leaking heki

[buck111]

Hi, my 2010 Bessacarr 410 was parked in a Carpark on Saturday.We went out for the day and there was a down pour of rain.When we got back water was dripping onto the seating from the seitz helki rooflight which was closed.The water was dripping from the side where the spring loaded locking bar is.The water was dripping from the flat piece underneath where the blind runs along.The water level on the roof was approx 10mm deep and the van was slightly pointing downwards and was holding water on the front.The roof of our MH holds water when not completley level which in its self is a poor design.Is there any where the water could have got in,I have looked on the roof and the sealant seems to be fine,but has any one else had the same problem.I dont know wether to take it in for resealing or have it completley taken out and refitted.This has never happened before.please can any on help as it has now made us feel very worried that this could happen again thank you :'(

[Brian Kirby]

Very difficult to say. However, the back edge of the Hekis (i.e. opposite the hinge edge), does not have a very high upstand above the roof. If your roof had 10mm water sitting on it when you returned, it seems feasible that it may have had a greater depth during the downpour, and that may have been sufficient to overtop the upstand.

 

If that is the case then yes, it could happen again given the same combination of roof angle and intensity of rain.

 

Since you haven't experienced leakage through this rooflight before, since this hasn't been the driest of summers so far, and since the leak seems to have followed hard on the heels of the rain, I'd be more inclined to the view that the sealing of the rooflight is OK, and it was the accumulated depth of water wot done it!

 

If you could build a small dam around the rooflight, so that you can fill it with water, you could both test what depth is required to overtop the upstand, and the seal of the rooflight to the roof. If it then starts leaking, just break away the dam wall to let the water go. Possibly plasticine? If the seal proves watertight it must have been the accumulated depth of water overtopping the upstand. There is little you can do about that except to consider replacing the rooflight with one with a higher upstand (expensive!), or to ensure you always park so that the roof slopes toward whichever end best sheds water. The rear?

[buck111]

Thanks Brian for your reply.The upstand is over 30mm high.There is a spring at each end [opposite the hinge end] and where the spring sits at each end there is a small square hole.could the water have climb up the spring by compillary action

[Brian Kirby]

I would doubt that possibility, but the real difficulty is not being able to see your van. I would also doubt that water would gather on the roof to 30mm depth, even in very heavy rain. I think your best route to discover what is going wrong will be to try to create a test dam around the rooflight, add water, and see what happens.