LEAKING KITCHEN SLIDE 3400RL 2008 - Montana Owners Club

Paintpro99 · 02-02-2010, 12:13 PM

Help! After a big rain yesterday, we noticed the carpet was soaking wet in the kitchen slide under the stove and fridge and cupboard. I have inspected the outside wall of the slide as well as the window, roof,and everything I can think of and can find no fault with anything. However, when I removed the bottom fridge grate on the outside of the slide, I noticed rusty water seeping out from between the wall and spilling down on the grate. I have no idea where this is coming from. I have slide toppers on all my slides and can't figure out where this water is coming from. I managed to get the carpet dried up overnight and when it rained again today, it was soaked again. The whole carpeted area in this slide gets wet. It seems to be wettest against the wall and I think the carpet is acting as a wick and making the rest of it wet as well. Has anyone out there come up with a solution to my problem? Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Art-n-Marge · 02-02-2010, 01:04 PM

My gosh this sounds familiar and I hope someone can post further the details.

I think one cause to check is that in heavy rains water can come in through the two grates on the exterior of the rig right behind the refrigerator. Then as the water drops down the rear of the fridge instead of exitting outside the water may fall back into the rig. The remedy was to add some flashing at or near the bottom of the fridge to deflect all the water to the exterior.

What you describe might be different from what is mentioned above only because it sounds like the water is coming in from above or another part of the refrigerator, but at least this is something to check. The problem with water leaks is that where you see the water coming in from is not necessarily where it originates. I hope you figure this one out real quick.

If I can find the forum post or other link (I believe I first read it in another forum) I will forward it on.

On edit: Here's the link about the flashing fix.

http://www.montanaowners.com/forums/...ad.php?t=29699

During my search I found other posts with problems such as the fridge vent causing the leak. The fridge vent exits the roof and is used for venting the heat created by the "absorption" process as part of the normal operation and the vent could leak especially if the vent cap is cracked, not sealed correctly or too low which allows water to bounce up and into the vent pipe. Unfortunately I think this means a visit to the roof.

Another search found that the seals at the slides may not position correctly and water can make its way inside.

These are just another few suggestions. Hopefully there are more to come.

Jay Bird · 02-02-2010, 03:36 PM

We had this problem once in heavy rain. The rig was unlevel and the slide did not extend to the point that the rubber flashing (under the slide topper) on the top did not extend all the way. Pulled the slides in, leveled the rig and extended the slide out again and no more leak.

Montana Sky · 02-02-2010, 04:34 PM

Check to make sure you have rain gutters on the bottom of the slide behind the rubber seals. Mine did not and this happened each time it rained. I also had problems with water coming in the kitchen slide during transit in rainy conditions. The service center found that the "pan" was installed upside down during the build process. They fixed it and installed the gutters on the bottom of the slide wall. No more water in the coach.

dmaxmountaineer · 02-02-2010, 05:33 PM

I noticed a leak in my bedroom slide. Mine was parked in the street in front of my house with slides in. Being that the road is pitched from the center out towards the curbs, water came in. I extended one jack out a notch or two down further on the curb side and it solved the problem.

Waynem · 02-03-2010, 03:47 AM

I posted the link Art provided. It would not hurt to do that fix as it only takes about 15 minutes for both lower and upper vent area. Someone had a newer model Montana recently at a CG and when we pulled the vent the Mfg had put the wood screws in from a side angle, not from the top of the vent frame. This could be a big difference on leaking/not leaking. Pull out the wood screws and look for discoloration. If they look "rusty" water is seeping in that way. The angle iron is a necessary fix then. But as stated, it would not hurt to do it anyway.

plus all the other suggestions.

Good luck

Paintpro99 · 02-03-2010, 06:25 AM

Thanks so much to everyone who answered my cries for help. I am very grateful for the link suggesting the angle iron. I am heading down to Lowes right now to get some and will try this fix. It is supposed to rain again this weekend, so hopefully this will work. I will let you know how I make out. Thanks again.

Waynem · 02-03-2010, 10:10 AM

Dan,
Please do let us know. If that is not the fix then others need to pipe in and give their solutions. One of them should work. Let's just hope it's the first solution, not the last that works.

Paintpro99 · 02-07-2010, 06:48 AM

Success! I tried the suggestion of attaching aluminum angle iron to the bottom of the fridge vents and after a substantial rainfall, I am happy to report that this seems to have solved my water problem. The floor of the kitchen slide was bone dry. Thanks to all who provided solutions to my problem. I really appreciate it. Thanks again.

NASCARon · 02-07-2010, 11:02 AM

We had this problem once during a heavy rain with heavy wind. It was the only time it happened. I removed the carpeting under the frig after that.

Waynem · 02-07-2010, 01:25 PM

Thanks for the update Dan. I'm happy to hear the refer vent fix worked.

sreigle · 02-08-2010, 05:26 AM

I'm glad to hear you got it fixed.

There's another cause for this kind of leak that we've experienced several times. I'd like to point it out so others might check this before going out and buying parts and installing them, just in case that's not their problem.

Our slide seals tend to all too often not fully "turn" out when the slides are extended. EVERY time this happens and we get a hard rain, we get a lot of water in just the spots you mentioned. Our kitchen is in a slide.

The solution for us is to check those seals every time we extend the slide. Running the awning rod under the seal turns it out as it should be. Obviously I use the rounded corner of the bend and not the sharper point.

You may also like: