...I was viewing the local news this morning and they reported there was a fire Saturday in the service center -- not many details. (Channel 7, Dayton Ohio)
They said the workers worked all day Sunday to get things back into operation. They did not report any details, like if they were in fact ready for work today.
They showed a 5-second video clip with smoke coming out of the first service bay near the front of the building. The bay next to it was open, and there was an older AS right in the doorway -- could not tell what year or model. At least that is what I thought I saw, in my half-asleep state. There was not much smoke coming out that bay, so It appeared localized and contained.
Just wanted to report what I had seen -- not to cause any panic -- it looked relatively minor.
RV Business reports today, Saturday May 15th there was a fire at the Jackson Center Service facility of Airstream. There were no injuries and damage was centralized.
On-going service will be continued in other buildings on the Airstream Campus.
Some employees worked through the weekend to restore power and water to the service center.
RV Business reports that Airstream will complete all necessary service center repairs in a matter of days.
For what it's worth dept:
I picked this up from Hunter's list serve. She is up at the Airstream Homecoming.
"A guy bought a brand new 28' at Paul Sherry RV and took his family on
the
first outing. The thing leaked pretty bad....so he brought it into
Airstream to
fix it. They fixed it and he went on another trip and it still leaked.
He was not happy and brought it back and his salesman got the top guy
to look
at it. They put it in the "find the leaks" machine and it leaked like
crazy
but they couldn't find where.
It was sitting in the service area over the weekend, plugged in and
water
shorted out the inverter (?) thing and it caught fire.
So, he's now shopping for a motorhome.... no, not an Airstream!"
Personally I'm not sure of this because I'm not aware of an inverter. The power supply is normally in a protected area, (in mine under the sofa) so I'm not sure how water could get to a level to cause a short and resulting fire.
Anyone else there at JC who could check out this story?
__________________
Jack Canavera
STL Mo. AIR #56
'04 Classic 30' S.O.,'03 GMC Savana 2500,'08 Vespa GTS 250
For what it's worth dept:
I picked this up from Hunter's list serve. She is up at the Airstream Homecoming.
They put it in the "find the leaks" machine and it leaked like
crazy
but they couldn't find where.
It was sitting in the service area over the weekend, plugged in and
water
shorted out the inverter (?) thing and it caught fire.
Assuming Hunter's report is correct should bring up the following questions:
=Did they leave the "find the leaks" machine running all weekend too?
=How much water damage is tolerated during a "find the leaks" test?
=If this is a possible "nature of the inverter" possibility will Airstream recall and replace all of them?
=What can be done by owners to "fireproof" the inverter area?
=What can be done by owners to "waterproof" the inverter area?
What is worse for Airstreams reputation, the fire or the leaks?
I think Moderator-Pahaska was going to the event too, perhaps if he reads this he can give us a more accurate report. Also would like to know more about the "find the leaks" process.
We have alot of electrically knowledgable members, (or did at one time), It would be interesting to hear how a water infiltration could spark a fire.
While the facts that a customer was having warranty work performed at the Service Center is true ,the rest of the information is not.The seal tech machine used to test for leaks uses air pressure and a soap solution sprayed on with a garden sprayer; so exposure to water was not an issue. The Fire Marshall has not completed his investigation.He was at Airstream today and a cause of the fire is still undetermined.
Quality is always a concern and is an everyday part of the production process at Airstream.
electronic devices can short without blowing a fuse -- a shorted component can get hotter and hotter without the fuse protecting anything. electrolytic capcitors can actually explode.
Something designed to operate at 50 milliamps can suffer a short and consume a half an amp and get real hot. I put my finger on a processor once that was so hot it removed my fingerprint...it was well past 300 degrees, just as an estimation.
Water and high-power electronics like the converter is bad JU-JU.
If it was an inverter it could have easily had a 100+ amp fuse, a lot of power even at 12v. Only a few of the components are rated to handle that power, the rest are smoke waiting to happen.
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