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Old 11-11-2018, 09:52 PM   #1
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Suburban SDS2 stove problems

We have a 17B Escape and our Suburban SDS2 2 burner propane stove is giving us problems. When I start cooking on either or both burners, the stem that the control dial goes into sticks and won't turn off or on. I believe the metal expands as it heats to the point of not being operable. I use the correct size pots, less than 7" in diameter, most are stainless steel with a 6" diameter cast iron skillet for scrambling eggs in. I had to turn off the propane at the tanks the first time it happened. I got a vice grip and use that now but it didn't always work.

We called Dave at ETI and he said to bring it in. BUT we live in Western Colorado and its just impossible to get up to BC for us. He gave us the help line for Suburban and they were less than helpful. They gave us a couple of phone numbers of RV places that were alleged to do warranty repair work for Suburban. Only one place answered our calls. We live in a rural area so all these RV dealers were at least an hour and a half drive from us.
Centennial RV in Grand Junction, CO said they would do the warranty work but I had to bring it in. So I hooked up the trailer and took it to them. They were less than polite with the repair person ending up lecturing me on how they were the only ones in Western Colorado who do repair work for some one who didn't buy their trailer from them in hopes that that person would remember them in the future. Yes, I have a strong memory of that lecture.
Its been a month now and I am planning on calling them back to see if they have done anything about the stove problem. (meanwhile my husband had a knee replacement so I've been busy).
Has anyone else had problems with the SDS2 Suburban propane stove and if so, how did you resolve it?
Thank you so much!!!
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Old 11-12-2018, 05:20 AM   #2
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Bummer, does show one of the issues with living in more remote areas.

1. Did you get any repair places in Grand Junction from Suburban/Airxcel? Might need to expand your search area as the more or less local ones are not helpful.

2. If a trip to a reputable/agreeable repair facility is not an option then buying a new one may work. Amazon has the whole stove top for $117 if it's the same one. https://www.amazon.com/Suburban-2937.../dp/B003CVRNFO

I'm assuming this doesn't show to be a common thing here in the next couple days. My 3 burner has been fine since 14.
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Old 11-12-2018, 05:33 AM   #3
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Plein,
If you don’t get a good result from the Centennial repair facility, call ETI again.

The answer of “bring it in” was not really acceptable nor the usual customer service/warranty response, considering your location in Colorado.

Get a second opinion, if necessary, when you next call ETI.
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Old 11-12-2018, 08:19 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by padlin View Post
2. If a trip to a reputable/agreeable repair facility is not an option then buying a new one may work. Amazon has the whole stove top for $117 if it's the same one. https://www.amazon.com/Suburban-2937.../dp/B003CVRNFO

Bob: The SDS2 is the new recessed stove Escape is now installing.
http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f2...tml#post232959

Interesting that under Abnormal Operation in the manual they actually list "Gas valves, which are difficult to turn." Seems to me that Suburban already knows what the cause is.
http://www.dyersonline.com/downloadf...tfile_id/4290/
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Old 11-12-2018, 08:46 AM   #5
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Sorry to hear of your problems.

If at all possible, I would look for a company that just does service work, not sales. After my Dometic A/C went kaput last year I phoned a few certified dealers near me. All would do it, but the wait was a couple months. I phoned a mobile tech who stopped by later that same day to take a look, confirmed it to be not working and got the replacement on order right away. Three weeks later he came by with it and I helped him a bit install it. Would use him again in a heartbeat.

There is another RV service only place here in Calgary I have used before, who do good work in a timely fashion at a decent price, but they were not certified as a Dometic service agent so could not do warranty work.
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Old 11-12-2018, 09:23 AM   #6
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The closest Dometic ,Suburban , Attwood repair center is approx 200 miles from our home.
They are also a trailer dealer and since we didn’t buy our trailer from them we go to the bottom of their list . We have owned 3 fiberglass trailers and have come to the conclusion that you are basically on your own . When something goes wrong whether under warranty or not I just plan on fixing it myself . We want to use our trailer and having it sit in at a repair center for 3 months or driving thousands of miles to the manufacturer is not a viable option
Like many things RV warranty often are not worth the paper they are written on .
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Old 11-12-2018, 09:36 AM   #7
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I've never owned a new RV before this 21 so I guess I just didn't know any better when I first worked with Dexter regarding abnormal tire wear immediately after pick up. They were awesome. Then, Carefree replaced our awning canvas that incurred a small tear after awning partially deployed. I did have to go through ETI as Carefree wont work with pesky customers for warranty work evidently. Would be remiss not to mention ETI stepping up for a few odds & ends too, and in some cases probably just giving me the benefit of the doubt.

