Can't locate water leak from ceiling. Antenna or AC

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Rene T

Rene T

Site Team
Joined
May 20, 2011
Posts
22,417
Location
Farmington NH
I had a water leak over our bed which started while in FL about 2 months ago. It was dripping from the crank handle of my antenna. I ordered a new shaft with seal and replaced the old one. It appeared when it rained mildly, everything was fine.  Then about a month later, I had another leak (after a downpour) but it was at a ceiling joint about 10" from the antenna mechanism and my AC which was also 10" away from the leak. I removed the inside AC cover and tightened all 4 hold down nuts about 1-1/2 turns. It seemed OK until today. We had another heavy rain storm and it leaked again I don't know where it leaked from because when I went into the rig 3 hours after the storm, there was a little water in the 5 gallon pail I had on the bed just in case. It seems like it only leaks when it really pours.
I know there are drain holes up on the AC but I don't know where. I've never cleaned them because I don't know where they are. If these drains are plugged up, would this be a cause of the leak inside my RV?  My thinking is that during a down pour, is it possible for the rain to get inside the AC through the vent grating on the sides of the AC cover and somehow finding it's way inside the RV at the ceiling joint?

What I may do is go on the roof with a water hose and a nozzle and flood the antenna mechanism simulating a rain down pour and see if I can get the mechanism to leak. I can do it without wetting the AC.
 
I did the hose thing but what's lacking is the "wind force" while driving down the road.  That's where the water leak happens.  :-\

 
Seon said:
I did the hose thing but what's lacking is the "wind force" while driving down the road.  That's where the water leak happens.  :-\
Click to expand...

Thanks but mine leaks just sitting in my driveway.
 
Do not assume the leak is at the point where the water becomes visible inside. Once water penetrates the roof, it often runs long distances to find a convenient opening through the ceiling.  Antenna and a/c openings are the most common places for the water to appear, but not at all the most common source of the actual leak.
 
We had a leak last year and instead of trying to find exactly where it was leaking, we scraped and re-caulked around everything on the roof.  Took care of the problem.

Robin
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Do not assume the leak is at the point where the water becomes visible inside. Once water penetrates the roof, it often runs long distances to find a convenient opening through the ceiling.  Antenna and a/c openings are the most common places for the water to appear, but not at all the most common source of the actual leak.
Click to expand...

Gary, the AC drains that people talk about can they be plugged and cause water to enter the RV or is the top half of the AC completely separate from the bottom half?  I installed this AC 5 years ago but don't remember much about the physical aspect except for the foam gasket.
 
Take the top cover off of the air conditioner and look around the lip of the pan.  There's usually a weep hole in each corner of the pan lip, if these are plugged water can collect in the pan until it overflows into the RV.

This is separate from the condensate drain, which drains out more towards the center of the pan, underneath the evaporator coil.
 
Lou Schneider said:
Take the top cover off of the air conditioner and look around the lip of the pan.  There's usually a weep hole in each corner of the pan lip, if these are plugged water can collect in the pan until it overflows into the RV.

This is separate from the condensate drain, which drains out more towards the center of the pan, underneath the evaporator coil.
Click to expand...

Thanks Lou. That's what I was looking for. I'll get up there hopefully tomorrow and do a little digging. I'll get back with the results.
 
The drain holes on our unit clogged up and we got water from the condensation dripping into the trailer. When I got the cover off the a/c unit I still couldn?t find the weep holes, so I ended up taking some of the sheet metal off until I finally located them. We have two, one on each side, near the front of the unit. Once I found them from above, and knew what I was looking for, it was easy to run my fingers under the lip and locate them without having to disassemble everything. A short piece of wire was all I needed to get the gunk out of the holes and things draining again as they should.
 
We had a similar leak during heavy rains (only heavy rains).  The first time I noticed it, water filled a ceiling light.  I finally tracked it down to a ceiling vent.  The problem was the seal between the plastic cover and the metal housing. During a heavy downpour, water would splash up from the roof and enter under the seal.  From there, it ran in and traveled on top of the ceiling until it found a path down.  This path varied, depending upon how level the RV was.  Anyway, rather than change the seal only to have it happen again someday, I installed vent covers.  Not only did it stop the leaks at the vents, I could then leave the vents open in the rain and even drive with them open.
 
