No Power - Shurflo 4008-101-A65 Pump

[ShirenBeast]

While dry camping this winter, an arctic blast passed through that lowered overnight temperatures to -1F for two days. Since we had the winter package installed with tank heaters, we had elected to not skirt our Riverstone 38RE. That was a MISTAKE! The waterline from the Freshwater Tank froze and the Shurflo pump stopped working and we had no power light at the Convenience Center Panel.

We looked for a blown fuse on the fuse panel, but there was none. We checked multiple RV forums which indicated we should look for an in-line fuse. After thawing out the waterline and emptying the basement in sub-freezing temperatures and removing basement access panels to locate the pump, we confirmed no power to the Shurflo 4008 using a multi-meter and found no in-line fuse.

Out of curiosity, we removed the four screws holding the Convenience Center Panel Cover and found the in-line fuse. It is a 10A knife (Automobile Type) fuse. We confirmed the fuse was blown, replaced it and restored power to the pump.

Forest River should have wiring and plumbing schematics for all their units available for downloading so that they can be used for troubleshooting.

Another Winter RVing Adventure... Hope this helps anyone with a similar problem!

[Rich5117]

Glad you got everything fixed without any major damage. The weakest link in the system failed. The fresh water line comes from the underbelly and is not heated. Even with the tank heaters on, with the small amount of water in the hose at -1 radiant heat from the tank could not keep it from freezing.

At the temps you experienced even having the unit skirted without additional heat for the skirting it still probably would have frozen.

How did you get the line thawed? Might need to do that some day, but hope I never have to.

[ShirenBeast]

We put up a make shift skirting with insulation boards then used a kerosene torpedo heater outside. We created an opening in the boards about 2 ft wide and had it blowing underneath the rv. Took about 30-45 minutes to thaw it out....but was a life saver as the black tank had frozen as well.....

[Cypressloser]

We have the same trailer and also chose not to skirt and survived a couple nights as low as neg. mid 40's - thank goodness we had no wind to speak off.
Our experience is similar to yours, however I "installed" a 65gal. water tank in the basement area in hindsight late last fall and plumbed it straight into the pump because I figured there couldn't be much insulation under the freshwater tank and the supply hose, I'm glad I did.
Some 1 1/2" styrofoam insulation inside against the compartment doors and a spaceheater on a thermostat keeps it all nice and warm. I placed remote readout thermometers near the water pump, the freshwater tank and inside the water bay and noticed that the cold most likely comes through the floor, I'm going to unscrew the water pump and place it on a 3" thick sheet of styrofoam I have laying around for next winter.
We also found that the dump valves would freeze when it gets really cold but putting a hairdryer in front of the drain pipe thaws them within minutes, a PITA but it works - again, there is not much space for sufficient insulation. I'm going to wrap heat tape around the dump valves and the drain pipe next summer and sprayfoam the area.

Otherwise, I must say I'm impressed with our Legacy 38RE.

[ShirenBeast]

So do you have the arctic package? We may try the foam board insulation under the pump as well

[Cypressloser]

Originally Posted by ShirenBeast

So do you have the arctic package? We may try the foam board insulation under the pump as well

Our RiverStone is supposed to have R36 insulation in the underbelly, but how much there really is - I don't know, it's not like a house sealed with vapor barrier.
However, our water pump was mounted on the deck right on top of the I-beam which is no barrier for the cold and mounting the pump on the Styrofoam block makes a huge difference. The job didn't take more than 5 minutes not counting the time searching for the 5" wood screws , the Styrofoam also dampens the noise coming form the already quiet pump even more. As you can see I also filled the rest of the space with pink fiberglass insulation.