...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.
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.
Here is my take FWIW and if this story is correct.....
First, people make mistakes, just the nature of the beast. Problem is that even though compared with other years the current year and the past year's model (2004) were better than years before. That said there still are some issues that Airstream will work out I am sure. I have the utmost confidence in them fixing any issues to my satisfation.
I don't blame Airstream or Thor specifically for issues with coaches, I think I am blaming the industry at large. After reading the Forbes magazine article, the issue became quite clear.
Airstream, like other Thor and possilby non-Thor manufacs pay or give bonuses based on the number of coaches they can turn out.
I just wonder, given all the issues we've come across, if the issues that have to be addressed after production, get taken off the money put out to reward cranking units out. I would hope that they have that in place so that there are some consequences for turning out junk. I mean if I get paid to fly them out the door with little to no hit for issues that the company has to pay for to fix, I can see this continuing...I mean even the best QC person in the business wouldn't have found half the stuff I found since using the coach. I have to admit, that some of the issues are beyond Airstreams control, for example the fridge dies or the furnace. Those are 3rd party items, and the only way that can get better is if trends appear, Airstream drops the line and picks up a different supplier. When I see things like trim falling off, leaks being talked about, interior furnishings falling apart, plumbing leaks, electrical issues, door and lock problems, damaged floors...these issues sit squarely on the folks building these coaches.
Still, I wonder if they have a process in place that dings the production folks for each defect that they either overlooked or did poor workmanship on. I bet issues would start to go away fairly quickly if something like that were put into place....knowing that some issues will still come up, and hopefully, if true, not lead to fire or other losses.
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