High moisture level

I posted this elsewhere then it occurred to me it might be in the wrong place, apologies for the duplication.


The engineer doing our habitation service found moisture levels of 30% on a small area at the join between floor and outside wall to the left of the hab door as you enter, on the "fridge" side. 

I guess that means a (reluctant) return to the dealership but I wonder if anyone can suggest possible causes of the potential ingress that are worth me investigating first? Thanks.

Are the fridge vents properly sealed?. I assume you mean an area behind the fridge.

Paulmold wrote:Are the fridge vents properly sealed?. I assume you mean an area behind the fridge.

Paul, no it's not behind the fridge. It's area just inside the door to the left of the step, between the hab door and the fridge housing, if that makes any sense. I wondered if there could be leakage from the back of the fridge or if there are any water pipes that pass near that area.

Spray from wheel? Wheel arch not sealed?

Shall check mine Askit - thanks for the "heads up".

I think Paul may be correct as there are no water pipes nearby.

Dave

Paulmold wrote:Spray from wheel? Wheel arch not sealed?

 Thanks Paul, I'll have a look at that. I did think the mudguard would preclude this but water has a way of getting where you least expect it.

Out of curiosity, how do dealers find such areas of damp during a routine hab service? Obviously, if there are visible signs, they can check; but unless there are well-known susceptible areas, how do they go about it? They surely don't apply their meters to all surfaces?
I just wonder how they found your problem, Askit, given that it's in a somewhat unlikely position.
Cymro

PS, having migrated to a Nuevo from a monocoque Clubman, I've never given any thought or concern to the possibility of bodywork damp. I don't posess a suitable meter. either.  Maybe that's another thing to worry about!!

Cymro, the engineer did a pretty thorough check of the internal bits of the van, lights, locks, blinds, windows, gas, electric, water, etc. He then went right through the van with a meter checking for dampness (he was unimpressed when I mentioned my Aldi damp meter   ) on walls and around the floor. The bit he discovered it in is just part of the main floor. I must admit I have a habit of leaving my umbrella in the affected area, beside the door, but it's never that wet, or wet enough to affect the wall.

If it was wet when you drove to the test there is a very high possibility that spray will have penetrated through the door seal, try aiming a hose pipe at it and see how much water comes in!

groundhog wrote:If it was wet when you drove to the test there is a very high possibility that spray will have penetrated through the door seal, try aiming a hose pipe at it and see how much water comes in!

 Groundhog, our van is kept on a Cassoa site and we got back there last Sunday after a week away. Only had to drive once through wet conditions, that was last Wednesday. We haven't seen and signs of water coming through the door seals, but as I said earlier, anything is possible with water.

A quick update on my request for advice. Although we've not got our MH back yet (as there are still some warranty items to resolve), I spoke to the dealership about the cause of the water ingress issue. They say it stemmed from water getting through the fridge vents which were badly cracked (good spot Paul  ). They have been replaced and the affected areas dried out (I will be checking though  ). Must say that, although I knew about the cracked vents, it did come as a surprise that enough rain water got in to cause the damage.

I got the usual advice about being careful when washing it with a hose (we don't and never have) and about fitting winter vent covers (we do after purchasing from A/S). 

Our 2014 Broadway is on it's 3rd set of fridge vent frames, the originals were all cracked Auto Sleepers replaced these, which also cracked.
I've had another set fitted by Motor Plus at Derby a month before warrantee run out, I told them that I thought that the fitters were over tightening the screws and guess what the 3rd set are now cracked worse than any of the others.
I have noŵ filled the cracks with sealer.

John.

Part of my reason for posting the cause of the water ingress was to alert others to the potential problem, they are easy enough to check. On mine the upper frame was cracked in four places at the top and one at the bottom, 4 were next to where it had been screwed to the MH and the other across the top RH corner. I also think it is caused by over tightening of screws, either that or there is a potential manufacturing or design fault. 

Like you, I will resort to sealing the units should any further problems occur.

I had a similar thing on my Bourton and also a wet floor under a rubber entrance mat, after this happened on a few occasions I found that after returning home after a trip and due to the van being parked nose up on my drive as the fridge was defrosting the frost residue was running out of the door of the fridge which was left open  
and causing high moisture readings in the area you describe, since then I have removed the salad storage box from the fridge when returning home and placed a folded towel in the bottom of the fridge which has soaked up all the water and have had no problems since, your problem may not be the same but worth a try.
Don

Thanks Don, but we noticed that there was a significant amount of water collecting in the fridge right from the outset. We use paper towels to soak up the water (sometimes ice)  whilst we are away and, because our MH is in storage, the fridge gets cleaned out prior to our return. Paper towels are left to collect any residual water on the journey back and replaced with fresh ones before we leave it with the door ajar when locking up. 

