03 Beaver Girard awning won't retract

[william harrison]

 My awning will extend but when I try to retract it moves about 1 inch and will not
move farther no matter long I wait to retry.  I note that there is supposed to be
a current adjustment potentiometer but I cannot find it.  I have looked behind both
overhead panels above the entry door and see nothing.  Any ideas?

[Keith Moffett]

On the right end of the awning box is a hole.  There should be a bell shaped fitting inside.  Your coach should have come with an extendable pole with a short pin protruding at the end (like a 'T').  This goes into the bell shaped fitting and when turned it should retract or extend the awning manualy.
I recall there is an over heat cut out switch which could be malfunctioning.  That was on an older version though.
Also on an older unit was a stop switch which told the awning when it was closed.  If that has somehow gotten out of adjustment it might do what ours is doing.
I believe I would crank it in manualy and contact Gerrard for advice.

[David T. Richelderfer]

I have the same problem with the short "rain-awning" over the entry door.  It starts to retract, then abruptly stops.  My fix has been to gently push on one of the two arms' elbows.  One arm seems to hyper-extend when the awning is fully out, and will not bend to allow the awning to retract.  Is there an adjustment somewhere that does not allow the elbows to get hyper-extended?

Although you did not state specifically, I am thinking the awning you are referring to is your main awning.  But, anyways, these problems sound to be close enough for me to chime-in.

[Don and Kathy DuCharme]

David, just a bit of levity.  When we had a leak in the door awning, it was explained to us by Monaco that the door awning is a 'sun awning, not a rain awning'!

[David T. Richelderfer]

Hi Don & Kathy  -  Good to see, no hear, no... read you.  In the neck of the woods where I live we barely have need of roofs for rain.  But for sun we certainly need a roof and walls and an air conditioner.  This part of Oregon gets about 8 to 10 inches of precip annually... and that's almost all in the late fall/winter/early spring when we are gone snowbirding.  Well... today is one of our cooler days in the past 2 weeks... only 98 or so.  And tomorrow is forecast to be hotter...  and hotter yet through the weekend.

In El Paso this past December, right before New Year's Day, it was a SNOW awning...  about 4 inches before I noticed and got it closed.  By morning we had 9 to 10 inches of snow.

[Gary Wolfer]

The motors are weak and overheat sometimes if you do not get it to work the first time. In my opinion they are about worthless. They will not hold up to minor winds or rain at all. They are very good for water leaks. Unfortunately they were not painted under the box. The boxes were riveted onto all 4 sides of the box with nothing covering the rivets. a leak waiting to happen.  If you can afford to I would suggest you get rid of it all together and get an awning with braces and not free floating.