First warranty experience with Northern Lite
Last month I had my first warranty experience with my new camper. I waited to see how it played out before posting about it so I could provide all the information. Then I just got busy so now I am getting around to writing it up. I did some searching and found a few posts related to my issue but I wanted to write about it again in case others haven’t heard of this issue because I sure had not until it happened to me.
The issue was related to my Dometic Midi Heki skylight in the front cab-over area above the bed. For most of the summer I kept the shade pulled shut on the skylight to keep it from getting to hot inside the camper and I also like to sleep in so it helps keep it dark inside the camper.
On a trip in early September I opened up the shade on the skylight to look at the stars at night. When I woke up in the morning I was looking up through the skylight and saw what looked like a crack. I sat up and on closer inspection sure enough it was cracked. I tried to imagine how and where it got damaged because I hardly ever touched the thing since it was new. Upon further inspection I determined that only the inner layer of plastic had fractured. The outer shell was completely intact which ruled out a rock or bird strike while traveling. Plus the damage was at the rear of the skylight and not the front.
As I was running my hand across the inner layer of plastic I noticed it was no longer flat and that it had a warped feel to it in an upward direction. I came to the conclusion that while parked in my back yard with the hatch facing directly into the sun it had became hot enough to warp the plastic.
How did it do this? Well after looking at the top of the shade I noticed it has an aluminized coating on it.
When parked in the sun with the shade closed and hatch shut this little area between the shade and the hatch glass becomes like a small oven in the upper 90-degree heat we had this summer. (I bet I could have cooked a loaf of bread in there.) As the plastic warped upwards and the hinge lever pulled downward at some point the stress was too much and it broke the hatch. The locking lever bar only pushes/pulls on the inside layer of plastic by the way.
I thought this was crazy, I live in Idaho. It doesn’t get that hot here. Surely I would have heard about this from someone down south in Arizona or southern Utah who definitely keep their skylight shade closed in the heat of the summer. I don’t have AC and my camper just sits in my yard all closed up when not being used so I suppose it could get hot during that time.
I wanted some actual numbers so I could show my dealer as well as Northern Lite what was going on so I did a test to see what the temperature was. By September we were past our high 90 temperatures but I set a remote thermometer probe on top of the skylight and watched what would happen.
The first picture shows an outside temperature of 68 degrees with a temperature of 110 inside the skylight. This was on a fairly overcast day up in the mountains on the day I discovered the crack.
Later that week, at home in my back yard, I was able to test it with some outside temperatures in the mid 80’s.
The first picture shows an outside temp of 77 and it was already 128 inside the skylight. (disregard the in and out notations of the thermometer, the wireless probe is intended to be placed outside while the display unit is inside. The higher temp is inside the skylight and the lower temp is from outside in the shade sitting on my dually fender)
I let it sit for a few hours into the afternoon and recorded these readings.
The HH.H reading meant that the temperature inside the skylight exceeded the measuring capability of my thermometer but I am sure it was well above 160 degrees.
During the summer heat with the outside temperature nearing 100 degrees I could imagine the temperature inside the skylight with the aluminized shade pulled shut could get well above 200 degrees. It’s too bad that Dometic didn’t account for this and use a higher heat resistant plastic in their design. Surely they don’t expect people to leave the shade open in the heat of the summer sun, that defeats the whole purpose of having a shade! Maybe if they get enough warranty returns they’ll change the plastic.
As far as Bish’s RV where I bought the camper and Northern Lite’s end of the issue they were both great and I had no hassles from them with getting the part replaced. I really couldn’t pin down an exact replacement cost if I had to pay out of pocket but I think it was around $300-$400 for that plastic lid.
I was able to remove the part myself and take it to the dealer and trade them so I didn’t have to drive my camper all the way to town. Here are a few shots of the damage with it off the camper.
Unfortunately the first replacement they sent me was damaged in shipping so I had to wait another week for a second one. The next one was wrapped in so much foam and carpet that I could have redone my living room if I needed to.
Good job to Northern Lite for standing behind their product, as I was worried I might have had to eat that one for not reading the owners manual or paperwork about the skylight. I did go back and read through it but it said nothing about hot weather use or precautions. Hopefully NL send’s this back to Dometic and makes them eat the cost and also gets after them about using inferior plastic for this application.
The good thing in all of this was that the outer shell of the skylight stayed completely intact so I was able to use and store the camper without having to worry about water leaks while I waited for the replacement.
