Damp following first habitation check

Maasai Warrior wrote:Tony,

Strange, I can't seem to get my lovely wife to empty the toilet on a regular basis, or at any time. Has anyone got any suggestions? - I know it's a warriors job!

Pete

My wife has never emptied ours. My cousin on the other hand has never emptied his, his wife always does it. He told her when they bought their motorhome that as she wanted a loo, she had to empty it (they had a trailer-tent before).

Hi,
We also have a 2015 Nuevo and at 1st hab check 2016 the dealer found slight damp in the cupboard under the passenger side bench.
Mark at A/S collect van straight away and did all the areas you all have commented on, we got van back few days later and all appeared ok,,
We checked a couple of weeks later and horror of horrors found vast amounts of water in the locker and I mean vast amount.
Mark again collected the van and started work again. He reported that the bulk head and body seams needed reselling and all bulkheads replaced.
We gave A/S and how dealer a legal document that we would reject the vehicle if any further damp is reported.
That was about 6 months ago and I must say nothing noticed since however about to get this years hab check done when van comes back from Peugeot because the tyre monitor continues to be a problem.
Fingers crossed but look out for those bulkhead seams.
Regards
John dean

Reading Value	Action
0 – 15%	No Cause for concern
15-20%	Require further investigation Consideration should be given to re-checking    the area in three months with the average of all readings taken.
20-30%	Remedial work required, there may be early signs of water ingress or evidence of moisture. Resealing and internal work may be required; again, consideration should be given to re-checking the area in three months.
>30%	Structural damage is occurring, deterioration inevitable. a full strip down of the affected area is required.

 I would be very worried about damp readings anywhere in the van over 20%. The table above is
taken from an industry standard damp meter instruction booklet

Hi campers  Reg.m here,   just checking to see if any mail and found your damp problems?  worrying for me as I am thinking of my first purchase of of a van in the new year and it will be an older model,  But as for the damp collecting gel things that have been talked about they are worth every penny ,  I belong to a water ski club and my ski boat gets rather wet when my grand kids ski and fall and want to get back in the boat so as you can imagine there is lots of water that drains from their wet suites,  we try to prevent this and dry the boat out at the end of the day by leaving the boat cover off for as long as possible,  the inside of the boat is covered with marine carpet but some damp must surely stay, and at the end of summer when we winter the boat one of the last things I do is put the crystal damp containers in the boat at places that are Important place to keep really dry like next to the dash where all the dials reside and I am so happy with the results as you can imagine the boat is out in the open on its trailer with just a fitted canvas cover and the water that is found in the receptacle's is amazing ,  sorry to be so long winded about this but yes they work wonderfully well,  we also put them in our caravan,
Reg.m
p/s the damp crystal things can be got from the shop called the Range.     

I'm not surprised you get a lot of water in your crystals if the boat is in the open and not sealed from the outside air as they will be drawing moisture from the open air. Same would happen in a motorhome if you left rooflight open to allow air to circulate.

The gel / crystals will remove damp from the air but not the structure. If water gets into the woodwork frame, it can be dried before it does any permanent damage but if left wet for a long time, the woodwork will start to rot or at least retain the water allowing it to damage surrounding areas.

harrysp wrote:Sorry to hear of your damp woes, we have first hand experience and appreciate how you feel. We had damp too, and like several others had the fridge vents replaced. This did not improve the damp levels at all. Then we had the 3 points on the side replaced - the gas, electric sockets and the water inlet.  These would appear to be well known areas of water ingress and several on here have had these replaced too. Like you, it is our first experience of damp in five vans, so needless to say we're disappointed.

It will be checked again soon and hopefully the issues are sorted. 

Good luck.

Following this year's Hab service last week, I'm pleased to report the damp levels are very low. Having worried about this for a year, it's good to know the work done by AS solved the problems. 

The new vans we saw st the dealers all had gaskets, so it looks like they've learned a lesson too.

H

just to report on the damp repairs carried out at A/S last year.
We have now sold our Nuevo 2016 and the dealer carried damp test and found it was complelty dry.
So the work carried out by Mark at Autosleepers did the job.
After long discussions we have decided to purchase a new Symbol shouldn’t have damp concerns as van conversion.
John Dean

As the fridge vents seem to be a recurring problem, perhaps leaving the winter covers in position when not in use and particularly when washing the MH may help.

Leighton.

That's that's a good idea Leighton. Only trouble, we lost one on the way home from Spain earlier in the year. Must do something about a replacement.

Harry

Be interested to see how the damp meter goes crosgor.

I don't have a damp problem now but last year I did have water getting in around the Whale fresh water inlet, dealt with by Mark - but charged for.  I was abit miffed because it was clearly bad sealing on assembly and had never been picked up because it was behind the cover that is in the offside bed locker.
I always keep my sheet vinyl winter covers in place when th evan is being washed or not in use.
Today I discovered another potential weak point - I have always noticed that whenever I move the van after it has been standing in rain water runs down the windscreen and had put it down to residual water not draining fro the roof.  It did it today when I knew that the roof was totally dry as I had polished it to try to make the first spring clean easier.  I realised that the water was coming from the eyebrow drains.  The eyebrow of course covers some hidden panel joints and I have previously stored the van on a slope nose up which would have stopped those drains from letting the water out.  Moral - store level or nose down!
I have not had damp so I hope that the panel seals are OK - BUT lurking water would freeze over winter and not do the panel seals any good!

inspiredron wrote: Moral - store level or nose down!
I have not had damp so I hope that the panel seals are OK - BUT lurking water would freeze over winter and not do the panel seals any good!

