Nasty water leak....can you guess from where?

racermom · Apr 27, 2008

We were at the races this weekend, when we got hit by a pretty nasty storm. I walked into the kitchen, right into a puddle of water. Looked and it was flowing from under the refrigerator

. At first I thought we had a problem there, but after DH looked into it further, the water was coming in from outside?

We walked out in the rain and sure enough the large refrigerator vent is wide open to the elements? Has anyone else encountered something similar? Is there a vent cover / lid that can be added?

I have seen some pretty handy things from many of you and look forward to seeing how we can fix this problem. Thanks in advance for any and all help

jbeletti · Apr 27, 2008

Hi Racermom,

I don't have any ideas for you on this - sorry. But I do know that covering up the vents is not advised. The gas absorption type refrigerators creating a lot of heat in back. There are top and bottom vents and often times a fan or 2 between those vents. The idea is that a convection current is created that draws air in through the lower vent and pushes the hot air out the top vent.

If you block the either or both vents, your refer will not cool properly and may actually fail on you.

Sorry that I do not have any ideas on stopping water intrusion through the vents but I can say this is the first time I have heard of this happening.

Jim

Uncle Rog · Apr 27, 2008

You have got me on this one! I have been in some pretty bad weather with several rigs and never had a water intrusion issue through a vent, jim is right don't block yhr vent for anything.........

racermom · Apr 28, 2008

Thanks to you both for your help. We know that covering the vent isn't an option, I just didn't know if they made a hood for it. Although, good news is that it has been raining really hard all day today and no leaks.

The only difference from Saturday and today was the wind, we had large gusts Saturday and today nothing. So maybe as long as there is no wind during a rain storm we will be ok

.

I took some pictures - not sure how the other Cyclones are configured with the vents, you would think they are all the same, but just in case.

THanks again for the attempts in trying to figure this one out.

Jett · Apr 29, 2008

Racermom,

Is your water heater securely fastened to the wall and sealed? Mine was loose and allowed water to leak into our 3210. The water then ran under the cabinets and onto the floor.

Jett

jrtexgunner · May 6, 2008

I have had this same problem twice during rainstorms when there is a bit of wind. It does appear to be coming in from the refrigerator outside cover. Don't really know what to do about it though. Haven't had it to the dealer to check it, they'll break something else while looking at this.
-JR

Tom of Ypsi · May 7, 2008

You might climb up to the roof and check the vent cover and the caulking around the vent. A cracked vent cover or caulking will allow water to run down into your house. If you have an ice maker check your water line hose, mine had three small pin holes not really noticeable until I took off the protective cover.

racermom · May 8, 2008

Thanks Jett & Tom of Ypsi,

We have looked at both your suggestions and no problems there. The camper is currently with the dealer for other warrenty work and we mentioned the problem to them. They have heard of this a couple of times already and are looking into making some kind of hood without actually covering the vent.

Will let you know what they come back with. Should have the camper back next weekend.

Thanks again!

tlighthart · Jun 22, 2008

Rain through refrigerator vents 2008 Cyclone 4012

Are all these vents the same? I taped plastic sheeting over them for now while the trailer is NOT being used but are there some kind of covers that can stop the rain while the trailer is in use? Is this common or am I just lucky?

This is not the slide but the two 12"x18"(aprox.) plastic vents on the outside.

htneighbors · Jun 22, 2008

I don't know if you should cover those vents...I think the fridge needs to breathe through them. I you haven't already done so, you might check the slide seal around the kitchen and make sure the rubber isn't changing directions somewhere along it. That could let rain in also. Otherwise, maybe you are the lucky one!

I did have my kitchen slide leak one time. I was parked in front of my house, had the slides out, not really set up level and the ODS was high, so rain ran in on the floor. That's the only time (so far) that I had a slide leak issue.

I haven't heard of any other type of cover out there. You could probably have a thin sheet metal one made that is only open on the bottom. Just a thought. Look on the bright side...it won't rain forever!

Forrest Fetherolf · Jun 22, 2008

Do not cover the refrig vents..........the refrig struggles enough to keep cool this time of year, without air flow over the cooling coils the refrig will not work properly.

Forrest

tlighthart · Jun 23, 2008

Only used the plastic when the trailer was not in use. thanks for the sheet metal covers tip htneighbors. Maybe I can get something fabed up thats not too ugly but very aero dynamic.

fmurray3 · Jul 7, 2008

I had the same problem after a heavy rain but the rain appeared to be entering from around the vent itself since it was not caulked. I used a silicon based white caulk around the vent and have not had the problem since.

Rick & Tina
2008 Ford F350 SWD 4X4 SD Deisel
2008 Cyclone 3210
07 HD Ultra
06 HD Fat boy

spankyandbrandysniffer · Jul 26, 2008

Well, we have a similar issue. We thought it was from the rain but found the "T" fitting under the fridge has a slow drip. Does anybody know how to seal that fitting or do we need to replace it?

Luckyhat12 · Aug 15, 2008

I had problems with mine too doing the same thing. I ended up taking the outer layer off and putting caulk tape around the outer housing. I also took metal A/C aluminum duct tape and I ran it from over the metal casing inside the bottom of the door to underneath the outer housing and then screwed the outer housing back on. So far it has been a few months and I haven't seen it again.

We'll see. We are supposed to get some nice storms and rain all weekend so maybe I can test it.

Country · Oct 3, 2008

My wife is the one who started this thread. We're still having trouble with this water leak. Camper is at the dealer right now and they still don't know how to fix this. They told us we needed some missing flashing behind the fridge vents, but then they realized it was already flashed properly... I'm dealing with a different service writer this time around and he say they just need to re-caulk the vents, but they did that last time and said the problem was solved. Next time it rained, water all over the floor again. I told him it was not a caulking problem, they already did that and they need to get this straightened out. He said they would use a hose and simulate rain to find the leak (why weren't they already doing that?). We'll see what they come up with. I'm loosing faith and who knows what a years worth of rain water leaking has damaged. They say nothing...

Luckyhat12 · Oct 3, 2008

The other thing we had on the side was that the plug in outlet had the hole cut too large for the outlet that they used. My dealer replaced the outlet with a larger box and a better cover to keep water out too.

Just another thing that was wrong.

brashercyclone · Oct 7, 2008

i have a like right now. took open the lower fridge vent and it was wet on the inside raining hard didnt look long. will look again

brashercyclone · Oct 7, 2008

wnet back outside in the rain looks like coming in throug the top fridge vent will get ladder during the day and chech it out. bottom vent looks like has caulking problems.

Country · Oct 8, 2008

Exactly! Same as our problem.
Still no fix from the dealer. I'm calling them again this afternoon.....

Nasty water leak....can you guess from where?

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