Water heater and furnace need work?

[thenewkid64]

Goodgrey,

Your description of the trailer needs a bit more definition. Is it a rear bath or a side bath model? this makes a diffrence on the water heater ease/difficulty of R&R. Also if you update your profile so we know where you are members may be able to reccomend an alternative facility.

As to the furnace, it should not take them 2.5 hours to remove. If they are charging $75.00 per hour the $560.00 per appliance is 7.75 hours?????? Each??? I would be very leery about having them work on my trailer.

The furnace is usally under the stove/sink in the kitchen. Due to the fact that they need to be worked on from time to time Airstream usally did not make them too hard to remove. On my last 2 trailers and on the MH I currently have the furnace is behind a panel held on with 2 screws. There are 2 screws that hold the furnace to the floor, and the vent screws that hold it from the outside. There are 3 ducts and 1 wire harness.

I had already removed mine as it was not working, but I think it only took 1.5 hours to install and test a new one. And I do not do this for a living.

The water heater is whole diffrent can of beans. Depending on location and the heater intalled at the time it was built, or if the prior owner had it replaced, the newer heaters may not fill the hole. I am facing the conundrum of how to address the situation myself. I have seen where the new heater has been installed in the old chassis so the exterior is the same as before. I have no idea how many hours this took. Before they go pulling out the old one you may want to ask if the new one will be an exact fit.

Another option is to get a second opinion. You may get the same costs and labor, but then you will know that the original shop is being fair.

[goodgrey]

Sorry for the lack of information in our profile. We're new at this computer stuff too. I'm surprised I've been as successful as I have been at communicating at this point. Whoever designed this system did a great job.

Our unit is a rear bath, double model and photos can be found at:
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/sjgamache

We're in the Seattle area, but across the water from Seattle. Thanks.

[hex]

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[3Ms75Argosy]

You must live on one of the islands? We live in the Seattle area - a good place to try might be Camping World in Tacoma (actually, a bit closer to Seatac, but on the border of Tacoma). They have "fixed" installation prices in the catalog of parts. (online - "campingworld.com) Your 76 looks an awful like our 75 Argosy TT. If the same, the water heater looks to be the same as the 6 gallon Atwood (Atwood bought out Bowen). The furnace should be a straighforward replacement. This CW has a repair facility and offers lifetime (as long as you own it) warrenty on their work. Now, they may "adjust" priceing for unusual TT (travel trailer), but the systems used on the Airstreams are the same as any other brand. You might have to call for an appointment, but it's really a big place. I've seen Airstreams in the service bay before. Hope that helps,
Marc
If you lived close to CA, I'd say "call Andy!"

[Lyall]

While several Airstream dealerships have great technicians, including Inland, I have come to realize that most "experts" are incompetents with pretentions. This is also true for the "experts" on the forums. On an old furnace, the heat exchanger needs to be checked for holes and Suburban had a recall to replace the hose that connected the blower and that needs checked. On the electric start furnaces, there is a sequence that a person needs to know to trouble shoot. The monoxide monitor is great advice also, plus I never travel with the propane on.