Someone posted a problem with their Atwood Heater on their Axis. They said Thor said the cover had the louvers punched in wrong causing water to enter and short circuit a board....mine appears to be made the same way. I am attaching a picture so you can see how the louvers would allow water to enter. Tell us what you think...
I have same model. I went thru my dealer and Thor sent me new door with decal.the new door doesnt have louvers
Doc, I know it is summer now, but have you tried your furnace with the new cover in place to make sure it works ok? I was wondering where the combustion air intake is if the louvers are eliminated.
The combustion air intake is around the square part of the stainless steel neck. Only the center round tube is the exhaust.
THe heater worked fine this past winter, we camp all year long so we do not winterize (so...small heater in RV set at 40 degrees, shore power all the time, sink cabinet doors open). I had the same question and the tech pointed out that as Beacher states above the intake is around the chrome exhaust.
Doc
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Sheree & Michael NCNG LTC(ret) with Munpi, RC and Sheba (cat).
2019 Nexus Viper 27V, E-450, 5 speed "Ms. Enterprise", Infotainment Center, HUD, , Safe-T-Plus, Curt SpareTire Mount, ext. WiFi Antenna, Roadmaster Tow Sys& Invisibrake.
Resurrecting an older but still relevant thread, at least to me. Same issue with my 2015 ACE 27.1, upside down inside out louvers. Just recently found out about the problem. Since I'm in Florida, heater use is pretty limited, so I had no knowledge of the problem. Last spring, during a cool snap, clicked it on; it ran a few seconds, then shut down without lighting. After I did some research, I pulled the panel to see what the control board error indicator was flashing. Half an inch of rusty water poured out!
Bottom line, the furnace is beyond repair, and must be replaced, to the tune of $1736.28. Ouch! My Good Sam Extended Service Plan has rejected the claim, stating this is an exclusion due to Thor installing “defective parts”. In addition, they also rejected it because of a “rust exclusion” and a “water leaks” exclusion. They were quite rude about it.
I've also contacted Thor, and the fella I spoke says he has no knowledge of it. He did ask me to send an email with pictures of the louvered and newer non-louvered doors, plus a short write-up of the problem. That was yesterday, so I'm still waiting.
If they also turn me down, not sure what the next step should be.
Resurrecting an older but still relevant thread, at least to me. Same issue with my 2015 ACE 27.1, upside down inside out louvers. Just recently found out about the problem. Since I'm in Florida, heater use is pretty limited, so I had no knowledge of the problem. Last spring, during a cool snap, clicked it on; it ran a few seconds, then shut down without lighting. After I did some research, I pulled the panel to see what the control board error indicator was flashing. Half an inch of rusty water poured out!
Bottom line, the furnace is beyond repair, and must be replaced, to the tune of $1736.28. Ouch! My Good Sam Extended Service Plan has rejected the claim, stating this is an exclusion due to Thor installing “defective parts”. In addition, they also rejected it because of a “rust exclusion” and a “water leaks” exclusion. They were quite rude about it.
I've also contacted Thor, and the fella I spoke says he has no knowledge of it. He did ask me to send an email with pictures of the louvered and newer non-louvered doors, plus a short write-up of the problem. That was yesterday, so I'm still waiting.
If they also turn me down, not sure what the next step should be.
They're aware of it and have even supplied replacement doors.
Thor replaced the bad board and new cover for the heater area under warranty at no cost. See Pictures, the new cover has NO Vents, the old one has vents opening forward (sucked the water right in and onto the circuit board). The new panel came with a new trim piece that has 6 screws holding the cover in place instead of 4 screws.
Thor replaced the bad board and new cover for the heater area under warranty at no cost. See Pictures, the new cover has NO Vents, the old one has vents opening forward (sucked the water right in and onto the circuit board). The new panel came with a new trim piece that has 6 screws holding the cover in place instead of 4 screws.
Update on my problem. It's been a busy week! Spoke with Thor again, and their line is that Dometic/Atwood is handling the problem. Dometic says the original door is functioning as designed, that it was purposely designed to take on water, and that there is nothing wrong with that design. Um, except that a little later they went to the doors with no louvers and relocating the control board so it won't get wet and short out. (Isn't that a tacit admission to a design flaw??) Oh, and the new door is also designed to leak, through the exhaust vent and the "seals".
They continue to insist that my problem is an installation issue. From one of their emails: "There are weep holes in the furnace door and bezel to allow this water to weep out. If the installation is done correctly then the weep holes would not allow the rust damage that you show in the pictures. By over tightening the screws and by covering the weep holes with the bezel installation, the water has nowhere to run off as was designed." Their bottom line is that it's not their problem, and they will continue to refuse to help me.
So, back to Thor. They say it's not their problem, either, but did invite me to send pictures, a description, and Dometic's emails to them. The CSR even gave me his email address, so it won't get lost in the general customer service emails. He rightly says he can't promise anything, but will take it to his managers and see what, if anything, they can do. That was on Friday; can't expect to hear back until some time next week.
