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Old 04-04-2019, 07:26 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Hurricane 34J
State: Florida
Posts: 189
THOR #14384
Thor Water heater install could have been deadly.

I've seen this documented by several other folks on this site, and I had my own experience yesterday.

Last outing the 110v side of the water heater didn't work. Put it on my to look at list.

Last night I dug in. On my RV the WH is under the sink. I pulled a panel that keeps pots/pans from sliding back to the WH and such, then I had to drain the heater as the access to the plastic box on the back of the WH was blocked by the cold water line. After pulling the plug and then the lines, I opened the box to find a mess. At this point I turned off the circuit breaker to all AC in the coach as I don't trust thors breaker panel labeling yet.

Inside was the 3 wires for providing power to the element in a semi burned/semi melted mess.



Here is a closeup of the wires after I pulled them out of the mess.



So I cut the wires off on both sides to get to good unmelted wire and instead of using normal wire nuts I used Ideal Mechanical Connectors ( 30-1294G )

https://www.grainger.com/product/IDE...onnector-6LU64

These brass connectors have a set screw that is what holds the wires together. Had I really been thinking I might have lock tighted them as well, but whatever. Here is an example of one before the cap is put on (and before the excess wire is trimmed).



After I screwed the plastic cap down (using pliers to hold the wires so they didn't twist) I added tape to keep anything from getting into the wire nut from below.

(sorry no picture, but I assume you know what a wire nut with electrical tape on it looks like).

I put everything back together and now my water heater works and I don't have to worry about a fire.

BTW, a parting look at a melted glob of wire nuts to scare you.


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Old 04-04-2019, 08:22 PM   #2
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2020 Magnitude SV34
State: Florida
Posts: 4,147
THOR #12751
Yikes! That is very scary!!!

You should send all those pictures to Thor to document what you found. You are certaily not the first. At some point these manufacturers are going to need to improve their quality control or it may cost someone their life.
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Old 04-04-2019, 08:25 PM   #3
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Hurricane 29M
State: Texas
Posts: 2,672
THOR #11781
Sending pictures to Thor is a waste of time, they already know they don't have any qualified people doing the wiring.
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Old 04-04-2019, 09:57 PM   #4
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Brand: Still Looking
Model: Tiffin Wayfarer 24 BW
State: New York
Posts: 22,195
THOR #8860
If they start getting these types of pictures: it'll make it easier for the lawyers to be successful, when a rig burns down with a family inside it!

I'm glad that you found and fixed this nightmare!
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Old 04-05-2019, 02:02 AM   #5
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State: Florida
Posts: 15
THOR #13655
I had same problem not melted as bad but when I opened box and touched wires they sparked they used wrong size wire nuts and connections were sparking and starting to melt I guess they don’t use electricians to wire these coaches SCARY I’m going to check all connections
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Old 04-05-2019, 04:06 PM   #6
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Hurricane 34J
State: Florida
Posts: 189
THOR #14384
I did send it to Thor as well. However even if they mend their ways, it won't help those who already have the units.
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Old 04-05-2019, 04:20 PM   #7
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Brand: Still Looking
Model: Tiffin Wayfarer 24 BW
State: New York
Posts: 22,195
THOR #8860
It might make them think about notifying their customers, to check these things out...
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Old 04-05-2019, 04:38 PM   #8
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2020 Magnitude SV34
State: Florida
Posts: 4,147
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You would think there would be a building electrical code that would apply to an RV's utilizing AC voltages and certain standards would need to be met and a certified inspector would need to review the workmanship and sign-off on it.
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Old 04-05-2019, 04:52 PM   #9
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Brand: Still Looking
Model: Tiffin Wayfarer 24 BW
State: New York
Posts: 22,195
THOR #8860
But that would take time: the one thing that the manufacturers have always been willing to sacrifice...
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Old 04-09-2019, 10:52 PM   #10
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2015 Hurricane 32n
State: Georgia
Posts: 186
THOR #2983
My 2015 built in December 2014 had the same issue. After a couple of tries CW fixed it. We shut off the water heater whenever we leave the coach, just in case.
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