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Water coming out of FB mirror light switch when it rains

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  • Water coming out of FB mirror light switch when it rains

    Not sure where to post this at but this seemed as good as any!

    We purchased a 2022 Momentum 31G back in March, in August it finally saw its first rain(we live in TX) and noticed water trickling out of the front bedroom light switch. It was a slowish trickle as in if you wipe it, it would take about 30 seconds for the water droplet to reform. I took off the switch and would stuff shop towels in there to collect the water, then went to the roof to try and see where it was coming from. I noticed the top running light on the passenger side was no longer sealed to the trailer and was just dangling there and used some marine grade sealent to reattach and seal it up. We just received more rain and the first 1.5hrs of it everything looked promising and no wet shop towel.....then heavier rains came and well *&#$%! Now here comes to strange part, even after the rains have stopped we are still getting water. I have changed the towels out twice now and it seems to be less and less each time, almost as if there was a pool of water that formed and is slowly draining. The trailer has been parked in our driveway during the past several months due to heat and other reasons, it is not perfectly level and leans ever so slightly towards the driver side so I would think the idea of pooling would be minimum or on that side if any.

    I'm curios if anyone else has had a similar issue or know of another spot I could check, we have a tripped planned at the end of September and once we get back from that will be taking it into a dealer to have them try and track it down.

    Thanks for any and all help!

  • #2
    Happy welcome to the board. Find and read the welcome letter as it will help with searching and tagging people.

    As for your water issue. Not knowing the layout of the unit wall and roof wise, I would suspect you have a pinhole in either the membrane roof, or a penetration that is not sealed properly. Also check out the seam between the front cap and the roof.

    The reason water takes so long to both start and stop is insulation. There is a minimal amount of batting insulation in the ceiling that will act as a wick moving the water from one area to another (this also complicates finding the leak) Yes water will run up hill if it can be wicked. So do a search starting with where the wall is circling outward looking for penetrations. Pay particular attention to things like vents, AC units, and skylights, not forgetting things like TV antennae.
    Joseph
    Tow
    Vehicle: 2024 GMC K3500 Denali Ultimate Diesel
    Coach: 303RLS Delivered March 5, 2021
    South of Houston Texas

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    • #3
      Thank you Joseph, i will continue the search. The membrane along the front cap to roof look intact to me along with all the other seals. There is a roof vent right near the same area where the black sealant looked a little questionable so I had that tapped over. I know chasing such a small leak like this is very much an uphill battle as it can truly be from anywhere. Thanks for the insight and will be looking around more in the coming days before our trip.

      Posted here as it is ultimately and exterior problem lol....so I think?!

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      • #4
        HappyHills

        You might try looking for the water entry point with spray from a hose rather than waiting for rain. This would allow you to focus on one area at a time. Another means of moving a small amount of water from its entry point to a location you wouldn’t expect is that it will follow wiring. Since this water is appearing at a switch location . . . where are the wires coming from (in a downward direction).

        Rob
        Cate & Rob
        (with Border Collies Molly & Angel + Kitties Hazel & Elsie)
        2015 Reflection 303RLS
        2022 F350 Diesel CC SB SRW Lariat
        Bayham, Ontario, Canada

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        • #5
          Cate&Rob

          I did the water hose test a couple times and from various angles after I resealed the light up top, sprayed all around for about 10min or so both times and that's what gave me the confidence it was sealed and we were good to go. When I feel inside the wall the insulation directly around the light switch does not feel wet, if looking at the switch the only part that feels wet is the back of the wall on the right hand side. There is a board of some sort about an inch or so to the right but that feels dry too which leads me to believe this is a slow but steady leak. The wires for the light switch are coming from the left, I do have them disconnected and taped up for now till things are figured out.

          The first time it rained and we discovered this is shortly after it started to rain the first time we were low on diapers for our oldest son and I went to the trailer to see if we had any more out there and noticed the small puddle on the counter below the switch(everything happens for a reason!) That's when I started to use the blue shop towels to collect the water and would change them out every 30min or so before the started to drip since our fuse panel is directly below this location. After sealing the light on the exterior and doing the water test, felt confident in the fix. After we received our second rains today we were dry for the first hour and half of the rain which gave me now a false confidence. Rains have been stopped for several hours but I am still having to change out the shop towels about every 45min to hour. Which leads me to believe some of the insulation is soaked and is slowly draining in this area.

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          • #6
            From personal experience with another camper, if it even looks questionable reseal. I had what looked like a good seal between the cap and the roof, but I saw a tiny sliver of a crack in the self leveling compound. SO, I went back over the whole front cap seam side to side after cleaning it and the leak stopped.

            Looking at the floorpan, is that switch on the front wall? Are there any other lights on the cap that could be leaking? What about solar or solar prep, check around and in the box. I remember reading an article on finding leaks where they actually used a fan to slightly pressurize the camper and then sprayed soapy water on the seams. While this is a bit extreme and I am not certain how one would setup a fan to put pressure into the unit, the guy had good results in finding leaks.

            We are south of Houston, so I know what you mean about the rain.
            Joseph
            Tow
            Vehicle: 2024 GMC K3500 Denali Ultimate Diesel
            Coach: 303RLS Delivered March 5, 2021
            South of Houston Texas

            Comment

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