HWH hydraulic system issues

[benbom]

Folllows is a letter I am giving to my RV shop local to us. They did $5,000 worth of work to the HWH system when we had difficulty with it last September. Thank heavens for the Coach insurance plan I purchased when I bought the coach in 2012.

Dear Matt,


Regarding the malfunction of the Alpine HWH jacking system along with the slide problems, I wanted to let you know what I did to try to solve the problems encountered in a effort to perhaps make it easier to figure out how this happened.

When I took the Coach back to the hangar after you had worked on the system, I put down the jacks and operated all the slides. All worked normally. The Jacks were then retracted after the slides were moved in. The time the jacks were down was about 15 minutes.

It all appeared to work as planned.

On the first trip since the repair, that started last week, we first arrived in Bakersfield and set the jacks and opened the slides. After about an hour, I noticed that when we moved around the coach, it moved as well. When I went outside and looked, 3 of the 4 jacks were on the ground. The site was very level as all sites were on this trip. As we were only there overnight, I didn’t try to diagnose the problem.

When we arrived in Indio the next afternoon, same thing happened. Jacks went down, slides went out, and the coach moved when one person moved around the coach. I checked the jacks the next morning and found that both the front right and the rear left jacks were partially extended but not enough to touch the ground.

I stored the jacks and re-leveled them. Three jacks touched the ground, one didn’t. Sorry but I don’t remember which.

I then decided to try to extend the system manually by using the controller’s manual arrow touch buttons. I didn’t read the manual first and didn’t retract the jacks. When I tried to move the jack pairs down to level the coach it first worked and the coach was level side to side. After about 10 minutes, we were sitting outside when we heard a bang noise. At that point the right front jack had retracted slightly. When I tried to operate the control panel after that, I heard a popping sound and the panel went black.
I left the system alone for a while and then after reading the manual, decided to release the pressure of the jacks to retract them. All released except for the right rear. I then found that that solenoid valve was of the older screw type and when turned past a false stopping point, the valve opened and the jack released.

The slide problem started when I tried to retract them, yet had the solenoid valves for the jacks, open and not closed. I probably put air into the system thus causing the slides to work extremely hard and pulsating. Both slides came in.

We then went back to Bakersfield and after arriving, did not put the jacks down, but I did try to open the small back slide. It went out partially with difficulty.

Upon leaving the next day from Bakersfield, we opened both solenoids for the back slide and tried to push the slide in. It came in a little and then stopped.

We started the drive home and the rough road on HWY 5 jarred the rear slide out about a foot. At the first rest stop, we closed the solenoids again and ran the pump while pulling on the slide from the inside. We were able to get it retracted to it’s present location. I placed a steel bar in the slide’s vertical attachments to try to keep it retracted. That was successful.

So now you know the things I did to try to solve the jack problem and the cause of the slide problem.

The manual for HWH was not clear about how to bleed the system to remove the air in the slides, and I would like to know how to do that in the future. It was also not clear if the generator slide was a different system or if it couldn’t be extended so I could add fuel to the Coach. I did not try that.

Brian Enbom

I am assuming that my problems with the slides were that I had the solenoid valves for the jacks open and not closed. Still want to know how to bleed the system....

[RVPioneer]

Originally Posted by benbom

Folllows is a letter I am giving to my RV shop local to us. They did $5,000 worth of work to the HWH system when we had difficulty with it last September. Thank heavens for the Coach insurance plan I purchased when I bought the coach in 2012.

Dear Matt,


Regarding the malfunction of the Alpine HWH jacking system along with the slide problems, I wanted to let you know what I did to try to solve the problems encountered in a effort to perhaps make it easier to figure out how this happened.

When I took the Coach back to the hangar after you had worked on the system, I put down the jacks and operated all the slides. All worked normally. The Jacks were then retracted after the slides were moved in. The time the jacks were down was about 15 minutes.

It all appeared to work as planned.

On the first trip since the repair, that started last week, we first arrived in Bakersfield and set the jacks and opened the slides. After about an hour, I noticed that when we moved around the coach, it moved as well. When I went outside and looked, 3 of the 4 jacks were on the ground. The site was very level as all sites were on this trip. As we were only there overnight, I didn’t try to diagnose the problem.

When we arrived in Indio the next afternoon, same thing happened. Jacks went down, slides went out, and the coach moved when one person moved around the coach. I checked the jacks the next morning and found that both the front right and the rear left jacks were partially extended but not enough to touch the ground.

I stored the jacks and re-leveled them. Three jacks touched the ground, one didn’t. Sorry but I don’t remember which.

I then decided to try to extend the system manually by using the controller’s manual arrow touch buttons. I didn’t read the manual first and didn’t retract the jacks. When I tried to move the jack pairs down to level the coach it first worked and the coach was level side to side. After about 10 minutes, we were sitting outside when we heard a bang noise. At that point the right front jack had retracted slightly. When I tried to operate the control panel after that, I heard a popping sound and the panel went black.
I left the system alone for a while and then after reading the manual, decided to release the pressure of the jacks to retract them. All released except for the right rear. I then found that that solenoid valve was of the older screw type and when turned past a false stopping point, the valve opened and the jack released.

The slide problem started when I tried to retract them, yet had the solenoid valves for the jacks, open and not closed. I probably put air into the system thus causing the slides to work extremely hard and pulsating. Both slides came in.

We then went back to Bakersfield and after arriving, did not put the jacks down, but I did try to open the small back slide. It went out partially with difficulty.

Upon leaving the next day from Bakersfield, we opened both solenoids for the back slide and tried to push the slide in. It came in a little and then stopped.

We started the drive home and the rough road on HWY 5 jarred the rear slide out about a foot. At the first rest stop, we closed the solenoids again and ran the pump while pulling on the slide from the inside. We were able to get it retracted to it’s present location. I placed a steel bar in the slide’s vertical attachments to try to keep it retracted. That was successful.

So now you know the things I did to try to solve the jack problem and the cause of the slide problem.

The manual for HWH was not clear about how to bleed the system to remove the air in the slides, and I would like to know how to do that in the future. It was also not clear if the generator slide was a different system or if it couldn’t be extended so I could add fuel to the Coach. I did not try that.

Brian Enbom

I am assuming that my problems with the slides were that I had the solenoid valves for the jacks open and not closed. Still want to know how to bleed the system....

A bit confused. Did these problems occur after the $5000 worth of work was performed?

Your profile does not show what year coach you own. I believe 2004 and newer have electric generator slides. Older models have hydraulic.

There are documents available on the Alpine Coach Association website that may answer some of your questions not covered in the manual.

[bcbowers]

I'm quite certain that HWH will tell you that the system is "self bleeding". However, if a slide starts to bind while extending, stop, retract it all the way, then extend it again. You might have to repeat that procedure 2 - 3 times before operating correctly. When in doubt, call HWH or visit a certified HWH Service Center.