Proper electric fireplace install

[dodge_guy]

So my buddy asked me on Friday at the campground to look at his fireplace. It started to run and then turn off. It would run for a minute and then turn off for 2 minutes. The cycle would continue. He bought his MH new, a 2017 Fleetwood Bounder 35K, the fireplace is part of the floor plan, so it wasn’t installed after the fact. So I pull the unit out of its recessed opening and I notice the fresh air intake is on the back. I start to look around the cabinet and there is no fresh air intake to be found. He said he only started having a problem this year. So we set it on the floor in front of the opening with a container lid as a baffle so it didn’t suck in any hot air. It ran fine all weekend. So we are going to cut out the bottom of the cabinet at the floor and install a vent of some kind so it can pull in fresh air. It’s crazy that on a $150k MH they can’t even install a simple electric fireplace properly.

The other problem he had was a heated up/melted wire in his circuit breaker box. We finally traced the wiring and it’s for the electric water heater! He has a load shedding/mgt system and they left the screw loose at the panel for the load shed. So now we need to move that over to the other open position so it has fresh contacts. The other one is melted. He got 1/2 a turn out of the screw!

The quality control is terrible to non existent!

[dodge_guy]

I don’t remember seeing a sticker indicating to retorque the screws. I will double check when we go to fix it.

The fire place is not part of the load shedding feature. The only things that are On the lord shed feature are the front and rear AC’s and the water heater, only 3 circuits. The fireplace is plugged into a regular outlet. And there was no load shedding going on for this weekend. With temps in the 30’s and 40’s at night!

[newman_fulltime]

It has a sticker in panel box that states a torque spec and its to be checked after so many hours of use . the fireplace is cutting off due to the load shed

[rgatijnet1]

It is not unusual to have screws come loose in the electrical panel or at your transfer switches, etc. It is a good idea to put them on your annual maintenance list to go around and tighten all screws in your electrical circuit. MAKE SURE ALL POWER IS OFF AND THE COACH IS NOT PLUGGED IN.