Now I just have to be careful in the future and remember to leave the shade open during summer storage so it doesn’t retain as much heat. If any of you have the same skylight keep this in mind.
The issue was related to my Dometic Midi Heki skylight in the front cab-over area above the bed. For most of the summer I kept the shade pulled shut on the skylight to keep it from getting to hot inside the camper and I also like to sleep in so it helps keep it dark inside the camper.
On a trip in early September I opened up the shade on the skylight to look at the stars at night. When I woke up in the morning I was looking up through the skylight and saw what looked like a crack. I sat up and on closer inspection sure enough it was cracked. I tried to imagine how and where it got damaged because I hardly ever touched the thing since it was new. Upon further inspection I determined that only the inner layer of plastic had fractured. The outer shell was completely intact which ruled out a rock or bird strike while traveling. Plus the damage was at the rear of the skylight and not the front.
As I was running my hand across the inner layer of plastic I noticed it was no longer flat and that it had a warped feel to it in an upward direction. I came to the conclusion that while parked in my back yard with the hatch facing directly into the sun it had became hot enough to warp the plastic.
How did it do this? Well after looking at the top of the shade I noticed it has an aluminized coating on it.
When parked in the sun with the shade closed and hatch shut this little area between the shade and the hatch glass becomes like a small oven in the upper 90-degree heat we had this summer. (I bet I could have cooked a loaf of bread in there.) As the plastic warped upwards and the hinge lever pulled downward at some point the stress was too much and it broke the hatch. The locking lever bar only pushes/pulls on the inside layer of plastic by the way.
I thought this was crazy, I live in Idaho. It doesn’t get that hot here. Surely I would have heard about this from someone down south in Arizona or southern Utah who definitely keep their skylight shade closed in the heat of the summer. I don’t have AC and my camper just sits in my yard all closed up when not being used so I suppose it could get hot during that time.
I wanted some actual numbers so I could show my dealer as well as Northern Lite what was going on so I did a test to see what the temperature was. By September we were past our high 90 temperatures but I set a remote thermometer probe on top of the skylight and watched what would happen.
The first picture shows an outside temperature of 68 degrees with a temperature of 110 inside the skylight. This was on a fairly overcast day up in the mountains on the day I discovered the crack.
Later that week, at home in my back yard, I was able to test it with some outside temperatures in the mid 80’s.
The first picture shows an outside temp of 77 and it was already 128 inside the skylight. (disregard the in and out notations of the thermometer, the wireless probe is intended to be placed outside while the display unit is inside. The higher temp is inside the skylight and the lower temp is from outside in the shade sitting on my dually fender)
I let it sit for a few hours into the afternoon and recorded these readings.
The HH.H reading meant that the temperature inside the skylight exceeded the measuring capability of my thermometer but I am sure it was well above 160 degrees.
During the summer heat with the outside temperature nearing 100 degrees I could imagine the temperature inside the skylight with the aluminized shade pulled shut could get well above 200 degrees. It’s too bad that Dometic didn’t account for this and use a higher heat resistant plastic in their design. Surely they don’t expect people to leave the shade open in the heat of the summer sun, that defeats the whole purpose of having a shade! Maybe if they get enough warranty returns they’ll change the plastic.
As far as Bish’s RV where I bought the camper and Northern Lite’s end of the issue they were both great and I had no hassles from them with getting the part replaced. I really couldn’t pin down an exact replacement cost if I had to pay out of pocket but I think it was around $300-$400 for that plastic lid.
I was able to remove the part myself and take it to the dealer and trade them so I didn’t have to drive my camper all the way to town. Here are a few shots of the damage with it off the camper.
Unfortunately the first replacement they sent me was damaged in shipping so I had to wait another week for a second one. The next one was wrapped in so much foam and carpet that I could have redone my living room if I needed to.
Good job to Northern Lite for standing behind their product, as I was worried I might have had to eat that one for not reading the owners manual or paperwork about the skylight. I did go back and read through it but it said nothing about hot weather use or precautions. Hopefully NL send’s this back to Dometic and makes them eat the cost and also gets after them about using inferior plastic for this application.
The good thing in all of this was that the outer shell of the skylight stayed completely intact so I was able to use and store the camper without having to worry about water leaks while I waited for the replacement.
Now I just have to be careful in the future and remember to leave the shade open during summer storage so it doesn’t retain as much heat. If any of you have the same skylight keep this in mind.
