What is a "heated underbelly" ?? exactly?

[Danley]

Afraid I bought a terrible, brand new, trailer from California and... ugh!

Came out of the Camp Fire safe with wife, baby and animals (although lost everything else we owned) bought a brand new 2019 alpha wolf 26rl-l and to this day its been an absolute headache. with so much to do and things happening, dealing with a total pile of a trailer has been eating our sanity slowly.

Forest River has been fighting us every single step of they way. we needed a trailer to do cold weather...

Trying to figure out how we are getting our trailer fixed (everything is broke) discovered that our trailer is not a heated underbelly. our papers say it is, its not an option as shown with an * symbol in the papers. When I asked forest river they said that the Tank heaters make it a heated underbelly.

Is this true? I cannot find anything online about how tank heaters make the underbelly heated.
Our pipes all broke when it was cold. now we have a sewage bubble under the trailer in the closed underbelly. among all the problems this is the one that truly bothers me.

I should have bought used, after losing everything of my past present and future I am now stuck with a molded and sewage infested trailer. Can things get any worse? sorry, I am rambling, dwelling over spending insurance money on a trailer I cannot use.

[B and B]

Hello,

Tank Heaters is not a heated underbelly. They add a pipe from the furnace that blows hot air in the underbelly. You have to run your propane furnace for it to work.

As far as your other problem with sewage, have you contacted your local dealer yet? Or just FR corporate.

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by Danley

Afraid I bought a terrible, brand new, trailer from California and... ugh!

Came out of the Camp Fire safe with wife, baby and animals (although lost everything else we owned) bought a brand new 2019 alpha wolf 26rl-l and to this day its been an absolute headache. with so much to do and things happening, dealing with a total pile of a trailer has been eating our sanity slowly.

Forest River has been fighting us every single step of they way. we needed a trailer to do cold weather...

Trying to figure out how we are getting our trailer fixed (everything is broke) discovered that our trailer is not a heated underbelly. our papers say it is, its not an option as shown with an * symbol in the papers. When I asked forest river they said that the Tank heaters make it a heated underbelly.

Is this true? I cannot find anything online about how tank heaters make the underbelly heated.
Our pipes all broke when it was cold. now we have a sewage bubble under the trailer in the closed underbelly. among all the problems this is the one that truly bothers me.

I should have bought used, after losing everything of my past present and future I am now stuck with a molded and sewage infested trailer. Can things get any worse? sorry, I am rambling, dwelling over spending insurance money on a trailer I cannot use.

Very sorry for all you have lost . but it's only possessions . you have your life .
The heated underbelly is well just plain wrong to call it that . and the heated tanks are a joke . the water lines are not wrapped and heated also . the RV industry is very poor and mis-leading to people who are not educated in the ways of a dishonest Industry . if you had a motorcoach they are more cold weather friendly . sorry to say you'll need to drop that underbelly let is all dry out and start your repairs and get it all fixed up . maybe you have insurance that will help. good luck and hang in there and keep looking at what you do have and not what you lost

[Danley]

Originally Posted by B and B

Hello,

Tank Heaters is not a heated underbelly. They add a pipe from the furnace that blows hot air in the underbelly. You have to run your propane furnace for it to work.

As far as your other problem with sewage, have you contacted your local dealer yet? Or just FR corporate.

I have an email from Forest river saying the "heated underbelly" in our purchase receipt is the tank heaters. Is he just lying? shouldn't he know?

[Danley]

Originally Posted by MR.M

Very sorry for all you have lost . but it's only possessions . you have your life .
The heated underbelly is well just plain wrong to call it that . and the heated tanks are a joke . the water lines are not wrapped and heated also . the RV industry is very poor and mis-leading to people who are not educated in the ways of a dishonest Industry . if you had a motorcoach they are more cold weather friendly . sorry to say you'll need to drop that underbelly let is all dry out and start your repairs and get it all fixed up . maybe you have insurance that will help. good luck and hang in there and keep looking at what you do have and not what you lost

thank you for reply.

I guess im just letting Forest River do what they want with trailer. I need a Auto fraud lawyer. any suggestion?

