My RV Carport....burned and the major rebuild

drmarkr · Nov 20, 2019

up on Saturday night. Destroyed our RV, my Jeep TJ and the RZR. The west wall and entire interior of the shop is going to have to be restored as well. Very good thing I have excellent insurance. The stress this is going to put on my/our life *****. Have a look....

It will take me 6 months to get this all rebuilt, but with some luck it'll be even better when it's finished. And we'll get an RV upgrade in the process.

A couple of takeaway's....if you have an older RV, make sure the recall is done on your Dometic/Norcold fridge. Double your separate structures rider on your homeowners policy. If your shop is attached or an attached garage, spend some time reflecting on what the actual value of the contents, and then properly insure it. If you can afford the cost, get Full Replacement Cost.

I'll update as this mess moves along....

Jim greengo · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....

That *****,was a propane or electric problem?

HOTFR8 · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....

Not good. I sure hope all works out for you. I can understand the stress but when all resolved you will look back on it as a learning experience. Hopefully you can update and upgrade as you replace all you have lost.

Bretny · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....

Dont think of it as stressfull!. Think of it as a small speed bump and now from owning and loosing your toys you can get better toys the suit your needs better. Your insured so the only loss is prob some time.

danfromsyr · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....

lives and time are the only things we can't ever earn back.
glad no one was injured

thool · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....

Our relatives had an issue with their RV fridge that caught fire while they were in it. The cause was traced to insect webs in the flue.

manwithtools · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....

Even with the recall done those fridges are a fire waiting to happen. The recall consists of an over-temp detector circuit board that frequently fails and then gets bypassed - right back where you started.

Sorry for your loss. Hope insurance makes you whole as you indicated.

NUTTSGT · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

This ***** man, sorry to hear this.

EDITs done as requested.

LS6 Tommy · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Wow. That's terrible. Hopefully things will go well.

Tommy

driftpin · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Thank god for no loss of life.

The Cobbler · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Wow is right
glad everyone was safe. material things can be replaced.

48RON54 · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Ouch. Sorry to hear that bro.

Home insurance claims can certainly be a long drawn out process. Hopefully its mostly smooth sailing for you!

James E · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear about that. I'm glad you didn't lose the whole shop.

Not knowing anything about RVs, I am curious to know how the fridge started the fire?

LXCam · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

That’s terrible news OP. One of my tech’s from down your way had the same thing happen to his RV while he was sleeping in it. He damn near didn’t get out. Thank goodness no one was injured and good luck getting everything resolved with your insurance.

zmotorsports · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Wow, that is terrible news.

I eliminated the stress associated with my Norcold RLIM1200 by replacing it with a residential refrigerator about 4 or 5 years ago and haven't missed the old absorption refrigerator. My wife was nervous about the residential fridge but now she won't ever have another RV with an absorption refrigerator.

Best of luck and hope your insurance takes care of you. Try not to look at what you lost but the fact that no one was hurt and you can replace the garage and RV.

MoonRise · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Ouch.

Deep breaths. No one hurt. Stuff can be replaced.

Still a pain to deal with.

mcdye · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Sorry to hear for your loss, glad no one was injured.

Bigblue&Goldie · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Wow, that's scary! Glad to see nobody was harmed. On the bright side, you get to do some toy shopping!

QwikKotaTx · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Very sorry to hear.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk

930dreamer · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Holy cr*p that's some damage!

Dumber than lumber · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Hard to find a silver lining in this sort of thing.
If you were thinking: If I had it to do over again how would I do this garage/shop?
Well, I guess you'll find out soon.
Thanks for sharing.

Bronson · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Sorry to hear this.
Glad no one was injured!

Steve from Socal · Nov 20, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Sorry to see this, hope the rebuild goes well.

That nobody was hurt and it spared your shop the worst of it, think of it as an opportunity.

I will second the idea of getting a residential fridge in your next RV. I removed ALL propane appliances from my fifth wheel and my Kentucky toy hauler will be all diesel/electric.

Steve

minytrker · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Sorry for the lose, glad everyone is ok. We have a 2019 grand design and just went to a residential fridge a month ago, will never own another rv with a rv fridge. A fire in a RV scares me with having a 5 and 6 year that sleep on the other end of the rv. I installed 4 fire extinguishers and used some old out of dates ones to train my kids how to use them in case a fire starts on their end.

Bighead38 · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

What’s the difference between an rv fridge and a residential?

Do you have before pics?

