multiple problems with new Forest River

[Campin_Family_o]

We purchased our new Forest River Heritage Glen 26 RL last May from Creaticebus sales based out of Chino CA. When we started using it on various trips I noticed several major flaws:
BATTERY: It only came with one battery and it does not hold a charge! I keep it plugged in at home and the first night camping the meter is down to 1/2! We FROZE in Yosemite last week because the heater would shut off. This was after running the genny for 6 hours to recharge and bringing a second battery to help. Could there be a short or draw in the system reducing the charge?
FRESH WATER TANK: Our old Wildwood had a 50 gal tank with no problems and this new one says it has 40 gal. I leave with a full tank but I think half of it goes out the overflow tube as we're driving! It's frustrating getting to a campsite and running out of water by the third day! We are very frugal too, mostly using it for flushing and brushing. Anyone else notice water coming out of the new overflow tubes? Can I put a shut off valve on it?
HEATER: With the new LED Dometic thermostat, I end up having the heater go on but also the AC is blowing too! Not too cold of air but still it goes on. The heater vents are a joke too, not much air flow in the main area and bedroom. The small circular vent in the bathroom is the one that's working well, but who wants to sit on the toilet with your wife on your lap trying to keep warm??
Sorry for the long post, I thought I'd throw these problems out there to see if anyone has some ideas. The customer service is a joke, they don't return calls and they don't have a dealer around Northern Ca to help. Any ideas?

[Ron3rd]

Most trailers come with one battery nowadays. You need 2 batteries for sure. My FR Windjammer came with one Interstate RV/Marine battery and I had the dealer add another one for about $100. Other than that, we've had no issues with our FR trailer. Your stuff sounds minor and easy to fix.

[dodge_guy]

Regarding the fresh water vent. I ran a piece of clear hose from the vent to the unused vent at the water fill. This fixed the water loss on our previous Cherokee. Haven’t done it on our current Cherokee because I realized that I never travel with more than 7 gallons of water, I fill up when I get to my destination.

On my heater vents I closed off a 1/3 of the rear bedroom vent because the bunk room was like an oven. This helped out in the living area because it forced more heat out those vents. Now the trailer is evenly heated by the furnace.

As I said before, you are going to have to upgrade to two large batteries (amp hours) to be able to dry camp. One night on a cheap battery the dealer put in will kill it!

[JBarca]

double post deleted

[JBarca]

Campin Family of 5 wrote:


BATTERY: It only came with one battery and it does not hold a charge! I keep it plugged in at home and the first night camping the meter is down to 1/2! We FROZE in Yosemite last week because the heater would shut off. This was after running the genny for 6 hours to recharge and bringing a second battery to help. Could there be a short or draw in the system reducing the charge?


FRESH WATER TANK: Our old Wildwood had a 50 gal tank with no problems and this new one says it has 40 gal. I leave with a full tank but I think half of it goes out the overflow tube as we're driving!

Anyone else notice water coming out of the new overflow tubes? Can I put a shut off valve on it?


HEATER: With the new LED Dometic thermostat, I end up having the heater go on but also the AC is blowing too!

Not too cold of air but still it goes on. The heater vents are a joke too, not much air flow in the main area and bedroom. The small circular vent in the bathroom is the one that's working well,

Any ideas?

Hi,

I sense your frustration, getting a new camper should not be this way, but it happens too many times. I'll type on some things that might be part of the problem to help you find some resolution. I do not know your specific camper so I may be off base on the AC unit but the rest should be close.

On the battery, you did not say what size it was but I'm assuming the dealer put a single standard group 24 battery in. Yes/No?

Here are a few things that can be causing the problem.

1. Most all lead acid brand new deep cycle batteries will not reach 100% state of charge right away. You might get 90% maybe 85% from the get go. The battery needs many drain and recharge cycles before you will be able to get full capacity out of the battery when recharged. On this issue, all you can do is realize this happens until it gets broke in and deal with it accordingly. Increasing the size and amount of batteries will help but they too will be under capacity until broke in if they are new.

2. You did not say if your camper has LED lights, does it or does it still have the older 921 bulbs that draw 1.3 amps each? LED's are almost a mandate with cold weather camping and the furnace unless you have a real big battery bank.

3. Do you have a Dometic fridge and does this fridge have a "Climate control" heat strip in it for gasket condensation and is it turned on? They have a small rocker switch in the top left of the door seal area of the freezer. If you are boondocking make sure that is off.

