A few questions about my new 5th/W

[warsw]

I have a new Montana High Country 343RL. I have had it for a little over a month and I am finally able to get it out of the RV barn and get it ready for it's maiden voyage.

Questions are: The electric fireplace. Is it safe to use it all night long to keep the chill off the inside of the trailer? Do they hold up for the long haul?

My water pump. Where is it? It sounds like it is under the floor in the bath room but I cannot find access to it anywhere.

In the water connection compartment on the outside of the trailer there is a valve handle marked WINTERIZE with an on/off position. What does this valve actually do?

Thanks for any help.

[Art-n-Marge]

The electric fireplace should be able to work just as well as a typical plug in electric heater - all day all night if desired, just be aware it used a lot of juice (a concern if running lots of electrical and you are only on 20 or 30 amps). Some people have had problems with theirs with poor internal electrical connections but we'll assume yours won't have an issue. We never run ours full blast since most our camping isn't real cold. A new heater will have a slight stink to it as manufacturing coatings burn off, but these should go away over time. But like you put it, they should hold up for the long haul. If you smell "burning" then shut it off and we'll discuss servicing the thing, but you really should be good on this one for some time.

Yup, my water pump is hard to find too. Fortunately other than it's loud when it's running I do know about where it is but have not felt a need to open up some walls to find it. I think the best way to get to mine is through a basement panel. They are designed to be removed pretty easily. You shouldn't need to get to it unless you want to replace it or you want to quiet it down with some rubber mounts. Hopefully someone with your model and floorplan will be able to point exactly where it is.

I don't have a need to winterize, but someone will be along real soon to describe this. My rig is old enough that it does not have a convenience center and has no "Winterize" switch, but there are ways to winterize without one.

Congrats on the new rig.

[HOOK]

The winterize port is to input antifreeze. The valve is to prevent the antifreeze from going into the fresh water tank. Yes it is ok to run the fireplace all night, I do it often.
Winterization should be explained in detail in your owners Manuel.
The water pump is under the bathroom floor. Access by removing plastic wall from behind convenience center and next to basement wall.

[DQDick]

What Larry said, but if you are in an area or going to one where you still may need to winterize post a new thread and you'll get plenty of help. For now, if your not going to winterize, just leave that knob in the off position.

[okierver]

congrats on the unit we have a 2011 high country 323rl.
yes the water pump is righ behind the convience center seen and verified on the first time winterizing, we have used the electric fireplace as you said to pull the chill of the air and havnt had any problems with ours, the winterize switch as dqdick said it to winterize the trailer put it into winterize and get a jug of rv antifreeze and turn on the water pump and pump it all through the facets and low water point, getting ready to get ours out for the first time this year good luck wtih your monty, we like ours alot and havent had any problems with it.

[mamestra]

We used our fireplace basically for 2 months straight as it was cheaper to heat with electricity than to use propane it was on 24/7 during that time period, make sure that you keep it well dusted as apparently dust can cause the unit to overheat causing the thermal cut-off switch to shut the heater off. We had that problem was caused by sawdust and other contaminants a clean out solved the problem. The manufacture stands behind the product with a 2 year warrantee.

[Carole]

We love the fireplace and it was one of my must haves when we got our 2013 358rlt Mountaineer. We use the fireplace and a Vornafo electric heater in the LR Kitchen area and a smaller elec. heater In bedroom when needed. We ran our fireplace on lower temp with the Vornado on nights it was in the 20's. turned temp up on fireplace when DH got up and it was toasty in less that 15 minutes. I can't believe how much heat the fireplace puts out. It is so much cheaper than propane especially if you don't have to pay for electric separately. Enjoy that new Rv.

[exav8tr]

A word of caution to new fireplace owners. It would be advisable to remove the fireplace from its mount and double check the wiring to insure it is all tight. Several units have been know to have loose wiring and caused a short and smoking and needing replacement parts. Happy RVing everyone!!!!!

[warsw]

Thanks exav8tr, Good info. I will do that.