Personally, I assume things will work out the way they are supposed to and then have enough persistence and hopefully imagination when needed to obtain a successful outcome.
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Old 11-12-2018, 09:38 AM   #8
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Like many things RV warranty often are not worth the paper they are written on .
Worked great for me with a very pleasing experience. I guess if you are a long ways away from service it would not be so great even if you had bought there.
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Old 11-12-2018, 10:00 AM   #9
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I think a good course of studies
(curriculum) for community colleges to get into would be RV tech training. Whether oriented to being a mobile independent or dealer supported service person. The incredible numbers in sales of new units being put up, coupled with the often iffy quality of many components and occurrence of operator error and misunderstanding would seem to “guarantee” plenty of work for the foreseeable future. Then there’s also the annual maintenance angle of Winterizing, brake and bearing service, spring startup etc. Who would have guessed that putting up Christmas lights would be a seasonal component of the lawn care business 20
years ago?
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Old 11-12-2018, 10:35 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rubicon327 View Post
Bob: The SDS2 is the new recessed stove Escape is now installing.
That's what I thought but the old 2 burner turned up when I googled the posted model #, obviously I didn't dig any further.
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Old 11-12-2018, 02:31 PM   #11
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As Jim mentioned, mobile RV service techs can be useful. I have had multiple Dometic refrigerator and Atwood furnace repairs done by mobile techs, so they seem to be "authorized" for at least those companies... it's worth checking for someone in your area.
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Old 11-12-2018, 06:12 PM   #12
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rubicon327, Thanks for the link to the Suburban manual. I found the info on page 4. Sheesh what a pain. I am going to call ETI as the stove has a 2 year warranty.
Thanks for the share!
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Old 07-20-2019, 07:52 PM   #13
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more SDS2-RV stuck knobs

Our 2014 Escape 19 had the Atwood above-the-counter 2-burner stove. Worked great.

Our 2018 Escape 19 has the spiffy Suburban flush-with-the-counter SDS2-RV with the hinged glass top. We also have had stuck knobs on 4-5 occasions on both burners. Seems to only happen when the burner is set to low temperature. The knob is really stuck -- even removing the knob and using a thin blade on the split shaft with modest torque won't turn it. The only solution I've found is to turn off the propane at the tank and wait 20 minutes. Then the knob turns again. This doesn't seem to damage it -- it works fine on high and low until the next random time when it gets stuck on low. It might be heat related, but we are following the pot size recommendations.

Escape is over 3000 miles from home, so I'd like to resolve this without returning to Chilliwack. I've emailed Escape, but if anyone (especially PleinAirCedar) has wisdom here, let me know.

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Old 07-20-2019, 10:32 PM   #14
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The only thing I can think of is keep in mind the pan size limitation. To large of dia pan might cause the control to overheat.
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Old 11-01-2019, 10:01 PM   #15
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SDS2 warranty replacement

Following up, Suburban replaced our SDS2 stove with randomly-stuck knobs under warranty.

Suburban would not ship me a new stove even if I installed it myself at no charge to them. So I drove the 110-mile round-trip with the trailer to an authorized Suburban repairman and Suburban paid him the half-hour labor to swap the stoves.

Reiterating from my previous post, we were following the pot size recommendations.

Our next trip is January, so I won't know until then whether the new stove fixes the issue.

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Old 11-02-2019, 12:25 AM   #16
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Quote:
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The only thing I can think of is keep in mind the pan size limitation. To large of dia pan might cause the control to overheat.
I remember another forum member had her control knob melt on the older black stove top . Pat
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Old 11-02-2019, 01:39 AM   #17
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Just read the entire thread, including links to the Suburban manual. The sticking issue may be related to a similar issue with Coleman portable stoves. I have owned several and did not like the flame adjuster. It seemed to be on or off, no adjustment. Then I read about the cause, seems everything from China these days, shipped via boat, is encased in plastic and or coated with shellac to protect the metal from rust in transit. Removing the controls and soaking them in a solvent removes the sticky preservative. The control now operates smoothly.
It worked on my portable stove, could it work on your Suburban? Just be sure all parts are clean from the solvent as it is very flammable. Do at your own risk but since I am using an outside appliance, inside is another issue. Just be careful and be sure all items are clean from the cleaning solution if you take this advice for an inside appliance. Not sure what can be used that cleans and is not flammable. Perhaps someone else knows this?
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Old 11-02-2019, 07:30 AM   #18
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That's a good thought, Jim.

I didn't try lubricant or solvent or disassembly because I didn't want to void the warranty, so I have no sense of whether it is fixable.

Just to clarify, we've overnighted in our 2018 over 100 nights and typically use the stove twice a day. We've had stuck knobs 4-5 times, so I guess that's about 2% of the uses.

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