[Kimber45]

allot of terms get thrown around and miss understood.

an enclosed underbelly is nothing but clorplast on the bottom of trailer

a heated enclosed underbelly is nothing but a heat run ran to the basement to heat the area between the trailer floor and clorplast.

heated tanks are nothing but 12 volt heat pads on the tanks to help from freezing

an "artic pac" or winter pac or extended season or whatever marketing scam they call it is nothing but a combination of the above.

no camper is truly 4 seasons winter rated.

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by Danley

thank you for reply.

I guess im just letting Forest River do what they want with trailer. I need a Auto fraud lawyer. any suggestion?

don't know any lawyers and lawyer speak around here cause some to get all up in arms . if you mention lawyer to FR they will stop communicating with you . i do believe saying the underbelly is heated is not that same as saying heated tanks . if you have written documentation showing they say heated underbelly then you may have something to go on . but lawyers cost a lot and guarantee nothing . i would go though all other options and the lawyer would be a last ditch effort . I know when i got my unit they stated a 20,000 btu furnace . well surburban doesn't even make a 20,000 btu furnace it was 19,000 . that's 5% less on an all ready inefficient system . got FR to Extend my warranty for 1 yr for this misleading info . i was happy with that as i modified the furnace so it's better . either way they new they were in they wrong and needed to change there advertising . GOOD LUCK

[5picker]

Originally Posted by Danley

thank you for reply.

I guess im just letting Forest River do what they want with trailer. I need a Auto fraud lawyer. any suggestion?

What do you mean by this?
Are they offering to do repairs or upgrades?
Also talk of lawyers and legal action will get this thread shut down per forum rules.

I am sorry for your loss.(es)
My sister and BIL just came through the loss of everything from a fire.
Truly devastating.
Best wishes.

[aceinspp]

Originally Posted by Danley

Afraid I bought a terrible, brand new, trailer from California and... ugh!



Forest River has been fighting us every single step of they way. we needed a trailer to do cold weather...

Trying to figure out how we are getting our trailer fixed (everything is broke) discovered that our trailer is not a heated underbelly. our papers say it is, its not an option as shown with an * symbol in the papers. When I asked forest river they said that the Tank heaters make it a heated underbelly.

Is this true? I cannot find anything online about how tank heaters make the underbelly heated.
Our pipes all broke when it was cold. now we have a sewage bubble under the trailer in the closed underbelly. among all the problems this is the one that truly bothers me.

I should have bought used, after losing everything of my past present and future I am now stuck with a molded and sewage infested trailer. Can things get any worse? sorry, I am rambling, dwelling over spending insurance money on a trailer I cannot use.

If you would have bought used you still would have had the frozen pipe issues. One must winterize camper if your in an area that freezes. Fast way would have just blew the lines out and missed a lot of head aches new or used. TT normally are not a good set up for winter camping. Sorry to hear of your loses due to fire and maybe had no time to winterize. later RJD

[ard58]

i modified the furnace so it's better .

How did you modify it?

[Scheinin]

I have the Cedar Creek 36CKTS with the arctic package. It is rated 4 seasons, and we have used it 4 seasons for the last 4 years. We have been in prolonged temperatures of -4 degrees F with no problems. In our Cedar Creek, the underbelly is enclosed. The furnace ducks for the heating of the RV go through there, which heats the underbelly and all the water lines to above 32 degrees. To save propane I use space heaters in the coach, but I have remote thermostats in the basement to keep track of temperature. When the temperature gets in the low 30's I turn on the propane heaters.

[NatlChamp]

Sorry to here about your difficulties. Have friends who barely got out but are lucky to have relatives close by for temp housing. Lost our place up at Tahoe a few years back but had a place to stay. I can only offer my sincere hope that things work out. My experience with Forest River is not good but only created minor inconvenience nothing compared to what you're going through. You'll be in our prayers. BB

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by ard58

i modified the furnace so it's better .

How did you modify it?

