Girard Customer Service - Excellent!

[Judge]

After picking my Outlaw 29H from the dealer after a bunch of warranty work, I have been fighting problems that weren't problems when I dropped it off.

First I had Leveler issues but fixed it my self by replacing the Pressure Switch on the manifold.

Then I was getting an E5 message on the control panel in the bathroom for the Girard GSWH-2 water heater. At first I thought it was just because the unit was winterized and the gas and water was off. I started to de-winterize it and found the E5 error code was a legitimate issue.

After going through the troubleshooting manual, I narrowed it down to the blower motor (most likely) or control board.

I called Girard Customer Service and the guy on the other end was very nice. I am seeing 24V at the blower connector on the control board so he is pretty sure it is a bad blower motor. He asked me when I bought the unit and he told me they would send me the part and even pay for labor to have it replaced.

I told him I could replace it if he sent me the part. He took the serial number for the water heater, my VIN number and make and model of RV and said he would send out the part today and I should have it next week.

I just wanted to give Girard a shout-out for great customer service and working to get me the part right away!

I know some people have had issues with the GSWH-2 but once we figured out the right water pressure and just setting the temperature and using the hot only, we really liked the way it was working.

My biggest heartburn right now is my dealer did not do a thorough check of the unit before turning it over to me after their warranty work. Both the Levers and Hot Water Tank had error codes and they tried to pass it off as a weak battery from the rig sitting waiting till I could pick it up.

[Mars8224]

Simular problem call Girard was blower sent and i installed. Cannot thank them enough.

[Judge]

Originally Posted by Mars8224

Simular problem call Girard was blower sent and i installed. Cannot thank them enough.

Good to hear!

I have a couple questions for you.....

1) Did they send you just the motor or the entire assembly with the fan and exhaust tube? I'm guessing they sent you just the motor but their parts list shows the entire fan and exhaust assembly as the blower motor.

2) I assume you did the replacement yourself. How difficult was it? I do a lot of work myself. It doesn't look too bad but things are a little tight coupled with the wiring and plumbing.

[Judge]

Well.... I am even more impressed with Girard's customer service. I spoke to them Thursday morning and they said they would ship out the new blower motor under warranty. I have to travel on business next week so I figured it would be here when I came back and I could see if it fixed the hot water heater error code.

The blower showed up today via FedEx Home Delivery!!! Needless to say very impressive!

The good news is the new blower did fix the E5 error code and we have hot water again!

The replacement is a bit tricky even thought it does not look too complicated. The challenge is that it is a very tight space to work in the GSWH-2 and there is not a lot of extra wiring length to remove connectors to get at things. You just have to take your time and be careful so as not to damage anything.

They actually sent the entire housing, fan, exhaust and blower motor as one unit. The real challenge is the housing has four screws in the back on top of the heat exchanger; two on each side. There is no room for a screwdriver or socket with a phillips head. I was going to see if I could borrow or buy a right-angle racheting screwdriver but then I saw that the motor and could be removed from the housing with 4 screws that were a little easier to get to.

I decided to remove the old blower motor and fan and leave the housing in place. I then removed the new blower assembly and installed it in the existing housing. It took some patience and care to get everything carefully reassembled so as not to damage anything.

After getting it buttoned up, I hooked up the water, turned on the propane and then turned on the power...... and then there was hot water again!

It is a little disappointing that the blower motor failed in less than a year but Girard's customer service was great and easy to deal with to get the part I needed.

[Mars8224]

Originally Posted by Judge

Good to hear!

I have a couple questions for you.....

1) Did they send you just the motor or the entire assembly with the fan and exhaust tube? I'm guessing they sent you just the motor but their parts list shows the entire fan and exhaust assembly as the blower motor.

2) I assume you did the replacement yourself. How difficult was it? I do a lot of work myself. It doesn't look too bad but things are a little tight coupled with the wiring and plumbing.

I had to buy , was sent the entire assembly.The hardest thing to was disconnect the propane line. Once unit was out took about 10min.to change. Don't forget to leak test after you connect the propane line.

[Bob Denman]

I'm glad to hear that they worked with you to solve your problem, and got the necessary parts to you quickly!

... Even if the Dealer didn't...

[Judge]

Originally Posted by Mars8224

I had to buy , was sent the entire assembly.The hardest thing to was disconnect the propane line. Once unit was out took about 10min.to change. Don't forget to leak test after you connect the propane line.

I didn’t disconnect the propane. I removed the main control board and it’s mounting bracket.

I saw the entire blower housing was mounted to the heat exchanger so I left the housing in place and just pulled out the motor and ran. Was a little tight quarters but I managed to get it down without pulling the entire internal unit out.

[10scDust]

The water heater;
Is it a dual system, where the choice is 110vac or propane?

Like the fridge has two systems to work.

[Judge]

Originally Posted by 10scDust

The water heater;
Is it a dual system, where the choice is 110vac or propane?

Like the fridge has two systems to work.

Unfortunately it is propane only. I was looking at those options in case I have to replace this one at some point.

The Girard On Demand is pretty nice. You need to have about 50psi of water pressure and then you just set the temperature you want on the control panel and you never turn on the cold water. It does a good job of keeping the same temperature.

[Snooker_ML]

I agree their customer service techs are great - they always answer the phone and answer questions. I've had a couple of less than great answers but mostly good. My big issue is my Thor Tiburon 24RW has the Girard heater in the slide out, and when the slide is out it kinks off both the water AND the propane lines, so the flow is reduced AND the flame is too low. The water heats up from 70 to 80 and that's it. Pull the slider in and it works great. It's under warranty and Camping World said they are going to put in new lines and re-route them.

But what a stupid design or manufacturing issue IMHO. The lines get smashed like a pyramid folding in half.