Finding my leak

[Bowhunter61]

I had posted about a leak I had back in 2016, took it to a dealer and they supposedly used a SealTech and found the issue. Well only a couple months later when I brought it down to my land in TN, I found the leak was still there. I have been keeping it under cover the last 4 years in a pole building at our TN property so I haven't worried about it until now. Our house is built now and we are ready to start using it again. So I took it to a dealer here and they again supposedly fixed it, said it was the corner trim on the back edge of the garage. Left it out in the rain yesterday and leak is still there.
Here is the original thread
TH Link

it's a fuision TH, So I wanted to throw my plan out here and see if people could give me some recommendations.

Plan: I am going to tackle finding this myself. I figure I can rig up my own "SealTech" type of system. First I am going to seal the garage area because that is where the leak seems to be coming from. I have a big slider door that isolates the garage from the rest of the unit. I am going to use an electric leaf blower with a dry vent tube hooked to it and run it into the side vent of the garage (vent that can be opened to let our fumes). I will tape the seams on the ramp door. Then use a mix 1-3 soap to water to spray on all the windows and corners then up to the roof.

Anything else I would need to be aware of?

Thanks

[Bowhunter61]

3 tons wrote:


I could only then conclude that the block styrofoam insulation the manufacturer used between the sectioned roof members was nearly air tight and preventing even extreme pressure (actually air volume) to communicate up thru to the skylight’s eternabond surround.

This right here is my concern after looking at where the water is coming in, that whole wall is the block styrofoam and the water is weeping down the plywood, I am not sure how well air will push through through the styrofoam and plywood to the leak area allowing the water in to soak the plywood.

I pulled the bottom window as suggested and no issues there. I pulled some of the inner wood (paneling) and styrofoam out trace the water stains on the outer plywood and it seems to be coming down directly from the awning mount. The dealer had fixed the corner trim in the back corner where they said they found leaks and that corner had been wet also so I may have 2 leaks.

Once it gets nice out I am going to take plastic and cover both windows and then give the awning mount a good soaking with a hose.

[bid_time]

Get some smoke bombs, much more efficient then using soapy water.
Clicky

[3_tons]

Oops, double post.

[3_tons]

I had an extremely difficult time trying to find leak in the roof of my pickup camper... I repeatedly tried by using two very large toro leaf blowers thru a baggage compartment door that went directly thur to the camper’s interior... I’d also duct taped the shower and sink drains, and the pressure in the camper was waaay more than adequate, but no matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t find this dang roof leak..

On a previous camper, the leaf blower method worked exceptionally well when trying to locate a similar roof leak (but that camper had f/g batt insulation in the roof)...So I was certain that this leaf blower method would again work, but this time I used two - but to no avail...

In the end I was able to find the leak on this newer camper by sequestering off the suspected area of the roof using a lawn bag and duct tape then deluging the same area with water until finding that the leak had stopped - a very time consuming process. But using this ‘last ditch’ method I was eventually able to narrow it down to a bathroom skylight that had a Eternabond surround around it. The eternabond was acting like a dam around the moulded skylight bubble - go figure!!

In spite of using the two leaf blowers, and the repeated, dogged soapy water attempts over this EXACT same area, I was unable to reveal the leak, I could only then conclude that the block styrofoam insulation the manufacturer used between the sectioned roof members was nearly air tight and preventing even extreme pressure (actually air volume) to communicate up thru to the skylight’s eternabond surround.

After having caulked the side-edges of the eternabond, no more leaks ever again!!

[dougrainer]

The Seal Tec unit connects to a open roof vent with a adapter and 14 inch duct. It is very low PSI ===.02 PSI. Jayco RV maker will NOT allow us to use a pressure machine for warranty leak checks. They state that if you go to high a PSI, it can blow out certain seal gaskets or Butyl. I say BS on that. Other than Jayco, no other OEM restricts the Seal Tec from being used to find water leaks. IF you remove a window you have lost a test on THAT window. ALL RV's will show some leaks with a smoke or Air pressure test. BUT!!!!!! some leaks are not always where water can get in. There is a leak but rain water cannot flow into that area and get in the RV. You still seal those areas when found. IF I PAID someone to test the unit and it was not fixed, I would demand a free 2nd test and then I would watch while they do it. Doug

[Big_Katuna]

I have a floor dryer fan that would do the job. Big squirrel cage fan.

Maybe rent one? When the window is out make a gasket out of plywood for the fan.

[Dusty_R]

Take a vacuum cleaner that you can put the hose in the exhaust of it, then use a piece of the plastic that they use to make signs, its like corrugated cardboard. And put it someplace like an open window, and put the other end of the vacuum hose threw the corrugated plastic. Then run water over your mh and watch for bubbles.

Good Luck, Let us know how you make out.

[Thermoguy]

In building leaks they do a smoke test, that is actually a smoking piece of material that you pass over the seams and edges and the smoke will blow when you find the leak. The pressure idea is correct, but not sure if your leaf blower can give it enough force to pressurize the room. You might want to get a thermal camera, put a heater in the room, suck air into the room, and look for cool spots. Might be too many air leaks for this to work. Campers aren't built very well.

I had a leak that showed up in the rear bunk house. Turns out it was from the fridge roof cover. Not sure how it worked its way back to the bunk house, but it did. Had an RV shop fix it and it hasn't leaked since.

[pianotuna]

Use a box fan to pressurize the RV.

Invite a smoker friend for a visit, and buy them a pack. Follow the smoke and observe the outside.

There may well be multiple leaks.

[midnightsadie]

I,d bet the dealer didn,t do the test ,sounds like you got a plan. had a buddy worked for our local big dealer said they short cut everything ,hee had to move on couldn,t stand seeing all the people being ripped off.

[Bowhunter61]

midnightsadie wrote:
find a place that can do a pressure test,with smoke is better. it,ll show all leaks.

Last place I had it was a registered SealTech test location. So either they didn't run the test or they found one leak and stopped there and they had it for over a month. So I am done with dealerships and going to try to fix this myself, I can get the unit back in the pole building under cover now and take my time. I am confident the leak is originating in the garage area, if you read my original post the water was traveling down the back corner but them running forward and across the floor because the unit was parked on a slant forward and to the right. So I hope that narrows it down to the windows, awning, or roof seam. But the roof seam was just addressed by the dealer. I am going to spend a couple weeks on it and if I can't find it I will find another place to try and fix it.

[midnightsadie]

find a place that can do a pressure test,with smoke is better. it,ll show all leaks.

[Bowhunter61]

dougrainer wrote:
The FIRST thing I would do at our shop would be to pull the window right above the damage. That will tell you a lot. I will bet it is coming in the window due to the leak damage below it. Doug

I am thinking of pulling both windows, there are 2 big ones right there one on top of the other. Could the awning mount also be suspect> it is right there next to both windows, I checked the mounting bolts and they are all covered but not sure behind the frame

[dougrainer]

The FIRST thing I would do at our shop would be to pull the window right above the damage. That will tell you a lot. I will bet it is coming in the window due to the leak damage below it. Doug