Potentially Defective Oasis Fuel Lines

[LWBAZ]

Received a call yesterday (Monday 6/20/2022) from a gentleman at International Thermal Research (ITR), the company that manufactures the Oasis hydronic heating systems installed by Newmar. He explained that a supplier they’ve used for years to provide fuel lines recently sent some semi-defective hose that may be prone to weeping diesel fuel.

He said he got my name from Newmar as a potentially affected owner, then asked is I was anywhere near my coach (a 2022 Super Star completed by Newmar in mid-February 2022). I said the coach was close by, in our on-site enclosed RV garage, and went out to the garage to inspect the fuel lines he was concerned about.

I didn’t see any weeping, but he asked me to shoot a couple of photos of the fuel lines in question, which I did. The two photos I sent him are attached for reference. The good news is that he could tell by looking at the photos that my fuel lines are not defective.

So, if you have recently taken delivery of a new Newmar motorhome, you might want to look at the fuel lines on the top right side of your Oasis unit. As you can see in the attached photos, there are two relatively short hoses (which are supplied by ITR with the Oasis unit) which connect to longer hoses installed by Newmar. Those short hoses are the ones with the potential problem, so if your short hoses look significantly different than what you see in my photos you may be affected.

While in that compartment looking at fuel lines and shooting photos, I discovered a separate issue, which I’ll document in another thread.

[Fishrsafe]

Here's a couple of pics of our 2022 4059. They look different than yours.

[LWBAZ]

Originally Posted by Fishrsafe

Here's a couple of pics of our 2022 4059.

Those are boiler fluid hoses. The fuel hoses are on top of the Oasis unit, at the front, all the way to the right.

[Fishrsafe]

Originally Posted by LWBAZ

Those are boiler fluid hoses. The fuel hoses are on top of the Oasis unit, at the front, all the way to the right.

Thanks, my bad. My hose’s are the same as your.

[LWBAZ]

Originally Posted by Fishrsafe

Thanks, my bad. My hose’s are the same as your.

No problem and no bad to apologize for. Just wanted to be sure you checked the relevant hoses.

Unfortunately, I don't know what the defective hoses look like - if it's easy to tell them apart from the good ones, or if the differences are more subtle. I guess if they start weeping diesel fuel, that would be a clue...

[FLSteve]

LWBAZ ... thanks for the heads-up. I just checked mine and they appear to be a little different from yours, but no signs of weeping fuel. Just a question ... there is some kind of square looking fitting between the hose and red clamp. Are those filters/strainers??

FLSteve

[LWBAZ]

Steve, your short hoses are definitely different than mine.

The individual from ITR with whom I spoke had me look for pinholes on the outer surface of the two short hoses. My hoses didn’t have any pinholes, but zooming in on your photos I can see a couple of pinholes on each of your two short hoses. Whether the pinholes are indicative of potentially problematic hose or not, I don’t know. You might want to call ITR and ask about it. Or just keep an eye on the short hoses to see if you notice any weeping.

Regarding the square fitting between the short hoses ITR supplies with the Oasis unit and the longer hoses Newmar installs, I doubt they are filters or strainers. I think they may be dry-break quick-connectors, which would be nice. I’ll see what I can learn about what they are and whether they were installed by ITR or Newmar.

[LWBAZ]

With pretty high confidence, I can now say they are fuel line quick connectors.


The first image below is a close-up from one of Steve's photos. The second image is from Amazon.

I can't tell if these connectors are dry-break, but since I can't find anything indicating they are I'm going to assume they're not.

[FLSteve]

Originally Posted by LWBAZ

The individual from ITR with whom I spoke had me look for pinholes on the outer surface of the two short hoses. My hoses didn’t have any pinholes, but zooming in on your photos I can see a couple of pinholes on each of your two short hoses. Whether the pinholes are indicative of potentially problematic hose or not, I don’t know. You might want to call ITR and ask about it. Or just keep an eye on the short hoses to see if you notice any weeping.

LWBAZ ... yes mine definitely have some surface pinholes in them but not weeping ones yet. I will contact ITR and see what they say.

