Slide leak

[Arnfin]

Leaking at bottom of slide forward of water heater have 2015 34e any suggestion

[Fred g]

Does the slide leak when it is open or closed? When closed, are the bulb seals on the outside compressed at least 50%? Are the Wipe seals intact and in the correct positions? When in or out can you see daylight in the corner of the slide?

Need more info,

Fred

[Arnfin]

Leaks open&closed no daylite coming in by aft lower slide rail seals are compressed

[Fred g]

If all of the seals are compressed when it is in, try and pinpoint a leak. Spray water with a garden hose, not a pressure washer, and try and see where the water is coming in. You can do the same thing with the slide out and see where it is leaking. My only other concern would be that it is a plumbing leak inside the coach. Not familiar with the layout of your coach.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by Fred g

If all of the seals are compressed when it is in, try and pinpoint a leak. Spray water with a garden hose, not a pressure washer, and try and see where the water is coming in. You can do the same thing with the slide out and see where it is leaking. My only other concern would be that it is a plumbing leak inside the coach. Not familiar with the layout of your coach.

Can't you rule out plumbing leak by de-pressurizing entire system? I'd turn pump and external water source off. Then open a valve to make sure there is no residual pressure.

Also, if it leaks when it's not raining then plumbing is a good bet. I agree in principle that determining if it's plumbing-related or not should be one of first steps if not done already.

[Arnfin]

Thanks for info. I was able to find leak and fix was leaking at art lower slide end cap resealed wouldn't think would leak on new coach

[Fred g]

It is amazing what you will find on a new coach. Our slide did not close properly and there was 1/2" of space between the bulb seal and side of the coach. It turns out that one of the brackets was installed too high and the slide was hitting it and now going in all the way. There appears to be a need for a post production quality control at all of the rv manufacturers. I just do see it happening anytime soon.

Glad you found the leak and fixed it.
Fred

[Chance]

Originally Posted by Fred g

.....cut..... There appears to be a need for a post production quality control at all of the rv manufacturers. I just do see it happening anytime soon.

Glad you found the leak and fixed it.
Fred

While many slides reportedly perform fine, I've been seeing water leaks associated with slides for at least two decades. And I personally doubt that greater quality control or newer slide designs can completely eliminate an inherent weakness in design.

[Fred g]

Chance,

The leak in our slide was not due to a weakness in design but rather flawed installation. Had the middle bracket been installed properly at the factory, our slide would not have leaked. Which only proves my point, the manufacturers aren't interested in quality control or the unit never would have shipped with a slide that wasn't sealing properly.

Fred

[ratboy46]

Originally Posted by Fred g

Chance,

The leak in our slide was not due to a weakness in design but rather flawed installation. Had the middle bracket been installed properly at the factory, our slide would not have leaked. Which only proves my point, the manufacturers aren't interested in quality control or the unit never would have shipped with a slide that wasn't sealing properly.

Fred

Fred,
Good luck in getting it fixed properly. We bought a new Miramar 34.2, February, 2014. We to this day are not able to use our coach without having trouble.
It was back to the factory for two months. Took it out and trouble with the slide again. Not only leaking, but not working properly.
We have had very little use of our coach. Not by choice, but because of so many things needing to be fixed.
Now it has been getting worked on for 6 weeks and still not fixed.
We definitely never had a new coach which it was suppose to be.
It is so sad with the poor quality control, and how Thor handles these situations. The customer surely does not come first.
Good Luck,
ratboy

[Chance]

Originally Posted by ratboy46

Fred,
Good luck in getting it fixed properly. We bought a new Miramar 34.2, February, 2014. We to this day are not able to use our coach without having trouble.
It was back to the factory for two months. Took it out and trouble with the slide again. Not only leaking, but not working properly.
We have had very little use of our coach. Not by choice, but because of so many things needing to be fixed.
Now it has been getting worked on for 6 weeks and still not fixed.
We definitely never had a new coach which it was suppose to be.
It is so sad with the poor quality control, and how Thor handles these situations. The customer surely does not come first.
Good Luck,
ratboy

The research I've done suggest that slides are the number one issue with motorhomes year after year, so it doesn't seem you are alone. Other reports on this forum confirm slides can be problematic.