Meanwhile, since we've got a long trip north to Maine and other areas coming up shortly, I went ahead and bit the bullet and had the furnace replaced. Wow, my heart goes out to my new service people! The flat rate book says 1.2 hours; it took them just short of four, and they had to take the old furnace apart to get it out, owing to a hold-down screw in the back they couldn't see nor access! So, take that, bank accounts!
This is all very frustrating. A furnace shouldn't rust out beyond repair in less than three years. Neither company wants to admit to causing the problem. I bought the coach in good faith; I didn't build the furnace nor install it, so I didn't cause the problem.
I have the same issue and Thor won't replace the panel since I am out of warranty. Does anybody have a DIY fix.
Yes, If you do a search, you should find where a guy made up a hood for the louvers and that solved his problem.
Like you, Thor did not offer to send me a correct cover. I keep my louvers and exhaust taped over most of the time to keep insects etc.. out and I usually don't have to use it being in FL and traveling mostly to moderately warm areas. Although, I do keep a couple of small elec. heaters with me to use when the temps dip into the 20's in southern high desert areas out west.
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Former owner of 2015 Thor Vegas 24.1 in Ocala
I just checked my 2016 Axis exterior heater panel cover. My vents are directly above the exhaust port. They are factory punched inward. I pulled the panel and found a rubber gasket on the entire inside of the panel. The gasket stops any water from intruding on the circuit panel inside. There is a metal sleeve inside that closes off the circuit board from the vents. I see no damage on our 2 year old Axis.
Update on this. This vent defect was allowing water into my 2016 Challenger GT. This water ended up soaking 100% of the bedroom OSB floor OSB 50% of the bathroom flooring. It was a moisture reading of 100%. Turns out to be a $25,000 fix. It even started to climb op the walls. insurance will not cover as it was not a sudden event and was also due to a manufacturer's defective part. Once known, it was a really simple fix, but alas, the damage was done.
Aussie,
Sorry it hit you that hard. We found out about the vents early on and it was covered under warranty as the rain/water only messed up the water heater plus...we caught it early enough that "collateral damage" was minimal.
We became "SOB"s (Some Other Brand) in 2019 with a purchase of a Nexus Viper 27 Class C (or B+ depending on the fine tuning of the definition of Class C, as we do not have a sleeper over the driving compartment it is storage and the place for the main TV). Be that as it may, the first thing I did prior to purchase was to confirm the water heater venting...no vents were present (like the replacement cover I showed in my original August 2018 posting on this thread).
If any of my old friends on this Forum read this reply, Sheree and I are doing fine, I retired in August of 2020, we moved to Georgia and still enjoy RV'ing...even as SOB's.
DocMike
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Sheree & Michael NCNG LTC(ret) with Munpi, RC and Sheba (cat).
2019 Nexus Viper 27V, E-450, 5 speed "Ms. Enterprise", Infotainment Center, HUD, , Safe-T-Plus, Curt SpareTire Mount, ext. WiFi Antenna, Roadmaster Tow Sys& Invisibrake.
I had the issue early in the heater, I found the panel to be inop. THOR reimbursed after i sent old unit in. NO problems ever since. The schematic is on the door. When the AC pwr to the unit was turned on, the solenoid would not close and turn on the heater.
I have since coated the exposed terminals, plugs and exposed wiring with a Flex Seal type product. That being said, this panel and refrg look good coming out of showroom, but have no weather protection against the elements.
Aussie,
Sorry it hit you that hard. We found out about the vents early on and it was covered under warranty as the rain/water only messed up the water heater plus...we caught it early enough that "collateral damage" was minimal.
We became "SOB"s (Some Other Brand) in 2019 with a purchase of a Nexus Viper 27 Class C (or B+ depending on the fine tuning of the definition of Class C, as we do not have a sleeper over the driving compartment it is storage and the place for the main TV). Be that as it may, the first thing I did prior to purchase was to confirm the water heater venting...no vents were present (like the replacement cover I showed in my original August 2018 posting on this thread).
If any of my old friends on this Forum read this reply, Sheree and I are doing fine, I retired in August of 2020, we moved to Georgia and still enjoy RV'ing...even as SOB's.
DocMike
Good to hear you guys are doing well. We also traded our 2016 Axis in (after replacing our 2014 Vegas with the Axis) for a class B Winnebago Travato (SOB) and have been very happy. We bought a place in Nova Scotia so we use the RV primarily as transportation from Florida to Canada so the Class B meets our needs. We purchased it in Jan 2020, just as Covid was starting and we couldn’t get into Canada during 2020 and until August 2021. So the first real trip was a two month trip to Utah and Colorado and we were surprised how well we did in the smaller space. We leave for Nova Scotia in two weeks, so it’s time for all those little things you need to do to get ready.
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