New 16 TBS Disappointment story

[mitch]

On my 2013 with the 5 CF Dometic fridge it does take a full day and a half at least before it's really cold.  If the lights on the control panel come on and it appears that it's working I'd say keep it on, it may just be slower than you expect.

[jimt]

OK we have a update.  

Now I have to eat crow. Although there were still many things wrong with my new camper ( none being show stoppers now ) my fridge does seem to be working.
On AC power here at the campground it ran all night. Now it is cold and working. Even the freezer part seems to be getting really cold now.
So with that said I take back the part about  LL is a POS statement.

 Now I can understand it did not cool at my house on DC power,  battery went low and I can understand why it did not cool on AC power at my house ( drop cord to long and voltage drop was to much ) Although my old ones worked on that same drop cord and last fridge was much bigger. Still I can buy off on all of that.

 AH ,but what about the GAS feed you ask ? Well I'm not sure and I have it on gas now that it is cold here  at the campground. If it gets warmer I will know the gas part does not cool correctly. If it stays cold and starts freezing items ( makes ice tray ice ) then even the gas works and again ( JIM EATS CROW ). Trust me when I say I would rather have crow for dinner.
I have this thought that maybe it does take way longer than my old ones ( Karen is right on with that one ) and add to that I was trying to cool it down on a 90 degree day. Combine the two and you have my results. Right now I at least know for fact it works on AC. Better than nothing and odds are much greater it does work all around 100%.
Will update on gas in about 4 or 6 hours.

 For now I think I am out of the trouble woods and OK. Fingers crossed.

mmm CROW. It's what's for dinner.

Jim T.

[leslie]

Have a BBQ. Anything tastes good when you BBQ!

[charleschapman]

Jim,

If you are in a Campground and have AC hook up leave your frig on Auto and the gas bottles open.  If there is a power outage the frig automatically switches over to propane.  A great feature if you are out of camp and the campground loses power. The frig does takes longer to cool down then a household frig.  I usually turn our frig on propane the night before we travel.  By the next morning it has started to get cold.  Also the DC power just does not really work that well.  I tried it on a 5 hour drive and it could not keep things cool.  So I leave it on gas mode while traveling.  We also have camped in Hot July for a week with no issues running on propane.  

[charliem]

[font size="3"]Jim,

On your old fridge, be sure you are comparing apples to apples. If the old fridge was a compressor type it will cool much faster. Compressor refrigerators are like residential models, but they will not run on propane. That's the price we pay for the propane option. BTW, my personal opinion is you should just forget the 12 VDC option. It's totally useless unless you just need to discharge your battery quickly. When camped I leave my fridge set on the coldest setting, 5. I expect it to reach 32F overnight, leaving maximum room for warm up during the day. Also keeping the fridge full so it has a lot of thermal mass and adding a battery powered circulating fan will help maintain temperature as the fridge is used and the outside air warms up.
[/font]

[sheepcreek]

That is great news Jim!

(I did not know there are "RV Doctors"... that could be an interesting job.)


Karen

[jimt]

The RV doctor is not cheap and he has his hands full on the million dollar rigs too. Simple systems like we have are nothing to him.
He can save a camping trip for sure though. In most cases he charges more for that very reason. The local one around here does really good work. I will give him that. His trailer is about 30 feet long.It is a rolling work shop for sure. He can fabricate weld and just about anything else a dealer can. He doesn't have a ware house to store lager items such as AC units and fridges ,but he can get them inside a few days most times he says.

These kind of repair men are a good idea and becoming more and more frequent too.

[oleo]

May want to check that the gas supply line valve located right before the burner is in open position...if you haven't already.  Dealer pointed that out to us as a common issue. Then again, it would likely continue "clicking"...trying to ignite the flame in gas mode.

[jimt]

OK sorry for the delay. Having way to much fun on this first TBS outing. Although I did eat crow on the fridge ( WORKS LIKE A CHAMP ) Livin Lite gets the RV Doctor bill for the AC unit failure. LOL There is a small almost 10" long duct that comes from top to bottom inside the AC unit that was not connected correctly at the factory when installed. You may or may not notice the unit is only pumping out about half it's air. It will be noticed once it freezes up on you and stops working. That was fixed easy enough after sweating for many hours. There are 6 screws that hold that AC grill on inside. Can you find them all? LOL

The more we use this camper this week THE WAY MORE WE THINK IT WAS A GREAT PURCHASE. All the other astronomers are jealous now.
he he he

It did come with many craftsmanship issues. Way more than anyone should expect to have. In my case all small. Now that they are worked out all is good with our little TBS.

