False Advertising on Water Heater size?

[drsasser]

Hi All. Last November we traded for a 2014 Heartland Prowler model 289 and I must say we love the color and layout, Last week is the first time we have had a chance to try it out. Below is a list of problems we encountered on our first time camping with this brand new unit and I should point out that my dealer was Johnny on the spot on the first two and corrected the problems. #1. The refrigerator would not work on electricity only on propane, The dealers service technician found a loose wire in a junction box under the unit, #2. The hot water only worked on propane, Unknown to me the heater has a switch inside the heater unit lid kinda hidden unless you know where to look. Now on to the title of this post. All of the literature and fliers I found on heartland's website states that the 2014 prowler 289 has a 10 gallon water heater BUT my unit has a 6 gallon, I contacted my dealer which contacted heartland and they told him it was a misprint. One of the reasons I bought this unit was because of the 10 gallon water heater. My question is: Do I have any recourse? Can I win this if I pursue it?? OK rant is over. Thanks P.S. I'm going to try to post pics. P.S.S. Can someone give me a few pointers as to how to post pics?

 

[kakampers]

Re: False Advertising?

All manufacturers add a caveat on brochures and websites giving them the ability to make changes at any time....pursuing it will do you no good.

 

[pegmikef]

Re: False Advertising?

I thought that six and twelve gallon were the standard sizes used in Heartland rigs. My Edge and North Trail both had six gallon water heaters, and my Bighorn has a twelve gallon heater so IMHO it is probably a misprint.

 

[caissiel]

What I have seen is using a 6 gallon HW tank and set water temperature at about 160F and use a mixing valve set at 120f and voila a 10 gallon HW capacity tank. Used in smaller units to save on space.
The only problem is that the valve has been failing leaving the hot water cold.

Sent from my LG-LS720 using Tapatalk

 

[iawoody2]

My Sundance has a 6 gallon, but if both electric and gas on at the sametime it recovers very fast. Have never run out on a long shower.

 

[BigJim45]

Re: False Advertising?

I thought that six and twelve gallon were the standard sizes used in Heartland rigs. My Edge and North Trail both had six gallon water heaters, and my Bighorn has a twelve gallon heater so IMHO it is probably a misprint.

The literature on my Silverado says 10gal water heater. Have not really checked to see what the actual size is.

 

[jnbhobe]

Re: False Advertising?

I thought that it was the recovery rate that is advertised 10 gal recovery per hour.

 

[dbbls59]

My Big Country brochure states it has a 20 gallon water heater. In reality is has a 10 gallon fast recovery heater giving it the capacity of a slow recovery 20 gallon unit. Yes it is misleading.

 

[danemayer]

All of the literature and fliers I found on heartland's website states that the 2014 prowler 289 has a 10 gallon water heater BUT my unit has a 6 gallon,

On Monday, call Heartland Customer Service at 877-262-8032 / 574-262-8030. Have your VIN # ready. Forget what the dealer told you. Let the Customer Service rep do as much talking as possible. He's the expert. Let him be the expert.

Let Heartland know that based on the website info and on the fliers and brochures you have, you bought a unit that promised a 10 gallon heater. But you think your trailer may have accidentally been built with a 6 gallon water heater. Ask how you can verify what's installed. Let customer service tell you even if you already know for sure.

Once you have agreement directly from Heartland that it should be 10 and is actually a 6, you can proceed to ask about remedies. If your floor plan is supposed to have a 10 gallon unit, there's room inside and it should be easy to replace the smaller heater with the larger unit.

If it's a brochure/website error, or mid-year change, they may point to the disclaimer that says they're free to make changes without notice. But even if it's a mid-year change, my suggestion is that you should ask for the 10 gallon since you relied on the info, including the website info, and the problem is easy for them to remedy.

It's certainly worth a phone call.

 

[drsasser]

Thanks guys, I will give Heartland a call sometime in the near future, The dealer told me to turn on both heating sources and it would recover quicker, With that and turning off the shower while soaping up I had enough hot water to shower this time but what gets me is what I thought I was getting was not what I got, I've always been a person of face value, I've always done or tired to do what I said I would do and my problem is believing what was printed instead of verifying it myself.

 

[drsasser]

An update to my situation, I'm 65 years old but I still learn something everyday, My 6 gallon water heater opening measures approximately 12.5" X 12.5", a 10 gallon measures approximately 14.5" X 14.5" so I would have to cut out my opening to accommodate a 10 gallon. Problem is there's no room to make the opening any bigger, The propane heater is 1 " off of the right side of water heater and the fresh water inlet and black tank flush is too close on the left side so no room to make the opening bigger. I give up! Thanks for you're input but I see no way to upgrade at this point. Denvis

 

[iawoody2]

Thanks guys, I will give Heartland a call sometime in the near future, The dealer told me to turn on both heating sources and it would recover quicker, With that and turning off the shower while soaping up I had enough hot water to shower this time but what gets me is what I thought I was getting was not what I got, I've always been a person of face value, I've always done or tired to do what I said I would do and my problem is believing what was printed instead of verifying it myself.

Like I said in previous post. We run both lp and electric at the sametime and not problem with back to back showers, me then wife.

 

[CityFire1017]

My Big Country brochure states it has a 20 gallon water heater. In reality is has a 10 gallon fast recovery heater giving it the capacity of a slow recovery 20 gallon unit. Yes it is misleading.

Same as my 2013