18' Series Leaking external range-hood vent/grill

[NissPat]

G'Day all,

Well after 91mm of rain last 2 days I think the Expanda had a pretty good leak test..LOL
The bed ends got a bit wet from the doona touching the canvas...no biggie, easly fixed with canvas covers instead those shade cloth ones.

The other leak was above the oven coming from the back of the range-hood then down behind the oven and on the floor under it



After a closer look it wasn't a leak due to lack of silicone but I think the external vent just couldn't handle the water coming down over it and leaking through it.

If you have a closer look at the bottom of the vent there is nothing stopping water coming in . That is where it came in, just sipping through the bottom gap.

Looks like design flaw to me. Easly fixed by closing that bottom gap but I'll point it out to Jayco first to see what they have to say.

Interesting....lolol



Otherwise no problems except the oven was a bit touchy and was going off by itself...will investigate further

haha, just had a look at the subject...it should read range-hood external vent...

 

[PMK]

G'Day NissPat,

I rekon with the rain we are getting I'm not surprised some water is getting in. Our rangehood vent didn't leak but the front bed end did a bit while towing in this rain. I think in "normal" rain you may not have a problem..... But probably worth metioning to the dealer anyway

Cheers,

Paul

 

[NissPat]

G'Day NissPat,

I rekon with the rain we are getting I'm not surprised some water is getting in. Our rangehood vent didn't leak but the front bed end did a bit while towing in this rain. I think in "normal" rain you may not have a problem..... But probably worth metioning to the dealer anyway

Cheers,

Paul

Yeah I understand the rain was heavy but is it OK for water to flood your brand new van? ,....maybe not.
Have a look at every other vent on the van, it has the bottom piece which is part of the vent frame.

So, may be I am on my own here but I certainly don't want water in my van. Think about it when you get up north and you get 90mm in 1 hr....hmmmmm..GOOD LUCK!

I just want to add, the photos above where taken about half an hour after the rain got half heavy and when I notice it.

Also I think I will silicone my bench top to the wall after this little event

 

[PMK]

Yeah I understand the rain was heavy but is it OK for water to flood your brand new van? ,....maybe not.
Have a look at every other vent on the van, it has the bottom piece which is part of the vent frame.View attachment 5676

So, may be I am on my own here but I certainly don't want water in my van. Think about it when you get up north and you get 90mm in 1 hr....hmmmmm..GOOD LUCK!

I just want to add, the photos above where taken about half an hour after the rain got half heavy and when I notice it.E

Also I think I will silicone my bench top to the wall after this little event

Yep! I agree You would expect not to have any probs with a new van & a trip up north for me is on the cards so I'll certainly checking the sealing of all the external vents.
Water coming inside is bad enough but if its runnigndown inside the wall I would be a concerned. I have heard of people removing & sealing all the external ighting as well as this is a point of entry for water into the walls.

I have already sealed my benchtops to the walls. My idea was to keep spill on top from dripping into the cupboards below. Worth doing I reckon....

Good Luck with it all,

Paul

 

[achjimmy]

Our new van got wet around the bed end and a small leak over the door. In our case Nisspat it's caused by lack of sealant on the flat horizontal surface the roof seals down on to. I got up there and poured some water along and it disappeared down there, so check that first.

 

[Moto Moto]

I has exactly the same problem as achjimmy. Not enough silicon on the roof. I pretty much siliconed the whole roof before our last trip and had no more problems.



Plus i had water get into one of our fridge vents which would pool under our fridge where all the electricals are in our van which would cause the house power to trip off. I couldn't work it out, but my dealer did. They didn't do anything to the vents just protected moved and protected the electricals better. Haven't had any problems since.

And finally i would recommend getting a cover made for the bed ends. Ours was a god send on our VIC trip and worth every cent allowing us the packup the bed ends, folding dry canvas on to the beds. Only takes another 20 sec to put on or take off. Very happy.

 

[NissPat]

Thanks guys,

Yeah the bed end covers are coming soon. I'll also check the roof today.
The vent is just a bad design but easly fixed but I'll wait and point it out to Jayco.

With the silicone on bench tops to wall, is everyone removing the little plastic strip they have in there to get more silicone in? or silicone over the top?

 

[PMK]

Hi NissPat,

I just left the strips inplace & sealed the edges of them to the wall & benchtop. You don't need much, I didn't silcone over the whole strip. Trying to keep it as tidy as possible. I hate the look of silicone everywhere but it has is place sometimes.

Paul

 

[MolongMick]

The other leak was above the oven coming from the back of the range-hood then down behind the oven and on the floor under it

After a closer look it wasn't a leak due to lack of silicone but I think the external vent just couldn't handle the water coming down over it and leaking through it.

I mentioned this to our dealer and he said they were aware of the issue and that one of the things they do prior to pick nup is to silicone up the gap at the bottom of the vent, stopping water from running in.

Time will tell if this is the case. This will be one of the things on my pickup check list.