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Topic ClosedManufacturer mistake led to plumbing leak

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offgrid View Drop Down
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Joined: 23 Jul 2018
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Manufacturer mistake led to plumbing leak
    Posted: 28 Sep 2020 at 3:49pm
Ugh. Yet another example of worse than poor workmanship. Sorry you're having this problem. rPods are not Airstreams for sure.  

Did you document the manufacturing defect? While FR's warranty language will exclude it due to time and because you are not the original owner, since it is clearly due to negligence on the part of FR, and was a hidden defect, I would call FR customer service and request they repair the problem. There is nothing to lose after all. 

Regarding next steps, I would suggest you get a wood moisture meter like this:


and probe from under the trailer to see how wet the lower plywood layer is. With a leak as bad as you describe I can't imagine that it isn't wet under there. Note that water can travel a long way horizontally especially in plywood. 




1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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sawyernlsn44 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Sep 2020 at 3:31pm
Hi!

This summer I purchased a new to me 2018 r-pod 180.  So far, it's been an interesting experience to say the least.  We've been plagued by loose trim pieces and things simply breaking since our first trip.  I've been very disappointed in the build quality thus far.  My parents have had less problems in 20 years of ownership with their Airstream than I have had with the r-pod in just a few months.  The first sign we had a leak was this summer when we woke up to carpenter ants in the trailer.  Knowing the ants are attracted to water, I searched the trailer front to back for a leak and was unable to find anything.  The second sign was the pump running every 10 minutes or so without us using water.  Because of this I would shut off the pump and depressurize the lines when not using water.  This past weekend we stayed at a private campground with excellent water pressure.  The morning after hooking up the trailer I noticed a steady stream of water dripping from the rear right corner of the trailer, just under the storage compartment.  I discovered that the storage compartment was full of water, as was the bathroom floor.  I removed the panel covering the pex line in the bathroom and water started shooting up into the air.  When forest river manufactured our r-pod, someone carelessly stapled the trim right into the water line.  It wasn't until I hooked up the trailer to the campgrounds high pressure water system that enough water leaked for me to notice it.  I removed the vinyl flooring and dried as much of the water as I could.  So far the wood doesn't seem to be soft and I strategically made small cuts into the vinyl in the bathroom and found dry wood.  It appears that the damage is mostly contained to this corner of the trailer.  My concern is that since the water was leaking from below the trailer, water obviously made its way below the subfloor.  At this point, I'm trying to determine the best course of action to prevent more damage.  Should I be cutting into the floor to try and dry out underneath the subfloor?  Should I make a cut so I can get into the space beneath the wardrobe and work to dry that out?  Any thoughts or advice is appreciated!  I really want to straighten out this little r-pod because on the rare trip we haven't had any problem we really love the trailer.

Thanks!




2018 r-pod 180
2017 Volvo XC90
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