Fifth Wheel Heater Wiring

[koribustard]

I bought a 2021 Flagstaff fifth wheel and after bringing it home and going through the systems everything worked fine except that I could not get the heater to work. The heater itself is difficult to access but I found and on/off switch that I changed position and it still wouldn't fire up. After checking propane flow throughout the camper and trying various other things, my neighbor (an RV owner) suggested that I look at the thermostat and we found that the heater had never been wired to the thermostat. After connecting the 2 white wires with a wire nut the problem was solved.

Today, the same neighbor brought home a 2022 Rockwood 5th wheel (made in the same factory as the Flagstaff) and after having experienced my problem with the heater, he checked his new rig to find out that the 2 white wires in the thermostat also had not been wired together.

My questions are, is this common in Rockwood/Flagstaff units and can anyone think of a reason that the factory would not properly wire the heater to the thermostat? Just a curiosity.

[wildmanabe]

Sounds like someone removed that section off the check list. Strange that same thing would be happening . I'd also start looking at everything that should be hooked up but might not be.

[SeaDog]

This might be something the dealer is supposed to check. The factory may leave the common disconnected to prevent the furnace from coming on while sitting at the lot or in transit. My question why wasn't this discovered by you or your neighbor during the PDI?

[Rhumblefish]

And a great reminder to do a ludicrously thorough PDI before leaving the dealer's lot (even to the point of camping nearby to test everything out for an overnighter).

[corn18]

My heater worked, but my water heater was not plugged in so couldn't use 110V to heat it. Luckily, they put the socket for that behind a divider where I could not see it. I only figured it out when I was working on the plumbing.