Not all the pics in the first post are showing for me.

***** you have to deal with the headache. You did get one hell of a picture though.

Any idea on the plan now? Similar rv or switching it up? Another Jeep or rzr?

zmotorsports · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Bighead38 said:
What’s the difference between an rv fridge and a residential?

Not to hijack the thread but an "RV" fridge is an absorption refrigerator. It uses heat created by one of three ways, 120VAC, 12VDC or LP gas. The heat from the heating elements or the burner causes the ammonia in the sealed system to circulate up through the condenser and through the cooling fins where it absorbs the heat from the box and expels it.

The residential refrigerator operates on the same basic principles of cooling but it uses an electric compressor to circulate the refrigerant throughout the sealed system.

That's the cliff note version of the difference between the two.

Bighead38 · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Thank you.

James E · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

zmotorsports said:
Not to hijack the thread but an "RV" fridge is an absorption refrigerator. It uses heat created by one of three ways, 120VAC, 12VDC or LP gas. The heat from the heating elements or the burner causes the ammonia in the sealed system to circulate up through the condenser and through the cooling fins where it absorbs the heat from the box and expels it.

The residential refrigerator operates on the same basic principles of cooling but it uses an electric compressor to circulate the refrigerant throughout the sealed system.

That's the cliff note version of the difference between the two.

Thanks for the explanation. I guess they do that because residential ones use a lot of electricity and the RV isn't always running? Do they use that type of refrigerator on boats as well?

zmotorsports · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Bighead38 said:
Thank you.

You're welcome.

James E said:
Thanks for the explanation. I guess they do that because residential ones use a lot of electricity and the RV isn't always running? Do they use that type of refrigerator on boats as well?

I'm not sure about boats as I'm an RV guy. Maybe someone who is into the larger cabin cruisers could answer that.

As for RV's, residential refrigerators really weren't that prevalent until about 15 or so years ago as they were pretty much in the higher end coaches such as the Prevost conversions and Newell's. In the early 2000's it started to become an option but over the past several years more and more standard on many of the mid to upper-mid models. Our 2003 Dynasty had an absorption refrigerator standard with an electric as an option but the original owners stuck with the absorption because they boondocked regularly and didn't think the residential would be as friendly in that environment.

In the several years we have had the residential we have done a fair bit of boondocking and with minimal generator run time the batteries stay charged enough to operate the 120VAC refrigerator off of the inverter when not plugged into shore power. Even running down the road the alternator keeps the battery bank charged and the batteries feed the inverter which keeps the refrigerator operating perfectly.

Arps · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Glad nobody was hurt!

Arps · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

James E said:
Thanks for the explanation. I guess they do that because residential ones use a lot of electricity and the RV isn't always running? Do they use that type of refrigerator on boats as well?

Res fridges are becoming more and more common for a couple reasons.

Fridges are more energy efficient, battery's are way better then they used to be, inverters are cheaper and more efficient.

Farmall450 · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Wow, thankful everyone is ok.

Showkey · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Arps said:
Res fridges are becoming more and more common for a couple reasons.

Fridges are more energy efficient, battery's are way better then they used to be, inverters are cheaper and more efficient.

But.........propane refrigerator is super efficient, low cost to operate and when off the grid camping they are the frig of choice. So 3-5-7 days events are problem.

Cooling by batteries is NOT efficient and you must keep recharging ........many locations generators are not allowed.

While it can be done.......Batteries are not a good choice for making ice or hot coffee.

One of the RV frig recalls specifically deals with 12 volt operation and overheating of the circuit board. The 120v and propane operation were not the problem.

Propane operation creates heat with a flame.......hornets, bird or mouse nests are concern and the mechanical cabinet area MUST BE CHECKED !!!!!!!

u3b3rg33k · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Showkey said:
But.........propane refrigerator is super efficient, low cost to operate and when off the grid camping they are the frig of choice. So 3-5-7 days events are problem.

Cooling by batteries is NOT efficient and you must keep recharging ........many locations generators are not allowed.

While it can be done.......Batteries are not a good choice for making ice or hot coffee.

One of the RV frig recalls specifically deals with 12 volt operation and overheating of the circuit board. The 120v and propane operation were not the problem.

