Gateway 3650BH
- Thread starter Biily
- Start date
danemayer
Well-known member
Hi Billy,
Congratulations on your new Gateway and welcome to the Heartland Family and to the Owners Forum.
Take your time during the walk through and ask as many questions as necessary to get a good understanding of how to operate everything. Everything. Ask about things the dealer doesn't actually demonstrate. Try the TV. Find out where the TV/Cable signal booster is located.
Have them walk through the winterizing steps and make sure you know how to operate the water heater bypass and how to add antifreeze.
If your refrigerator has an icemaker or water dispenser, find out where the cutoff valve is located.
Many of the newer 5th wheels have remote controls to operate some functions. Make sure you know where the remote is and what it operates. Demonstrate everything it does.
Try the awning(s).
There should be some water in the fresh tank so you can test the pump and all the faucets/shower/toilet. Understand how to use the electric and propane operation of the water heater.
Check the air pressure on the tires. Should generally be set to the match the max cold inflation pressure stamped on the sidewall. With your trailer not loaded, it might be ok to be 5psi below this, but no more.
Having a 2nd person record the walk through on video will help you a lot because you will have trouble remembering all the detail.
If possible, stay at the dealer or close by for a day or two to try everything out. If adjustments are needed, or if you have questions, you'll be right there and they should be able to take care of problems without you having to wait in the service queue.
And of course if you have any questions, or need help, there are a lot of friendly and helpful people here on the forum. Don't hesitate to ask.
Finally, consider joining the Heartland Owners Club and coming to some rallies. There's a North Texas Chapter Rally coming in a few months followed by a South Texas Chapter Rally. You can find the rally information by pressing the EVENTS tab on the navbar at top of the page.
Here's a link to the Club Information.
Congratulations on your new Gateway and welcome to the Heartland Family and to the Owners Forum.
Take your time during the walk through and ask as many questions as necessary to get a good understanding of how to operate everything. Everything. Ask about things the dealer doesn't actually demonstrate. Try the TV. Find out where the TV/Cable signal booster is located.
Have them walk through the winterizing steps and make sure you know how to operate the water heater bypass and how to add antifreeze.
If your refrigerator has an icemaker or water dispenser, find out where the cutoff valve is located.
Many of the newer 5th wheels have remote controls to operate some functions. Make sure you know where the remote is and what it operates. Demonstrate everything it does.
Try the awning(s).
There should be some water in the fresh tank so you can test the pump and all the faucets/shower/toilet. Understand how to use the electric and propane operation of the water heater.
Check the air pressure on the tires. Should generally be set to the match the max cold inflation pressure stamped on the sidewall. With your trailer not loaded, it might be ok to be 5psi below this, but no more.
Having a 2nd person record the walk through on video will help you a lot because you will have trouble remembering all the detail.
If possible, stay at the dealer or close by for a day or two to try everything out. If adjustments are needed, or if you have questions, you'll be right there and they should be able to take care of problems without you having to wait in the service queue.
And of course if you have any questions, or need help, there are a lot of friendly and helpful people here on the forum. Don't hesitate to ask.
Finally, consider joining the Heartland Owners Club and coming to some rallies. There's a North Texas Chapter Rally coming in a few months followed by a South Texas Chapter Rally. You can find the rally information by pressing the EVENTS tab on the navbar at top of the page.
Here's a link to the Club Information.
Biily, Congrats on your Gateway purchase.
We purchased a Gateway 3650BH just over a month ago and we absolutely love it. The only issues I have had with is so far are the LP gas auto changeover valve/switch, a water leak on the backside of the docking station on the black tank flush connector, and one of the glass covers for one of the LED lights fell and broke.
The LP gas auto changeover switch never does turn green to begin with when the gas it turned on, something both the dealer and I should have caught during the PDI. A simple fix of replacing the changover valve, but it'll have to wait until I take the rig back to the dealer for them to install a few IOU items in a few weeks. For now the gas is flowing just fine as is, and luckily since it's summer I barley use any gas, so no change of needing to change LP tanks in the middle of the night.