( Loving the Livin )

[lhunter59]

I have a 2017 14 DBS and the fit and finish is pretty good on mine. Had it since mid August and had no issues since then. I had a 2014 Airstream previously and I would say the F&F is similar with the Airstream being more than twice the price.

[redbox15]

Here's your next and biggest worry, Start checking your frame welds big problem with Livin Lite trailers you only have a year warranty on your frame.

[djmiller]

Frame welds has not nor ever been a big problem.  Pretty much every one that has had an issue, or thought they had, has posted here on the forum.
I actually think our frames, because they are constructed from aluminum, not painted, coated, nor undercoated do not hide any imperfections.
I have been in the RV industry for many years and have seen many steel RV frames both in motorized and towable products in construction before being powder coated, painted and undercoated.
All may have been structurally sound. Not every weld needs nor should be continuous and some cases may actually be a tack weld to hold a piece in place while the weld that makes that piece structurally sound is at another location.
Once this steel frame, that will eventually rust, is powder coated, or painted, and undercoated it hides all the good/bad and ugly welds.

The warranty on Livinlite products is outlined in your owners manual.  It has changed throughout the years.
As of the 2017 model year there is a 2 year limited warranty and prior to that there was a 1 year limited and 3 year structural warranty.

- Dan    

[scbillandjane]

We too have had quality issues. Some have nothing to do with LivinLite, because the problem came from the supplier. The dealer is also paid to inspect and fix obvious factory mistakes. We believe our unit was used as a demo model. The dealer had 2 weeks to correct problems that were obvious. They knew ahead of time that we were coming  1000 miles to buy the trailer. A buyer doesn't see leaks when you pick up in a garage at the dealership. Later you suspect something when they are replacing the queen bed with a new one still in the plastic. You later discover a broken vent cover over the bed. Who knows where it was broken? There are other things like the metal shavings that could be easily vacuumed at the factory. Would you rather have wood sawdust hidden from the buyer rotting or growing mold? Yes, LivinLite could do a better job, but I agree the other RV's that I have owned have had worse quality issues.

At times I have been bummed out about quality issues. Then I stop and remember two separate month trips to Florida, a two month trip to Oregon, California, Washington, and the northern states to the Great Lakes with nothing going wrong that caused us a delay. We went over many different types of topography and more than 20,000 miles. We went on a jet boat up the Rogue River. We met so many wonderful people that contribute to this forum. I just have to say a big thank you to LivinLite for making a trailer that I think that will still take us to more fascinating places, and still be around for the children. We have walked the campground loops for many years wondering what RV we most wished for. No more since we have our Camplite We have not seen anything we would trade for.  

[djsamuel]

We have walked the campground loops for many years wondering what RV we most wished for. No more since we have our Camplite We have not seen anything we would trade for.  

It's funny you wrote this.  When my wife and I walk a campground, see a camper going down the highway or make a visit to our local Camping World, we'll look at them and invariably one of us will say, "I like ours better."

I was cleaning up our 2013 21BHS yesterday, and other than the snake that surprised me in the battery box, I was really pleased with how the camper still looks and the shape it is in.  When I think how that camper has been at the Grand Canyon, up in Utah, in Tennessee, and all around Florida; it is really amazing how solid it remains.

[franks97224]

[quote source="/post/26203/thread" author="@djsamuel" timestamp="1480765888"]

We have walked the campground loops for many years wondering what RV we most wished for. No more since we have our Camplite We have not seen anything we would trade for.  

It's funny you wrote this.  When my wife and I walk a campground, see a camper going down the highway or make a visit to our local Camping World, we'll look at them and invariably one of us will say, "I like ours better."

I was cleaning up our 2013 21BHS yesterday, and other than the snake that surprised me in the battery box, I was really pleased with how the camper still looks and the shape it is in.  When I think how that camper has been at the Grand Canyon, up in Utah, in Tennessee, and all around Florida; it is really amazing how solid it remains.[/quote]I think 2013 must have been a good year for LL. I have had very few issues with my 2013 8518 VRV. I do admit it had some aluminum shavings I had to vacuum up.