DIY pressure test

How many PSI do you think you will get? Are you going to soap the area where you think the leak is?

I had a lot of leaks in my NL. Non were the clam shell seam. Take the interior trim off the escape hatch and see if you feel any moisture. But first check the window vents as they mold up with dirt and the bottom window channel won't drain outside but inside instead.

Remove marker lites and caulk around the wires going thru the fiberglass body. Caulk screws and lite base mounting.

thank you for reminding me as my front side window vents need cleaning and have been leaking inside.

GOOD IDEA.
Forget soapy water. On cars vacuum system leaks, I advise a cigar.
If you want quality test, make it Cuban cigar.

I'm definitely not an expert but, will having the hose for the manometer that close to the fan inlets give you a false + or - reading?

Does the pressure # really matter as long as the interior or the RV is pressurized?

gbopp wrote:
I'm definitely not an expert but, will having the hose for the manometer that close to the fan inlets give you a false + or - reading?

Does the pressure # really matter as long as the interior or the RV is pressurized?

Too much pressure is not a good thing from what I read. Also, not enough and you don't get the desired results. Very low pressure is needed. .3 to .6 water column is perfect from what I've found.

I will take the time to see if the manometer tube location is a problem. I'll test moving it around to see if it changes. Thanks for that heads up.

corvettekent wrote:
How many PSI do you think you will get? Are you going to soap the area where you think the leak is?

Right now I don't know what I'll get. From the searching I did some needed only one blower but most needed more. First test will tell. I can always add more. There is room. Soap mixture is the plan.

covered wagon wrote:
I had a lot of leaks in my NL. Non were the clam shell seam. Take the interior trim off the escape hatch and see if you feel any moisture. But first check the window vents as they mold up with dirt and the bottom window channel won't drain outside but inside instead.

Remove marker lites and caulk around the wires going thru the fiberglass body. Caulk screws and lite base mounting.

thank you for reminding me as my front side window vents need cleaning and have been leaking inside.

When you mention the window vents, does this mean the drain holes to the outside? Is the water visible in the window frame on the inside? I never get visible water inside at the window frame area, no matter how hard it rains. It just appears down low at the bottom of the mattress.

By the time you discover the water it may have gotten a chance to dry out on the exposed area. Look real close at the paneling under the windows for a faint but dry water stain/streak. Now I remember that leak doesn't usually go near the mattress if the window vent leaks. Look into the escape hatch by removing the inside trim. There are 4 screws to remove. Then feel the insulation with your hands. There should be more than just a faint amount of moisture if you do find the leak.

The escape hatch has a problematic area that is hard to seal because the strip pivot hinge is too close to the deck on the corners. Im currently having a new excape lid made of aluminum and providing my own hinges well away from where it needs the sealant to go up higher on the corners.

So today the rain decided to take the day off which means I finally had a chance to test my DIY pressure test setup. I taped the MDF sheet to the side window of my camper and fired it up.



I taped the inside drains in the sinks and shower and made sure everything else was closed up tight. I didn't do anything with the hood fan until I tested the pressure first. I was happy to see that with just the sink and shower drains taped off I got a reading of about .5 inches on the manometer. Perfect.

So I proceeded to spray the bubble/soap solution all over the camper with good results everywhere until I got to the front upper passenger side area. This is the area I was getting water inside at. On the upper passenger window in the cab-over I was getting bubbles on the lower right corner. I took note and carried on. For some reason I also got some bubbles at the clam shell seam at the passenger upper corner as well. But, the strange part was that I only got the bubbles for a very short time on the clam shell corner. It bubbled once and then I could not get it to do it again. Still puzzles about that.

Anyways I proceeded to spray the camper many times until I was satisfied I had the problem spots figured out.

Next plan was to remove the upper passenger window in the cab-over to see what was going on. Once removed it was easy to see what the issue was.

In this shot below with the window removed you can see the outline of the sealant that has a fairly even 1/2" to 5/8" of contact all the way around. That part is perfectly fine.



But, in this next shot you can see at the bottom right corner there is only maybe a 1/4" of contact for the sealant to do its work. This is where I was getting bubbles. And yes, the foam board and inner paneling was wet at this location. Clearly when this window was cutout at the factory this radius turn was done a little quick and eventually the sealant failed or its just been leaking the whole time. Who knows.



I reinstalled the window and kept it as close to the right side as I could to have better contact for the sealant for this bottom corner. I did have to do some trimming on the inside for the window trim ring to line up with the old screw holes but that wasn't a big deal to trim. I think this window is now sealed and shouldn't be an issue again.

This left me wondering about the clam shell seam and what I should do about it on that corner. The bubbles I did get were right at the top where the sealant had oozed out and was quite dirty and unsightly. I couldn't ignore that I did get some bubbles there. So I made a quick decision to trim away the dirty sealant above the seam and caulked it with some proflex. I didn't go all the way around the camper, only the upper area around the cab-over. I know some people say to not caulk this but the only other way to seal it would have to been to remove all the screws and take the whole thing apart. I wasn't prepared to do that on this day.

I put a tarp over the camper for the night to give the sealant a good chance to setup before weather gets a chance to to attack it again. I hope this takes care of the water issue I had. Rain is expected this week again so I'll remove the tarp in a couple days and see what happens.

For anyone who has a possible leak I highly recommend the pressure test to ease your mind. Get it done professionally or a make-shift set-up like I have done. I plan on pressure testing every year to stay ahead of possible issues.

Thanks for sharing. I will be looking into this too. IMHO pressure test is the way to go.