good to note that the flame, or the part of the tank exposed to the flame, is contained inside the water tank enclosure and not directly exposed to the walls or floor of the RV.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by al1florida

I assume a RV water heater operated on electric w/o water would do the same as a residential one would.

Yep, I'm pretty sure that's right. I once complained to a rental place that the electrical didn't work on the heater and they said they would be constantly replacing them because so many people make that mistake of running the electrical without water.

Now I assume the rental places typically fill the tanks with water, so there must be some way of running them out of water, particularly if a check valve is stuck or has been removed.

If it could cause a fire you'd think that the gas system would be designed to shut down, as you hypothesized. That would be a reasonable assumption, but I don't know that it's correct. Maybe time to search Youtube.

Edit: The only thing I found in a quick search was an RV water heater where the tube that carries the gas into the burn chamber was filled with ladybugs! The guy filming claimed it could cause the fire to start out near the door to access the heater. I think you'd probably have to have some flame inside the chamber too, but I suppose something like that is possible.

[Hemlig25]

Thank you for the suggestions. No smokers though and the burn marks are on the inside of the closet panels. Yes the eager pump and the water heater were engaged at the time but the generator was not running nor was the motor started. The Styrofoam that surrounds the water heater was melted away. It seems to have started in an area not accessible otherwise. I mean I had to remove panels to get to it. Just behind the electrical panel in the space beneath the closet. I'll try to attach some pics but yes...i need some body to get a first hand look at it.

[Morich]

So without AC running/connected, it leaves the DC power and fire starting from the water heater burner, both of which can do the job.
Things collect around the burn area of the heater if we don't keep it clean. Wasps do not always build in the burn tube but may build out a bit more where they don't block airflow but could catch fire as their nest does burn well enough to catch other stuff on fire. Collected bits of the insulation foam, maybe?
A home electric water heater is different than the Rv I've seen in that it is much harder to get all the water out of them if we don't open the drain plug but in a home it is easy to do if the right conditions are set. One is if the house is on a hill and the incoming lines go downhill are opened to let the water siphon down to drain the heater and let the element burn out. I ran into this at a community well on Table Rock Lake in Missouri. When we had a leak to fix in the line downhill from one house who had electric water heating, we had to be aware to cut off their water before the system went too low or it did ruin his heater element.

[AZAspect]

Hemlig25, did you ever get your situation troubleshooted and resolved? Thanks!

Al