My fireplace is sooo real!

[Tneagle]

So it's a cool Sunday afternoon and NFL is about to come on. We are at home however watch football in the camper. The reception is really good (air not cable). Anyway being cool I turned on the fireplace and got the standard fake flames. Then I push the "heat" button. BAM...REAL Flames start pouring out of the small heating unit on the top of the fireplace. Yes rolling out over the desk pullout and the top of the cabinet. For a second my mind was trying to grasp just what was happening. I turned it off as fast as I could. The front of all the wood turned black. I did not try to clean it. It's at the dealership now. DRV got right on it and will replace anything damaged and are replacing the fireplace. If this had waited one minute later to start burning I'm sure the whole thing could have gone up in flames.

[missourijan]

Yikes, sorry to hear that! Good thing you were right there

[Tneagle]

Yes I was getting ready to head to the house for snacks and stuff. Just getting the place warmed up first for the little woman.

[RustyJC]

Well, THAT's not good!! I don't think our fireplace has that feature - at least I hope not!!

Rusty

[Tneagle]

Originally Posted by RustyJC

Well, THAT's not good!! I don't think our fireplace has that feature - at least I hope not!!

Rusty

I asked, Greg, the DRV rep if this has happened before. He said no. They will be checking it out once they receive it from the dealership. He said there have been other problems like blowers and things like that but not fires.

[RustyJC]

I wonder if some packing material or ???? made its way down into the compartment with the heating elements and wasn't found on the dealer make-ready?

Rusty

[EA37TS]

Was this a Dimplex fireplace or some other model?

[Tneagle]

It's a Dimplex. This also wasn't the first time we have used it. After turning everything off and getting over the shock of what had just happened I gave it another try. Probably 15 min. later. This time I was prepared for what might happen. As soon as I hit the "heat" button I could see the heating element go to bright red followed by a spark then it went off and would not come back on. The weird thing was that the first time when the flames came pouring out there wasn't any popping or strange sounds, just flames.

Also...the remote would not turn on the heat. That's why I was standing right next to it when this happened.

[JBurg]

Wow! So glad this didn't turn into a bigger accident! Thank you for making us aware of the potential hazard. Yikes!!!

[EA37TS]

Thanks for the info. I have a Dimplex in my Challenger so I'll need to make I don't walk away from it if the heat function is on.

Do you think you could copy and paste the original post into the Maintenance and Repair section of the Forum since the Dimplex is used in more than DRVs? It might provide others that don't look at the DRV section a heads up as well.

[groswald]

I worked for a biiiiig company where something similar happened.

One of our products became a flamethrower for a brief period of time. It got the attention of leadership up to and including the CEO - immediately. I got to manage the response. I had access to any/all resources I needed to figure out why and correct the issue.

I was really proud of how the company handled that one!

Regards,

Randy

[rynosback]

WOW, glad that you caught it quickly and DRV is taking care of it for you. Makes me glad that I did not add that option.

[Tneagle]

Originally Posted by rynosback

WOW, glad that you caught it quickly and DRV is taking care of it for you. Makes me glad that I did not add that option.

Well this could have been a freak incident. We really like the fireplace. There are thousands of these out in the market now. Every manufacturer has them in thier units. I mean sh#t happens. If this is not an isolated case then there should be a major recall. Otherwise there will be some huge law suits following.

[JBurg]

Originally Posted by Tneagle

Well this could have been a freak incident. We really like the fireplace. There are thousands of these out in the market now. Every manufacturer has them in thier units. I mean sh#t happens. If this is not an isolated case then there should be a major recall. Otherwise there will be some huge law suits following.

My wife absolutely had to have the fireplace, and we do use it frequently. It's on right now, actually. Since this thread we have stopped leaving it on in our absence.

[Tneagle]

I'll let all know what the final outcome of this is when I get it back.

[Timon]

I looked at the service manual. The heater is a separate module in a metal housing. For it to produce flames to the level that was seen really bothers me since there shouldn't be combustable materials in it which should produce such a large amount of flames.

I'd sure like to see pictures.

[Tneagle]

Here's the pic if I did this correctly.

[Timon]

That is exactly where the heating unit is. Very strange, we'll all be waiting to see what they find. I will personally since I was looking at putting one in the house. Not the same model but a Dimplex none the same.

[Tneagle]

Well here's the good news...the dealer was able to clean the wood surfaces so no damange there. DRV is replacing the fireplace but looks like it will be a few weeks before it arrives. Though I do wish we were fulltiming it right now we're not. So missing a few football games is the only thing we have to gripe about. Hey...life is good! It will probably be awhile before I find out the root cause of the fire.

[talltexan]

Tneagle, We did not opt to get the fireplace on our new Elite Suites and were thinking about changing our minds and having one installed. What model of Dimplex fireplace did your trailer come with?