Only last week when cleaning the roof, discovered that water will readily pool (about a litre) where the cab joins the habitation section. There is definitely an incline as each section meets the transverse seal despite the van being level. Yes, when the van moves forward, that water flows down the windscreen. As mentioned previously, our 30% damp under kitchen and offside bench seat was due to failed sealant around EHU point. Fortunately subsequent test in July showed reduced damp levels.

Hi

I thought people might welcome an update? After finding significant damp following the first habitation check, the fridge vents were changed for a second time by the dealer. Oddly, the damp levels seemed reduced at this point. The van was checked three months later and the damp levels were very high on the passenger side. So, back to Auto-Sleeper we went and the problem we hope is now fixed. Dried out, new internal panel and gaskets around the external plug socket and BBQ point. It will go back to AS for the second habitation check for the sake of continuity. Disappointing but, both the dealer and AS took the matter seriously and worked to resolve things so I was content with that. I understand that the newer vans (mine is 2016) have these gaskets fitted from new.
Lemons2

Having been caught out by damp in a previous coachbuilt purchase by  the bandits at  the now defunct Discover leisure and our experiences with poor build in our current van I cannot stress enough the importance of regular checks for damp levels in any van. Good quality meters are available such as Protimeter on ebay for reasonable  cost occasionally and I made it part if my maintenance , every couple of months go round the suspect areas checking for damp. Any part where floor meets wall or wall meets roof or one material meets another such as fibreglass overhead pod meets roof/wall mouldings are all sealed mainly by mastic and it does dry , shrink and loose adhesion over time. Other areas are around doors windows or any cut outs to accommidate gas lockers or services. 
    Take note of readings , what you are looking for is changes not explained by weather conditions such as condensation etc.
          Damp found in its early stages can usually be fixed by a reseal but if left unchecked for a year between services can reach the stage where major costly rebuild work is required.Our local dealer used to recommend  a reseal of major joints every 5 to 6 years regardless. New construction methods of bonding panels together has made this obsolete but I believe A/s still use traditional screws/ mastic / softwood  joints on coachbuilts  so worth keeping an eye on as early attention saves major work/ damage / cost.
          Probably preaching to the converted but for newer owners something to consider when tempted saving a few bob on hab service costs.As always if local or passing you are welcome to use my meter to check your van over if even only to allay any fears!

Lemon2 wrote:Hi

I thought people might welcome an update? After finding significant damp following the first habitation check, the fridge vents were changed for a second time by the dealer. Oddly, the damp levels seemed reduced at this point. The van was checked three months later and the damp levels were very high on the passenger side. So, back to Auto-Sleeper we went and the problem we hope is now fixed. Dried out, new internal panel and gaskets around the external plug socket and BBQ point. It will go back to AS for the second habitation check for the sake of continuity. Disappointing but, both the dealer and AS took the matter seriously and worked to resolve things so I was content with that. I understand that the newer vans (mine is 2016) have these gaskets fitted from new.
Lemons2

Thanks for the update Lemon2. As you say, disappointing, but AS do a good job, and when you (hopefully) get a clean bill of health at the Hab service it will be a relief.

Hi all, interesting thread this (aren't they all though?!!) and when our van was serviced MOT'd in February no high damp levels recorded during Hab. check.
However, as per Ron and Para's comments we do get large volumes of water pooling on the roof when on the drive. I have tried keeping the van on the ramps to get a gradient without success, so take the van out at least weekly to get the water away as my experience is that pools of water will inevitably soak into whatever is below unless its steel with welded seams!
As Ron notes, it's very surprising how much water can become 'trapped' in the region where the cab joins the body -it also discolours the roof as well!

Lemon2 wrote:Hi

I thought people might welcome an update? After finding significant damp following the first habitation check, the fridge vents were changed for a second time by the dealer. Oddly, the damp levels seemed reduced at this point. The van was checked three months later and the damp levels were very high on the passenger side. So, back to Auto-Sleeper we went and the problem we hope is now fixed. Dried out, new internal panel and gaskets around the external plug socket and BBQ point. It will go back to AS for the second habitation check for the sake of continuity. Disappointing but, both the dealer and AS took the matter seriously and worked to resolve things so I was content with that. I understand that the newer vans (mine is 2016) have these gaskets fitted from new.
Lemons2

Thanks for the update   I had the same issues in the same areas and also had the fridge vents replaced. The problem got worse rather than better and, like you, had to return the van to A/S for the same treatment you got. So far it appears that the water ingress has been resolved. I’m also happy that both our dealer and A/S took the problem seriously and did all the could to resolve the matter. 

Of course I wish it hadn’t happened in the first place but it made little difference to the pleasure we’ve had in touring and I can’t complain about the response I got in getting it sorted.