Warranty waiting period

Went camping this past weekend and found a water leak under kitchen sink. I have narrow it down to around the water heater. I have a North Trail 31RESS. This trailer is only 6 months old and bought brand new. I schedule service work on it today from my dealer and was told they can not get me in for another month. I know it is 2 weeks before Memorial weekend but do you think this is a normal wait time? Dealers love to sell them but hate to fix them.

You should talk to the service manager directly since you don't want it sitting a month that could create more water damage. If your warranty allows you might want to try to find another authorized repair shop though they are quite busy with units being pulled from winter storage and finding problems like yours.
It isn't fun at all but push on the service manager to the owner of the dealership if you have to.

Another thing to consider doing is to try and tighten all the fittings that are hand tightenable. Is that a word?? It is now.
The hoses that are on the water heater get tightened by hand. They may be loose.
Also if the leak you see is under the sink, check the fittings on the drain pipes as well as the big nut on the sink itself.
And dealers are notorious for holding campers for a while when in for repair. So the one month wait is not all that abnormal.

Peace
Dave

Hi Baltbirds,

If you think the leak is coming from the water heater, you should take a look at the hot water outlet which is usually at the top of the water heater, on the inside. There's a check valve that is usually plastic and may have a crack. If you can get to it, this is a repair that you can do yourself, replacing the plastic valve with a brass check valve. We have an owner-written Troubleshooting Guide for Water Heaters that has pictures and instructions on how to change the fitting. Because your trailer is fairly new, the plastic part should come out easily.

If the leak is not coming from that check valve, or if you don't feel confident doing something like this, you might check into whether there's an independent service facility near you. If there is, you can ask Heartland to authorize them to do the warranty work. An independent shop might be less likely to have a long wait since they aren't prepping new units for delivery, and aren't spending a lot of their time fixing the warranty shakedown problems that show up on new trailers.

danemayer said:

Hi Baltbirds,
. We have an owner-written Troubleshooting Guide for Water Heaters that has pictures and instructions on how to change the fitting. Because your trailer is fairly new, the plastic part should come out easily.

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This is what I get on this link........Not Found.The requested URL /manuals.heartlandowners.org/index.php was not found on this server.

I have had good luck with mobile repair services both at home and on the road. They usually get to you fairly quickly. Being a water leak they might move a little quicker. You MUST call Heartland customer service for approval first.
Don

BigJim45 said:

This is what I get on this link........Not Found.The requested URL /manuals.heartlandowners.org/index.php was not found on this server.

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The link seems to be working for me right now - maybe it was a temporary problem. If it still doesn't work for you, go to the TOOLS TAB at top of page and select HOM - Heartland Owners Manuals. Then on the left side of the page, look for Troubleshooting Guides and Tips.

http://manuals.heartlandowners.org/index.php?man=Troubleshooting Guides and Tips

This time of year especially right before Memorial Day everyone is pulling the trailer out, finding issues and scheduling service. The first two warranty sessions I had at the dealer across town were a month long each.

Where around the water heater? The troubleshooting guide can help but the first place I would check is the relief valve on top of the heater. They tend to drip water once the water heats up and this is especially true if you live at a low altitude and camp at a higher altitude. I had this problem many years ago with my first trailer and the service department said just release a small amount of water through the valve to relieve the pressure. BE CAREFUL when you do and only a short flip is all you need if this is the issue.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will be hooking up the water this weekend to see if I can see were it is exactly coming from. It is defiantly coming one of the water lines around the pump or water heater. Not a whole lot of room under the sink to see but will squeeze in there. Did talk to the dealer today and they did give me the number of a mobil repair company that they use and is Heartland certified. They said I would have to pay out of my pocket and they would submit to Heartland for reimbursement. Not sure if I want to go that route.

Baltbirds said:

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will be hooking up the water this weekend to see if I can see were it is exactly coming from. It is defiantly coming one of the water lines around the pump or water heater. Not a whole lot of room under the sink to see but will squeeze in there. Did talk to the dealer today and they did give me the number of a mobil repair company that they use and is Heartland certified. They said I would have to pay out of my pocket and they would submit to Heartland for reimbursement. Not sure if I want to go that route.

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Check with Heart Land to see if they are and how long it would take for reimbursement, that would be the fastest way to get a handle on this. Water damage is not something you should have to wait on.

Bypass the middleman. Call HL service and ask them if there is authorised independant repair shop near you. If there is take it there.

Update. I spoke to Heartland to see what other options I have and have a mobile repair service guy coming on Monday. I will have to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed back from Heartland but that is fine. I explained to the repair guy and told him I was 99% sure were the leak was and said it should only take about a hour or so to fix. He could not understand why the dealer would not make room for me since it is only 6 months old. I did get a great deal on the trailer but will never use them for service in the future. The other nice thing about the mobile repair service is he is coming to me and I do not have to leave it were something else could happen to it.

Baltbirds,

Hopefully someone mentioned that you may be responsible for the travel time component of the bill, if there is one.

To me this confirms the fact that you should buy wherever you get the best price and forget about their phoney service pitch. Most dealers aren't there to fix it when you really need them anyway...JMHO...Don

Luckily the service guy is only 10 miles away. And yes that is why they are called dealers and not fixers.

Problem Solved. Turned out I had a crack on one of the fittings that was going to the Hot Water Heater. $6.00 part and $200 in labor and travel time. Submitting to Heartland to see how much they will cover.

Another water heater fitting problem, never sounds like a fun time to deal with and that is pricey for labor and travel time IMO but at least you don't have to worry about massive water damage.
Hope HL will come through for you on this, seems they do with many other issues that are far more expensive.