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water leak


k99bbb

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Ihave got a 2011 auto trail apache and the heki roof light leaked last time out the motorhome was leaning low at the back and i think it came in between the glass cover and the outer frame when i looked there was a lot of water on the roof at the rear some one says you can fit a new seal but auto trail wont supply do to air some thing can any one help please
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Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums, Barry.

 

There is a requirement for motorhomes to have a certain amount of ventilation at ceiling level, and this is often achieved by not fully sealing the opening rooflights from the motorhome’s interior when the rooflights are closed. When a rooflight is not fully sealed, it is said to have ‘permanent ventilation’ and this ventilation is usually obtained by not having rubber seals on all four ‘edges’ of the rooflight’s frame.

 

I think there sould be no great difficulty obtaining extra seals, though you may need to identify which Heki rooflight your Apache motorhome has. This advert

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DOMETIC-SEITZ-HEKI-2-REPLACEMENT-ROOF-LIGHT-RUBBER-SEAL-CARAVAN-MOTORHOME-/231715359538

 

is for the rubber seal used with Heki 2 rooflights and you might find seals for other Heki models here

 

http://www.leisurespares.co.uk/stock/Seitz/heki-rooflights/

 

When I replaced the rubber seals on my Hobby motorhome’s Remis rooflights, I obtained a couple of metres of the correct seal-profile from here

 

http://www.sealsdirect.co.uk/

 

so that’s another possibility.

 

I’m not too surprised that Auto-Trail apparently refused to supply sealing rubbers as, if the company has deliberately provided ‘permanent ventilation’ by leaving seals off, they will be reluctant to assist owners in fully sealing the rooflight.

 

I’m not certain that adding extra seals would completely prevent the ‘water leakage while leaning’ problem, as the seals are there to restrict air movement rather than make the rooflight watertight. Worth a try though, as was mentioned in this 2012 discussion

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/OH-HEKI-/28755/121/

 

 

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Whats said about the ventilation is correct Adria also tell the same tale although they only omit one seal from rear roof light which they wouldn't supply. But I had no trouble obtaining one for the front roof light which is identical. I expect your leak is between window and roof rather than the seal
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Hi Only new to Motorhoming (is that a word)? anyway not sure how to solve the problem in a motorhome, but, I do have a motorcruiser and I have yet to find a leak (above the waterline ) that cannot be sealed with a careful application of Sikaflex...good luck
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k99bbb - 2017-07-26 1:52 PM

 

Ihave got a 2011 auto trail apache and the heki roof light leaked last time out the motorhome was leaning low at the back and i think it came in between the glass cover and the outer frame when i looked there was a lot of water on the roof at the rear some one says you can fit a new seal but auto trail wont supply do to air some thing can any one help please

Is something preventing water from getting off the roof at the rear?

 

There was a problem with the front rooflights when the larger vans were parked nose down in heavy rain, because the two channels feeding water from the roof were inadequate for the flow, and the resulting build-up "overtopped" the upstand on the rooflight frame.

 

That sounds a bit like what you're describing, but my impression is that there is no such restriction at the rear. I can't see what might cause the water to overtop the upstand in that location. Is it possible the seal between the roof and the rooflight frame has failed, and water is entering via that?

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There would need to be a very deep pool of water on the roof to cause it to rise above the ‘upstand’ of a Heki rooflight. However, if the pool of water were sufficiently deep to reach the bottom of the rooflight’s closed transparent dome, there’s a real possibility that the water would ‘climb over’ the upstand via capillary action.

 

I suggested this as a theory back in 2013

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Heki-roof-light-leak/32576/

 

and it would explain why a (relatively) shallow pool of water surrounding a rooflight could result in the water finding its way into the motorhome.

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