Unfortunately the insulation, heat trace and line have to be replaced. Dealer says HL won't cover it. I haven't checked the tanks yet, hope they didn't melt as well as they were empty as well. I'm not finished with this yet, i just need to prove it was the unit and not me.
Gary,
I don't think you have to prove anything. The dealer has to be clear in the diagnosis and based on "wired backwards" they're not being clear. The heat tape rocker switch is probably a simple single-pole single-throw switch. The 12V DC power source goes to one side of the switch and the other side is connected to the heat tape. When the switch is pushed one way, the 2 wires are connected. When pushed the other way, they are not connected. There's no such thing as backwards. Iif the dealer is telling Heartland that the switch was wired backwards, they're being unclear and Heartland would probably be thinking they don't know what they're talking about. That would be a reason to deny warranty coverage.
If they tell Heartland that manufacturing installed the switch upside down, so when you thought it was turned OFF, it was actually ON, that very clearly is a manufacturing error that would have led directly to the damage. Now if there had been water in the line, there probably would not have been any damage. But sooner or later you would drain the lines for one legitimate reason or another and power would still be ON because of the manufacturing error. So it's irrelevant whether you had water in the line.
If the switch was installed upside down, I feel certain that if this is explained correctly to Heartland that they will cover the repairs under warranty.
As for the tanks, that's a bit different. On most rigs there's a separate switch to turn on the tank heaters. It's typically a large wall-type illuminated switch. When ON, it lights up. If the tanks are empty, having the tank heaters ON can damage the tanks. I know this because I ran for 6 weeks with gray tank valves open (empty tanks) and tank heaters on to protect the black and fresh tanks. The gray #1 tank had several holes burned through. Gray #2 was ok. Note that I ran this way for 6 weeks - not for a few days. When I talked to Annod Industries, they were very surprised at the damage but agreed that if the tank was empty it could happen.
So if you left the tank heater switch ON with tanks empty, the switch would have been illuminated. Even if installed incorrectly, it's reasonable to expect you to have noticed the light. But I'd be surprised if they installed both switches wrong. And if you didn't run with the heaters on for an extended period, you probably don't have any damage.
If one or more tanks are damaged, you'll be able to tell because when full, they'll leak and you have water seeping out of the coroplast. If you do have tank damage, the tank can be patched easily but the heating pad will have to be replaced as part of the repair because it won't survive being removed in order to patch the tank.
