Remis Roof Light leak

I have had a small leak on the over sink Remis Roof Light with winder, on the Nuevo. It happens quite rarely and has been difficult to trace.

The 'van went back to Willersey for Warranty work in August. Due to the mastic being quite sparse on one side and the fixing screws having fallen out on that side due to the threads in the ceiling being stripped by over tightening, the vent was removed and re bedded on new mastic.

The damage caused by the Service Center to the ceiling during the process is documented here. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Due to the recent prolonged rain the leak has shown up again. The protective paper car mat at the door was rather wet.

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The leak has appeared at the same spot on the same side each time and dripped down onto the fly screen roll. As we know the vent does not seal completely there is a path for air exchange via two channels in the frame in a W configuration. The outer channel has drain holes to the roof in case of water ingress the inner channel has large cut outs for air passage. This is the path used by dirt, leaves, flies and mosquitoes to enter the van.

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I wondered if the wind was whipping water up off the roof and over the barriers into the inner channel. Another possibility was the blanking plate on the opposite side to the winder operated stay anchor point, this didn't seem likely and I couldn't trace any wet around it.

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There is one thing that is reliable lately, the rain so I did an overnight test. There are three sections to the inner channel all connected, the drips always came from the rear cut out, the van roof slopes that way, so to try to find where the water originated I screwed up 3 pieces of kitchen roll and stuffed each section. It rained overnight. Next morning I checked the tissues, rear one dry, middle one damp, front one wet, immediately under the blanking plate.
I removed the blanker assembly. Everything was wet but the so were my hands as it was still raining. The moulding is a bit rough, a spill (arrowed), on the inner plate, but that shouldn't cause problems.

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Then in better light I saw another spill on the spigot of the outer plate. This had tried to get down the screw hole, had damaged the cup it should seat into and would prevent any compression of the rubber pad at one end.

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This is a serious moulding defect, tough and difficult to remove, I thought it would be a couple of strokes with a file or a quick slice with a craft knife, not so. Surely I am not the only one to be honored with one of these. Well worth checking if you have a difficult to find leak. Incidentally the screws were not really tight when I removed them so I checked all others on the vent, I considered none of them tight enough to sufficiently compress the rubber to make a seal, again worth checking.

Should there not be a rubber seal fitted , what size vent is this

FreelanderUK wrote:Should there not be a rubber seal fitted , what size vent is this

Yes, three parts in the picture, the flat part with two holes is a rubber seal, it fits outside between the plastic moulding with the two spigots and the vent lid. I mention the fact that the bad moulding at the end of one spigot prevents the rubber pad from being compressed to provide a seal.

Its a 400mm square vent with a winder mechanism, only one stay on one side, the only purpose of this fitting is to close off the unused holes in the lid. I understand that some 2019 Nuevo examples do not have a winder.

All size vents have attachments with rubber seals, its worth checking the tightness of all fixings mine were loose.

I ment a rubber seal all the way around the 400 x 400 that fits in the channel

FreelanderUK wrote:I ment a rubber seal all the way around the 400 x 400 that fits in the channel

Oh sorry.

No there is a rubber seal that covers the internal area about 350mm square. Most Remis and Hekki vents are constant ventilation.
After the 350mm square the lid overhangs the W shape channels in the frame extending past the 400 mm square like the cap of a mushroom. Air, dust and creatures are allowed to flow in and out up and over the shields on the lid and the W channel on three sides, only at the front edge in the direction of travel when on the road is there a foam seal to stop wind and rain coming in when under way we assume.

Cheers, I thought the ventilation was caused by having a double layer of the cover with vent holes , on the Autotrail I removed the vented skylights and replaced with non vented to stop the debris coming in

FreelanderUK wrote:Cheers, I thought the ventilation was caused by having a double layer of the cover with vent holes , on the Autotrail I removed the vented skylights and replaced with non vented to stop the debris coming in

Ah yes, like the simple one in the Shower / Toilet in the Nuevo. That gets dirty in between the layers like the old Fiamma things, unsealed double glazing. 

I am pretty sure there is enough air flow with one large vent for the legal requirements, I very much doubt proper calculations are ever done during the design stage.