4. Is the TV power antenna booster on? It draws power even if you are not using the TV.

5. Your 6 hours on the generator, yes that is a good amount of time, but if the battery is drawn down and the converter kicks into boost you may only get 80% to maybe 90% of charge. It take more then 6 hours at standard charge to get to 100% and then again, you have a new battery that is not going to get to 100% anyway for a while. Unless you have rewired the battery cables to be extra heavy, you can only pump so much current into the battery anyway with the standard size most RV manufactures provide

6. When you added the 2nd battery did you add it in parallel? or just change the battery? , Was the added battery a new one or an older one? When you wired it in, was the new dealer battery first on the battery cables and then you jumped to the second battery? The first new battery will shut the converter down to standard charge since it senses that new battery and the other battery that could take more charge can't get it. By changing the way you create 2 batteries in parallel with where the battery cables are, one main lead on the first battery and the other cable on the second battery and with parallel jumpers between the 2, it helps them charge and draw more equal.

7. Something does not sound right with your AC unit and the furnace. If you were boondocking, well the AC unit uses 120 VAC to run the fan motor? Well in most cases anyway they have 120 vac fan motors unless you have something different. If by chance that AC unit has some kind of fan in it that is 12 VDC, running the furnace motor and another motor in the AC unit is going to drain down that single or double group 24 battery real fast. You should sort out how to not have the AC fan run when boondocking. Just use the furnace motor blower.

Most Dometic units unless maybe there is a heat strip are normally interlocked so you cannot run the AC and furnace at the same time. There is an input on the AC control board to inhibit the furnace if the AC is on. We need more info on the make/model and options your AC has to help better.

8. When you say the meter showed 1/2 full on the battery, is that a tank gage LED light system or a real volt meter saying the exact voltage of the battery? The LED light gages are not that accurate compared to a true volt meter. If it was a volt meter, what was the voltage? And what was the resting voltage with nothing on in the camper?

The heat ducts, what BTU rating is the furnace?

The 40 gallon system, well that is what they built on that model. And notice I said, 40 gallon "system". Meaning 6 gallons is in the water heater, about 2 to 3 gallons in the piping and only 31 gallons in the tank that you can actually pump and use. That said, on our camper it has a 40 gallon system and we can go 4 days on that tank with showers and dishes once a day. I had to change some things to be able to not waste so much, like a different shower head with a single shut off and a choke/ valve setup on the bathroom sink faucet to not waste as much water. And only do dishes once a day.

The water tank loosing water, I have heard of this. You will have to look how the vent hose is routed. Some start a siphon and that will drain it quick, others splash out. If you start out at home with the with the system primed full and the tank full, and arrive at camp with 1/4 or more tank lost, well that's a problem and the tank vent is a normal suspect.

Hope this helps.

John

[Lynnmor]

TundraTower wrote:


As everyone says, you are probably losing fresh water out the overflow. My overflow tube is routed to below the water tank. Instead of installing a valve here, it would probably be safer to just splice on to the overflow tube and route it up higher in the frame ( but not above the tank top).

Agree on the no valve, but you need to route the vent to a place well above tank level or the spillage will continue.

[Ralph_Cramden]

bfast54 wrote:

Ralph Cramden wrote:

newman fulltimer wrote:
so how is a cheap battery forest river? Have you bothered to check your crappy wfco converter for proper output seeing its as well not forest river.The ac thats not forest river needs taken off auto to stop coming on.The non forest river heater might need properly sealed

A cheap battery is installed by the dealer but if it has a draw somewhere due to wiring done by FOREST RIVER it's a FOREST RIVER issue just the same as if their is a problem with the crappy WFCO converter chosen and installed by FOREST RIVER. Perhaps FOREST RIVER wired the thermostat wrong (they seem to have a major problem wiring up a simple set of speakers correctly so something as uncomplicated as a stat may be impossible) and not sealing the furnace they, FOREST RIVER, installed, is solely a FR issue also. I suspect however rushed construction and collapsed heat ducts.

OP, you can try posting over at Forest River forums but be prepared to get blasted by the FR Kool Aid drinkers, as everything is always the buyers fault. You'll no doubt be told to drag it 2/3's of the way across the country to their owners group / manufacturers sponsored rally in Goshen IN next August and everything will be fixed. If youv read through the travel trailer section there, specifically the Wildwood section, you'll find you are not alone in being handed a host of build issues.

Forest River can make a decent unit once in a great while, but most are shipped with a myriad of problems.... Any perception that some lines are better than others is simply fantasy. RV's are a by product of their main business which is making money, and keeping Warren and the Berkshire Hathaway investors happy.

I have owned 2 Forest River products, a Palomino and our current Rockwood, and will never own anything manufactured by them again. Attempting to get resolution at the factory level is an exercise in frustration with most of their divisions. You need to be attempting to contact Wildwood division who makes the Heritage Glen line and not the general Forest River contacts.