As for the leak on the backside of the black water flush connector inside the docking station, I noticed water dripping out of the bottom of the frame right there at the docking station when flushing out the front black water tank. I took the screws out and opened the side of the docking station and saw that there was a 90 degree connector right there for the back side of the black water flush connector. This 90 degree elbow was "kinked" off to the side pretty hard due to the rigidity of the PEX tubing coming out of the elbow. I zip tied the PEX tubing back towards the docking station, making the 90 degree elbow sit at 90 degrees like it should, and the leak stopped.
As for the screw-in glass cover for the LED light that broke, the dealer offered to replace the glass, no problem there. However the new glass falls out just as easy, leading me to think that the fixture itself is "stripped" out. I'll ask the dealer to replace the entire fixture when I take the unit in for the IOU items in a few weeks. However, I would suggest that you go around to all the light fixtures and make sure they are all hand tight so they don't wiggle themselves out and fall during your first tow. If they fall and hit a solid surface the glass covers will shatter and make quite a mess when they break.
If you have any questions about the 3650BH, feel free to ask. We've been out in her twice, so I guess I'm considered a seasoned veteran now.
We purchased a Gateway 3650BH just over a month ago and we absolutely love it. The only issues I have had with is so far are the LP gas auto changeover valve/switch, a water leak on the backside of the docking station on the black tank flush connector, and one of the glass covers for one of the LED lights fell and broke.
The LP gas auto changeover switch never does turn green to begin with when the gas it turned on, something both the dealer and I should have caught during the PDI. A simple fix of replacing the changover valve, but it'll have to wait until I take the rig back to the dealer for them to install a few IOU items in a few weeks. For now the gas is flowing just fine as is, and luckily since it's summer I barley use any gas, so no change of needing to change LP tanks in the middle of the night.
As for the leak on the backside of the black water flush connector inside the docking station, I noticed water dripping out of the bottom of the frame right there at the docking station when flushing out the front black water tank. I took the screws out and opened the side of the docking station and saw that there was a 90 degree connector right there for the back side of the black water flush connector. This 90 degree elbow was "kinked" off to the side pretty hard due to the rigidity of the PEX tubing coming out of the elbow. I zip tied the PEX tubing back towards the docking station, making the 90 degree elbow sit at 90 degrees like it should, and the leak stopped.
As for the screw-in glass cover for the LED light that broke, the dealer offered to replace the glass, no problem there. However the new glass falls out just as easy, leading me to think that the fixture itself is "stripped" out. I'll ask the dealer to replace the entire fixture when I take the unit in for the IOU items in a few weeks. However, I would suggest that you go around to all the light fixtures and make sure they are all hand tight so they don't wiggle themselves out and fall during your first tow. If they fall and hit a solid surface the glass covers will shatter and make quite a mess when they break.
If you have any questions about the 3650BH, feel free to ask. We've been out in her twice, so I guess I'm considered a seasoned veteran now.
Thank you both very much, lots of good advice. As for the LP valve, I noticed during the walk through that the valve did not switch and the tech loosened the connection and the valve switched right over. I'll keep an eye on that. btw, we opted for the love seat hidabed in the bunk room and dining table with 4 chairs and theater recliners in the main slide. Sure do like it so far. Thanks again Billy
Hello all. The dear wife and I today ordered our new 3650BH. We have been to many RV shows and looked and hundreds of floorplans and this is the only one that works. We sure hope we get a good unit. Been camping for many years and looking forward to spending years in our new bunkhouse with our 1 year old daughter.
jimtoo
Moderator
Hi Kahoney,
Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.
Do a very good PDI when you go for delivery.
Join us at a Heartland rally when you can.
Enjoy the forum and your new Gateway.
Jim M
Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.
Do a very good PDI when you go for delivery.
