Leaky Window ?

[Wschep]

Left the stickhouse March 30 2009. We stop in every time and then for a few moments so it doesn't feel lonesome. The last visit home we found 2 inches of water in the basement. What a marriage tester cleaning that mess was. The best part was spending the night in the Monty only to find it leaking also. 2009 3665RE with Dual Pane windows. I think the leak is coming in from the window. When I sat in my chair after a long day I noticed my feet were wet. Any Ideas ?

[jimcol]

Might check and make sure the weep holes are not plugged up. Let us know what you find.
Jim C.

[garyka]

I have the same problem with mine lately,what I found out is the rain water is running down the center of the window rail that opens right to left.The rail is on the outside of the drain tray allowing the water to run down the wall.I keep a sponge in the drain tray to catch the water before it runs down the wall till I find out how to stop this.

[Countryfolks]

Outside.
*1. Check the roof of the slide for any holes or bad seams or sealant.
2. Make sure the window frame, top, bottom and sides are sealed with sealant.
3. Make sure the rubber 'flaps ' on the sides are pushed out full length.
*4. there is a metal strip across the bottom, side that may be installed upside down or not sealed.
*5. There is a rubber gasket underneath going across the frame. make sure it's there and seals against the slide when closed.
6. Make sure the weep holes are not obstructed, on the bottom of the frame and drain to the outside.
Inside.
*1. Check to see if the water is dripping down the wall surface.

The items with an '*' are things that have happened to us. The windows may not be sealed in the frames. The dark stains probably mean it's been leaking for some time. Leaks can be really hard to find. Take it to a dealer if it's still under warranty.

[TLightning]

quote:Originally posted by Countryfolks

Outside.
*1. Check the roof of the slide for any holes or bad seams or sealant.
*1. Check to see if the water is dripping down the wall surface.

We had a major leak in the out side seam on top of the slide. It resulted in lots of water running down the walls both inside the cabinets and outside the cabinets.

[Tom S.]

Buy some rubber boots?

No no - put down the hammer, I'm just kidding!!!!!!


If it didn't leak before, the first question is was something different about this rain storm, such as the direction of the rain? This can help in trying to replicate the conditions so you can start leak chasing. Suggestions offered in earlier posts are good places to start. I would add start low and work you way up. For example, use a garden hose pointed in same direction the rain was coming from on the wall, then the window, top of the slide, etc,.

Keep us posted on your progress and what you find out!

[Wschep]

[quote]Originally posted by Countryfolks

Outside.
*1. Check the roof of the slide for any holes or bad seams or sealant.
Checked and nothing obviously wrong here

2. Make sure the window frame, top, bottom and sides are sealed with sealant.
Checked and nothing obviously wrong here


3. Make sure the rubber 'flaps ' on the sides are pushed out full length.
Checked and nothing obviously wrong here


*4. there is a metal strip across the bottom, side that may be installed upside down or not sealed.
Checked and nothing obviously wrong here


*5. There is a rubber gasket underneath going across the frame. make sure it's there and seals against the slide when closed.
Checked and nothing obviously wrong here


6. Make sure the weep holes are not obstructed, on the bottom of the frame and drain to the outside.
Checked and nothing obviously wrong here


Inside.
*1. Check to see if the water is dripping down the wall surface.
Checked and nothing obviously wrong here

Thanks for all the tips. Checked all of these and can't find anything. Window weep holes are draining. When a take a hose and spray the window it does leak on the floor. It would appear that there is a leak in the window rail going into the wall.

Similar to what garyka said.

Thanks

Wayne

[Countryfolks]

You could try running a lawn sprinkler on the top of the slide, set low, so as to only wet one end of the slide and see if the water is creeping from from one place to the another. Let it sit for a couple of hours or so after wetting before doing another spot. Other than that I'm out of ideas. Good luck in finding and fixing it.

edit- I went out and looked at the window on ours, check the screws across the bottom inside and make sure they don't cut into the window slide recess.

The corners of the cutout on the bottom of the vertical bar could be reshaped to a 45* angle to help direct the water that is following the edge and dripping off the corner.

[Wschep]

Ok, Here is what was the problem.

First let me say that this was no little leak. When you took a hose to the side of the slide out (Not the Top) water ran inside within seconds. This eliminated any roof leak issues.

Took it to Tiara RV where we bought it and I was very pleased at how much time they took to chase this down. For sure it looked liked it came from the window. caulk all around the window, cleaned window drains, but still it leaked the same. Removed the window and found NO water leaking from the window to the floor. All insulation inside the wall was dry.

The problem was where the side panel bolted to the floor on the outside. Water would run down the side to the outside trim piece and run into the trailer through the trim piece. This trim piece look to be caulked properly however when we removed the trim piece you could see where the water was running into the trailer. The floor has black plastic wrap around it. Where the outside panel was secured to the floor by the black plastic wrap is where the leak was. Tiara used black caulk between the floor and the side panel to seal this area. Next they fastened the side panel back on with the outside trim piece and used white caulk to seal this area all up. Tiara then did the same to all of our slide outs as we had noticed dampness on other slides, but this slide was the worst. They mentioned that they have had others complain about leaks in these areas but could never get to the bottom of it. Because ours was leaking so bad it was easy to determine where the root problem was.

Seems to me this should be an area that is caulked by the factory.

Sorry I have no pictures as Tiara did all the work.