I'm sure many slides work great, but many obviously don't. And that's why I wish there were more motorhomes without slides. I just don't want the added risk of failures/problems when there are simpler alternatives to added space.

I'm mostly interested in an Axis, and Thor has already demonstrated that with proper design it's possible to have a slideless Axis floor plan if they wanted. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be enough demand for slideless or I'm guessing they would have already done one.

[Fred g]

Chance,

Slides are a big problem with all RV's and the consumers desire for more and more has aggravated this. For years, box slides were the only type available and they were usually the size of the dinette and a couch. Well, than, tip slides were introduced to accommodate dinettes with four freestanding chairs. This added a whole new range of problems to RV slides. The industry also went to full wall slides, meaning more weight, more stress, more flexing and ultimately, more problems.

I believe the era of RV's without slides will be confined to small travel trailers and some class B RV's. The consumers want room and the RV lifestyle is changing with more entertaining options in RV's as well as the number of full timers. Hopefully, the manufacturers will standardize slides, thereby making it easier to repair as well as parts being more available. I had both hydraulic and electric slides on the same unit, which didn't make any sense to me. There is some standardization starting in the industry with the new Schwintek slide system. There are still some problems to be worked out, but at least once a Tech is familiar with the system they should be able to work on any slide effectively with the Schwintek system.

I still believe that quality control is missing with regard to RV manufacturers. I was told by several people in the industry, that the manufacturers only consider the RV to be 90% completed when it leaves the factory. The selling dealer is responsible for the rest.

Fred

[Beacher]

Originally Posted by Arnfin

Thanks for info. I was able to find leak and fix was leaking at art lower slide end cap resealed wouldn't think would leak on new coach

I too have a 34E. And, while mine was having warranty work done for the overhead bunk, another 34E was having it's dinette slide repaired, (driven into by a neighbor's pickup truck at a tight RV park). They had removed all of the trim, outer windows, and end cap pieces, as they replaced the entire outer sheet of fiberglass.

The exterior right lower slide end cap does not seal out water. It's just a trim piece to protect the sharp corner of fiberglass from being exposed.

Even if the part is completely removed, you could wet the exterior corner of the slide with a water hose forever and no water would find it's way inside the motorhome.

Your leak has to be coming from somewhere else. Are you sure you located the source?

[Chance]

Originally Posted by Fred g

Chance,

Slides are a big problem with all RV's and the consumers desire for more and more has aggravated this. ....cut....

Fred

I find it interesting that before slides there wasn't such a thing as "slideless". All motorhomes were slideless by default.

Today it seems that that segment has been essentially abandoned -- unless the chassis can't handle the weight like on smallest motorhomes. And as long as there is demand the chassis manufacturers will continue to upgrade GVWR so motorhomes can have more slides and/or larger ones.

I would personally like to see an option to delete a slide in some models. Something similar to an Axis 24.1 without a slide would not be reinventing the wheel. Motorhomes in the 26- to 28-foot length range, and similar to Axis/Vegas, were popular for decades. While most buyers want more slides, a few may prefer none. This 28-footer is not all that different than an Axis. If front chair is removed, and bed replaced with twins, it would be in same length range as Axis.

[JoandRandy]

We're in a campground in Florida until March 1st. We have a 2014 Chateau 31L. Our bedroom slide leaks water on one side when it rains. We just bring it in when it rains heavily. No daylight seen and the rubber seals seem to be good. It doesn't help that this is the dry season and we've have record rains (13 inches). We might try the water hose but it needs to dry out around here some before I add water to the ground. I love having the extra room with the slide. It's just a bummer.