Dometic Seitz Window

[AlanandMel]

Has anyone had a Dometic Seitz window frame leak?

[limecc]

Maybe, if that's what my 2007 640EB has got.

[AlanandMel]

These are the black framed side and washroom windows in our 2008 Heritage 640 EB. We were on a site in the storm that came after the Jubilee weekend, and all 5 side window frames started leaking. Our 'van is now under a cover, waiting for a repair under warranty.

The rain on this occasion was torrential, and was driven at the 'van by 50 mph gusts, which rocked the van heavily The 'van was bone dry all over when we bought it in March (as tested with our own Protimeter and the dealers service report and history). One of the repairers that has looked at it thinks that the 'van must have been kept under cover prior to us buying it for this problem to show up now. Apparently this type of window frame was fitted using a gasket by Fleetwood, without any sealant, and is prone to leaking unless sealant has been used.

What happened with yours limecc?

[limecc]

I noticed on a couple of occasions of heavy rain, water on the inside frame of the dinette window.

It's my intention to run some silicon sealer around the outside of the frames, maybe that Sikaflex if it comes in black. I was never happy when I discovered moss in the gap, now this. I don't fancy taking each window out to do anything else.

While on the subject, it's annoying that these windows squeeze the wallpaper when the panels expand and contract in hot weather. Some vans are badly affected, thankfully mine isn't.

[AlanandMel]

Next to the dinette window was where I was sitting when Mel said "there's water dripping on your sleeve!"

The AWS repairer that is sorting ours out is going to refit them with Sikaflex (It does come in black and it is excellent, being a superb adhesive as well as a sealant). One thing I did notice was that the drips didn't get very far before the Alde heating evaporated them. The repairer did a full damp test on the 'van last Friday and the areas just below the corners of the Seitz windows were the only readings that were above normal.

Its all a pain, but there is no other 'van we would rather have despite this.

[JimandWendy]

I'm a bit late getting involved in this topic but one of my side windows sprang a leak in today's heavy rain - it's coming through the frame rather than the window seal. I gaffer taped all along the top of the window, between the frame and the exterior caravan wall, and the leak stopped.

AlanandMel - will your repairer be removing the windows before applying the sealant ?

I would rather do as Limecc and run some sealant round the outside of the frame, but which sealant ?

I believe you should use polyurethane sealant on caravans rather than silicone sealant, and Sikaflex seems a popular brand, but which one 221, 512, 291. It's a sealant I need rather than a bonding adhesive, and I don't know the specific properties of these items.

[AlanandMel]

Our repairer took all the Seitz windows out, stripped the existing sealant, degreased the frames and 'van then used Sikaflex primer followed by Sikaflex 512, applied to both frames and 'van.

His comment - "if it leaks after this I will give you my house!"

There was a lot of non setting type sealant around our window frame area when the windows were removed, but none in the bottom corners of 5 of the frames. There was also a rubber gasket (part of the frame I think.

What might have happened is that the gasket held back the rain until there was an absolute monsoon driven by storm force winds. Thermal shock could have caused the gasket to part from the 'van walls in the bottom corners where there was no sealant as backup.

I took some photos of the repairs happening. The framework around the windows was completely sound, so we were very lucky.

Martin, of South Coast Leisure Services (AWS registered repairer) did the repair and gave us excellent service.

[limecc]

I ended up buying black Tiger Seal which is Polyurethane the same as Sikaflex but I haven't done the job yet.£14/tube.

[AlanandMel]

Windows out;



And two back in. They used white Sikaflex and the windows look a lot neater than they did before!

[CliveandJoan]

I did one on my van a couple of years ago. Damp was found on the service and the company quoted £87 for the repair.
I had a look at the window and the job looked to be quite straight forward. I removed the screws around the inner frame and then Very gently eased the outer frame out of the side wall.
The biggest part of the job was the removal of the old mastic, this was aided by white spirit. The mastic is only applied to the inner part of the outer frame so with care none of the mastic will show when the frame is reseated. So the colour of the mastic does not matter.
I found it so easy that I went round all the other windows and removed the inside frames and turned them so that I could have the blinds closing from the bottom

[AlanandMel]

In our case the problem arose because only the inner part of the outer frame had mastic on it!

As the cut out in the 'van wall has a lot of clearance at the corners, this resulted in the mastic missing the 'van wall completely in most of bottom corners. I would far rather see a neat line of mastic at the edge of the outer frame than the moss growing there as we have seen on a number of Fleetwood Heritage 'vans!. (Moss + frost = window leak, sooner or later).