RV and coach
RV Appliances
This is the page for a unit that has failed on its own: the refrigerator that will not cool, the air conditioner that runs without cooling, the water heater that quit. Appliances in a coach are the part most chassis shops will not touch, and they are the reason a lot of trips get cut short.
What it usually turns out to be
You do not need a diagnosis to call. Describe what it is doing and we will tell you whether it is a shop job.
The refrigerator cools on shore power but not on propane, or the other way round
That split is the most useful thing you can tell us, because an absorption fridge has two ways to make the same heat and only one of them has failed. On the gas side we look at the burner, the flue and the ignition; on the electric side the element and its control. A fridge that does neither is a different conversation and usually a worse one.
The fridge is cold at the top and warm at the bottom, or has stopped cooling since a trip over a pass
Absorption refrigerators depend on the coolant flowing by gravity, so running out of level, or a hard tilt, can stall one. Sometimes it recovers and sometimes the cooling unit is done. We check whether it can be brought back before anybody talks about replacing it, because the unit is the expensive half.
The roof air runs constantly and the coach still will not cool
First question is whether it is moving air or moving cold air, because a blocked return, a dirty coil or a failed capacitor all look identical from the couch. We check airflow, the coil, the capacitor and the thermostat. If the problem turns out to be inside the sealed refrigerant circuit, we tell you that rather than open it.
The water heater lights and then goes out again
A unit that lights and drops usually is not getting the flame confirmed back to its board, so we look at the thermocouple or the sensing electrode, the burner and the vent. A vent full of mud daubers is a genuinely common answer and a cheap one.
The furnace worked fine last season and now it does nothing
Furnaces mostly fail over the winter they sat rather than the one they ran. We check the board, the sail switch, the limit switch and the blower before anything else, and we check whether it is a unit fault at all or a thermostat and ducting problem, which is the house systems side.
The generator starts and then shuts down after a minute or two
A generator that starts proves fuel and ignition, so a shutdown after it warms is usually the unit protecting itself: oil level, overheat, or a fuel supply that is fine at idle and not under load. We look at the exercise history too, because the single hardest thing on an RV generator is not being run.
What we do
- Refrigerator diagnosis and repair, gas and electric
- Refrigerator replacement when a unit is past repairing
- Water heater service, flame adjustment, vent and exterior cleaning
- Furnace repair and replacement
- Rooftop and basement air conditioner service
- Cooktop, range, oven and microwave repair
- Washer and dryer service in larger coaches
- Onboard generator service
Will it fit
The question owners ask first and almost nobody answers on a website.
- Service bays
- 7
- Sized for a Class A
- 4
- Yard entrances
- 2
Two yard entrances is what makes a long rig easy to get in and back out of. Call with your length before you drive over and we will tell you whether it fits and when the bay is free.
What we do not do here
- We are a shop, not a mobile service. For appliance work the reason is straightforward: pulling a rooftop air conditioner or sliding out a refrigerator is a job you want done indoors, out of the wind, with the coach level and a second set of hands available.
- This page is the unit itself. When the problem is the system behind it, the ducting, the thermostat, the plumbing run or the 12V and 120V feeding it, that is house systems. They are the same crew in the same building; the split is only about which question you are asking.
- We do not open sealed refrigerant circuits on this page. If your rooftop air needs work inside the sealed system rather than around it, we will say so and tell you what your options are.
- We do not carry a manufacturer authorization we have not been given. If your unit is under a maker's warranty, tell us before we start, because getting it done through the right channel may cost you less than getting it done fast.
- We do not quote an appliance repair over the phone. Whether a unit is worth repairing or worth replacing is the actual question, and it cannot be answered without looking at it.
Before you call, have this handy
None of it is required. It just gets you a real answer on the first call instead of the second.
The brand and model off the unit, not the coach
It is on a plate inside the door, behind the lower vent, or on the roof unit's shroud. Coach makers buy their appliances in, so a Norcold, a Dometic, a Suburban or an Atwood can turn up in almost any brand of rig. That plate is what tells us the parts.
Whether it fails on gas, on electric, or on both
For a refrigerator or a water heater this is half the diagnosis before we start. If you have not tried both, it is worth trying before you call.
When it last worked, and what happened in between
A season in storage, a long climb, a night out of level, a new battery, a shop visit. Appliances tend to fail because of what happened around them rather than on their own schedule.
Whether the unit is still under a manufacturer warranty
Worth knowing before anyone touches it. If it is covered, the route matters, and we would rather point you at that than do work you did not need to pay for.
Questions
Questions we get asked
Is it worth fixing, or should I replace it?
That is usually the real question and we would rather answer it honestly than sell you the bigger job. On a refrigerator it often turns on whether the cooling unit itself has gone, because that is most of the cost of a new one. We look first, then tell you what each option costs, then you decide.
Do you work on the brand I have?
Tell us what is on the plate when you call. We are not publishing a list of brands we are authorized for, because that is a specific arrangement with a maker and we would rather not imply one we do not hold. What we can tell you on the phone is whether the parts are gettable and roughly how long they take.
Do you come to me?
No. This is shop work, and for appliances that is mostly about the building: a rooftop unit comes off from above, a refrigerator comes out through a doorway, and both go better indoors and level than in a driveway in the wind.
My furnace will not light. Is that this page or the other one?
Call and describe it, and sorting that out is our job. Roughly: if the unit itself has failed, it is this page. If the heat is being made and not getting where it should, or the thermostat is not asking for it, that is house systems. Same crew either way, so nothing gets bounced between departments.
Do you stock appliance parts?
The counter carries refrigeration supplies and replacement vents along with the rest of the RV consumables, and it is open to walk-ins whether or not we are doing the work. Anything we do not have on the shelf we order.
Can you swap a unit for a different one than came out?
Often, and it depends on the opening, the power available and the venting. Bring the coach and the idea and we will tell you whether it fits before you buy anything.
How long will you need it?
We tell you the soonest realistic date when you call. On appliances the diagnosis is usually quick and the part is the slow half, so if something has a long lead time we would rather you keep using the coach until it lands and bring it back then.
Talk to someone who works on these
Call the shop and we will tell you the soonest realistic date rather than book you and hold your rig. Mon-Fri 8:00 - 5:00, Saturday 8:00 - 12:00.