In regards to the other post by the OP about the plant location, it's 900 County Rd 1 Elkhart IN. Wildwood / Heritage Glen has dealers around Northern CA, however most Forest River dealers will not service a unit they did not sell. There is a reason for that and I won't get into it. Unfortunatly two of them are Camping World who carry Wildwood.

In regard to the address of 900 County Road 1 in Elkhart if you stop there with your trailer they're just going to laugh at you .....that's the factory where they build it---( that would not be there service facility)... you need to call Forest River the corporation and ask them where their service facility is .

however they would have to approve you bringing it to the service facility and that would be because of a major problem ...does not sound like you have a major problem sounds like you have minor problems.... that a rv tech or competent dealer should be able to figure out.


I am in Elkhart and surrounding areas probably 100 times a year and I've been to all the factories ..(I haul travel trailers)

To my knowledge Forest River has no centralized service facility. The individual divisions maintain their own service facilities and they're typically at the plant location. I don't know for sure about Wildwood, but Rockwood / Flagstaff maintains a service facility at the plant in Millersburg, Palomino's is at the plant in Colon MI, and Dynamax has theirs at the plant location also. In any case the OP needs to make contact with the Wildwood division. Contacting Forest River corporate will go nowhere.

[bfast54]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

newman fulltimer wrote:
so how is a cheap battery forest river? Have you bothered to check your crappy wfco converter for proper output seeing its as well not forest river.The ac thats not forest river needs taken off auto to stop coming on.The non forest river heater might need properly sealed

A cheap battery is installed by the dealer but if it has a draw somewhere due to wiring done by FOREST RIVER it's a FOREST RIVER issue just the same as if their is a problem with the crappy WFCO converter chosen and installed by FOREST RIVER. Perhaps FOREST RIVER wired the thermostat wrong (they seem to have a major problem wiring up a simple set of speakers correctly so something as uncomplicated as a stat may be impossible) and not sealing the furnace they, FOREST RIVER, installed, is solely a FR issue also. I suspect however rushed construction and collapsed heat ducts.

OP, you can try posting over at Forest River forums but be prepared to get blasted by the FR Kool Aid drinkers, as everything is always the buyers fault. You'll no doubt be told to drag it 2/3's of the way across the country to their owners group / manufacturers sponsored rally in Goshen IN next August and everything will be fixed. If youv read through the travel trailer section there, specifically the Wildwood section, you'll find you are not alone in being handed a host of build issues.

Forest River can make a decent unit once in a great while, but most are shipped with a myriad of problems.... Any perception that some lines are better than others is simply fantasy. RV's are a by product of their main business which is making money, and keeping Warren and the Berkshire Hathaway investors happy.

I have owned 2 Forest River products, a Palomino and our current Rockwood, and will never own anything manufactured by them again. Attempting to get resolution at the factory level is an exercise in frustration with most of their divisions. You need to be attempting to contact Wildwood division who makes the Heritage Glen line and not the general Forest River contacts.

In regards to the other post by the OP about the plant location, it's 900 County Rd 1 Elkhart IN. Wildwood / Heritage Glen has dealers around Northern CA, however most Forest River dealers will not service a unit they did not sell. There is a reason for that and I won't get into it. Unfortunatly two of them are Camping World who carry Wildwood.

In regard to the address of 900 County Road 1 in Elkhart if you stop there with your trailer they're just going to laugh at you .....that's the factory where they build it---( that would not be there service facility)... you need to call Forest River the corporation and ask them where their service facility is .

however they would have to approve you bringing it to the service facility and that would be because of a major problem ...does not sound like you have a major problem sounds like you have minor problems.... that a rv tech or competent dealer should be able to figure out.


I am in Elkhart and surrounding areas probably 100 times a year and I've been to all the factories ..(I haul travel trailers)

[TundraTower]

We ordered a 2014 FR Cherokee. It's one of the "cheap ones" but has given us outstanding service -- 15K miles and 150 nights so far. Thanks to YouTube, I've been able to fix almost all the minor problems rather than leaving at the dealer for 6 weeks for a 30 minute job. Biggest problem is that they come from the factory under-axled, so I had to spend a little money upgrading the axles/springs/tires/wheels last winter, but well worth the money.

As everyone says, you are probably losing fresh water out the overflow. My overflow tube is routed to below the water tank. Instead of installing a valve here, it would probably be safer to just splice on to the overflow tube and route it up higher in the frame ( but not above the tank top).

