[Pluto]

We're in new Mexico heading west on I40 when Hannah calls and says that there is white smoke coming out of the rear of the coach.  We pull over and smell burning wood, smoke is rolling out of the back and when we open the door to the bedroom it and the bathroom are completely full of smoke.  Got the bus shut down. And an extinguisher out just in time. The insulation between the exhaust and power cable compartment has caught fire and was beginning to work it's way up into the bathroom.

We were able to but the fire out without much damage but it did burn the cables to the cable real and got up into the cabinet under the bathroom sink.

I believe the exhaust caused the fire but not sure. 

I was able to pull all of the burnt and smoldering insulation out of the bulkhead area and fill it with fire retardant.  I'm not sure if it's a good idea to carry on though. 

There's not a lot of damage, just some melted wires and a bit of charring on the cabinet under behind the drawers.  We were very lucky to not lose the coach!

Should we call the insurance or just repair the small amount of damage?

[Richard]

Oh no! So sorry to hear this. Gotta find the exhaust leak and remedy before continuing.

[Pluto]

We made it to a love's truck stop but there isn't a mechanic shop at this one. I was able to locate the exhaust leak right where the flex pipe exits the bottom of the coach. If I can't find a shop near by I may be able to find an exhaust strap to patch the leak long enough to get us to Arizona.

[Pluto]

I was able to get a 5" exhaust clamp at a truck shop and place it over the hole in the flex pipe.  This should hold us over until we can get to our destination.  I couldn't feel any exhaust getting past the clamp so hopefully we'll be OK to finish our trip.

[encantotom]

you are welcome to come to my place if you need to work on it. i live in wittmann just outside of surprise az

tom

[Pluto]

Thank you, we might have to stop by one day. I'm hoping that the place we're going to be staying in Page won't mind me working on our coach.

[Jack Houpe]

Glad you were on top of it and got a warning! Those wires that melted look familiar to me I believe those will come out of the transfer switch and go all the way to the front of the coach and feed the AC power gauges, be very careful with them they are not fused and 16-18 gauge wires and have 2 phases of 120vac. 

We know the feeling when something like this happens we had fire behind our washer dryer and it hadn't been used for 2 days, seems a telephone book that was on a metal coat hanger got itself between the washer dryer plug and socket. The book was from Louisiana so it came from the last owner but thank God we were in the coach watching TV when it happened. We had fire extinguishers and used them not sure if the fire or the extinguisher mess was harder to fix.

Good point to others reading this make sure you have plenty of fire extinguishers and know where they are at plus check the gauges and dates.

[Pluto]

We made it to page without any additional issues. Before we plugged into shore power, I cut the melted mess of wires and capped off each one coming out of the transfer switch. I'm going to repair each of them tomorrow as it started to rain on us.

Thanks for the info Jack, I opened up the transfer switch and saw each wire was connected to a lead on the feeder lines. I didn't know where they went though. I will be very careful when making the repairs.

We have already replaced the spent extinguisher, we would have been in a really bad spot had we not had it!

The long trip has produced a few things that need attention, but now that we're settled in it shouldn't be too much for us to tackle.

I would like to say that Steve and Doris Denton are two of the finest people we have ever met and Hannah and I feel incredibly fortunate to have gotten a beautiful coach from such wonderful people.

Thank you to all of the Gurus for your information and help with everything.

[Jack Houpe]

Tyler when you get ready for the repair email me your phone number I will share with you where those wires go, to hard to write it down from my head.  Also I would recommend putting some of these little fuses in the transfer switch available on amazon, use .1 amp and fuse the neutral also.

[Latitude 28]

We made it to page without any additional issues.  Before we plugged into shore power, I cut the melted mess of wires and capped off each one coming out of the transfer switch.  I'm going to repair each of them tomorrow as it started to rain on us. 

Thanks for the info Jack, I opened up the transfer switch and saw each wire was connected to a lead on the feeder lines.  I didn't know where they went though.  I will be very careful when making the repairs.

We have already replaced the spent extinguisher, we would have been in a really bad spot had we not had it!

The long trip has produced a few things that need attention, but now that we're settled in it shouldn't be too much for us to tackle.

I would like to say that Steve and Doris Denton are two of the finest people we have ever met and Hannah and I feel incredibly fortunate to have gotten a beautiful coach from such wonderful people.

Thank you to all of the Gurus for your information and help with everything.

Hanna & Tyler,
Thank you for such kind words!  We are so glad that you guys are enjoying your coach!  We could have not found a better couple to pass the baton and hope you guys have many years of enjoyment from her.  

Steve & Doris