[Countryfolks]

That sounds like #4 which was where the Tech at the service center said our bedroom leak was.

[Wschep]

Yes, It is Number 4

Do you know how they fixed it in the bedroom slide? Oddly the bedroom slide has a completely different sealing trim when compared to all the other slides.

Thanks

Wayne

[Countryfolks]

No I don't. They took the rig into a bay early in the AM and we sat in the waiting room until it was finished. Thanks for the description, it's something to remember and pass on to our dealer.

[Katja_and_Michael]

Hi everyone!

We full-time in our 2006 3400 RL (since 2005), and are struggling for the first time with a similar leak as Wschep wrote about. We live on the wet coast of Canada (Victoria) and most of our winter precipitation comes as rain, sometimes a lot of it. We noticed that the carpet was wet at the rear of the long slide, under the window and the couch. We're trying to track the leak down (really hard to do, cause water doesn't need much of a hole to get in!), and bought a shop vac to suck the water out of the carpet (don't know where that thing is going to be stored!), and today Michael is going to cover the window with clear plastic and duct tape it securely all around. If we get no more water inside, we'll have to check out the window when it's drier and warmer. If we still have a leak, we'll have to investigate other possible causes. I'm wondering whether Wschep knows if Tiara RV had to take things apart to find and then fix his leak? It would have been good to have had pictures - wonder if anyone else has had a similar problem?

Thanks for reading!

Katja

[Tom S.]

Katja, some leaks can be traced to the windows, but it could also be coming through the side of the slide. You have a long rubber gasket that runs from top to bottom, and if it's not sealing against the side, you can get water in, especially if you have a rain driven by winds. Although it may not be next to the wet spot, if your floor isn't perfect level, the water could be running there from the side. Another possibility is a roof leak, again, following the path of least resistance and perhaps running down the inside of the wall to the wet area. One way of checking for leaks is to use a hose with one person inside the trailer and one outside spraying various areas. Work from the bottom up.

[Katja_and_Michael]

Thanks for your reply Tom. I think we will probably try the hose thing when I'm off this weekend (I'm writing this at work and it will be dark when I get home - can't wait for the days to get looonger!). Luckily rain is not in the forecast for a few days.

Have a great holiday.

Katja

[Dmaxdon]

Some RV places test the seals by using a machine which draws air from a roof vent and builds a positive pressure inside the coach. Then RV techs spray the outside of the coach with a soapy solution and watch for bubbles forming in the wrong places.
We find all makes of RVs can be built with seal flaws and this method helps to find them.

[ols1932]

quote:Originally posted by Dmaxdon

Some RV places test the seals by using a machine which draws air from a roof vent and builds a positive pressure inside the coach. Then RV techs spray the outside of the coach with a soapy solution and watch for bubbles forming in the wrong places.
We find all makes of RVs can be built with seal flaws and this method helps to find them.

That was the exact procedure used by my dealer when we had a roof leak in our big slide. Looking at the roof with the naked eye you couldn't see where there was any possible leak. But this procedure sure found it quickly and we haven't had any leaks in the big slide roof since. It's been six years now.

Orv

[Leaseit]

This might or might not be of interest about posable leaking windows. So here goes.

The Aluminum extrusion used for the double pane windows in a Montana are the same extrusion that is on some out of business Motor home coach named Mon***co... I guess i can say that..
One of the owners (a friend) had some water come in the weep holes during the warranty period. The company said they had seen this problem and installed "Weep Hole Covers" on their coach as they had done on a lot of the other coaches.
On a trip out west and visiting the friends, he was looking at my dual pane windows and exclamed, "there the same as on my coach, but without Weep Hole Covers".
a long story short, he was at the Mon**co factory and picked up enough covers so i could do my Montana Windows.
They have stamped on them Atwood Mobile Products, but i have not been able to find the product listed in there catalog of on the web site.
Out on a limb here, but maybe you may want to double check those weep holes..
here is a picture of waht they look like...

[img][/img]



Hope this might help

[dustinc02]

Katja and Micheal,
I have the same unit (2006 3400RL) with the same problem. I had it coming into the corners of both sides of the long slide. Here is what I found. 1st all the screws on the outside of the slides on each side that holds the molding on were not sealed with sealant. I unsrewed each and everyone and sealed with caulk. As you start from the bottom to the top you can tell by the appearance of the wood that came out with the screws that the problem was further up than just the windows. The wood that came out with the screws was visibly wet ( I do not want to say rotten for my own piece of mind) The smell of the screws and wood was that of mildew and rot. So from there I had to look at the roof. The flimsy tape seal that the manufacturer used along the seam of the rubber roof and the metal molding appeared to be my problem. Not only does this seals rub on the unit when traveling but the sharp edges from the molding appeared to tear the tape. I fixed all the tears but stil had the same problem. I then purchased a roll of 6" eternabond tape from a roofing store. I taped the seams starting up on the molding then across the factory tape to ensure I covered everything. Now, my carpets appear to be dry with wet weather. I am not saying that there is not an issue from the windows as well. This was my experience. If you do tape the seams with eternabond tape make sure you have 3 people. One on the slide in the middle and 1 person on a ladder at each end. When that tape sticks to something it is stuck!!! Works great but be careful. Hope that helps. Please keep me posted, I would like to know if you are also experiencing problems with the windows. Thanks.