Well in my unit it had four very small ducts going through the cabinets . one at end of cabinet one center one in the bathroom and one in the garage . needless to say this did nothing when the furnace was on and most heat was lost in the cabinets . since the furnace is designed to flow through i pulled the ducts off and capped the holes in the furnace box . took the end cover off the furnace and boxed it in so it came right out where the return air would have gone . i left the ducts loose in there to now act as cold air returns and have it blowing straight out with a 12" vent louvered cover on it . works like a charm heats up nicely and in short order warms the unit . this also helps if i need access to the hi limit as it's right there .of course the garage is now not heated unless i keep the door open which i do not

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by Scheinin

I have the Cedar Creek 36CKTS with the arctic package. It is rated 4 seasons, and we have used it 4 seasons for the last 4 years. With have been in prolonged temperatures of -4 degrees F with no problems. In our Cedar Creek, the underbelly is enclosed. The furnace ducks for the heating of the RV go through there, which heats the underbelly and all the water lines to above 32 degrees. To save propane I use space heaters in the coach, but I have remote thermostats in the basement to keep track of temperature. When the temperature gets in the low 30's I turn on the propane heaters.

That's awesome but doesn't help the OP at all

[Scheinin]

Originally Posted by MR.M

That's awesome but doesn't help the OP at all

His question was "What is a heated underbelly?".

[onetonford]

On my Wildcat fifth wheel the basement has the duct for the bedroom running thru it with holes to warm the basement and the main duct runs thru the floor it has a hole in it that blows into the enclosed underbelly. IMHO this is the most wasteful way of doing it as the air that is going there is leaking at every hole under the trailer it is not recycled so that air has to come from somewhere usually thru leaks from windows doors etc. this pulls cold air from outside and makes your furnace work more to heat it.

[bedubya]

"Heated Underbelly" seems to be a term subject to a lot of interpretation. So are a lot of other terms in the industry.



Be aware that employees at most large corporations are instructed to stop talking and refer you to their legal department at the first mention of a lawyer. You probably should consult a lawyer, but don't threaten FR with lawyer. That would be your your attorney's job.

[spock123]

Originally Posted by Danley

thank you for reply.



I guess im just letting Forest River do what they want with trailer. I need a Auto fraud lawyer. any suggestion?

I have few suggestions that you probably aren’t going to like. Crawl under the camper and fix your drain lines, water lines probably froze too. I have 12 volt tank heaters on my holding tanks, none on the drain lines. Last year a drain line froze and busted. I fixed that. No camper is a truly four season camper. If you plan on living in the camper full time then close off the sides and put a couple of heat lamps under there or a electric heater and a heated water hose. Somewhere in all the find print there is a clause that says the camper you brought is not for living in full time. You can buy heat pads to install on your drain lines and all the valves and elbows. I would fix the drain lines and any pipes that froze and next year winterize the camper. It only cost about five bucks to winterize a camper. It took me two days to fix my drain line and probably fifty bucks for parts. On this forum normally all you have to do is say lawyer one time and the thread is shut down.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by onetonford

On my Wildcat fifth wheel the basement has the duct for the bedroom running thru it with holes to warm the basement and the main duct runs thru the floor it has a hole in it that blows into the enclosed underbelly. IMHO this is the most wasteful way of doing it as the air that is going there is leaking at every hole under the trailer it is not recycled so that air has to come from somewhere usually thru leaks from windows doors etc. this pulls cold air from outside and makes your furnace work more to heat it.

On it's face it would seem wasteful. However, remember that heat rises. When heat leaks from ducts in the underbelly it will rise through any leaks in the floor. Wherever plumbing or electrical passes through the floor this air returns to the living space of the trailer.

This is why skirting on a travel trailer really helps when one is wintering in their TT.

As for tank heater pads, they do a lot more than one gives them credit. If you have a 40 gallons of water heated to somewhere between 40 and 60 degrees (the cut in and cut out temps for most "pads") they help keep the enclosed underbelly from freezing unless there is a blizzard blowing through under the TT.

[larryandamy]

I am sorry for the troubles you are having. I hope you can get it all resolved.
I am buying what they say is one of the few true 4 season campers (not trailer) next week. It is a Bigfoot slide-in truck camper that claims it is a four season camper. It has a clamshell fiberglass body (like a boat) with an inner and outer shell with R8 rated insulation between the shells. Also, all of the piping and tanks are within the heated shell and the heated underbelly. I am not one that will actually plan to do much winter camping (I live in San Diego), but I have been caught in 16F weather at the Grand Canyon in January and I worried about pipes freezing. From what I read, the Bigfoot will have no problems, but I will be careful. One thing that I do know for sure is "Buyer beware"... Do your own research and never believe a single word any RV saleman utters. They are two levels below used car salesmen.
How cold was it for how long when the damage happened?