Propane operation creates heat with a flame.......hornets, bird or mouse nests are concern and the mechanical cabinet area MUST BE CHECKED !!!!!!!

actually super inefficient.

if you have a decent battery/inverter system (e.g. 48v lithium, and a 10kWh+), then battery isn't bad at all. almost nothing comes with a "good" system unless the previous owner was a solar boondocking enthusiast.

zmotorsports · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

The absorption refrigerators are not efficient if comparing. My absorption refrigerator would run nearly non-stop in the warmer months whereas my residential refrigerator only has the compressor kick on a few times a day depending on how often the door is opened.

Also things like ice cream and even soda in any of my absorption refrigerators never got to the point I wanted it. Soda always needed ice and ice cream was always soft. No longer.

I'll never have another RV with an absorption refrigerator even boondocking.

Showkey · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

u3b3rg33k said:
actually super inefficient.

if you have a decent battery/inverter system (e.g. 48v lithium, and a 10kWh+), then battery isn't bad at all. almost nothing comes with a "good" system unless the previous owner was a solar boondocking enthusiast.

Depends on how you measure efficiency??

I run a whole season( 40-100 days) on $20-$30 in propane with no extra costs.

The frig/ freezer holds 35* and 0* while sipping propane. No noise, no worries simple as a hammer. Mine is Dometic not a Norcold. Runs on 120v or propane. 8 years old never touched it other than yearly cleaning of the flame sensor and blow out.

Perrorojo · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Current Samsung residential in a lot of OEM RV's draws 360 watts during ice maker defrost cycle. The last 3 I've tested draw less than 150w cooling and averaged 33w/h. Standard 3 way refers are horribly inefficient. They're more expensive and they're also warranty nightmares like the OP has found out. An OEM can buy a residential fridge, inverter and transfer switch for the same price as an RV fridge.

b-boy · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

James E said:
Thanks for the explanation. I guess they do that because residential ones use a lot of electricity and the RV isn't always running? Do they use that type of refrigerator on boats as well?

I rented a 40ft houseboat a few years ago. It had a propane-powered fridge onboard. It worked pretty well. Not as cold as a residential fridge, but cold enough.

drmarkr · Nov 21, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

I was initially thinking fridge, but there's been two different fire investigators here the last two days, and they're unable to ascertain the area it started. I have Farmers for vehicles and home, but since different divisions handle each type of claim, I have 4 adjustors. Even the two investigators were from two different divisions of Farmers.

Regardless, things look fine from a coverage/financial perspective. Just the 4-6 months of time to get it all rebuilt. My entire shop will have to be gutted and redone, which includes moving everthing out to PODS (4 already, one more likely) while they tear it all out. Flooring, ceiling insulation/ drywall/wall insulation....everything has to be cleaned and "ozone'd". One of the PODS will be an ozone container where they put everything for 24 hrs after it's cleaned. These guys are already started inventorying the entire shop contents....and I mean EVERY item. I'm fukking serious here.....every nut, bolt, washer, screw, spring, everything. I put a stop to that. Still, they're going to pay for replacements of **** TONS of this stuff, essentially because it's cheaper to replace it that the labor to clean it?!?! And we wonder why insurance is so expensive.

I'll be riding herd on these guys through the entire process so they don't do something stupid that results in my shop getting jacked as it's "reassembled". They're even going to pay me $15/hr for any of my time spent doing this?!? Crazy. I couldn't talk them into paying me my usual doctor hourly rate, lol.....

The positive's here are that we (me, wife, 14 y/o son) were NOT home when it started....had we been, we certainly would've been trying to fight it with garden hoses and fire extinguishers. Per the neighbors, the first thing that happened that let them know there was a problem was multiple "explosions". Maybe tires....maybe propane tanks....there was a 17rd mag of 9mm in the Jeep that would've also been spraying around. We were also hugely fortunate it didn't spread on over to the actual shop, where there is 1600sq/ft of everything else, including metal fab/welders/woodworking/bicycles/motorcycles/ loads more.

A pic of the mess in the daylight. I'll post some more pics in coming days.

The vehicles were a 2011 RZR (left), a Monaco Diplomat, and a 2001 Jeep TJ Sahara to the right.

rharman · Nov 22, 2019

Re: My RV Carport....burned

Buildings and possessions can be replaced. People can't. From your description, it sounds like a good thing you were not there at the time.

My RV Carport....burned and the major rebuild

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Well-known member

Banned

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Super Moderator

Well-known member

Well-known member

Super Moderator

Well-known member

Well-known member

ALLIANCE MEMBER

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Super Moderator

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Well-known member

Well-known member

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

"MEMBER EMERITUS"

Well-known member

ALLIANCE MEMBER

"MEMBER EMERITUS"

Well-known member

Well-known member

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Well-known member