Molaker said:
We had a similar leak during heavy rains (only heavy rains).  The first time I noticed it, water filled a ceiling light.  I finally tracked it down to a ceiling vent.  The problem was the seal between the plastic cover and the metal housing. During a heavy downpour, water would splash up from the roof and enter under the seal. 
Click to expand...

I have them too on my vents but they don't make them big enough to go over my AC.  ;D
 
Gary, the AC drains that people talk about can they be plugged and cause water to enter the RV or is the top half of the AC completely separate from the bottom half?
Click to expand...

It is separate - there is no path from the top half to the bottom unless the bottom gasket (between top unit and the roof surface) leaks. That's possible, not actually not very common. No interior air goes to the top unit, so there is no path for exterior water to get to the inside. The drains are merely to let condensate escape from the upper unit. In all but the top-end models, the drains just let the water run out onto the roof. The very best models have a place for a drain tube, which can be installed (hidden) in the RV roof and down inside the side wall.

I see a lot of fussing about the drains on the top unit, but [in my opinion] water backing up inside the top unit is still an unlikely source of interior water. It's just the most visible wetness and thus the one that amateurs want to attack first. Worth a check because it's easy to do, but not a high potential (again, my opinion). Likewise, check the tightness of the mounting bolts to be sure the top is snug on the gasket. Another easy task even though the potential is low.
 
I had a leak on an older tt. Looked and looked for a bad area. Did the antenna seal. Ended up being that the boot wasn't tight enough on the antenna coax cable. When I looked closely it seemed ok but it just wasn't tight enough. One time water would drip out of a light next time out of ceiling joint onto table.

I had dw watch inside as I used a spray bottle directly on the boot.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
It is separate - there is no path from the top half to the bottom unless the bottom gasket (between top unit and the roof surface) leaks. That's possible, not actually not very common. No interior air goes to the top unit, so there is no path for exterior water to get to the inside. The drains are merely to let condensate escape from the upper unit. In all but the top-end models, the drains just let the water run out onto the roof. The very best models have a place for a drain tube, which can be installed (hidden) in the RV roof and down inside the side wall.

I see a lot of fussing about the drains on the top unit, but [in my opinion] water backing up inside the top unit is still an unlikely source of interior water. It's just the most visible wetness and thus the one that amateurs want to attack first. Worth a check because it's easy to do, but not a high potential (again, my opinion). Likewise, check the tightness of the mounting bolts to be sure the top is snug on the gasket. Another easy task even though the potential is low.
Click to expand...

Things have changed. I took my outside cover off and found that both the evaporator and the condenser we're above the roofline. There were several recessed tracks in the plastic base for water to flow and they all had drain holes which were all clear.  I then removed a hard piece of foam (top half of a box) which revealed a squirrel cage type fan and either the condenser or the evaporator. (don't know which is which). I was able to look right down into my bedroom once I removed the inside inlet filter. I was also able to feel the inside surface of the foam gasket about 1/2 way around and it looked compressed pretty good. I did retighten the hold down bolt another 3/4 turn hoping that would work.

Now for Plan B. I'm going to drag a water hose on the roof and drown the antenna mechanism while my DW watches below.  I did replace the shaft with a new seal about 2 months ago so I don't think it will be that.
 
I completely removed my antenna when the trailer was one year old.  It is always garaged except when in use and was in the rain about five times.  The deterioration of the cheap putty sealant was unbelievable and the aluminum parts were already black and corroded.  The roof caulking did not adhere to the aluminum, possibly from something on the surface and although it appeared good, is was useless.

My suggestion is to pull the antenna and start over doing it right.
 
Well I tried Plan "B" and nothing. I ran my hose full blast with a nozzle on the end of the hose. It had about a 12" pattern where it hit the antenna mechanism. I must have dumped at least 12" of water if not more for close to 15 minutes. I'm pretty well convinced the leakage is not from the antenna and must be the AC. I guess now it will be Plan "C" now. Pull the cover of the AC off again and take another hard look.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 895 (members: 39, guests: 856)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,961
Posts
1,388,263
Members
137,714
Latest member
JollyJim
Back
Top Bottom