Join us at a Heartland rally when you can.
Enjoy the forum and your new Gateway.
Jim M
Costafamily6
Member
Can anyone tell me if the full size fridge on the bunkhouse model stays cold on the propane?
danemayer
Well-known member
Hi Costafamily6,
Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.
I assume you're asking about the 22 cu ft. residential refrigerator option. It's a residential refrigerator just like what you would have in your home. Runs on 110V electricity only. No propane. The option includes a 2nd battery, an inverter to change the battery's 12V DC supply into 110V AC, and a transfer switch that lets it run off battery when you're not hooked up to shore power. The whole purpose of the extra electrical pieces is to keep it running while traveling so it stays cold.
Costafamily6
Member
Thank you sooo much, our dealership did not have any answers for us on these items, I kept hearing it was a new model for them. By any chance can anyone help us figure out why the heater does not heat the bunk area? We have 4 children and have used our new fifth wheel twice and the front master suite gets stifeling hot along with the master bath HOWEVER THE heat does not travel to the bunk area. We took it back to MacMahons and they said "that is just how it is!" I was appalled I have a hard time believing that the manufacturer of this wonderful rig would not allow for the heat to travel to the back of the unit. HELP! I am so beginning to regret this purchase.
danemayer
Well-known member
You should be getting airflow and heat from the furnace to the ducts in the rear. If not, you may have a pinched duct, and it's also possible the duct at the furnace came loose.
Depending on how much airflow you have at the rear heat register, the dealer probably should have opened the basement to inspect the duct connections to the furnace and might need to drop the coroplast underbelly to examine the rear duct.
On our Landmark, we get air at the rear registers, but it's not anywhere near as hot as air at the bedroom register. We have the fireplace option at the rear of the coach and use it to balance the temps.
Turtlpwr
Member
Hi Costafamily6,
I also purchased the GW 3650BH late last year and am experiencing the same issue. There is little to no airflow in the rear bedroom and what air does blow is not warm. The front bedroom and bathroom stay quite warm while the rear bedroom is 10-15 degrees cooler. I have contacted Heartland customer service and they said to have the dealer look at it. I have also heard from others that this is the case with their units as well. I have a small child and need to keep it warmer in the rear bedroom, so until the dealer can take a look at it, I have a small portable heater in the rear bedroom that keeps things nice and toasty. Luckily for me, I don't stay where the temps drop much below the 20's so I don't feel that it is a major issue for me. I still plan on having the dealer check it out when I bring it in for some other minor service repairs.
I have seen others that have looked into putting in a duct blower, but haven't heard back on if this actually made any improvement:
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.ph...50BH-Furnace-Vent-Airflow?p=341925#post341925
Best of luck to you and happy camping!
Jared
My wife and I are planning to order a 3650BH very soon, but keep going back and forth between the standard LP refrigerator or the residential refrigerator. We often boondock for 2-3 days at a time and would rather not run our generator all the time. With the residential refrigerator, how long do you think we could run off the batteries? I know this all depends upon other appliances (TV, etc.) that are running and the outdoor temperature.
P
Paul.craven
Guest
Glad to hear you're deciding on a Gateway. As for the refrigerator; depending on draw from lights and other 12 volt items, and current battery charge, the refer should run for 21-30 hours on battery. This is a charging system however, so when batteries start to drain, starting the generator or plugging into a running vehicle for a short while, should bring the batteries back up.
GWRam
Well-known member
The inverter in our 3650BH is designed for just the frig and has just enough power(output) to run the frig. Running anything extra will require additional wiring of course and a larger inverter. To keep the time of usage up anywhere near 21-30 hours would also then require a larger battery bank(more batteries) than those installed. Or more running of generators for recharging.
Dustin_Sarah
Member
I was told 4 hours. If this ends up not being true please let me know. I went with the res fridge.
Ihave a 3650 gateway and I get warm air through all my ducts.