My Dometic thermostat will sometimes run both fans also but I have figured out that is operator error. Read the instructions (GASP !) and it will show you how to run just the fan you want.

Take a deep breath. In the overall scheme of things, none of the problems you mention are all that bad. At least you don't have water leaks or cracks in the frame. I think finding, fixing, or re-engineering these little problems is just part of RV'ing

[time2roll]

BATTERY and 12v system are designed to be plugged in while camping. You need to upgrade for off-grid camping.

FRESH WATER 40 gallons is not much but the vent pipe should be fixable. Probably less hassle to do this yourself.

HEATER do you have a heat pump or heat strip up in the air conditioner? Because if the actual A/C was coming on I don't think you would call it 'not too cold' as the actual A/C would be very cold when you need heat. As for the furnace vents it is typical for them to be inadequate. Ask the dealer to add some additional vents to the living space if you cannot do this yourself. Of course if you can find the existing is restricted fix that too.

Don't worry many new homes have issues too. Not just an RV thing. And good luck with the dealer or manufacturer swooping in with white gloves apologizing for your experience and making everything perfect. You may get some items under warranty but the rest is what it is.

[Ralph_Cramden]

SoundGuy wrote:
In the many years I've been reading forums I'm not aware of even a single incident that has been resolved by taking an issue to a public forum.

I have seen it at the Forest River Forums where someone comes in to the board, and a lot of times will be a new member and a first post, lay down a load of whining as you call it, and then a mod or the administrator of their owners group gets involved and you can assume the issue is taken care of. I say assume as those threads usually go deftly silent and ultimatly are deleted at some point.

You can also look at the official Grand Design forums or their Facebook groups, and see where publically posting has obtained results for buyers.

As far as this forum, I don't think anything will get resolved with any manufacturer, dealer, or especially any the forum owners entities by publically posting. It my get that canned response from Ella or Stacey that can be read over, and over, and over, and over. But that is all.

[SoundGuy]

rbpru wrote:
drsteve

There is nothing you can do that will impact the manufacturer enough to improve TT quality.

No, but endless, one sided whining on the internet, whether an accurate assessment of the situation or not, sure is and always will be a popular pastime for many. :R In the many years I've been reading forums I'm not aware of even a single incident that has been resolved by taking an issue to a public forum. Rather, the key is to acknowledge the RV industry and auto industry are two entirely different animals and treat them as such. Anyone owning an RV by definition will always fare better by taking full ownership - i.e. understanding how all the various aspects of their rig are designed to work and being prepared to address any issues themselves as much as they can before having to resort to professional tech assistance. Whether we like it or not it's just the way it is and all the whining in the world isn't going to change it.

[rbpru]

drsteve

It is not so much accepting the issues as simply facing the fact that having the dealer fixing a problem may not be worth the effort vs doing the repair yourself.

There is nothing you can do that will impact the manufacturer enough to improve TT quality.

If you are willing to pay for it, higher quantity units are out there.

There are some issues that are beyond the skills of the average person, those should be addressed by the dealer. But if I have a simple repair and the choice of fixing it with a trip to the hardware store or scheduling an appointment to drop off my TT at the dealer who is an hour away then waiting for the repair so I can make another pick up trip, I will do the work myself.

Concern over resale value is a wasted effort, resale on a TT drops like a rock.

At a time when TTs are selling faster than they are made there is no incentive for the makers to change things.

[dodge_guy]

RDMueller wrote:
Sounds like the fresh water tank and heater issues have been answered. Regarding the battery, I'd recommend you head over to the "tech issues" sub forum. You could spend all day (or all month) reading about batteries and charging. Bottom line, the single 12V group 24 battery you likely have is not really suitable for dry camping. If you want to dry camp, you need to upgrade the battery. Also, you mentioned running the generator for 6 hours! With a proper charger, you should be able to cut that to an hour or 2 at most. May want to consider solar too. Fact is, most RVs from the factory are set up to be "pedestal queens." Successful dry camping will require upgrades.

I agree with you completely, except for the pedestal queens part! :@ we call it being comfortable with the A/C on and not worrying about battery charge level! 😉

[RDMueller]

Sounds like the fresh water tank and heater issues have been answered. Regarding the battery, I'd recommend you head over to the "tech issues" sub forum. You could spend all day (or all month) reading about batteries and charging. Bottom line, the single 12V group 24 battery you likely have is not really suitable for dry camping. If you want to dry camp, you need to upgrade the battery. Also, you mentioned running the generator for 6 hours! With a proper charger, you should be able to cut that to an hour or 2 at most. May want to consider solar too. Fact is, most RVs from the factory are set up to be "pedestal queens." Successful dry camping will require upgrades.