past-MIdirector
Michigan
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From the Monroe evening news Monroe, MI. On the morning of April 19, 12 at a local camp ground the owner of a 2003 Holiday Rambler 5th wheel was awaken at 2 AM by a smoke alarm. He stated that smoke was coming from the refrigerator and opened the door to flames and heavy smoke. He had little time to escape unharmed. The 36 ft 5th wheel was fully engulfed by the time fire crews arrived.
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Oasisbob
Portland Oregon 97266
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Maybe I need to take a second look at that fridge recall notice. If one was to design a structure to burn hot and fast it would look like an RV. Glad they got out alright. Sad for the loss. Hope they had good insurance.
Oasis Bob
Wonderful wife & 4 Really Fun kids
2008 KIA Sedona 3.8L 24 valve V-6
2001 Bantam Trail Lite B-19
HAPPY TRAILS
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Ranger Smith
Wherever the rig is parked
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Like Ive said in the past . . . Go out and get one of those Halon extinguishers and put in the back side of the fridge compartment. At 165 it will go off and put out the fire.
These insurance companies should start going after these refrigerator manufacturers for their losses with these fires. They are all ticking time bombs. I don't care what recall they do to them. Every RV fire that I have been on as a firefighter and former fire chief have ALL been caused by the refrigerator.
Where I Am Now
Amateur Radio Operator W0SPS ARRL VE FT DX2000
Steve and Joy
1999 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom
2011 RAM 1500 Laramie CC 4x4 Hemi
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MSHappyCampers
Columbus, MS
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Bite the bullet and install the Amish cooling unit. That's the only real solution!
Joe & Annette
2002 Monaco Windsor 40PBT
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sch911
Rochester Hills, MI
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Joined: 04/13/2003
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MSHappyCampers wrote:Bite the bullet and install the Amish cooling unit. That's the only real solution!
Huh? They still use the same absorption heating elements 120V and LP gas as all of the other cooling units....
So, I think not.
Chrysler/Dodge/Ram/Jeep Engineer
2003 Damon Challenger 348 Class A - F53 Triton V10
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texas_train
Great State Of Texas!
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One of the main reasons we recently purchased a new Cedar Creek touring ed!! It has a residential fridge (18 cu ft w/icemaker) Standard 110 volt ONLY! 4 big 6 volt batts and an 800 watt inverter for travel time between connections!!
2012 Cedar Creek 36 RE Touring ED, all avail options
2011 GMC 2500 HD Denali DMax 4wd Superglide firestone bags
95' Procraft V-180-C 120HP OB, 80# cust TM, side/down image sonar
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mph_medic
Southaven, MS (Outside Memphis, TN)
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My question about these rv fire and the refrigerator problems .. are they from the factory refrigerator where they are gas & ele .. Cause I pulled that one out and installed a Dorm style all eletric refrigerator .. I know it gets warm in the back but NOT hot.. can someone explain ...
Never do anything you wouldn't want to explain to the Paramedics...
1993 Damon Frontier Flyer
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SCVJeff
Santa Clarita, CA.
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1- Just installing Halon back there will not guarantee anything. That's what I thought until someone posted a picture of an extinguisher that never tripped during a fire. It HAS to be in the proper position.
2- The comment about Amish IS valid. It's a known fact that the Norcold 1200 series has problems, and there are no documented Amish failures at all. We also don't know what fridge this really was.
3- Gas/ elect: Good question, but the popular opinion is that these ignitions happen on electric.
Jeff - WA6EQU
'06 Itasca Meridian 34H, CAT C7/350
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kakampers
Fulltimer
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SCVJeff wrote:1- Just installing Halon back there will not guarantee anything. That's what I thought until someone posted a picture of an extinguisher that never tripped during a fire. It HAS to be in the proper position.
2- The comment about Amish IS valid. It's a known fact that the Norcold 1200 series has problems, and there are no documented Amish failures at all. We also don't know what fridge this really was.
3- Gas/ elect: Good question, but the popular opinion is that these ignitions happen on electric.
That's why we had Mac the Fire Guy supervise the installation of a Halon suppression system in a fridge compartment at a rally...
2013 Heartland Landmark Key Largo with Mor Ryde IS and disc brakes
2011 Chevy Silverado 3500 DRW Crew Cab Duramax Diesel
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rcknrbn
Brandon MS
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Ranger Smith wrote:These insurance companies should start going after these refrigerator manufacturers for their losses with these fires. They are all ticking time bombs. I don't care what recall they do to them. Every RV fire that I have been on as a firefighter and former fire chief have ALL been caused by the refrigerator.
Ranger - as an insurance adjuster with a large insurance co., one of my former roles was handling fire losses (autos, RVs, etc). I can tell you that subrogation is a huge part of the job. Every time a new fire loss is reported (especially when there is a Dometic, Norcold, etc), the insurance company hires a "cause and origin" expert. If the findings point back to a manufacturing / design issue, the ins. co. aggressively pursues collection. With that said, no matter what the investigator's findings, the manufacturer generally denies liability 100% of the time. It is usually a long, drawn out process.
Just my $.02
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