Counrty Coach Fire

[rickdesilva]

At this point its only speculation, but everyone believes the problem lies with the chassis batteries. The first person who saw smoke coming from the back heard what he thought was the batteries "pop". I haven't been inside but I understand that the coach remained relatively clean inside except for some clothes in the rear closet area.

[Sid Tuls]

Hey Thompson Coach owners should be sleeping by now-

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Very similar damages. The fire was very hot, fed by freon escaping under pressure from behind the AC compressor clutch.

The blowtorch like flame from the AC system melted and burned the 4 chassis batteries and the 6 house batteries located in the engine area. Despite the heat and engine compartment damage no smoke or excessive heat entered the house portion of the coach, a testament to Prevost.

Unlike the CC coach, we were notified by a trucker of the fire and used up all our fire extinguishers on the fire and quite a bit of the water from our holding tank drain to extinguish and cool the heated metal parts which kept reigniting the freon. If left unattended there is no doubt in my mind the fire would have eventually burned into the house through the rear cap.

Bus Fire July 21 &#3.jpg

[rickdesilva]

Sid
I do my best work at night.
I took a closer look this morning and the front door is in tact, apparently they busted the small electric window to get in. He also had significant damage to his car which was parked behind the coach. This stuff screws up your vacation plans.

[Steve Bennett]

I know of a few issues with Volvo batteries and chargers. Leon @ Marathon told me about a few fires and battery problems with Echo/Guest chargers, and the Volvo chassis batteries. I do not know the specific differences between these batteries, and the more common Delco or Interstate group 31 starting batteries. Being that this was a late model shell, it very well could of had the Volvo batteries, which are likely manufactured under contract by someone else. I believe the L-model CC's had an external charger for the chassis batteries. This may be a good starting point to determine the cause of the fire. The older XL shells have 2 switches to remove most of the possible loads on the chassis batteries in the engine bay, and the H shell has a switch at the dash to accomplish the same thing. The XLII's do not offer that provision although I believe there is a solenoid or relay that is tied in with the ignition switch that may shut off some additional loads.

[Pete]

Steve, that's kind of scary, I have Volvo engine batteries, wonder if I need to contact Prevost about any difficulties? They are 3 years old and do not have a guest charger on them, so they are probably nearing the end of their service life.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Rick, isn't that the second coach fire in your campground? I seem to remember another fire you reported on a few years ago?

JIM

[GDeen]

That definitely is a shame to see a beautiful coach go up in flames. The bigger issue in my mind is the fact that they were fortunately not in the coach when this started. Nothing like sleeping right on top of the tinder box. If there is a battery problem with the potential for spontaneous ingnition, it seems the manufacturer better get on top of it before there is a tragedy.

Ambien anyone?

[rickdesilva]

Jim
Your correct, this is the 2nd one. The last one was right next to our site, this one is about 3 sites down on the other side. They say things happen in 3's. I hope it isn't contageous.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Regardless of which model shell we have battery cable protection starts at the circuit breaker. Every inch of battery cable which is between the battery posts and the coach circuit breaker is an unprotected section, and with the number and size of our house and chassis batteries the potential for substantial sparking or heat generation is considerable. Once a short circuit occurs, such as from a cable whose insulation has rubbed against a body portion and been worn through the heat along that cable is sure to ignite the insulation. As the insulation burns, insulation from nearby cables begins to burn.

At every point along my cables that runs near or touches a piece of metal I have used additional insulation in the form of a section of plastic tubing or other material that will not conduct electric, but will prevent chafing.

To provide some sleepless nights think of all the unprotected wires, such as those from the alternator to the battery or isolator, such as the wires going to the electric box for the DDEC coming directly from the battery posts, wires to and from the equalizers, wires from battery chargers. wires that may have been run after the coach was built for added accessories, etc. We have them everywhere including at the generator and possibly to and from the inverters. An hour or two looking at wires and looking for possible chafing or contact with the chassis, or that could be fused but are not will be well spent and pennies worth of some plastic or rubber hose and some nylon wire ties will add significantly to the safety of the coach.