Look What I found under the furnace!
 

So we pulled out the old evil NT22 Furnace from my 72 Safari to replace with new model. Under it was found a plastic folder that has a big scorch/burn mark on it.
Inside were two Airstream factory sheets, one a "Quality Control Exception Record " the other a "Factory Dispatching Dealer Confirmation check list."
Good thing that I didn't try to get this furnace working (besides the recall carbon monoxide risk) as maybe this thing would have caught on fire and created a bigger scorch mark on the pavement.

You get a new project?

Yes Bruce and I missed you at Blanco last weekend with your sage advice. 72- 23' Safari Twin Bed. Picked it up outside of Memphis, so far put in new AC unit, water heater, working on installing new black water tank and replacing rotted flooring and plumbing valves etc. After furnace new floor goes in and Univolt will hit the trash.
It's a Vintage World.

Gotta love vintage...... Post pics or is there a thread?

Was the furnace listed on the Quality Control Exception Record...? ;)

Attachment 329633

I’ll have to check, probably so.

This is pretty frightening. I found several “things” left unfinished in our 2016 and in our 2018. My feeling is that Final Inspections are rushed. I’m sure the recent increased popularity has not helped the situation but this can be fixed. “Quality Control” should be #1

There is no Quality Control at AS

Rich hog- Do you do projects for yourself or do you fix up to sell? My wife and I are “casually looking” and we think we like the older fixed up units better than the newer ones.

I hate to tell you that something (which obviously caused no damage) that has been under an Airstream furnace for 46 years has little to do with today's quality control at Airstream. Of course Airstream, as any manufacturer, could improve QC, but a fun thread surely need not morph into another series of bashes of Airstream quality.

Tim

Just visited the Mothership this summer. There are plenty of 'tattooed' QC there...just waiting for the 5pm whistle to blow. No kidding. Not the AS of yesterday.

Latent Defect by Factory Omission?
 

The sad thing is, that the insurance company might have claimed a cause by "latent defect" and, not paid you, if you had a major fire claim. Glad you are safe, regardless. It is kind of surprising that your alarm didn't inform you of the minor fire (?). D

I should have kept reading, before I quoted above ... Evidently, you didn't own this AS when the damage happened. Lucky old owners! D

tattoed?
 

Folks this ink can not tell quality? Would you like to explain your bias?

So someone with ink art can not be a quality control person? Want to explain your bias?

I have 1971 29 foot Ambassador I've been working on since last summer. It had new floors installed by a previous owner and it seems like he did a pretty good job. I had a good RV shop put in a new AC, fix some water and propane leaks, check out and de-corrode the electrics, which made the fridge work, and repack the wheel bearings. I have new tires.



Its back home in my court and the first project I'll undertake personally will be to replace the old NT 40 furnace. Will a new NT 40 just pop right in and bolt right up, or have things changed in the last 48 years? Any words of wisdom, caution or warning will be welcomed. This is my first RV, but I do have decent mechanical skills inflicted on me of necessity by my 1989 Porsche 944 and 1978 Triumph Spitfire 1500.


In addition, I have one original aluminum propane tank, and am looking to find a mate for it, if anyone has one lying around they want to get rid of.

We had a 72’ Tradewind that we did a lot of work on that got stolen after we were done. Two months after that we bought a 06 Safari 25 FB, two years old at the time. It was painful to put so much work into the Tradewind and then see it gone so we wanted a trailer that was factory new. So now 10 years after that we bought another vintage 72 that’s needing lots of work. If you find a vintage trailer you like grab it and be prepared to spend at least what you paid for it on restoration.

Sounds like you are well qualified to work on an Airstream then. I’ve posted a thread on replacing my NT22 furnace with a NT 30 on my 72 Tradewind. Pretty much everything you’ll ever need to repair or replace is on these forums, you just have to find it. Once I got over the initial fear that I’d ruin something it got easier to dig into it. You’ve got a lot of trailer there with that 71 29 footer.. and it takes some knowledge to keep them on the road. My advice to my self has been to take it slowly and enjoy the process.

I love how you got the TV antenna w/ the color adapter! A huge bonus in '71-'72.... :D