Everybody needs a hobby 

Ps, someone said to me that the excess water in the fridge drains through a small hole into a tube and collects in a reservoir between the fridge and the vents. I did have a look but couldn't find anything resembling a reservoir, am I (not for the first time) missing something?

I've got the same problem with a 2015 Bourton.
40% damp nearside door.. cracked fridge vents to blame apparently.
The wet locker has never been watertight.. it's been back to Willersey for repair... they said the wrong sealant had been used ...they resealed and yet it is still wet... clearly a problem with watertightness all round

.... we are thinking of getting rid and moving on before our warranty runs out.

The Bourton is today having the nearside panel replaced .. 3 day job.. shows the magnitude of the problem

Lucasg, sorry you had the same problem as us. Must say we have had no difficulty with the wet locker though.

A three day repair is bad enough, our MH went to our dealer for repair 4 weeks ago today and I still don't have any indication when the warranty issues will be sufficiently resolved for me to get it back. Looks like the trip we had planned for next weekend will have to be cancelled 

I cured the wet, wet locker by fitting a continuous strip of sticky backed glazing foam around the locker, and now the locker door seals on the foam. I did this bodge 18 months ago and have had a dry locker since.

John.

That's what AS did to mine when I took it in for some warranty jobs.

But they also found that there was no mastic inside the side joints. By that I mean that part of the wall of the van which you can feel by putting your hand inside the skirt wet locker, on the bottom left and bottom right corners nearest the opening. Mastic sorted that source of leak.

None of this is really acceptable, is it?
Does anyone for Auto-Sleeper read this forum?
How does one set about bringing a Class Action Lawsuit in the UK?

Pete Taylor wrote:None of this is really acceptable, is it?

 
No it is certainly not acceptable.

 Motorhomes have been produced for well over 50 years and yet the manufacturers still cannnot produce a watertight vehicle. When you look at how car production standards have improved in the last 20yrs this industry has been left well behind. Mainly I suspect because they can sell whatever they produce at a price they determine and people will still buy them. There is no incentive for them to improve. In fact things have gone backwards, the monocoques (yes I am biased) are virtually leakproof apart from around the windows, which is a relatively easy fix. I really do think that owners should take a tougher stance with the dealers / manufacturers and yes that may include legal action for loss of use while being repaired etc. The manufacturers are very good at making shiny interiors at the expense of investment in the structure. 

Being new to motorhoming, we now know we enjoy it and are very tempted to buy a newer one, which is what we originally intended, but with everything working exactly as it should in ours we are wondering if we might be better off keeping what we have and keeping the extra circa 30K in the bank, then again its not exactly setting the world on fire sitting in the bank.

Oh well off to the NEC tomorrow to have a look around, decisions decisions.

Norgil

I'm looking for a little more advice. Although the warranty issues were not completed (after nearly 6 weeks but not our dealers fault), we collected the MH last week as we had a trip planned with friends. They stated that the water ingress issue had been resolved by the fitting of new fridge vents and the damp area had been dried out.

When checking it with an Aldi moisture meter, the floor is certainly better at 15% from the original 30% but the wall (where it joins) is still showing to be in excess of 40% up to about 10 to 15cm up. Should I be taking the MH back or is it reasonable to wait and see if it dries out further?

Hope you get your van damp problem rectified to your satisfaction Tony, I know how dreich it can get on the west coast.
When we lived on Bute we could get all four seasons in one day.
Pleased you have your van back, heading for Stonie maybe??
Boaby

We have also had high damp readings near the back of the fridge area and, with Mark's help, have identified several cracks in the fridge vent surrounds. Looking at them they just look like they're screwed in and, as others have said, the screws are too tight leading to the cracks.

My question is can I replace these myself if I get a new set from A/S or is there more to the process than unscrewing and replacing? It will save me a long trip. Thanks for any advice.

Regards, H

Seems it's not a job for me, Mark at AS says that it needs to be done under warranty. At least we know the source of the damp and can solve it.