Q. We are trying to get a grip on the expected service life for typical RV components. Do you have that information, or can you tell me where to get it? We can find expected life for components for residences easily, but not for RVs. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
— B.H., Via e-mail
A. I don’t know of any studies that are available to the public. I’m sure many of the manufacturers have done life-cycle testing, but the results are proprietary. You could pose specific questions, such as “How long did your water heater last?” on Trailer Life’s Open Roads Forum or on other forums. However, keep in mind that not all products fail at exactly the same time.
— K.F.
Ken Freund’s more than three decades of auto-repair experience and 20-plus years of RVing helped him author numerous books and articles on vehicle repair. In addition to RV Clinic and Performance, he writes the Powertrain column in MotorHome magazine. Ken has been a California Automotive VO-Tech and Smog-Test Program Instructor and an ASE-certified Master Automobile Technician.
