Water Leak - Dealer can't find it

[dacheedah]

Best way to determine a breach to the exterior is to seal the unit, put a high volume fan at the vent and pressurize the unit. You can diy this with an electric leaf blower or furnace blower fan and some foam board or flex duct . . .Then spray down with soapy water and identify any and all areas that give you any amount of bubbling. Clean and seal or reseal those areas need attention. Try the test again until no more leaks. If no leaks are detected you need to look inside at the water supply. Setting the camper off level with the water supply on the high side water finds the path of less resistance, pull drawers and empty cabinets is helpful and add connect to city water and see Pex is very forgiving and I would focus on joints. Inspection cameras are very helpful also. Once fixed fans and some good drying will be helpful in determining if you need more repair.

[GBarrett]

I will probably do something like that once I get it back, although I’ll use a scuba tank and slightly open the valve. The compressed air in the tank will do the same thing. As the trailer is right now, it’s open to the outside where the floor used to be. The dealer said yesterday that Forest River isn’t convinced that much damage came from where the dealer says it’s from. So far nobody is doing anything.

I’m seriously running out of patience. If Forest River doesn’t do anything, how much of the dealer’s incompetence am I going to have to pay for?

[jd50i]

Originally Posted by GBarrett

I will probably do something like that once I get it back, although I’ll use a scuba tank and slightly open the valve. The compressed air in the tank will do the same thing. As the trailer is right now, it’s open to the outside where the floor used to be. The dealer said yesterday that Forest River isn’t convinced that much damage came from where the dealer says it’s from. So far nobody is doing anything.

I’m seriously running out of patience. If Forest River doesn’t do anything, how much of the dealer’s incompetence am I going to have to pay for?

Scuba tank doesn't hold enough volume to pressurize it.

[Bama Rambler]

Originally Posted by jd50i

Scuba tank doesn't hold enough volume to pressurize it.

X2

You need a ton of volume and a tiny bit of pressure. A leaf blower or bouncy house blower does a good job of providing enough volume to work. There are videos of people making an adapter for a vent fan an mounting a blower on one and using that to test the units.

Or you could find a Seal-Tech service and have them do it.

[GBarrett]

First thing this morning I emailed the dealership through their website and asked for the owner to call me. Two hours later I receive an email from the service manager letting me know that they are going to get the trailer in the shop today to fix the floor and I should have it back by Monday or Tuesday of next week. (I'm guessing later than that since Monday is a holiday). The service manager said he was able to get Forest River to cover some if not all of the repair.

Why does it have to be difficult to get problems solved? It would have been a much smaller repair if they had taken the time to look for the problem the first time it was in. I guess it was easier to blame it on "customer error" than to actually look. I'm not sure who to be more upset with - the dealer or Forest River?? BTW, I hope they actually found the initial problem,...

[dward51]

Originally Posted by doc73

Should. Find that video that was posted about a recent court case in Illinois maybe. It was an interesting video of what the law required on whether you need to allow for the dealer to correct the issues.. In short you do not in Illinois (I think it was). Only good in that state, for now..

Here is the full court ruling in the Illinois Supreme Court case in PDF format.

Since the UCC is adpoted in all 50 states, it should have effect in your state as well. There are some contra rulings, but they were on different basis. This one is on an undisclosed flaw in a trailer that could not be resolved by the dealer in a timely manner. In their case the dealer called some time later and said the trailer was ready, but they declined acceptance based on the UCC and their attorney filed for a refund. Court sided with the trailer buyers in the end. Basically they are getting their money back plus damages for lost camping, etc.... This is a very recent case.

[GBarrett]

Success! The dealer just emailed me that the trailer is ready to be picked up and they got the repair bill "taken care of"! I'm not sure who is paying it but I'm greatly relieved. I'll drive up to retrieve it tomorrow. Since it's supposed to be a rainy weekend here, I'll get to watch for any leaks myself.



Thanks for the support and encouragement. If something changes, I'll let y'all know!

[GBarrett]

I picked up my trailer today. The service manager said Forest River paid for it. He said that over the course of a few days of conversations with FR, another trailer (same trailer as mine) was brought in for the same exact issue. It was then that FR admitted a few things and agreed to pay for things.

So, a reasonably good ending to the story.

[Brother Les]

Where and why was the leak????

[GBarrett]

There is some kind of breach near the storage bin that channels water backwards towards the shower. I didn't fully understand the exact location, but it does somehow channel to the lip of the metal on the lower side of the exterior and finds a way back. From his description it is something FR knew about and it was originally discovered on trailers towed in rain.

[fredm.seven]

Hello, I thought I should add that I recently discovered that all four of my storage access doors are not sealed. The outside panel sits in a metal frame and is not sealed to it. The inside panel is sealed (caulked) to the frame. The frame has drain holes in the bottom. It seems the idea is that water getting past the outside panel should just drain out, as long as the drain holes are not blocked or the door is not subject to an overwhelming amount of rain.

I discovered this a few weeks back, after a rain storm that had high winds and lasted a few hours. After the storm I checked on the trailer and found water sitting on the inside lip of one of the the storage compartments. It took me a while to figure out how it made its way there. It just backed up in the frame and found a way out through a break in the inside panel caulk.

I think the outside panel is not caulked because it's subject to flexing when you shut the door and I suppose any outside seal would not last. I decided to silicone caulk them all anyway (sides and bottom) and cleaned out the frame drain holes. Since the trailer will sit in storage until spring I figured it would do till I come up with a better solution.

Maybe my doors skipped a step in production, but I wouldn't think so as there are three different sizes.

I hope this is helpful to folks looking through this thread.

[GBarrett]

Maybe a pinned post somewhere so others can know where to look for issues?