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 get...
Forum Discussion
skipro3
I think I finally understand the intent of your postings as trying to discredit the fact that heat caused the damage to my skylight. I know I would probably be a bit skeptical myself if I hadn't held it in my hands and felt the warped inner plexi-glass but alas I can't share that with you as it probably has a new home in a landfill somewhere in British Columbia now. I'm sorry but there is nothing else that could have warped the inner layer of plexi-glass other than heat. Heat did not crack the skylight though, it merely warped it in an upward direction. The force of the lever arm pulling down on the newly warped plexiglass in the closed position is what caused the crack. However it would never have cracked if it were not for the overheating and subsequent warping of the inner layer of plexiglass from having the shade pulled shut in direct sunlight.
First of all the plexiglass isn't clear like you are thinking so it doesn't act like normal house windows. It's smoke color so yes, it does absorb energy in the form of heat as light photons pass through it and some are absorbed. Next heat transfers from areas of high heat energy to areas of low heat energy trying to achieve equilibrium in a system. The cooler air molecules absorb heat from the plexiglass, the plastic frame of the skylight and the closed shade. Because this has become a enclosed system when I draw the shade shut the air currents can't carry off that heated air and replace it with cooler air so it becomes even hotter and hotter due to it being trapped in the closed system with intense heat being applied with no where to go. That's why if you stick your hand in the area above the closed shade it is much hotter than the area below the shade or outside the camper. I don't have to have a thermometer to tell me that. Therefore the the air trapped between the two layers of skylight is also becoming hot due to the same effect of heat transfer and trapping. Once these two air masses become saturated with heat to the point they can no longer absorb enough heat energy from the inner plexiglass to keep it below it's melting point the damage will commence.
I use to park with the nose of the camper facing due south in my back yard. The downward slope of the camper roof aligns the skylight even more perfectly with the direct sunlight. The hottest temperature this summer in my back yard was 98 degrees so there was plenty of heat energy being provided even though I am in Idaho. 98 degrees shouldn't be enough to cause damage and it's not by itself. However, by showing that the temperature inside the closed skylight system far exceeds the ambient air temperature I can say without a doubt that excessive heat is what warped the inner plexiglass layer which lead to the cracking because it wasn't strong enough to withstand the heat without warping. If Dometic would have used better quality plastic in their design we wouldn't be having this conversation.
So why aren't there more problems reported like mine you ask? The most likely reason is because the design of my skylight is fairly new. Yes it's a Heki, but it is different in many ways than most of the Heki's out there in use today. Perhaps as more Heki's like mine are put into service there will be more problems. Needless to say that is the point of my thread though, to share my issues with others so they can prevent the same problem from happening to them. If this would have happened to me next summer or at some other future time after my warranty had ran out it would have cost me a lot of money. I can do a lot of camping trips for the price of a $400 skylight lid.
I know you don't believe that Idaho summer heat can cause that type of damage and I couldn't believe it either at first but the fact is it did, it's not a hypothesis. If others do as I did and leave the shade shut in direct sunlight they will have the same warping due to heat. Hopefully I have prevented others from suffering the same damage or even better maybe NL will get after Dometic for some better quality plastic so we can enjoy our shade for the purpose of having one and that is to reflect the heat out of our campers without expensive damage being done.
We could go on and on discussing the physics of heat, energy transfer, thermodynamics, phase changes of matter, melting points of plastics, and how the summer sun easily destroyed an inferior product used on my camper but your right it's pointless so I'm going camping instead :)
I think I finally understand the intent of your postings as trying to discredit the fact that heat caused the damage to my skylight. I know I would probably be a bit skeptical myself if I hadn't held it in my hands and felt the warped inner plexi-glass but alas I can't share that with you as it probably has a new home in a landfill somewhere in British Columbia now. I'm sorry but there is nothing else that could have warped the inner layer of plexi-glass other than heat. Heat did not crack the skylight though, it merely warped it in an upward direction. The force of the lever arm pulling down on the newly warped plexiglass in the closed position is what caused the crack. However it would never have cracked if it were not for the overheating and subsequent warping of the inner layer of plexiglass from having the shade pulled shut in direct sunlight.
First of all the plexiglass isn't clear like you are thinking so it doesn't act like normal house windows. It's smoke color so yes, it does absorb energy in the form of heat as light photons pass through it and some are absorbed. Next heat transfers from areas of high heat energy to areas of low heat energy trying to achieve equilibrium in a system. The cooler air molecules absorb heat from the plexiglass, the plastic frame of the skylight and the closed shade. Because this has become a enclosed system when I draw the shade shut the air currents can't carry off that heated air and replace it with cooler air so it becomes even hotter and hotter due to it being trapped in the closed system with intense heat being applied with no where to go. That's why if you stick your hand in the area above the closed shade it is much hotter than the area below the shade or outside the camper. I don't have to have a thermometer to tell me that. Therefore the the air trapped between the two layers of skylight is also becoming hot due to the same effect of heat transfer and trapping. Once these two air masses become saturated with heat to the point they can no longer absorb enough heat energy from the inner plexiglass to keep it below it's melting point the damage will commence.
I use to park with the nose of the camper facing due south in my back yard. The downward slope of the camper roof aligns the skylight even more perfectly with the direct sunlight. The hottest temperature this summer in my back yard was 98 degrees so there was plenty of heat energy being provided even though I am in Idaho. 98 degrees shouldn't be enough to cause damage and it's not by itself. However, by showing that the temperature inside the closed skylight system far exceeds the ambient air temperature I can say without a doubt that excessive heat is what warped the inner plexiglass layer which lead to the cracking because it wasn't strong enough to withstand the heat without warping. If Dometic would have used better quality plastic in their design we wouldn't be having this conversation.
So why aren't there more problems reported like mine you ask? The most likely reason is because the design of my skylight is fairly new. Yes it's a Heki, but it is different in many ways than most of the Heki's out there in use today. Perhaps as more Heki's like mine are put into service there will be more problems. Needless to say that is the point of my thread though, to share my issues with others so they can prevent the same problem from happening to them. If this would have happened to me next summer or at some other future time after my warranty had ran out it would have cost me a lot of money. I can do a lot of camping trips for the price of a $400 skylight lid.
I know you don't believe that Idaho summer heat can cause that type of damage and I couldn't believe it either at first but the fact is it did, it's not a hypothesis. If others do as I did and leave the shade shut in direct sunlight they will have the same warping due to heat. Hopefully I have prevented others from suffering the same damage or even better maybe NL will get after Dometic for some better quality plastic so we can enjoy our shade for the purpose of having one and that is to reflect the heat out of our campers without expensive damage being done.
We could go on and on discussing the physics of heat, energy transfer, thermodynamics, phase changes of matter, melting points of plastics, and how the summer sun easily destroyed an inferior product used on my camper but your right it's pointless so I'm going camping instead :)
