Sign in

Hasta Luego, Mexico

Hasta Luego, Mexico
Our motorhome with the original propane heater

Bottom line: We were scheduled to do a 3-month RV caravan trip to Mexico that starts in about 3 weeks. However, due to continuing problems with our RV heater, we had to cancel that trip. If that's all you want to know, that's fine with us; feel free to wait for the next travel update. But if you want the saga of the RV heater, read on.

When we purchased our Winnebago EKKO motorhome a year ago, we took it to FreedomVanGo in Jacksonville FL for upfitting, to make it more rugged for adventure travel. Mods like the suspension and the power system were definite upgrades. And then there was the heater. The Winnebago EKKO comes with a Truma heater that uses propane to heat the cabin and make hot water. However, in some far-flung locations, propane can be hard to find. Locations like the Arctic or parts of Mexico - exactly the types of adventure locations we wanted to visit. So we decided to replace the Truma heater with a diesel heater, the same model that Winnebago installs on their diesel vans like the Revel. FreedomVanGo installed the diesel heater for us, and then we were able to remove ("delete") propane from our vehicle.

Unfortunately, our nightmare with the diesel heater started on our very first night, an unusually cold night when we reached Tallahassee FL. The diesel burner did not work, though we were able to run the heater on electricity since we were parked in a commercial RV park. Eventually, Greg was able to get the burner started the next day, and we continued the long trip home. When we got home, Greg contacted technical support for the heater, and one of the technicians made some suggestions like to crawl under the vehicle and strike the fuel pump with the back of a screwdriver. Not something that instills confidence. But it was working, more-or-less.

We started our trip to Baja in February, and the heater continued to be very difficult to start. Greg tried various diesel fuel additives and continued to bang on the fuel pump with a screwdriver. Eventually, Greg decided to leave the burner running, no matter how warm it got in Baja. At least it was usually working. Greg emailed technical support and made an appointment for them to repair the heater when we passed by their headquarters near Portland OR. When we got to the heater manufacturer, they replaced two controllers, partly because they can only do software updates by replacing hardware! In the year 2025! But the heater seemed to be working a bit better.

Before our Alaska adventure, we did a shakedown trip to a state park, and everything was working well. So in mid-May, we left for Alaska. We got 3 days into the trip and the burner failed. Greg called the heater manufacturer, and they said they couldn't make a repair appointment for several weeks. But they agreed to send a new glow plug along with an extra as a spare, so Amy and Greg returned home and waited for the part. When it arrived, Greg was able to replace the old glow plug, and everything was working again. We had no problems on the northbound portion of our Alaska trip.

Soon after we started the long southbound portion, the heater failed again. Greg replaced the glow plug with the spare. And it worked for about two weeks, until we reached Whitehorse. That's 3 total failures in less than a year, plus many smaller ones. Fortunately, the electric element worked, but that was only practical if we had access to an electrical outlet. If we wanted that kind of "gentleman RV'ing", we didn't need an adventure van. But we carefully planned our drive and returned home without further problems.

When we got home from Alaska, Greg contacted the heater manufacturer about a repair. He sent emails. He called the office and left messages. And waited. No reply. Days turned into weeks without a reply. Finally, on the day that Amy and Greg gave up on the heater, the owner of the company called to apologize, but it was too little, too late. If your product is reliable, the quality of your technical support does not matter. If your product is not reliable, you can make up for it with good technical support. Our experience with them was the worst of both worlds: an unreliable product with unresponsive technical support. The only thing that prevented Greg from suing them is that the costs would be far greater than any possible awards.

So the next step was to hire our favorite RV repair shop - OceanWest RV and Marine - to replace the heater with an Aquahot 125D heater. We brought the RV to them at the end of September. Dave, the owner, told us that it would be about 2 weeks to order the parts, 1 week for delivery, and about 3 days to install the new heater. Even anticipating some delays, we figured we would get it back in mid-November. And then we waited a few weeks. And some more. Eventually, Dave told us that the Aquahot heater was backordered. A few weeks later, Greg got nosy and called Aquahot, who said that our order was in process and would be shipping on December 5! Like, 2 months after our order! But it did ship as promised and Greg got a tracking number for the package. And the delivery date? December 10: the peak of the historic flooding in Washington State. Indeed, although the heater reached the FedEx depot in Everett WA on the morning of December 10, the delivery was postponed for 3 more business days. It was finally delivered this past Monday, December 15. Dave from OceanWest said he would try his best to install it before he closes the shop for the holidays. Since Dave was short-handed for the holidays, he agreed to let Greg lend a hand in the shop on Tuesday. But again, it was too little, too late. A couple of hours ago, we finally got the call: Dave cannot finish installing the new heater in time for our trip to Mexico. And unfortunately, the next RV caravan trip to the Yucatan isn't until 2028! Womp womp.

Here is the crazy sequence of events that caused us to postpone our RV trip to Mexico:

  • The diesel heater failed multiple times in its first year
  • We waited 3 weeks for a reply from the manufacturer
  • Once we decided to replace the diesel heater, Aquahot took months instead of weeks to manufacture a new heater
  • The Aquahot delivery was delayed by the severe storms
  • Holiday hours and limited holiday staffing made it impossible for our installer to finish the work in time

In short, we put the blame squarely on the first diesel heater: if their heater worked as promised, we would never had to cancel parts of our Alaska trip or the 2026 Yucatan trip. It would have saved us a lot of time and thousands of dollars.

So what do we do with nearly 4 months free on our calendar? We're figuring that out right now. Stay tuned.