First Window Leak

[newRVer]

Last Friday more before leaving on our vacation I went out to to the RV to start loading the food in the fridge. Normally I leave the the RV plugged into a 120V outlet in the garage just to cool down the fridge before we leave. When I opened the door on the RV I noticed that my AC Voltage monitor that I leave plugged in by the door was off. So I went back into the garage to make sure that no one pulled the plug, it was still in. I then checked pulled the the 30A cable out from under the RV and checked to make sure the adapter was tight which it was so I pulled it apart and saw that one of the terminals on the plug was a bit scorched and the rubber was slightly melted (see attached).

So now I went back into the RV, put my hand on the counter while going in and it was all wet. Here there was a stream of water coming from the window, flowing down the counter, over the control panel and behind the AC line voltage monitor. I pulled the monitor out and a fair amount of water came out of the outlet with it. As it turned out we had just gotten about a 15 minutes of a windy down pore. Why I never saw a leak before was was a bit strange but then this was the first time I had my unit up on the levelers in front of my house and the awning was not down, so may be the angle of the unit while being level played a part in the leak. ??? At any rate, I checked the breaker in the bedroom which was fine however the the GFI outlet in the bathroom had tripped so I reset that, dried out the outlet and then plugged it all back together and things were working again.

So now my questions. Why would the 30A plug get damaged if the GFI had tripped? I would have thought that it would have tripped before the the damage occurred? Also is the damage on the plug bad enough to warrant replacement? It seemed to work well enough this weekend, but I have a concern going forward and thought maybe I should submit a warranty claim to have it replaced.

Then there is the window. Not sure if this was a freak event or not so I got my hose out and used the shower setting to wet down the window for 5 mins from the top and sides. Sure enough, water started to leak through at the low point corner This will definitely require another trip back to the dealer to have it looked at. The way these windows are constructed just seems to invite leaks but from previous posts it sounds like the fact that they don't sit flush to the body is the way they are designed to work. ????

[newRVer]

Quick update. The RV was out in front of the house this past weekend and it poured again on Saturday night. Since the rain was expected I put some towels on the counter in front of the window where the leak is coming in and sure enough after the rain storm the towel was wet from sopping up the incoming stream of water. Also, now I know why i did not see this problem while in storage. The RV slopes in the opposite direction while parked there and the water is probably not coming in at all or it is just being funneled down behind the stove and I just never see the results of the water coming in.

At any rate, I've attached some pictures of the window in question and now I also have concerns about the other windows as well. This is especially true for the window behind the U-dinette as the frame goes down behind the dinette and I probably would never notice a leak until it was too late and the damage was already done. What has everyone else done to stop leaks in these type of windows?

PS. the screwdriver is just there as a point of reference and to show how far the frame is from the sidewall.

[Simplewon]

If you use a 50 amp to 30 amp adapter to plug into 50amps instead it will help prevent the 30amp plug from overheating. Also, don't use the ac unless your plugged into 50amp service with an adapter. The leak is not causing the overheating shore cord. The leak did cause the gfi to trip.

[SeaDog]

I think I would put a bead of clear sealant around the top and down the sides about 4 inches to solve the problem. You may be able to tighten the frame to the body not sure how your windows are attached.

[newRVer]

Originally Posted by SeaDog

I think I would put a bead of clear sealant around the top and down the sides about 4 inches to solve the problem. You may be able to tighten the frame to the body not sure how your windows are attached.

That is part of the problem. i really don't understand the construction of these windows or how they are mounted to the body. There have been multiple threads on the topic in this forum and the consensus seems to be that this is normal. Before trying to apply any fixes myself I need to get some input from the dealer and Forest river.

[newRVer]

Originally Posted by Simplewon

If you use a 50 amp to 30 amp adapter to plug into 50amps instead it will help prevent the 30amp plug from overheating. Also, don't use the ac unless your plugged into 50amp service with an adapter. The leak is not causing the overheating shore cord. The leak did cause the gfi to trip.

I am very careful about using the AC with other appliances also being on, so I should not drawing too much current through the 30A cable. However, I already did buy a 30A to 50A converter cable just in case I run into a campsite where the 30A breaker is having an issue. Bottom line, regardless of whether your connected to a 30A or 50A breaker, you can never pull more than 24A into the RV as that is what a normal 30A breaker in the RV is rated to trip at.