FLSTeve

[FLSteve]

Originally Posted by FLSteve

LWBAZ ... yes mine definitely have some surface pinholes in them but not weeping ones yet. I will contact ITR and see what they say.

FLSteve

After contacting ITR, they reviewed the pictures of my hoses and determined I did have the defective ones and are sending me a replacement hose kit.

They said that ..."when you receive you can install it yourself or on your next service appointment, have the service department call us so we can authorize the change out. If you install it yourself, I'll need pictures of the install to make sure it's done properly."

I plan to change them myself as the attached instructions seem easy enough.

FLSteve

[No Plan]

Originally Posted by LWBAZ

Received a call yesterday (Monday 6/20/2022) from a gentleman at International Thermal Research (ITR), the company that manufactures the Oasis hydronic heating systems installed by Newmar. He explained that a supplier they’ve used for years to provide fuel lines recently sent some semi-defective hose that may be prone to weeping diesel fuel.

He said he got my name from Newmar as a potentially affected owner, then asked is I was anywhere near my coach (a 2022 Super Star completed by Newmar in mid-February 2022). I said the coach was close by, in our on-site enclosed RV garage, and went out to the garage to inspect the fuel lines he was concerned about.

I didn’t see any weeping, but he asked me to shoot a couple of photos of the fuel lines in question, which I did. The two photos I sent him are attached for reference. The good news is that he could tell by looking at the photos that my fuel lines are not defective.

So, if you have recently taken delivery of a new Newmar motorhome, you might want to look at the fuel lines on the top right side of your Oasis unit. As you can see in the attached photos, there are two relatively short hoses (which are supplied by ITR with the Oasis unit) which connect to longer hoses installed by Newmar. Those short hoses are the ones with the potential problem, so if your short hoses look significantly different than what you see in my photos you may be affected.

While in that compartment looking at fuel lines and shooting photos, I discovered a separate issue, which I’ll document in another thread.

I also received a call from ITR a couple of weeks ago regarding the possible defective fuel lines. I sent ITR pictures per their request. Upon my inspection, I didn't see any signs of weeping. After receiving the pictures, ITR sent me a replacement kit. I had my Ventana at my dealer for another issue this week, air line failures, and they took care of replacing the fuel lines. Hopefully the issue with the airline failures are corrected too. My dealer rerouted the airlines as they were running right on top of the turbo and the heat from the turbo caused them to fail.

[LWBAZ]

Originally Posted by FLSteve

After contacting ITR, they reviewed the pictures of my hoses and determined I did have the defective ones and are sending me a replacement hose kit.

They said that ..."when you receive you can install it yourself or on your next service appointment, have the service department call us so we can authorize the change out. If you install it yourself, I'll need pictures of the install to make sure it's done properly."

I plan to change them myself as the attached instructions seem easy enough.

FLSteve

Good info Steve - thanks for posting!

I learned a few things reading the fuel line replacement instructions and seeing the included photos. Fortunately, I don't need to replace my fuel lines, but I do need to get inside the Oasis unit to adjust the temperature of the hot water being produced.

[BillW1]

I am impressed that ITR made the effort to get information on the owners of coaches where the defective lines a possibly installed and contact them. These days it is rare that a company will make that sort of effort to make sure that problems with their product are found and resolved. I'm impressed!


2019 New Aire
Bill

[UMXHAULER]

Originally Posted by BillW1

I am impressed that ITR made the effort to get information on the owners of coaches where the defective lines a possibly installed and contact them. These days it is rare that a company will make that sort of effort to make sure that problems with their product are found and resolved. I'm impressed!


2019 New Aire
Bill

Totally agree Bill. What's amazing to me, though, is how much the RV industry, and many others for that matter, are struggling with poor parts quality from many suppliers. I have had three leak issues already with HWH hydraulics. Is it due to poor assembly, poor parts quality, or poor design? I don't know, but all of us are suffering from these ongoing issues. Even the chassis manufactures are struggling to get it right at so many levels.