Question for residential fridge owners

rsg1963

Member
Follow up on the original post. Just got the repair estimate. The repair will take about 10 days to 2 weeks and will require removal of the slide. If no further damage is found then it will cost about $7800.00 to replace the slide floor.

Ho-Le-Cow that's a chunk of change! Their solution is to replace the slide? Will the replacement slide have a better setup?
 
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OldTanker

Active Member
Nope the slide was not replaced, just the floor. Unfortunately there was a lot of cabinetry and the stove as well as fridge mounted on the floor. In order to replace the floor everything touching it has to be removed.

Just got the rig back after almost 3 weeks. It would not have been necessary at all had Heartland first properly mounted and secured the fridge and secondly made provisions for routing the water line where it did not travel behind cabinetry. A metal pan under the fridge would help prevent water impact on the floor should the line leak at the fridge but in this case the line failed a couple feet to the side of the fridge because of the way it was routed into the slide.
 

OldTanker

Active Member
The rig is out of warranty. I haven't gotten so much as a too bad so sad from Heartland. I had to eat the deductible from the rv policy as well as the cost of fabricating a secure mounting for the fridge. Close to $1,000 out of pocket.
 

Rhyph

Well-known member
Our experience with our residential fridge pretty much echos what others have said here (also see our ownership story post). We picked up our Bighorn from the dealer for delivery, and brought it to our local campground about 20 miles down the road from the dealer to get it ready for our first outing. Our fridge had slid out of its location in the slide out. Luckily the counter for the kitchen island across from it, stopped it from going very far. Initially I found that the screws at the base had ripped themselves out of the wood block shim on either side. Then I didn't catch in PDI the fact that they did not check the water line to the fridge. I turned it on and sure enough there was a leak behind the fridge.

Since we had a trip planned, I tackled fixing it myself. We pulled the fridge out and discovered the z-brackets that were supposed to be installed on the top of the rear of the fridge was done so shoddily that one had fallen off down behind the fridge (they completely missed attaching it), and the other had like 1 1/2 screws of 4 actually sunk into the top of the fridge. There was zero evidence of holes where either of these brackets should have been attached to the wall behind the fridge. So of course with only two little screws holding that beast in place it let go. I also discovered they crushed the ice maker line by rolling the fridge over it and that caused the leak.

I ran to Home Depot, got new ice maker line and fittings to splice in a repair. Next I 'engineered' a strap system I had seen in other coaches where they converted fridges. It's a set of simple yellow nylon pressure buckle straps that I attached to either sidewall and they run around the front of the fridge about a foot down from the top to hold it in place and stop any possible rocking movement. This has been in place since we bought it and we've had zero trouble with it since. I wasn't about to go screwing things into the top of the fridge itself so I saw this as the best solution for now with what I could manage the eve of our departure on the trip. When we arrive at a destination I loosen the straps and tuck them up on top of the fridge behind it's doors and you can't see them.

My fix and issues are documented with Heartland for whatever it's worth with photos since I did it myself and should have been a warranty claim, but I have zero faith that it went anywhere since the person I was dealing with directly at Heartland was worthless.

That slide out is sagging in the center and I do not doubt it's structurally deficient for the weight of the fridge and any associated movement therein.
 

rsg1963

Member
Rhyph, that is a horrible experience and makes what we went through seem like nothing. We also still do not have use of our ice maker/water dispenser and agree that the slide seems woefully inadequate for the task.
 
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